entrance

The southern entrance to the A5 underground is already 80% excavated, and there is a culprit that has speeded up the work: the soil

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Allow me, if you don’t mind, to use an expression that I have been wanting to use for a long time: there is already light in the tunnel. That’s right, then the burial of the A5 Move against the clock to meet deadlines. And the goal is to open traffic in November. The southern tunnel of the Extremadura highway has already exceeded four fifths of its route under Madrid. There is less left, largely due to the technical innovations that have made it possible. The largest work in Madrid right now. The burial of the A-5 is, today, the largest infrastructure under construction of the capital. Under the streets that connect Madrid with the exit to Extremadura, two tunnel boring machines work in parallel to bury one of the historic entrances to the city and thus free up surface space for urban use. Where is each tunnel. The work runs in two independent galleries. The southern tunnel, through which vehicles entering Madrid will circulate, has been excavated for approximately 80% of its length. The northern tunnel, the exit, is advancing at a slower pace and has completed about half of the route. Although the asphalt has not yet been laid, the interior appearance of the most advanced gallery already allows a fairly clear idea of ​​what the final infrastructure will look like, according to transfer to Telemadrid the technical teams that supervise the work. The key to acceleration: the ground. As the media points out, a new construction system applied to the tunnel floor has made it possible to speed up both the excavation and the consolidation of the infrastructure. For this reason, and because of the work that is being put into the work every day, it has been possible to reach 80% without major delays, maintaining the schedule. 14 emergency exits. Parallel to the main gallery, the work includes the construction of 14 emergency exits, one every approximately 200 meters. Each of them is accompanied by technical rooms where the systems necessary for the operation of the tunnel will be housed, including geothermal installations that will improve its energy efficiency. Jump to the surface. Starting in September is planned that the works also extend abroad, with urbanization actions in the area around the A-5. The idea in this phase will be to definitively integrate the infrastructure into the surface, with the aim of reducing traffic outside and taking advantage of the area for new public spaces. November, the date marked on the calendar. With the tunnel boring machines still in operation, the goal is for vehicles to be able to travel through the new tunnel before the end of the year. November is the date currently managed by those responsible for the work. So we just have to wait a few more months to call it a day. one of the heaviest works of these years in the capital. Cover image | Madrid City Council In Xataka | Portugal had to choose where to take its AVE first. And between Madrid and Galicia, it is very clear

if it closes the entrance door to the 10 million inhabitants

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Since post-war Europe, immigration has been a silent constant in the economic reconstruction of the continent, first to supply labor in industry and later to sustain growth and the welfare state in increasingly aging societies. Over the decades, this phenomenon went from being an assumed necessity to becoming a central political debate, especially after EU enlargements and economic crises. Today, Europe once again faces a question that it thought had been resolved: how far it is willing to go to remain an open space. The nerve figure. The idea we tell it a few months ago. Switzerland heads to a vote which condenses many of the tensions accumulated in Europe during the last decade: demographic growth, immigration, housing and the economic model. The proposal to set an absolute limit of 10 million inhabitantsdriven by the Swiss People’s Partyreaches the polls after gathering the necessary signatures in a country where direct democracy turns social unrest into state decisions. The situation: with a current population of 9.1 million and growth much higher than that of its neighbors, the debate no longer revolves around whether Switzerland can continue to grow, but rather whether if you want to do it. From attractive to “saturated” country. For decades, Swiss prosperity rested on high wages, political stability and an open economy capable of attracting both low-skilled labor and international talent. This success has had an increasingly visible reverse: a 27% foreign residentsa stressed real estate market and increasing pressure on infrastructure and public services. For defenders of the population cap, this growth has become uncontrollable and threatens the quality of life, but for its detractors, it is precisely the engine that has sustained the country’s wealth. The limit and its consequences. The initiative, a priori, does not propose a gradual system or flexible quotas, but rather a rigid, hard limit, which would force action once it exceeds 9.5 million and which, upon reaching 10 million, would literally imply close almost completely the entry of new residents, including asylum seekers and family reunifications. This absolute nature is possibly what most worries economists and companies, which warn of an abrupt stop to the arrival of workers just when the aging of the population is beginning to be noticed and the demand for labor remains high. Europe as a red line. The most delicate point of the plan is precisely its direct impact on the relationship with the European Union. The reason is very simple: if the limit is not respected, the Government would be obliged to abandon the agreement of free movement of people, the cornerstone of the treaties that guarantee Switzerland access to the single market. In a country where nearly half of exports go to the EU, breaking that link is not only a migration issue, but a structural change of the economic model built over decades. The economy versus the emotional vote. Other factors appear here, since multinationals and employers have reacted harshlywarning of relocations, loss of innovation and additional tensions on the pension system, largely fueled by foreign workers. For its part, the business lobby Economiesuisse has described the proposal of chaoticwhile academics emphasize that the recent stagnation of real wages and the increase in the cost of living have created a perfect breeding ground for looking for culprits in immigration, although the problems have more complex roots. Beyond the census. Polls show a country divided almost in half, with a support close to 48% which makes the result unpredictable. So it doesn’t seem like it’s just about deciding how many people can live in Switzerland. The fundamental crux points elsewhere: defining what kind of country do you want to be in an increasingly tense European environment. Either one that preserves its openness at the cost of better managing its internal imbalances, or another that raises a symbolic limit and assumes the risk of redefining its relationship with Europe and with its own idea of ​​prosperity. And, meanwhile, Europe hold your breath for what may arise from the decision. Image | Pexels In Xataka | Switzerland is about to exceed 10 million inhabitants. And he will do everything possible to avoid it. In Xataka | The countries with the largest immigrant population in the world, displayed on this map

