Europe

Europe has been left without cheap gas from Russia. Their new hope is in the renewables of Morocco and Tunisia

by

With the war in Russia and Ukraine, Europe forgot with blood, sweat and tears about the gas of the first to throw themselves into the arms of the United States. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has made it clear that looking for a supplier far away and through inhospitable territories is not the best idea, so the old continent has set its sights on its neighbor: North Africa, an area with enormous potential and several essential projects (for Europe) under way. After all, it has everything: abundant sun and wind, available land and it is just a stone’s throw away. That they can produce energy is a fact, the question is whether they can connect it to Europe reliably and profitably. North Africa, energy cluster. While they cook two giant African gas pipelinesthe Trans-Saharan led by Nigeria, Niger and Algeria and the pharaonic Africa-Atlantic and are committed to green hydrogen with projects such as the Algerian ALTEH2A and the Moroccan investment worth 32.5 billion dollars, in the north of the continent there are several clear and concrete plans in renewable energies: Morocco wants add 16GW of capacity and plans an investment of 16,000 million dollars in five years to materialize it. Tunisia wants to reach a 50% renewable share by 2035. It has already put out to tender 2.3 GW of wind and solar infrastructure. Norwegian Scatec closed financing and began construction of the 120 MW Sidi Bouzid II solar plant together with Toyota Tsusho, with completion scheduled for 2027. The connection to Europe is advancing with the 600 MW Elmed submarine cable bound for Sicily. Algeria plans to connect 15 GW of renewables to the grid by 2035, with a first tranche of 3.2 GW solar. Why is it important. For North African countries, these projects entail economic development, creation of critical infrastructure and technological employment and foreign investment. For Europe it is a real lifesaver: the old continent imports enormous quantities of gas, oil and electricity and since the war in Ukraine and Russia, The EU desperately seeks to diversify suppliers and has its sights set on northern Europe as a priority source of hydrogen in its Hydrogen Strategy. If these projects materialize, Europe would have cleaner, cheaper energy close to home. Context. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has revealed something that we already knew: depending on third parties for your energy is a tremendous risk. Tunisia suffers it first hand: 95% of its electricity comes from natural gas and more than 60% of that gas is imported. It’s not new: according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), in 2024 the Middle East and North Africa region supplied more than 30% of the world’s oil and almost 20% of natural gas, but its electricity generation continues to depend on fossil fuels for more than 90%. Making the move to renewables is also a question of energy sovereignty. In these movements there is a key Italian company: Snam. In 2023 acquired a 49.9% stake in the two gas pipelines that connect Italy with Algeria and the Algeria-Tunisia gas pipeline, this places it as a natural operator facing a possible conversion to hydrogen. Despite be an “energy island” On the continent, Spain starts from a privileged position if North Africa becomes the European tap: it will be one of the entry doors. In detail. At a technical level, the most important thing is how to bring that energy to Europe: by submarine electric cable or by converting existing gas pipelines to transport hydrogen, which will have implications in both cost and management. While the second is in the study phase, the cable option is advancing: Italy has already hired Prysmian the construction of a 600 MW interconnection with Tunisia. Meanwhile, Spain and Morocco agreed in 2019 a third electrical interconnection, but to this day it still has not materialized. Yes, but. The conversion of North Africa into an energy hub is a promise full of official commitments, GW targets and billions of dollars on the table, but it is not an installed and operational capacity. And unfortunately, the region has a history of advertisements that fell flat, serve as an example the Desertec solar project. Without going any further, geopolitics is already leaving warnings of the complexity of the matter. On the other hand, there is the question of the price of green hydrogen: although in North Africa it is cheaper than in the rest of the world thanks to the sun, it still cannot compete with hydrogen from natural gas, which costs between 1 – 2 dollars per kg. According to a study by the Technical University of Munichonly a tiny fraction of African sites could approach competitive prices in 2030. Without subsidies, most projects are not profitable today. In Xataka | Russia turned off the tap and Europe looked south: the two pharaonic African gas pipelines that want to change the energy map Xataka | The first natural gas that does not depend on fossil sources is already a reality in Europe: it is manufactured in Extremadura by combining hydrogen and CO2 Cover | Matthew Henry and Anirudh

