We are 21 days away from 2026. 21 days away from being fined if we do not have insurance for our electric scooter

We have seen it with the V-16 lights and it will be repeated in the future. A standard arrives, makes a lot of noise and is forgotten. Until a few days before it comes into force, noise is made again and those affected run out to get their papers in order. It is the same thing that has happened with electric scooters. January 2, 2026. It is the date chosen by the DGT so that all electric scooters that circulate in Spain have three obligations: Owner’s liability insurance Electric scooter registration Electric scooter certification As with the V-16 lights, it is not something that was decided yesterday. It is something that It was approved in 2024 (to comply with the transposition of the Directive 2021/2118) so users have had more than a year and a half to complete all the procedures. Furthermore, the decision can be applied by City Councils for years as in Córdoba that has been active since 2023. What are the procedures? The one that can give us the most headaches is civil liability insurance. All users who use the electric scooter they must have insurance to cover our damages in the event that another driver is responsible for an accident in which we are involved or to cover damages to third parties if we are to blame. In addition, the electric scooter will have to be registered and have a certification confirming its approval. The latter is mandatory for all electric scooters that have been sold in Spain as new since 2024. But, in addition, it will be mandatory from 2027 for those that were purchased previously. The “registration”. This license plate is actually a plate that must be visible on the electric scooter with the relevant information that certifies its approval. The plate, like the approval, must be included in all electric scooters sold from 2024. If you have an electric scooter that does not have said plate and that does not have the certification, you must request a test in one of the four laboratories that have the approval of the DGT to carry out these certifications. You can do the procedure request from the Traffic website but only one of them, IDIADA, is located in Spain. What is certified? Electric scooters have been, for a few years, considered in a category of their own. Specifically, they are personal mobility vehicles and these are the most important criteria they must meet: Maximum speed of 25 km/h Weigh less than 50 kg Maximum power of 1,000 W if they do not have a self-balancing system Maximum power of 2,500 W if they have a self-balancing system Maximum handlebar height of 70 centimeters What if I don’t comply? Whoever does not comply will have to prepare the portfolio. And with the obligation to have civil liability insurance for the electric scooter also comes the obligation to pay a fine if we do not comply with it. Specifically, the penalty can range from 200 to 1,000 euros since in the reformulation of the Automobile Insurance Law It is established that electric scooters, classified as light personal vehicles, will face penalties of one third of those registered for cars. That is, a third of the penalty of between 600 and 3,000 euros that is established for those who drive a car without insurance, depending on the seriousness of the facts. Photo | Michel Grolet In Xataka | Barcelona suspected that many electric scooters are souped-up. They just stopped one that could reach 113 km/h

India wanted to impose an indelible state app on all mobile phones. In a matter of days he had to take an unexpected turn

The Government of India movement to force a security app to be installed On all mobile phones sold in the country it has lasted less than a week. On November 28, the Ministry of Telecommunications sent a private communication to the manufacturers in which it gave them 90 days to comply with the measure. However, the general rejection of public opinion, doubts about its impact on cybersecurity and the apparent opposition of some manufacturers have forced a change in plans. The order began to gain public relevance when its internal details became known. Reuters noted that The Government not only requested the mandatory presence of Sanchar Saathi in new mobile phones, but also its incorporation in those already in the supply chain through software updates. The agency also reported that the initial instruction specified that the application could not be disabled. What is Sanchar Saathi. The program’s own website define the tool as a public service aimed at empowering users against fraud and device theft. It is available as a mobile application and also as a web portal, from where it is possible to temporarily lock a lost phone, track subsequent use attempts and, if recovered, reactivate it. The Government frames these functions within a broader digital education effort, with end-user security materials and advisories. From security discourse to doubts about surveillance. The debate intensified when opposition figures and privacy specialists They questioned the initiative. In his opinion, an application managed by the State, coupled with such a broad mandate, required additional guarantees to rule out intrusive uses. Organizations such as the Internet Freedom Foundation They asked for transparency and access to the full legal text. Under pressure, Scindia publicly defended that “spying is not possible” with Sanchar Saathi and denied that the app can be used for surveillance. Opposition from manufacturers added pressure to the process. Reuters indicated that Apple had no intention to comply with the order as it was proposed and that it would convey its objections to the Government, while Samsung and other actors expressed similar reservations. According to sources cited by international media, the companies questioned whether the instruction had been issued without prior consultation and warned of its impact on the privacy policies of their ecosystems. The context was not minor: India has become one of the fastest growing markets for smartphones, especially for companies like Apple and other large manufacturers. An express reverse gear with success figures in hand. The rectification came on December 3, when the Ministry of Communications published a note announcing that mandatory pre-installation was no longer necessary. The decision was justified by the “growing acceptance” by Sanchar Saathi, which according to the Government now has 14 million users and allows around 2,000 frauds to be reported daily. Only the previous day, 600,000 new registrations had driven tenfold growth. Scindia then insisted that “spying is not possible”, despite the skepticism of specialized groups. In recent years, as reported by BloombergIndia has driven decisions that have forced big tech companies to readjust, such as demands for access to encrypted information or recent attempts to have manufacturers distribute the GOV.in public app suite. All of this occurs in a market that is strategic for Apple and Google, both in sales and production. The withdrawal of the mandate makes it clear that these dynamics continue to evolve and that balances will likely continue to be redefined. Images | Ministry of Communications of India | Piyanshu Sharma In Xataka | There are 500 million users who could perfectly upgrade to Windows 11. The problem is that they don’t want to