the entrance to adulthood is shrinking

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In Japan, January starts with its own festival, the Seijin no Hieither ‘Coming of Age Day’a day during which the country congratulates young people who have made the leap from children to adults. The problem is that this celebration is less and less celebrated. And not because Japan doesn’t love its new generations. On the contrary. If he Seijin no Hi loses steam is basically because the population that leaves adolescence and enters adulthood is ‘shrinking’, which means a bucket of cold water (one more) for a nation in crisis. Old holidays, new worries. When demography sounds like tragedy. To Japan it’s not going well in demographic terms. That is something known and required. While waiting for the final balance of 2025, the first data that the country manages show that it has not managed to correct the birth rate crisis in which it has been immersed for years: during the first half of the year the Government registered 339,280 births3.1% less than in the same period in 2024. And during the second half the picture was not much better. The initial projections of Asashi Shimbuncarried out with data from December 23, suggest that Japan said goodbye to 2025 with 667,542 newborns, the lowest figure since at least 1899, the year in which the historical series begins. Not only that. The data is below what the authorities expected. When the Population Research Institute did the math in 2023, it estimated that in 2025 there would be about 749,000 babies, 681,000 in the worst case scenario. An increasingly less festive party. With that background it is much better understood that Seijin no Hi has become a bittersweet tradition. ‘Coming of Age Day’ is a day in which the country honors the part of its population that makes the leap from child to adult. It is celebrated at the beginning of January and its protagonists are young people who have turned (or are about to) turn 20, although in 2022 the Government set the legal age of majority in 18 years. The ceremony is showy because young people usually dress in brightly colored kimonos and traditional costumes. The problem is that in a country with fewer and fewer babies, twenty-somethings are also beginning to be missing for Siejin no Hi. What does the data say? The figures disclosed by The Japan Times They leave little room for doubt. As of January 1, the number of people who had reached the age of majority in the last year amounted to 1.09 million people (560,000 men and 530,000 women), the second lowest figure since records began. In fact, it is only surpassed by that of 2024, when that indicator was at 1.06 million. These are interesting data because (unlike other statistics) they include both the local population and foreigners who have been in the country for at least three months. Are there so few? Yes. At least if we take into account the number of young people who were in a position to celebrate the Siejin no Hi not so long ago. In 1994 there were 2.07 million and in 1970 2.46 million, more than double that of the current year. It is true that the data for 2025 is slightly higher than that for 2024 and the proportion of new adults has increased, but as remember The Japan Times It is a poor consolation in a country where the birth rate continues to plummet, draining the territory. Only between January 2024 and January 2025 did the number of Japanese citizens decrease by more than 900,000 peoplethe biggest drop since the 60s. More than a curiosity. That there are fewer people celebrating the Siejin no Hi It could be a simple curiosity if it weren’t for the fact that it is basically an indicator of a much bigger problem: a birth rate crisis with implications that branch out to other areas of the country. Right now in Japan just 59% of the population is of working age (between 15 and 64 years), significantly below the world average, which according to the OECD is usually around 65%. This percentage threatens to strain Japanese society, politics and economy. Especially because (despite their multiple attempts) the authorities have not yet found the key to increasing the birth rate and there are those who warn that the country is running out of time. 2025 marked the ‘red line’ in which a good part of the population born during the Baby Boom of the late 1940s exceeded 75 years of age, an age from which the employed population plummets and the dependent population rises. Images | Bruce Dailey (Flickr) and Wikipedia In Xataka | While Japan’s population is sinking irremediably, Tokyo is growing. There is an explanation: ikkyoku shūchū