Mistral CEO warns Europe that time is running out to build its own AI infrastructure

by

When the United States Claude Mythos blocks people from outside the USsends a clear message: it is a cutting-edge export technology subject to control, like chips are. And in that scenario, Europe is practically an observer: the old continent is a pioneer in legislating AIbut its infrastructure, business ecosystem around it, and LLM models are behind what the United States or China have. Simply put, Europe depends on third parties for the best AI. But that can change. A little less than a month ago, Arthur Mensch appeared in May 2026 before the French National Assembly with another very clear message: if Europe wants to stop being an observer and descend into the mud, it has to do it now. Time is running against them. The deadline given by the co-founder and CEO of the main European artificial intelligence company is short: two years. The warning from the CEO of Mistral AI. In his exhibition, Arthur Mensch gave a warning macroeconomic with concrete figures: Europe has approximately two years to build its own AI infrastructure, or it will be structurally subordinated to American technology companies. If it does not arrive in time, Europe will become “a vassal state.” The future if we don’t achieve this is dark: “Once the supply is monopolized by American companies, we will suddenly run out of supply and will no longer be able to transform electrons into tokens.” His argument is technical but with a political background: whoever controls the calculation controls the economy. AI is not just another digital service: it is the infrastructure on which everything else will work. Like electricity or roads, but privatized and in foreign hands. Why is it important. Because under this approach, being dependent on third-party AI is not only a mere technical issue, which is no small thing considering its use in critical sectors such as defense or banking, it is also a serious problem of productive sovereignty and balance of payments. The CEO of Mistral refers to AI as a strategic asset, in the same way that gas is. Europe had a hard time understanding the cost of its energy dependence on Russia and Mensch’s argument is that the old continent is making the same mistake. In statements to CNBCdelved into the impact on the macroeconomy: “You cannot afford a trade deficit of one trillion if you really want to remain competitive in the race” because every euro that Europe pays to US companies for AI services is financing the competitor’s R&D. And that money is not coming back. Furthermore, we have already seen that using AI will be increasingly expensive, so much so that There are companies like Uber or Microsoft cutting licenses. Imagine if what depends on AI is your safety. Context. The game board shows that Europe does not exactly start with a good hand: according to data from Epoch AI, collected both by the US Federal Reserve as by RAND Europethe United States controls 74% of global high-level computing for AI, China 14% and the EU just 4.8%. He Draghi report of September 2024 has already identified that much of the blame for Europe’s productivity gap with respect to the US lies in the technology sector, or rather, the absence of it. One year later, Draghi himself was pessimistic: barely had been fulfilled 11.2% of almost 400 recommendations. In detail. Europe has already started with the plan action plan called “AI Continent” which is committed to tripling the capacity of data centers and deploying up to five gigafactories, but the question is whether it will be enough and if it will arrive on time. Without going any further, the 500,000 chips in these gigafactories planned are very far from what there is in the US: by the end of 2025, OpenAI I had already planned exceed one million chips. Mensch did not stop at warnings, but made concrete proposals. The first of them: use public procurement as a lever. Given that 50% of European GDP is generated through public spending, it is clear that it is a magnificent instrument to catalyze this development. On the other hand, Mistral is exploring the development of its own chips and has already announced a new data center in France. Yes, but. The main argument against Mensch’s words is obvious: he is one of the major stakeholders in the policies he proposes. Mistral has 1,000 employees, a valuation of 12 billion euros, a target of 1 billion euros in revenue by the end of 2026, this year it has invested 1 billion in R&D and approximately 75% of its sales are in Europe. On the other hand and for the moment, not having your own servers does not mean not being able to use AI, of course, being clear that it is a third party who dictates the conditions, prices and limits of that access. In Xataka | Europe wanted to set an example to the world with its AI Law. What you are achieving is becoming evident In Xataka | To become technologically “independent” from the US, the European Union already has a plan: four desperate measures Cover | Flickr and Wikimedia Commons / ALEXANDRE LALLEMAND | Igor Omilaev | Markus Spiske

Europe has a robot ready to clean the seabed. Spain has 8,000 kilometers of coast waiting