In 2001, a yacht took refuge on a remote island in the Atlantic. Days later its inhabitants breaded fish with coca

To the island of Sao Miguelthe largest and most populated of the Azores archipelago, is known as the ‘Green Island’ for its lush meadows. In 2001, however, the most appropriate thing was to refer to it as the white island. In one of those pirouettes of destiny that usually inspire Netflix scriptwriters (and in this case that’s how it was) began to arrive on the coasts of São Miguel, more specifically on those of the freguesia of Fish Taildozens and dozens of uncut bales of cocaine of extraordinary purity. The Atlantic brought them by surprise and without anyone in Rabo de Peixe being able to explain very well why or where they came from. What there is little doubt about more than 20 years later is that that episode changed history of the island. Not only because Rabo de Peixe was forever associated with surrealist images (it is counted that on the island there were families who they breaded mackerel with cocaine instead of flour), but for the mark it has left on a population of humble fishermen in which until then white powder was a luxury available to an elitist minority. Twenty-four years later, his story is back in the news thanks to streaming. Netflix has just released a new documentary about that episode, ‘White Tide: The surreal story of Rabo de Peixe’a launch that coincides with the premiere of the second season of a series inspired by the same event, the successful ‘Rabo de Peixe’. A drifting sailboat The Azores are a paradise on earth, but even the greatest of paradises can turn into hell. Antonino Quinzi saw this for himself at the beginning of June 2001, while steering a yacht of 12 meters across the Atlantic towards Spain. Although he was an experienced sailor and had recently completed the Canary Islands-Venezuela route, near the Azores he was surprised by a strong storm that damaged his ship’s rudder and threatened to set him adrift. Faced with such a panorama, Quinzi decided to postpone his original plan, which was to sail back from Venezuela to Spain, and seek refuge in some discreet cove of São Miguel. The word ‘discreet’ is not a minor nuance. To the residents of the parish of Pilar da Bretanha who saw how his yacht appeared on the horizon and sought shelter among the cliffs, Quinzi it seemed to them one more amateur sailor. One of the many sailboat owners who set out to sail the ocean without enough boards and end up finding themselves in trouble. In this case they were wrong. Quinzi was a hard-working Sicilian navigator and if he seemed to be stumbling along the coast of São Miguel it was because he was actually looking for a secluded place in which to hide the cargo he was transporting. On board his yacht, in addition to food and everything necessary for his long voyage, he hid hundreds and hundreds of kilos of cocaine from Venezuela. How many? Officially there is talk of half tonalthough there are those who remember that the ship could carry up to 3,000 kg and it would be strange for the Sicilian to embark on its ocean voyage without taking advantage of that cargo capacity. The fact is that Quinzi needed to reach a port where he could repair his yacht, but for obvious reasons he could not do so with the holds full of bales. To get out of trouble he decided to get rid of drugs. Some versions they count who used a boat to take part of the load to a cave, but had to abort the mission when he was surprised by some fishermen. Whether or not it is true, the fact is that to get rid of a large part of his cargo, Quinzi chose to another more radical solution. A wave of bundles Which? After ensuring that the bales would not be damaged by water, he placed them in fishing nets and then lowered them off the coast with the help of heavy chains and an anchor. Once he finished the task, he set sail towards the port of Rabo de Peixea humble and discreet fishing town located just over 20 kilometers from where he had hidden the shipment. The plan seemed perfect, if it weren’t for the fact that the same waves that had forced Quinzi to seek shelter ended up destroying the net that hid the coca bales. The result: dozens and dozens of packages began to emerge and the waves dragged them towards the coast. Guardian account how the first official notice was recorded on June 7, 2001, just one day after Quinzi’s yacht was seen lurking around the cliffs. While walking through a cove, a local came across a large black plastic sheet that hid what looked like dozens of packed bricks. He notified the police, who soon found that there were 270 bales that weighed nearly 300 kilos. Over the next few days, the authorities received similar notices from people who found bundles while walking along the coast. It is said that in just two weeks the agents seized more than 400 kg of drugs, which is not a bad balance if you take into account that the police estimated that the total shipment It was around 500 kg. But… And the rest? And above all, was the yacht actually transporting more drugs, as one of the Portuguese journalists who covered the event suspects? “The ship could carry up to 3,000 kg and no one would cross the Atlantic with only a small part of what it can carry,” argues Nuno Mendes, a reporter who traveled from Lisbon to cover the news. There was more or less drug, almost a hundred kilos or many more, what seems evident is that most of that unseized cocaine ended up in the hands of the inhabitants of São Miguel, where they barely live. 140,000 people. The focus is placed above all on the population of Rabo de Peixe, one … Read more