An iPhone that is the entrance door of the AI ​​for billions of people

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You unlock the iPhone and look for something on the Internet. And who serves you, of course, is Google. It looks something harmless, almost “normal”, but behind there is much more than it seems, because that alliance has allowed two things. The first, that Apple becomes (still) richer. And the second, that Google maintains its dominant position in the field of search engines. The reason is simple: there is More than 1.4 billion iPhone In assets everyone, to which iPad and Macs must be added. All those devices They are the door to the Internet For hundreds of millions of people, that Google is the default search engine in all of them has been key for the company to be where it is. The iPhone, for better or worse, has helped decide who won the battle of the Internet. And it will also help decide who wins the AI. And the chatbot became mobile Because now we use the AI ​​in our browser or in mobile apps, but little by little we will do it directly, interacting with the voice and using the assistant of the pre -installed AI on our device. In the case of Android mobiles it is evident that Gemini will be absolute protagonist. It is the same as Google already pre -installed its search engine on these devices as an integral part of the experience. That, by the way, can end up being very expensive to the company, which He has lost the antitrust judgment in the United States. A sentence is expected in an imminent way, and among the possible consequences it could be Google’s “fragmentation”that could even be seen Sell ​​Chrome. But what will happen to the iPhone? What will the mobiles and Apple devices boost? Here the answer has more crumb, because the situation of the company in the field of artificial intelligence is complex … Not to say worrying. The company’s artificial intelligence platform, Apple Intelligencehe is light years from his rivals. Its benefits are very limited and these heights were expected to have arrived the supervitaminated version of Siri. Instead what we have are More and more delays of a company that despite having more resources that almost none still does not find its way in this segment. It would be normal to think that the iPhone took advantage of their own AI. They are likely to do so and that both Apple Intelligence and Siri They improve (very) notable, but what is also likely that the iPhone does not depend exclusively on Apple Intelligence. In fact everything points to a scenario in which we will have not an AI for everything, but three different: Local Apple Intelligence: A small AI model that will be executed locally and privately for simple consultations and for very specific functions, such as summarizing texts or helping to write emails. It is something that Apple Intelligence already offers. Apple Intelligence in the Cloud: For more complex consultations, Apple will also offer its own infrastructure such as Google or Microsoft, but with a difference: a clear approach to privacy. The call “Private Cloud Compute“It is a technological solution that theoretically guarantees that our conversations with Apple’s chatbot will be absolutely private. External suppliers: But if users want other options, they can also have them. Apple already announced in 2024 that users could access chatgpt proactively To enjoy AI functions, but that supplier will not probably be the only one. In fact, since February it is also possible GEMINI use As an alternative, and Apple has reached different agreements in China chewing that There you can use models like qwenfrom Alibaba. Precisely that third point, that of external suppliers, is the one that reminds us of what has happened with Internet search engines. The potential Apple agreements with one or the other supplier can define their success or failure – and that of its competitors. If Apple reaches an agreement with Openai so that ChatgPT is “the iphone default”, this chatbot will gain even more relevance, but the same could happen with Gemini or any other model. Precisely this situation has been the one that has detonated The new demand that Elon Musk He has made against Apple. The tycoon accuses the company to conspire illegally to eliminate competitiveness in the AI ​​market, something that according to him is being a clear obstacle to the success of Xai and Grok. That demand reminds what Epic Games already made Years ago against Apple’s App Store. That case It ended up causing that Apple opened the door –in its particular way– at third -party stores already methods of alternative payments and that Fortnite will star in a triumphal return To that store. It remains to be seen if Musk’s demand achieves a similar effect, but a priori seems difficult because Everything is yet to decide In the AI ​​and There are no clear winners. But if there is any, surely the iPhone has ended up helping to create it directly or indirectly. In Xataka | Google will fall below 50% advertising fee in 2025. From the monopoly to survival in the Tiktok era

China’s 125% tariffs are the entrance door to an even more drastic process: “decoupling”

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The New Tariff war between Washington and Beijing It is creating the conditions for a total separation of the two largest economies in the world, something that just one year ago seemed unthinkable. What’s happening. Trump has suspended the highest tariffs for dozens of countries for 90 daysbut those applied to China has increased to 125%, marking a clear strategy: isolate Beijing. This rotation is not a decala. On the contrary, it is an attempt to form a common front against China, turning what seemed like a multilateral commercial conflict in a bilateral confrontation. In figures. The magnitude of this break is huge: 73% of the phones that the United States uses from China. 78% computers have Chinese origin. 87% of video game consoles. And 77% of toys. Between the lines. This crisis is not accidental, but calculated strategy. Trump first created a worldwide threat and then appeared as someone reasonable by offering a partial truce. For all except for China, on whom it maintains maximum pressure. “We can reach an agreement with our allies”, said The Treasury Secretary, Scott Besent. “They have been good military allies, although not so good in the economic. And then we can face China as a united block.” The background. 125% tariffs account for a practically impassable barrier for trade. It is not only protectionism, but total economic decoupling. The impact is immediate: Goldman Sachs has trimmed its growth forecast for China From 4.5% to 4% by 2025. Meanwhile, 19 billion dollars have vanished from world stock markets since February, according to Bloomberg. And now what. We go towards A world economy divided into blockssomething not seen from the collapse of the Soviet Union. Beijing has already suggested that he could devalue a Yuan already increasingly weak. And has warned its citizens against traveling or studying in the United States. Chinese authorities have made it clear that they will not be the first step to negotiate, while Trump says he is “waiting” for his call. The key moment. Trump’s strategy goes through a vision of zero sum: use the size of the US market as a lever and create conditions for other countries Choose side. Block. Island. “Trust has vanished,” says Da Wei, director of the International Security and Strategy Center at the Tsinghua University in Beijing. “In the balance between economic development and economic security, security will always be emphasized. This is a long -term change.” Global supply chains have been built for decades of a globalization now questioned. And also now face a change of roles whose consequences are impossible to anticipate with certainty. In Xataka | The EU moves token and approves its retaliation tariffs to the US: we already know when the counterattack will begin to be applied Outstanding image | Xataka

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