by

Neither the proliferation of jellyfish neither lack of sand On the beaches, the great environmental problem of the oceans is marine litter. So within the European project SEACLEAR 2.0, a research team from the Technical University of Munich has developed an autonomous diving robot capable of detecting and recovering debris from the bottom. A kind of pool cleaning robot that plays in another league: the open sea. But is there really so much shit in the sea? An example: In Dubrovnik they counted more than a thousand pieces of garbage in an area of ​​only 100 square meters. In the Mediterranean, where there is tourism and ports, it is a real problem. The pool cleaning robot. The system is made up of the robot and a series of auxiliary elements necessary to fulfill the mission: an unmanned mother ship, an auxiliary boat, a drone, an explorer robot of about 50 centimeters and the robot in question. How does it work? The boat is what provides energy and data to the robots and is also responsible for mapping the bottom with camera and sonar, which allows objects to be identified even in murky waters. Afterwards, the small, agile scout robot quickly runs through it. With all this information, the pool cleaning robot descends with its eight miniturbines until it reaches that area where there is garbage. There, he picks up the objects and lifts them onto the auxiliary boat, which works as a container, using a winch. Why is it important. Because it reaches where divers cannot or does not allow them to reach: as explains dr. Stefan Sosnowskifrom the Information Technology Control Chair of the TUM, a cost-benefit analysis proves that this autonomous waste collection is profitable from 16 meters deep. That’s where human diving becomes more expensive, time-consuming and dangerous. That is to say, this robot does not replace diving, but rather complements it to offer a global cleaning solution. On the other hand, the system is not limited to extraction: it also constitutes a valuable tool for obtaining data since, thanks to the integrated sensors, it can generate maps of the bottom, identify types of waste and record its location, which can be useful in different fields, such as designing better environmental or port management policies. Context. He SEACLEAR project It is funded by the European Union through the Horizon 2020 program. The consortium is made up of eight European partners: the universities of Munich, Delft, Cluj-Napoca and Dubrovnik on the academic level, plus the Port Authority of Hamburg, the Dubrovnik-Neretva Regional Development Agency and the company Subsea Tech. That the port of Hamburg and a company are part of the group is important: it is not an academic laboratory project, but the idea is to put it into practice, to real use at sea. In detail. The intelligence of the system resides in four components: the identification of objects with camera and sonar, the manual labeling of more than 7,000 images of objects outside the seabed, the generation of 3D models through AI. From here, the system already knows where and how to grab those objects to extract them safely. The key to this extraction is a four-finger clamp capable of applying up to 4,000 N of force, enough to lift objects weighing up to 250 kilograms. However, how much with pressure sensors to regulate that force so as not to break fragile materials such as plastics or glass. If you broke a plastic object into smaller pieces, the cure would be worse than the disease. Yes, but. The first public demonstration of the system occurred in the port of Marseille, where the robot recovered, among other things, a wheel and a car seat. While it is true that it is a test in a real environment, it is a controlled demo under known conditions. The project has not yet made public data essential for its profitability and scalability, such as how many objects were recovered per hour, what is the error rate of the recognition system or the cost of operating the system in a real port for a year. On the other hand, extracting objects from the bottom has its drawback: if they are large and have been deposited there for years, they can suspend contaminated sediments and disturb fauna that has colonized them. That is, paradoxically, cleaning can also have environmental impact. In Xataka | It turns out that China’s new giant buoys are actually miniature data centers. Korea won’t like it In Xataka | Germany is installing giant concrete spheres under the sea. It has a good reason: to store renewable energy Cover | TUM

Every year a veterinarian, a jurist, a psychoanalyst and a gardener meet. They are the secret owners of rearmament in Europe