This is how rest days are calculated

The workplace is regulated by a series of laws and regulations that put in black and white the bases of the employment relationship between companies and workers. He Workers Statute It is the place that answers many of the questions that, at one time or another arise to the workers. Knowing how many vacation days you are entitled to by law is one of the most common. He calculation of vacation days It varies from one company to another depending on the sector, whether there is a collective agreement that regulates it, the type of working day and even seniority in the company. To clear up any doubts, we will tell you how many days of work rest you are entitled to by law and how to calculate them. How many vacations correspond per month worked: what the law says He article 38 of the Workers’ Statute is in charge of drawing the master lines for the right to rest. This article establishes the right to a minimum period of 30 calendar days of paid annual leave, not replaceable by financial compensationexcept as provided in the agreement or end of the employment relationship. That is, all workers have the right to rest for a minimum of 30 calendar days included in their salary. These days, under no circumstances, can be compensated for additional remuneration and can only be compensated for other days of rest on a different date. This is the legal minimum per calendar year of work and each year generates its own paid holiday entitlement. The Workers’ Statute establishes that they must be enjoyed in an agreed manner within the corresponding annual period, except for agreed or justified exceptions. In addition to agree jointly between the company and employees, workers have the right to know the vacation dates that correspond to them, at least two months before the start date of the rest. This way the employee can plan your vacation. How vacation days are calculated The Workers’ Statute clearly establishes that workers They have 30 working days a year. But how are your vacation days calculated if you have only been working at that company for a few months? The most commonly used practical rule to obtain the proportional part when the entire year has not been worked is to start from 30 calendar days and prorate them by months worked. Don’t panic because they exist vacation day calculators. In any case, its calculation is not complicated. The usual thing in companies is to use the value of calendar days, so it is enough to divide the number of calendar days by the twelve months of the year and multiply it by the months worked. The result returns the number of calendar days of work rest. On the other hand, if they are specified as working days, the calculation must be made by replacing the 30 days indicated in the Workers’ Statute with 22 working days. Difference between business days and calendar days The difference between a working day or a calendar day is important for the calculation and choice of vacation days. Calendar days: all calendar days are taken into account, including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays. That is, when calculating vacation days, all days of the chosen period are taken into account. This makes it more favorable for the worker to start the vacation on a Monday and end it on a Friday, since in this way neither the previous nor the following weekend are counted as vacations. Working days: as their name indicates, they are those days on which you would usually work, these being usually Monday to Friday, excluding weekends (Saturday and Sunday) and national holidays. This makes it irrelevant whether the first day of vacation is a Monday or Wednesday, since any weekends or holidays in between will not be counted.Besides, at a legal levelthere is a subtle difference between business days and business days. In both cases, Sundays and holidays are excluded, but in some cases, Saturdays may be considered working days, but are not considered business days. Is it 22 or 23 business days? As we have pointed out, the Workers’ Statute only establishes a legal minimum of 30 calendar days of work rest, but does not specify its equivalent in working days. If the company uses the workdays metric instead of calendar days, the calculation of the number of vacation days per month will also change. The most common conversion is to 22 working days, that is, days in which you would usually have to work. But It is not a universal figure for all companiesbut an average that can change from one company to another. The collective bargaining of some industrial sectors or the collective agreements of each company can include improvements to these conditions by increasing the number of vacation days and increasing those 22 working days to 23 days or even more. Therefore, it will be necessary to consult with the company or review the collective agreement that applies to know if the scale of calendar or working days is used to calculate vacation days. A practical example Nothing better to understand How does the calculation of vacation days work? We have to see it with a practical example. Imagine that you have started working in a company on March 1 and you want to take a few days of vacation the first week of September. How many days of vacation would you get? In that case, and taking into account the formula that we have indicated before, the calendar days of vacation would be calculated as follows: 30 (calendar days by law) / 12 (months) = 2.5 days of vacation per month worked 2.5 calendar days of vacation generated per month x 6 months of work = 15 calendar days of vacation If we apply the metric of working days, and assuming that the agreement (or the company) establishes that there are 22 working days, we would have: 22 (working days) / 12 (months) = … Read more