by

In 1916, in the midst of the First World War, the German Empire created the Kriegsrohstoffabteilungan office dedicated to coordinate private companies to fuel the war effort. It was one of the first great modern experiments of war economy: industrial families, private capital and the State working side by side to sustain the conflict. More than a century later, Europe once again looks to those same dynasties to build its new military muscle. The silent heirs of rearmament. I told the story last weekend the financial times. Every year, in a discreet business hotel in Germany, a peculiar group gathers: a veterinarian, a stairlift salesman, a jurist, a psychoanalyst, a landscape gardener and several academics. At first glance they have nothing in common. However, they all share an access key to one of the most important companies on the new European military map. They are the shareholders by Wegmannthe extended and fragmented family that controls half by KNDSthe Franco-German giant behind the tanks Leopard 2 and Leclerc. For decades they were almost invisible. Now they are on the verge of an operation that can make them multimillionaires. The IPO of a war giant. It so happens that KNDS is preparing its IPO with an estimated valuation of between 15,000 and 20,000 million of euros. The plan goes through a complex reorganization: the German State wants to buy cabout 40% of the private part, while France would also reduce its participation to maintain a balance between both governments. The rest would remain floating in the marketan industrial and political operation at the same time. KNDS has become a centerpiece of European rearmament since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and Berlin wants to ensure it maintains direct influence over a key enterprise for the continent’s military future. The rearmament business and its dividends. While Europe multiply budgets military and accumulating debt to finance new purchases, the private owners of KNDS have already begun to reap the benefits. Only in November did they distribute an extraordinary dividend of 1,000 million of euros together with the French State. Another additional distribution will arrive before the IPO. Annual dividends have nearly doubled since 2021, passing from about 34 million to 65 million in 2024. The company’s revenue also skyrocketed: from 2.7 billion in 2021 to 4.4 billion last year. European rearmament is generating new fortunes, and many of them are falling on names almost unknown outside very specific circles. An industrial history from more than a century ago. The origin of everything dates back to 1882when Wegmann was a railway carriage manufacturer in Kassel. As the decades passed, the company entered the military industry until manufacturing tanks in World War I and be part of the industrial machinery of the Third Reich in the Second, using forced labor. After the war she returned to the railway sector, although the rearmament of West Germany in 1955 took her back to the military business. Over there their relationship began with the Leopard 1, precursor to the current Leopard 2. Since then, the company was linked to the military history of Germany and, by extension, Europe. The Bode family and the problem of inheritance. A good part of the shareholding structure remains in the hands of the descendants by August Bodethe industrialist who took part in the company in 1912. Today at least twelve of his heirs retain more than a third from Wegmann Holding. The main figure It’s Felix Bodemember of the KNDS council and visible representative of the family. Together with his brother Stephan, they could share about 1.2 billion of euros if the maximum valuation is met. For decades, the Bodes have been the custodians of this industrial heritage, although within the family not everyone seems to share the same attachment to preserving it. Leopard 2 The Braunbehrens and the great branch of capital. The other large shareholder family is the von Braunbehrensa lineage much more intellectual than industrial. Among its members are musicologists specialized in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, philologists and academics. His shares, inherited from former Wegmann partners, have ended up pooled in a charitable foundation linked to Heidelberg. That foundation owns 24% of Wegmann Holding and could receive up to 2.4 billion of euros with the operation. It is one of the most curious images in this history: part of the money from European rearmament could end up financing studies on historical almanacs and traditional carpets. A company that almost disappeared. The path to this point was not always ascending. In 2015, the merger between German division and the French Nexter It was seen within the sector as a defensive move. KNDS was born in part to avoid falling into the hands of Rheinmetall, which had been trying to absorb it for years. At the time, the tank business seemed stagnant. The war in Ukraine changed everything. The Leopard returned to the center of European military debate and production needs grew rapidly. What a decade ago seemed like just another industrial company is today one of the nerve centers of the new continental defense. The paradox of the new European military cycle. There is no doubt, history leaves a curious image: while European governments approve pmulti-million dollar achievements of military spending and appeal to collective security, a group of discreet heirs, many long removed from day-to-day industrial life, is about to capitalize a good part of that new cycle. They are not businessmen made in the heat of war. They are heirs of an industrial chain that has been going through the great European conflicts for more than a century. For years his wealth remained almost motionless, managed in quiet meetings and buffet lunches. Now rearmament has put new value on that old heritage. The end of a century-old relationship. Inside by KNDS Many see this sale as the closing of an era. Younger generations no longer feel the same connection to the company that their parents and grandparents did. The idea of ​​guarding a strategic industry for generations seems to dilute. … Read more

While the heat ‘Spanishizes’ Europe at full speed, Spain begins to ask itself a key question: whether it will have to ‘saharize’ itself

by

During recent summers, as heat waves have spread their tentacles across the continent, we Spaniards have seen ourselves vindicated. At last, Germany discovered the napFrance would fall in love with the blinds and England would have to admit that dining late has its benefits. It was seen, let’s face it, as a cultural victory. We did not have the other side of the coin: that climate change is a treacherous animal and, while Europe flirts with our habits, customs and solutions, we are being forced to abandon them. The question was not whether we will manage to ‘Spanishize’ Europe; It was whether we are going to have to ‘saharize’ Spain. What we are doing is not enough… In the midst of a heat wave, it becomes evident that many of the things we have been doing no longer work. But the truth is that the heat is no longer “an isolated episode.” According to the State of the Climate of Spain 2025 According to AEMET, the average temperature has risen 1.75 °C since 1961. In 2025, 25 records were broken for warm days and none for cold days (when one would expect five of each) and, as far as we know, summer lengthens by about nine days per decade. The consequences have changed radically and can be seen with a single piece of information: the The need for refrigeration in Spain has multiplied by 2.6 between 1982 and 2022. In this sense, Royal Decree-Law 4/2023 has already certified the obvious: the Spanish working day has to be legally subordinated to the thermometer and to the AEMET notices. In Xataka Experts agree that opening windows at night and closing them during the day is no longer the best strategy against heat. …and, in fact, we are stopping doing many things. The nap is a good example: only 16% do it daily and the 60% of Spaniards never sleep. It is due to the social evolution of the labor market, it is true; but also because at certain temperatures, the nap is no longer restorative and we can only turn on the air conditioning. When talking about ‘Saharanization’ there is a controversial component, of course; but there is also a grain of truth. There is extremely striking thingsfor an average Spaniard (like drinking hot drinks because they help regulate body temperature more efficiently than cold drinks) that make all the sense in the world in a very hot climate. And it is reasonable to think that there are many of those things that we will tend to adopt. It has always been said that Islamic culture tended to conceive houses ‘inwards’ and gave a lot of weight to internal domestic life, but do we really believe that it is a free decision and not a cultural adaptation to a very warm environment? {“videoId”:”x8006fc”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”How to sleep when it’s very hot and you don’t have air conditioning”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”217″} There is more, much more. Because the signs are there. Cities are reacting: Barcelona has gone from 197 climate shelters in 2021 to more than 500 this summerwith coverage of 99% of the population within less than ten minutes walk; Bilbao, for its part, has around 131 spaces. Leisure also changes and Summer bookings to Norway up 37% while the north of the peninsula gains tourists. That is, it is no longer whether we change “habits, customs and solutions” but how we do it. We should talk more about this because that is where a good part of our near future lies. Image | Sam Williams In Xataka |ENT doctors agree: “Sleeping with air conditioning forces the nose to work excessively” (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news While the heat ‘Spanishizes’ Europe at full speed, Spain begins to ask itself a key question: whether it will have to ‘saharize’ itself was originally published in Xataka by Javier Jimenez .