A Ukrainian system has accelerated the death of kamikaze drones. It’s called Delta, and it does in 120 seconds what took days

The war in Ukraine has turned the drone into the central weapon of the battlefield, but it has also made evident an insurmountable limit: the kamikaze modelswhich dominated the early years of the conflict, are beginning to die due to sheer unsustainability. The almost thousand kilometer front requires a continuous supply of platforms capable of surveillance, harassment, destruction and survival. And Ukraine has realized this. The sunset of a drone. Russia can no longer guarantee that supply with the cheap, single-use drones it previously launched by the thousands. The western sanctions have strangled Moscow’s access to advanced sensors and critical processors. Furthermore, the Ukrainian attacks to assembly plants They have broken production chains, and the cost of losing increasingly sophisticated systems against denser Ukrainian defenses has made the model unviable. of “launch and forget”. For the first time, Moscow recognizes that it cannot replace what it destroys with the same speed. The Russian bet. Faced with this scenario, Russia is reconfiguring its fleet towards reusable drones that combine precision, electronic resistance and multiple attack capacity. Platforms like the Night Witch (capable of carrying twenty kilos, operating for forty minutes, launching up to four munitions and returning to base) mark the shift towards designs that survive the mission. The Bulldog-13 follows the same logic: modular, resistant to interference and with advanced sensors that would be too expensive for a disposable platform. This evolution not only affects offensive drones: russian interceptorspreviously designed to collide and destroy each other along with their objectives, begin to incorporate methods that allow recovery. From improvised loads like food cans thrown over FPV ukrainians up to electrified rods capable of incapacitating several drones in a single flight, the pattern is clear: if the platform is increasingly complex and more expensive, it cannot be lost on each mission. Russia is, out of obligation rather than choice, migrating toward a fleet that looks more like onepersistent unmanned flight than to an infinite store of cheap projectiles. The Russian limit. The operational advantage of these advanced systems it is evident: interference-immune navigation, thermal optics with digital zoom, long-range links and semi-autonomous capabilities allow for more precise and adaptable attacks. However, Russia pays an operational price: every drone that must return to its base sees its time available in the combat zone. reduced by half. The flight cycle shortens, the attack window narrows, and exposure to Ukrainian defenses widens. It’s the paradox of the reusable drone: more valuable, more capable and more vulnerable to logistical wear and tear. But Moscow has no alternative. Without mass replenishment, drone survival becomes a strategic resource. Ukraine breaks the cycle. And while Russia tries to extend the life of its drones to survive the technological blockade, Ukraine is blowing up the very logic of the war of attrition with a digital tool that turns every sensor on the front into a potential trigger. Previously, locating a Russian target, verifying it, transmitting it, and assigning it to a unit could take up to seventy-two hours, enough time for any vehicle, artillery piece, or tank to move or camouflage. Now, with Delta (the system battle management created and iterated over two years of real war) that cycle is reduced to two minutes under optimal conditions. Delta integrates satellite imagery, radar, reconnaissance drones, frontline observers and data from multiple branches into an interactive map that instantly shows where own and enemy forces are. Operating with NATO standardshosted in the cloud and already used by 90% of Ukrainian units, Delta turns warfare into a digitalized and almost automatic process: see, mark, assign and shoot. Drones that “live” too long. The consequence is devastating for Moscow. Their reusable dronesmore complex and expensive, survive by not wasting themselves on suicide attacks, but at the same time they face a battlefield where every exposure, every takeoff and every return can be detected, processed and attacked in a matter of seconds. The old Russian shelter (moving positions from one day to the next) ceases to exist when a Ukrainian FPV can take off, travel kilometers and hit in less than three minutesor a 155mm battery can open fire minutes after receiving verified coordinates. Even long-range systems, which require planning and preparation, now benefit from a flow of intelligence that never sleeps: latency is no longer strategic, only technical. The kamikaze in extinction. The joint result of both transformations (the Russian transition to drones that must survive and the Ukrainian transition to a system that kills in minutes) alters the nature of drone warfare. The russian kamikazes They do not disappear due to lack of usefulness, but because lack of replacement. And the drones that survive must now contend with an environment where survival depends less on their robustness and more on escaping a detection cycle operating at digital speed. What was once a war of saturation is now a war of instant precision. And in that equation, a new paradox arises: each Russian reusable drone is worth more… just when Ukraine can destroy everything it can see faster than ever. Image | Telegram, Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform, RawPixel In Xataka | The new peace plan in Ukraine has been reduced to 19 aspects. The problem is that the key point measures 900 km In Xataka | Ukraine’s latest tactic begins with a song. It is the prelude to an unknown trick: “sending” Russian missiles to Peru

Nexperia China has been trying to contact the Dutch headquarters for days. The only response has been absolute silence