Tesla wanted to have its autonomous driving system throughout Europe this summer. Sweden just made it very difficult for them

by

The famous supervised autonomous driving system of Tesla (FSD) has crossed the Atlantic and is already preparing to circulate on European roads. However, the strategy does not seem to be going as well as the company would have liked, since it has run into regulators again. In this case, Sweden and its speed limits. Below these lines we tell you all the details. Arrival in Europe. It all started last April, when the Dutch traffic authority (RDW) approved the use of FSD in the Netherlandsbecoming the first European country to give the green light to the system. Since then, Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania and Estonia have followed suit with national approvals of their own. Tesla needed to gain traction in this way in its first European countries and that is what it has done. Now the next step is to obtain approval valid for the entire European bloc. And that’s more complicated than it seems. For FSD to circulate legally throughout the EU, the Technical Committee for Motor Vehicles (TCMV) you should vote for it with a qualified majority, with at least 15 of the 27 member states representing 65% of the community population. The committee is scheduled to meet June 30 to discuss the matter before a formal vote. Speed ​​limit. FSD includes a function called “Speed ​​Offset” that allows the driver to set a margin above the legal speed limit, so that the system itself drives exceeding that limit. In the United States, Tesla offered this under names like ‘Sloth’ or ‘Mad Max’. In Europe, those profiles have disappearedbut the possibility of exceeding the limit is still there under another name. Who says no, and why. The Swedish Transport Administration (TRV) sent a letter to the TCMV in April recommending voting against the FSD expansion if Tesla does not remove that feature. According to the document, obtained by Reuters“allowing automated systems to systematically exceed legal speed limits poses risks that undermine both the legal framework and the expected benefits of vehicle automation.” Finland and Norway have also been skeptical of the introduction of the system in their countries, although they have not yet formalized their position before the committee. What Tesla answers. The company has not commented publicly on the matter, but its user manual points out that drivers should not rely solely on the system to comply with speed limits and that they should drive “at a safe speed based on traffic and road conditions.” Their implicit argument is that FSD is a supervised system, as the driver remains responsible and can take control at any time. For Estonia, this reasoning has been sufficient to approve the system at the national levelalthough the country has not yet defined its vote in the TCMV. There is more at stake than speed. Various regulators have questioned also the performance of the system in extreme conditions with heavy snow (something common in Nordic countries) and the name “Full Self-Driving” itself, which could be misleading about the real level of autonomy of the vehicle. In fact, the European version already shows “FSD (Supervised)” on the screen instead of the full name, precisely to reduce that ambiguity. Additionally, Reuters public A few days ago, Tesla reportedly presented questionable safety data to European regulators, including the claim that FSD could have “saved 32,000 lives,” something that has not caught on, at least according to share Electrek. What is at stake Tesla. Tesla sales in Europe have plummeted significantly since 2025partly due to the impact of Elon Musk’s fleeting political activity, and the flood of new Chinese brands that have disrupted the sector. In fact, BYD has been outperforming him in registrations for several consecutive months. Tesla needs new arguments to regain ground, and FSD was one of them. Musk even publicly predicted that It would be available throughout the EU this summer. At the moment it seems difficult to achieve. In Xataka | Ferrari wants your car to charge itself in the sun while parked. One of his patents explains how

Europe imposes a fixed tariff of three euros for small packages

by

For years China has benefited from a tariff exemption that allowed packages of less than 150 euros to not be subject to tax. Platforms like Shein, Temu or AliExpress have done their best for years and users have benefited from it, but on July 1, 2026, what was happening will end. The EU already warned that this exemption had its days numberedand it will do so in a few days. The consequence: everything we buy in those stores will be a little more expensive. The de minimis doctrine. In November 2025 the European Council agreed eliminate the exemption for packages with a value of less than 150 euros, which were not forced to pay taxes at customs. This exemption was very similar to the one followed in the US until not long ago. with the “de minimis” doctrine. Three euros to start. The new terms They come into force on July 1, 2026, and will force customs to force any product to pay taxes from the first euro. To accelerate the implementation of this change, the Council agreed to apply fixed tariffs of three euros on packages worth less than 150 euros when they enter the European Union. In 2028 the Customs Data Center will be launched and the fixed rate will end. Instead, percentage tariffs will be applied. Be careful with mixing products, taxes go up. These taxes are charged per product category, not per package. So, if a package contains two toys, a coat and three bottles of shampoo, taxes are calculated by category. In this specific case there are three categories, so at three euros per category, the charge would be nine euros. Chinese bargains will no longer be so bargains. The European Union thus nips in the bud a mechanism that Chinese e-commerce platforms had taken advantage of to massively sell low-value products. Consumers knew this and have also taken great advantage of these advantages by frequently buying in stores like Temu, Shein or AliExpress, but now prices will rise because these Chinese stores will pass the tax on to users. The EU will raise big. In the EU they defend that this protects local commerce, is also a measure against fraud and adds security for consumers. All of this is undoubtedly true, but there is another obvious reason to end the exemption: revenue. It is expected These measures will earn the EU nearly 1,000 million euros a year. Too many minipacks. According to the European Commission, packages with a value of less than 150 euros represented 97.9% of the packages distributed in the European Union. That is to say: the vast majority of what arrived were small purchases with an average value of 8.86 euros. Although there were many packages, adding the value of all of them only represented 2.1% of all the money that foreign trade moves with the EU. Customs were inundated with millions of individual packages of little value. And many lied. The Hellenic Confederation of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (ESEE) estimated in the Greek middle Tovima that about 65% of packages declare a lower value than the real value to avoid paying taxes at customs. The problem, of course, is inspecting millions of packages to confirm that the declared value is correct. Now Shein and Temu’s “dump” will be another. These exemptions had turned Europe into a massive destination for Chinese production capacity and its massive exports. The new regulation should mitigate the problem, and now who can become that new “dumping ground” for low-value Chinese products? it’s uk. In Xataka | The European Commission is very tough on Temu: 200 million euros fine for not analyzing “systemic risks”

A heat wave is about to “scorch” all of Europe. So France has been the first to open a melon: ban alcohol

by

The summer of 2026 has started in a big way, with much of Europe charredthermometers climbing to record values and governments wondering how on earth to tackle the risks that the heatwave has for the health of the population. In France they have been clear: declaring war on alcohol. With dozens of regions On red alert due to extreme heat, the French authorities have decided to put limits on the consumption of beer, wine and cocktails. It may seem shocking in a world that usually goes for beers (or drinks) to cool off, but it makes all the sense in the world. And for several reasons. Europe is burning. It may sound exaggerated, but if at any time it is justified to talk about temperatures scorching in Europe it is now. In Spain the first heat wave of the summer has sent the mercury skyrocketing above 40º in several parts of the country and the situation is not much better in other parts of Europe, such as Germany, Italy, United Kingdom or Belgium, where thermometers have reached (or easily exceeded) 30 degrees. Beyond the weather reports, the heat has already forced sports events to be cancelled, interrupt rail services or launch alerts. The objective: avoid episodes like the one in the summer of 2023, when another extreme heat wave left more than 62,000 dead in Europe. This same Sunday, Madrid decided, for example, to suspend the broadcast of the match with Saudi Arabia on the XXL screen in the Plaza de Colón. The reason: the forecast before 39ºC was reached. Like a ‘frying pan’. Another country that has not been spared from the heatwave is France. Over there 53 million people They were yesterday in areas with first or second level heat alerts. In fact, the country left an unpublished image: 35 of its 96 continental departments were on red alert and another 45 on orange. Faced with such a panorama, the authorities have decided to close at least 845 schools and adapt the schedules of hundreds of other centers to avoid the hottest hours. And that is just one of the measures activated by the Government. In Paris, for example, the Prefecture asked to the organizers of outdoor sporting events to cancel their tests in order to avoid unnecessary risks. An “explosive” mix. In France the Government encountered more than just heat. The dog days coincided there, among other events, with the Fête de la Musiquea festive day during which open-air concerts are organized and thousands of people celebrate in style in the streets, squares and parks. “Heat wave and Music Festival: an explosive combination that worries law enforcement agencies,” titled yesterday one of his chronicles on the BFM channel before remembering that Météo-France has extended the red alert to 49 departments. Stop alcohol. That parks are opened, classes suspended or races postponed to combat the heat wave is hardly surprising. What is most striking is another of the measures adopted in France: restrict the alcohol. As reports the France24 networkthe French authorities decided to ban drinking in public spaces in certain departments of the country, especially affected by the extreme heat wave. The sales restrictions lasted between early Sunday and Mondaywith the sight set especially at the Fête de la Musique and other celebrations planned throughout the country. Closed bars. “The prefects will issue decrees prohibiting the consumption of alcohol in public spaces in the departments on red alert,” the Government warned in a statementin which it also warned that events organized by the State itself and its agencies would close their bars. As if the message were not strong enough, the mayor of Paris warned to his neighbors about the risks of excessive drinking: “The combination of alcohol, heat and proximity of water are three factors that do not mix.” But… Why? The decision may seem shocking, but it makes perfect sense. And for several reasons. To begin with, by restricting alcohol consumption, especially during a day marked by street parties and concerts, the Government has wanted “preserve emergency services and medical care” and that “health personnel focus on caring for the most vulnerable.” In short: fewer drinking-related emergencies (falls, drownings, comas, fights…) so as not to neglect the real priority: the heatwave. In Paris, where the alert was activated, consumption was banned of strong drinks, such as high-proof beers, liqueurs or fortified wines, on the banks of the Seine and the Canal Saint-Martin precisely to avoid ‘scares’. Those who wanted to drink had to go to licensed bars, pubs or cafes. “Without realizing it”. There is another reason why the decision of the French authorities is totally logical. As explained on Saturday in France Info the Minister of Health, Stéphanie Rist, by drinking a beer or a glass of wine we may have the impression that we are cooling off, but we are really boycotting the mechanisms our body uses to self-regulate. “You become dehydrated three to four times faster without even realizing it.” Alcohol has a diuretic effect and blocks vasopressin, remember from RFIwhich means that the ‘normal’ functioning of our body is altered. We go to the bathroom more, we sweat less, our body temperature rises and we become dehydrated, something that is not particularly advisable when we live in a region on alert for high temperatures and the thermometer exceeds 35º. “The body’s internal thermostat stops reacting correctly to overheating signals; our body no longer knows when to sweat and dilate blood vessels,” insist the French Institute of Health (Inserm). Images | DAT VO (Unsplash) and Venus Major (Unsplash) In Xataka | We are at 44 degrees and AEMET says that the worst is yet to come. The good news is that we already know when thermal relief arrives.