After the escalation of tension, andThe Dutch government suspended the order to control Nexperia and Nexperia China resumed shipments of critical chips. The European automotive industry could breathe and everything was being resolved, everything except the relationship between the two Nexperias. The conflict has left an internal war that does not seem to have an easy or quick solution. what’s happening. They count in South China Morning Post that Wingtech, the company that owns Nexperia in China (we will call it Nexperia China for simplicity), has been trying to contact Nexperia Netherlands for days and has not received any response. Nexperia China called this silence “deeply regrettable and disconcerting.” Take control. Nexperia China’s intentions are not simply to have a chat. a few days ago They published a statement in their WeChat account in which they assured that “control of Nexperia has not returned to its rightful owner” and expressed their intention to use “all legal avenues” to achieve this. It seems that in Holland they do not agree with these statements and have chosen silence in response. Nexperia Netherlands. His latest official statement It is from November 19, the same day that the Dutch government announced the suspension of the control order over the company. In it, they noted that Nexperia China had stopped “operating within the established corporate governance framework and are ignoring legal instructions from Nexperia’s global management” and provided several examples, such as creating unauthorized bank accounts for clients to make payments, sending letters to clients “with false information” and misappropriating corporate seals. Current status. The conflict put the European automotive industry in checkwhich depends on Nexperia chips for electronic modules and control units of many vehicles produced on the old continent. The Dutch government revoked the order and China lifted the veto it imposed in response. Chips are flowing into factoriesbut the conflict has left a deep scar on the company whose solution seems far away. Recently Nexperia China has appointed Sophie Shen Xinjia as president expert in legal advice and law graduate, so everything indicates that there will be a legal battle for control of the company. Image | Nexperia In Xataka | China has so many electric cars running on its streets that it is going to use them to generate energy for homes

We believed that Tim Cook’s days at Apple were numbered. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman just completely changed that scenario

It doesn’t matter where or when you read this. It is very likely that today you have seen more than one Apple product around you. Someone answering messages in a iPhone 17 Pro on the Metro, a student taking notes on their MacBook Air in a Starbucks or someone monitoring their physical activity with an Apple Watch during a getaway to the countryside, to name a few everyday scenes. This massification has a name behind it. Tim Cook. And it is unclear how much longer he will remain at the helm of Apple. a few days ago, the Financial Times published that the company was preparing for Cook’s departure next year, giving rise to the succession that has been mentioned in technology circles for years. Now, Bloomberg maintains that That scenario is not so imminent. How is it possible that two such reputable media point in different directions? Let’s analyze the context to understand it better. Hermeticism and calculated silences. Apple is known for its corporate discretion. Not only does it jealously protect the details of its products, but it also leaves little room for knowing its internal movements. There has been no formal announcement regarding Cook’s possible departure. Everything we know comes from specific statements by the executive himself, anonymous sources and analysis by specialists. In an interview with Wired, published December 4, 2024Cook spoke about his future at Apple. When asked how much longer he saw himself in the company, he responded: “Now I get asked that question more often than before. As I get older, as my hair turns gray. I love this place (…) It’s a privilege of my life to be here. And I will do it until the voice in my head says, ‘It’s time,’ and then I’ll focus on what the next chapter will be like. But it’s hard to imagine life without Apple, because my life has been wrapped up in this company since 1998. It’s most of my adult life. And that’s why I love it.” At the beginning of this year, He also participated in the Table Manners podcast. Asked if he would ever retire, he commented: “Sure, but not in the traditional definition. I don’t see myself at home doing nothing, without intellectual stimulation, thinking about how tomorrow can be better than today. I think I will always have that predisposition and want to work. I mean, I was working when I was 11 or 12… You want to be pushed a little. You want to feel a little uncomfortable… I think I will always want to be pushed.” Sources: essential, but not infallible. Outside of those public statements, everything else depends on leaks. People with some proximity to the company—direct or indirect—who share information with journalists under condition of anonymity. In those cases, the reliability of the content depends on the quality, consistency and independence of those sources. Any media that aspires to maintain its credibility should meet these standards. What the Financial Times says. As we say, on November 15, the Financial Times published that Apple was intensifying its efforts to plan Tim Cook’s succession, and that it was preparing for him to step down in 2026. It is the only concrete—unofficial—date mentioned so far. The article is signed by four journalists, including Tim Bradshawglobal technology correspondent based in San Francisco, and attributes the information to “several people familiar with the discussions” within Apple. It is not a slight conjecture nor an isolated interpretation. What Bloomberg says. Bloomberg reacted days lateron November 23, with the newsletter from Mark Gurman, one of the journalists with the best access to early information about Apple. He does not rule out that Cook will retire one day, nor that his successor could be someone like Jon Ternus. But he does state something key: “I think the news was simply false.” According to Gurman, with the information he has been able to verify in recent weeks, it does not seem likely that Cook will leave office in the middle of next year. He even assures that he would be surprised if Apple faced this replacement within the deadlines indicated by the Financial Times. He sums it up clearly: “Yes, Apple will eventually have a new leader. And yes, it will probably be Ternus. But unless some unforeseen event occurs that forces Cook to resign sooner than expected, that time is not close.” So who gets it right? At this point, one thing is clear: we cannot say that the Financial Times is right. We also cannot guarantee that Bloomberg has it. It is possible that each media outlet has access to different parts of the same conversation, or that their sources are showing different angles of the same scenario, perhaps with their own interests. Our role, also as a medium, is to offer the most complete “photograph” possible so that you can form your own criteria. And, with the caution that we are entering speculative territory, it is reasonable to think that there may be internal conversations about the succession, although not all sources seem to agree on what they know, what they think they know, or what they are willing to share. For now, the only certain thing is that Tim Cook is still at the helm of Apple. An Apple that, since taking office in 2011, has gone from having a market capitalization of 350 billion dollars to more than 4 trillion. More than Alphabet or Microsoft. And in that process, it stopped being a brand perceived as aspirational or exclusive to become an everyday, global and omnipresent presence. Just like what anyone can observe today, from a subway car to a university classroom. Images | Apple (1, 2) In Xataka | Tim Cook has admitted that Apple is “very open” to acquisitions in AI. These are our candidates

The main problem of Europe’s rearmament is a number. If Russia attacks its borders, it has 45 days to roam freely

The scene took place a decade ago at a Polish station, when several American Bradleys lost their turrets when passing under a platform that was too low, symbolizing a problem that Europe never solved: the structural vulnerability of your military logistics network. on a continent that is rearmed at a vunknown speed since the Cold War, the shortcomings are not only found in the absence of more tanks, ammunition or entire brigades, but in the physical inability to move them in time. The hidden fragility. In the month of July already we count the first indication. Then Europe realized that rearmament I had to start on the roads under a very simple premise: a Russian invasion would unleash fatal congestion. In fact, the invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is already exposed that reality. France could not transfer his Leclercs to Romania via the shortest land route through Germany and was forced to send them by sea, a deviation that evidenced what military planners have been pointing out with frustration for years: Europe is not prepared to move a modern army from its western ports to the eastern border in a credible time frame for deterrence. Now, in addition, he is certain of a number: deterrence takes about 45 daysand in a real scenario it would be equivalent to losing a war before appearing on the front, so it is imperative to reduce. How much? The plan is to reduce it five or even three daysaccording to the objectives that Brussels is finalizing. That is the heart of problem that obsesses to German General Alexander Sollfrank: that everything, from documentation to the resistance of a tunnel and the availability of a train driver, will work “like a Swiss clock” when Moscow tests NATO’s reaction capacity. The political challenge. They remembered in the Financial Times that even before the first armored train crosses Europe, the critical obstacle is political. The experience of 2022 showed that, although US intelligence accurately warned of the imminent Russian attack, some European leaders did not believe that Putin would give the order. Military mobilization can only begin once governments accept that the threat is real, and that delay (hours or days) is gold for the aggressor. General Ben Hodges, former commander of US forces in Europe, formulated it to put it bluntly: the key is not just how to move troops, but how to speed up decision-making, open ammunition depots, activate convoys and do it before Russia launch your offensive. And more. Added to this is the strategic unknown of Donald Trump, whose record of oscillations against Russia keeps Europe in constant tension: even if Washington claims to remain committed with Article 5clarity, synchronicity and speed could be conditioned by your posture. Only when that political decision is made will the massive movement to the east begin, a flow whose magnitude (200,000 soldiers and thousands of armored vehicles from the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom) demands a continental precision no priors. Geography as an enemy. That said, almost all analysts agree: the real bottleneck of European defense is on your physical map. Europe, despite being a densely developed continent, is not designed to move heavy divisions from one end to the other. The tunnels are too low, the clearances too narrow, the Baltic roads incompatible with those of the rest of the continent, the bridges (such as the collapsed Carola in Dresden in 2024) too old to support the weight of a modern tank. Even the inclination of the railway track can become at a risk When a train transports armored vehicles: the cargo could overturn. The realization of this reality led Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to launch the Rail Baltica projecta €24 billion investment explicitly designed to support oversized military trains and eliminate the dangerous process of transferring vehicles between networks with different gauges. And on the Peninsula. In Spain and Portugal, the situation is similarmaking any urgent transfer from the peninsula difficult. Germany, which should act as Europe’s great military highway, is perhaps the most worrying example: exhausted roads, bridges in critical condition and a railway network that years ago was no longer suitable for high-intensity operations. The logistical dimension. Moving an army in Europe is not just a matter of infrastructure: it is also a administrative nightmare. Since most of the countries crossed would not be formally at war, their labor and customs laws would remain in force even in full military mobilization. A convoy crossing three borders could clash to three different regulations on mandatory breaks for truck drivers, incompatible customs procedures or transit permits that must be issued on paper, since NATO avoids digital documents for fear of cyberattacks. Germany, Poland and the Netherlands have tried to break this labyrinth by creating a “military Schengen” embryonic, but regulation remains fragmented, slow and vulnerable. Brussels has identified 2,800 critical points of infrastructure that need urgent modernization, although only 500 have been prioritized, and the fulfillment of the plans depends on governments whose political priorities change every year. Added to this complexity is the vehicle multiplication and calibers in service, which makes it almost impossible to standardize the logistics chain. As Sollfrank warnsyou cannot plan every “screw”, but you can plan the scenarios, and today Europe is just beginning to understand the real scale of the problem. The industry as a decisive link. Plus: the modernization of military mobility requires not only adapting bridges and roads, but also rebuilding industrial capacity to transport a contemporary army. A light division may require up to 200 trains, each with more than 40 cars, which represents more than 8,000 logistics platforms for a single operational movement. European railway companies, from Deutsche Bahn to Baltic operators, are signing agreements to reserve military capabilities, while Rheinmetall begins to offer complete services for convoys crossing Germany, from mobile dormitories to emergency workshops. But Europe does not produce enough high-capacity railcars or specialized vehicles, and the industry requires joint tenders and unified specifications to be able to produce … Read more