“It’s not like Europe, there aren’t many more original art forms here”

by

Clint Eastwood has been convinced for decades that the Western is one of the few things that the United States can truly call its own. The irony is that it was filming in Almería under the orders of a director from Rome that revitalized and updated the genre. He was there, but he still thinks that there are few things as American as the Westen. Original art. In recent statementsEastwood stated that “Honestly, America is not like Europe. There aren’t many original art forms here. Most of them are derived from European art forms. Aside from Western, jazz or blues, that’s all that’s really original.” And there is nothing disdainful in his words, although it may seem like it: Eastwood rather seems to vindicate the genuinely North American nature of the Western, although the evolution of the genre and the actor’s own filmography have made it clear that, at this point, it is one of the most bastard genres in the history of cinema. Western, jazz and blues. In fact, we could dwell on the very precise enumeration of artistic forms that Eastwood considers purely North American. The blues emerged from the deep south and the experience of slavery. Jazz, from New Orleans, at a cross between the African heritage and the music that European immigrants brought from their countries. Finally, the Western speaks of the border in perpetual movement, of the clash between European “civilization” and what it finds in its path (mainly, natives who defend themselves as best they can). They are three artistic forms born from tension, conflict and miscegenation, which explains a lot about the way of being of the country’s inhabitants. And yes, they are purely North American because all three are firmly rooted in the history and philosophy of an unusually young country. An American in Italy. Before 1964, Eastwood was a television actor moderately known for the series ‘Rawhide’. But that year, Sergio Leone signed him for ‘A Fistful of Dollars’‘, an Italian-Spanish-German co-production filmed between the Cinecittà studios in Rome and the Cabo de Gata Natural Park in Almería. The success of the film launched the Dollar Trilogy, completed with ‘Death Had a Price’ and ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’, which established Eastwood as an international figure of the genre. A new character. Eastwood was more than just a protagonist for the trilogy: he was a new type of gunslinger: John Ford and John Wayne’s cowboys were moral heroes, protecting the weak and serving a code of honor. The Nameless Man of the Dollar Trilogy acts for money, switches sides without problems, and his moral compass is arid and often indecipherable, like the landscape of Almería. Eastwood in America. The actor understood that vision and when he returned to his country, he modulated it to his liking, with westerns that are not a nostalgic tribute to the classics of the genre, but rather a dissection that takes into account what Leone and his many imitators contributed to the western. ‘Hell of Cowards’, ‘The Pale Horseman’ or, above all, ‘Unforgiven’ examine the violence of the West without glamor or redemption. “Killing is not right and it is not romantic,” he came to say. The recognition. It is worth remembering that ‘Unforgiven’ won the Oscar for Best Film and Best Director in 1993. Before it, only ‘Cimarrón’ in 1931 and ‘Dances with Wolves’ in 1990 had won. That is to say, for the film industry to finally recognize the importance of the genre, it had to undertake a long journey of reinvention and self-observation in which the European vision had a lot to do with it. In Xataka | Today on HBO Max: the latest film directed by one of the greatest masters in the history of cinema