a new Indian ship every 40 days

India has undertaken a naval transformation which can no longer be understood as a simple modernization, but as the deliberate construction of a maritime power capable of influencing the balance of everything the Indo-Pacific. The rhythm (we are talking about a new ship or submarine every forty days) reveals a country that has decided to break its historical dependence on foreign suppliers, create its own industrial base and provide itself with a projection capacity that until a few years ago was out of reach. Indian naval acceleration. They remembered in Forbes that the current push does not respond only to geographical pressure from China and Pakistan, but to the conviction that the country’s prosperity depends on controlling vital sea routes, protecting trade and showing presence in an environment where naval powers exert political, economic and military influence. The initiatives Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat have woven an industrial ecosystem that produces steel, sensors, combat systems, missile platforms and software within the country, making Indian shipyards the center of a strategy that aims for a fleet of more than two hundred units before 2035. This ambition not only upsets the regional balance, but redefines the way India views its security and its place in the world. End to a coastal logic. The magnitude of the Indian naval plan implies a doctrinal leap: move from a mentality focused on the defense of the coast to operate as a force capable of maintaining a constant presence from the Persian Gulf to the Strait of Malacca. The new stealth destroyers, equipped with BrahMos missiles locally manufactured, the projects for a nuclear aircraft carrier that complements to Vikrant and the simultaneous expansion of the submarine fleet (including future SSNs and the recently incorporated SSBN) allow India to project power, secure maritime lines of communication and respond quickly in a theater characterized because of the competition between great powers. This transition makes the Indian navy a relevant actor not only for the defense of the country, but for the stability of a space where energy from the Middle East, goods from East Asia and a good part of global trade transit. INS Ranjit, INS Jyoti and INS Mysore Geopolitical pressure. Plus: the growing Chinese naval presence in the Indian Ocean (supported by ports and logistics platforms in Pakistan and East Africa) has changed India’s strategic environment. Added to this is the expansion of the Pakistani Navy, which incorporates advanced frigates and submarines financed and designed with Chinese assistance. This double pressure vector turns the ocean into a space of direct competition, where the ability to monitor, deter and respond is critical. In this context, depending on external suppliers becomes a risk, both due to the vulnerability of logistics chains in times of crisis and due to the possibility of political restrictions imposed from outside. From that perspective, India’s commitment to an industrial base self defense It not only guarantees operational continuity, but also allows technologies, construction rates and capacities to be adapted to national needs without external mediation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspects the guard of honor at the naval dockyard this 2025 National shipyards as an engine. The transition towards naval self-sufficiency has resulted in 52 ships under construction simultaneously, from next-generation destroyers to corvettes, stealth frigates and conventional and nuclear submarines. This volume turns the Indian shipyards into one of the naval facilities most active in the world and at the core of an industrial policy that seeks to dominate the production of naval steel, engines, sensors, radars, electronic systems and weapons platforms. The objective is not only to produce hulls, but to generate a complete design, integration and maintenance cycle that ensures that the fleet can be sustained in the long term without external bottlenecks. Plus: this approach creates skilled employment, encourages local innovation and allows technological advances to be transferred to other branches of defense and civil industry. New regional balance. He construction pacejoined to the technological diversificationprojects a scenario where India aspires to position itself as a structural counterweight against China in the Indo-Pacific. Its ability to operate aircraft carrier groups, escorted by stealth destroyers and attack submarines, will provide the country with tools to influence regional crises, participate in multilateral operations and guarantee the security of essential supply routes. The expansion of the Indian presence not only seeks to counteract its immediate rivals, but also to consolidate an image of power responsible capable of providing stability in a marked region due to increasing tensionsfrom the Arabian Sea to the Strait of Malacca. Long-term ambitions. The process of indian naval modernization It synthesizes several simultaneous aspirations: strategic autonomy, the reduction of external dependencies, industrial consolidation and the ability to act as a pillar of the regional order. It is not just about launching more ships, but about building a force capable of operate with continuitymaintain a deterrent presence and evolve in accordance with constantly changing technological threats. To the current paceIndia is approaching a fleet capable of shaping the Indo-Pacific according to its own interests, with tools to guarantee its security and project influence in an environment where maritime competition will be one of the defining axes of the coming decades. Image | Ministry of DefenseIndian Navy, Government of India In Xataka | China’s dominance is extending far beyond rare earths. Even where the US had no rival: the sea In Xataka | Satellite images leave no doubt: the US has restored the Pacific base that launched the atomic bombing of Japan