Satellites show where Russia is heading in Europe after Ukraine

by

In the midst of the Cold War, Norway was the only NATO country with a direct border with the Soviet Union in the Arctic, and for decades the alliance rehearsed there how stop a Soviet invasion in extreme snow and ice conditions. That old frozen border seemed like a relic of the 20th century. Today it is once again one of the most guarded areas in Europe. Russia fights while preparing the north. They counted the TWZ analysts that, while Russia remains bogged down in the Ukrainian war, wasting men, armor and resources in a conflict that has already transformed its entire economy, at the same time it is building something much further north. The new satellite images together with intelligence analysis show that Moscow has been expanding bases, building barracks and creating new logistical warehouses next to the border with Finland and Norway for months. The most disturbing fact is the scale: facilities prepared to house up to 80,000 soldiers. The reading is clear. Although Ukraine continues to absorb a good part of its military force, the Kremlin is already designing the next scenario of tension with the West. “New satellite images show that Russia is increasing its weapons in the area,” the report states. “SVT, together with media partners in several countries, has analyzed how Russia is preparing for the deployment of 80,000 troops… It is a threat we must take seriously,” declares Thomas Nilsson, head of the Swedish military intelligence service (MUST). Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders of NATO countries. Satellite images show numerous new barracks capable of housing thousands of troops, as well as ammunition depots and equipment storage areas From a discrete border to a reinforced one. For years, the border between Russia and Finland was one of the most stable areas in northern Europe. There was a military presenceyes, but at relatively low volumes and without a great sense of immediate threat. Now that is starting to change. According to the finnish estimatesMoscow could go from about 20,000 troops to almost 100,000 once the new facilities are completed. that jump multiplies the capacity of Russian pressure in the area and completely alters the military balance of the region. It is no longer a surveillance presence; It is a structure designed to sustain a massive concentration of troops. Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders of NATO countries. Satellite images show numerous new barracks capable of housing thousands of troops, as well as ammunition depots and equipment storage areas The Arctic is no longer a periphery. All this has a profound reason: the Arctic has ceased to be a distant corner and has become a centerpiece of the world board. The melting ice is opening sea routes that were previously impassable, the region’s energy reserves are enormous and control of the north offers decisive military advantages. Russia has been understanding this for years and strengthening his position. China has also shown more and more interest. What once seemed like marginal geography is now a space where top-level economic, military and strategic interests intersect. Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders of NATO countries. Satellite images show numerous new barracks capable of housing thousands of troops, as well as ammunition depots and equipment storage areas NATO responds. NATO’s reaction it has been fast. The alliance has activated a new advanced ground force in Finland, supported mainly by Sweden and with command and deployment centers spread across northern Scandinavia. Although the initial number of soldiers is small compared to what Russia is preparing, the political message is powerful. Finland and Sweden have gone from neutrality to becoming in central pieces of European defense. In other words, the north is no longer a calm rearguard and is beginning to resemble a new line of contact. The real fear after Ukraine. What worries NATO most is not what Russia can do now, because a good part of its army remains committed in Ukraine. The real concern is in what comes next. If the conflict freezes or ends and Moscow decides to move part of its veteran units to the north, all that infrastructure could fill up in a very short time. That means that what today seems like a medium-term preparation could quickly transform into a tangible threat. The current war, in that sense, is also a period of transition towards something broader. Europe looks to the north with different eyes. It is the most obvious conclusion: the rivalry between Russia and the West is no longer limited to the Ukrainian front. Everything indicates that is expanding towards new areas where the clash is not yet open, but where everyone is preparing as if it could arrive. Moscow strengthens positions, NATO reorganizes his defense and United States adapts its military structure to the new map of the Arctic. There is no doubt, we are not talking about shots fired on that border, but we are talking about movements, investments and deployments that reveal the same idea. As Russia continues to fight one war, satellites indicate that it is preparing the next one. Image | x In Xataka | As we look to the Middle East, the Arctic has become the hiding place for Russia’s biggest challenge to NATO: Borei and Yasen In Xataka | While we all look at Iran, something is moving in the Arctic Circle: Russia is sending bombers with missiles

Log In

Forgot password?

Forgot password?

Enter your account data and we will send you a link to reset your password.

Your password reset link appears to be invalid or expired.

Log in

Privacy Policy

Add to Collection

No Collections

Here you'll find all collections you've created before.