Rosalía’s new album has been leaked two days before its release. Actually, it suits you very well.

One of the most careful and meticulously planned promotions in recent times has received a bucket of cold water: the new album by Rosalia‘Lux’, which was scheduled to be released this Friday, November 7, has been leaked on social networks. The question, more than “How did it happen?” It’s more like “How could it have happened at this point?” First notice. A first notice of the leak came with the sudden appearance on Spotify of the second preview song from the album, ‘Reliquia’yesterday Tuesday. It only lasted on the platform streaming a few minutes and was removed almost immediately. What was initially understood as a marketing maneuver was soon identified by the artist’s record label, Columbia Records, as an error on the part of the company’s parent company in the United States. Apparently, ‘Reliquia’ was planned to be a preview prior to the release of ‘Lux’, but not yesterday, Monday. What does ‘Relic’ tell us? The quickest listeners also had the opportunity to look at the song’s credits: no less than seven co-writers, including, in addition to Rosalía herself, the American Ryan Tedder. He is a member of the OneRepublic collective, and has gained some fame as a successful songwriter for stars of many different styles, such as Adele, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and Beyoncé. Of course, there are already theories that speak of a premeditated leakand which can be read as a message in tune with the spirituality planned in ‘Lux’. Another leak. After ‘Reliquia’, the entire album has been seen on social networks and platforms such as Telegram in files titled ‘Lux Leak’, which has clashed with a millimeter promotional campaign that Columbia Records was preparing. Among other planned actions, there is an appearance next Monday in Broncano’s ‘La Revuelta’ or a private presentation party this Thursday, to which will be added a performance at the LOS40 Music Awards Santander 2025 gala this Friday, the day of the album’s release. The record company has not made an official statement. She’s not the only one. Rosalía is, of course, not the only one who has recently suffered leaks. In 2024 and 2025, someone had access to almost all of Drake’s new album, leaking seven songs and various unreleased materials. In 2024, 100 GB of unreleased content was leaked. In October, Taylor Swift’s ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ It was leaked hours before its official launchwhich even extended to physical copies that some fans received ahead of time. Previously, Swift had suffered leaks of demos and unreleased songs. The almighty K-pop combo BTS too suffered them in 2025although here we do have the culprit: a producer from his record company, who leaked demos of an upcoming album, forcing his label to modify the strategies for this future album. How good it is for you. Although officially, and beyond fan theories, the leak was an accident, the truth is Rosalía She is not going to be harmed by this situation.quite the opposite. The fact that it happened only two days before the worldwide launch not only does not hurt in material terms, but it means that we already spend several days talking about the subject before it arrives. The conjecture is not crazy: it is suspected that Madonna herself, who Today he praised Rosalía’s workhe did (supposedly) with ‘Rebel Heart’, Korn with ‘Untouchables’, and Beyoncé with ‘4’ and ‘Renaissance’. The line between the leak and the mystery teaser is very fine. What will come on Friday. Just a couple of days should not greatly affect next Friday’s launch. ‘Lux’ is Rosalía’s fourth studio album and contains 18 songs in its physical edition. It was recorded in collaboration with the London Symphony Orchestra and promises to be an ambitious work where classical music and experimental pop collide, and where themes linked to feminine mysticism and a certain desire for transcendence will be played. The lyrics are in 13 different languages, including Catalan, Spanish, Arabic, English, French, German, Hebrew and Japanese. In Xataka | Rosalía’s revolution with her score is not an isolated case: pop artists have turned suspense into the best marketing

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