The Canary Islands will tend an underwater cable to Morocco. If Morocco decides to extend it, Spain will have a problem

An underwater cable of 49 million euros will connect the Canary Islands with Africa, but it will stop just where the legal problem begins: the border of the Western Sahara. What is happening. The Ring of the East islands will first join Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with the latest generation fiber. Then it will jump to the African continent, to Tarfaya, the last Moroccan city before the West Sahara. The Canarian government It has been clear: “The cable goes to Tarfaya, it has nothing to do with Western Sahara.” But Morocco has other plans. His government wants to extend that connection to what he calls his “South Provinces”, the euphemism with which he refers to the Saharawi territory since 1975, when Spain abandoned it. Why is it important. Submarine cables are Internet highways. 99% of data traffic between continents travels through them. This project promises to make the Canary Islands a digital node between Europe and Africa. But there is a huge legal problem. The EU Court of Justice considers any economic activity in the Western Sahara without consent of the Polisario Front, recognized by the UN as representative of the Saharawi people. And the Polisario He has already warned: If the cable reaches Saharawi territory, they will go to court. The context. Since Pedro Sánchez supported the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Sahara in 2022Spain tries to maintain the balance between its economic interests with Morocco and its international legal obligations. This cable puts that test balance. If the infrastructure that Spain finances with European funds ends up facilitating Moroccan expansion in Sahara, could splash Spain with legal problems in European courts. The money trail. The construction has already begun with these numbers: 49 million total budget. 20 million provided by the European Investment Bank. Additional 7.5 million for connection with Tarfaya. In February, Canalink technicians – the Canarian public company that leads the project— Tarfaya visited to study the land and design the submarine layout. The cable will be manufactured in 2025 and will be deployed in 2026. The precedent. It is not the first time that Canary Islands connect with Morocco. Since 2011 There is a cable with Asilahin the north of the country. But that did not generate any controversy because it is far from the territory in dispute. This is different. It reaches the same border of the Sahara. And even if technically stops there, it creates the perfect basis for Morocco to complete what European companies cannot do directly by legal restrictions. The threat. The Polisario Front has a history of victories in European courts. He has lying fishing agreements and agriculture between the EU and Morocco for including resources from the Sahara without its consent. “We will carry out any action to guarantee the rights of the Saharawi people,” He said Abdulah Arabi, representative of the Polisario in Spain. A data cable would be your next goal if you cross the border. And now what. The project will continue because Canary Islands need this connection. The ESSI Spain will be able to maintain the legal fiction that its responsibility ends in Tarfaya. If Morocco extends the cable to the Sahara using the base infrastructure financed with European money, Spain could be found in the midst of another conflict between its economic interests and its obligations with the territory that it abandoned 50 years ago. And this time it will not be for fishing or phosphates, but for the control of the data between two continents. In Xataka | The Google Maps of submarine cables: an imposing interactive map that allows us to know the skeleton of the modern world Outstanding image | TelefónicaGoogle Maps

After the earthquake of Russia, evacuations and alerts extend through the Pacific for fear of something much worse: waves

With the still recent memory of what happened in March 2011, when a Powerful earthquake Registered in front of the Japanese coasts, it generated a tsunami and sowed the destruction, with thousands of victims and missing, in Japan and Russia they look at the ocean with tension. And they are not the only ones. The reason: Another powerful earthquakeof magnitude 8.8, has shaken the ground of the Kamchatka Kraiat the east end of Russia, and unleashed the fear for the waves it can generate in the Pacific. In just a few hours that has resulted in alert messages, evacuations and authorities asking the population to stay away from the coasts. What happened? That the ground has trembled in Russia. And with violence. In the last hours the US Geological Service registered an earthquake from Magnitude 8.8 at the east end of Russia. More specifically the tremor broke out At 23.25 h GMT (two more in peninsular Spain), with epicenter 126 kilometers southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskyin the Kamchatka Krai, in the north of the Pacific, and a depth of around 19.3 km. In some areas of the region they soon registered waves between three and four meters high. Has it been serious? Sergei Lebedev, the head of the emergency department in the region, He explained That the earthquake has left some injured, although for now, as confirmed to the Russian agency Tass, there seems to be none of gravity. It is not bad balance if the power of the earthquake is taken into account, of magnitude 8.8. The governor of Kamchatka has recognized that the earthquake was “serious” and “the strongest in decades”, which explains that the tremor causes the collapse of part of the facade of a nursery. “Before July 31, a list of buildings will be developed that will undergo instrumental inspection. The general evaluation of material damage will be ready in a week,” Point out The governor of the region, Vladimir Solodov. In its telegram channel, the Unified Geophysical Service of Russia has confirmed that it is the greatest earthquake since 1952 in Kamchatka (in November of that year there was another tremor of Magnitude 9 which generated important material damage and caused waves of several meters in Hawaii) and the sixth most intense globally since 1900. What reactions has generated? Fear. And caution. Since the earthquake was produced by authorities from different countries and regions bathed by the Pacific, from Russia to Chile or the United States, passing through Japan or the Philippines, have reacted with different degrees of alert, depending on the type of waves they expect. One of the most forceful responses has probably given Japan, where alert sirens have already been heard and seen to the Hokkaido coast residents Uploaded to roofs When the initial waves of the Tsunami, 30 centimeters arrived. The authorities have ordered the evacuation of the east coast of the country, punished in 2011, and required more than 900,000 people of 133 municipalities of the Pacific coast that leave their homes. Some sources They raise the population that has received evacuation orders or alerts to about two million. Have you done anything else? Yes. On the island of Hokkaido, an evacuation order of 5 out of 5the highest level, which affects about 10,500 citizens of the town of Urakawa, and the alert has spread to prefectures such as Hokkaido, Aomori, Iwate, Mie or Miyagi, among others. In some regions waves of up to three meters are expected. With that backdrop, public transport has been altered at some points and the authorities They have evacuated to the workers of the Fukushima nuclear plant, which was already affected by the tsamot of 2011. And beyond Japan? Russia and Japan are not the only ones who have activated emergency measure. The United States Tsunamis Alert Center has warned of the risk of waves of more than three meters in the Hawaii archipelago and between one and three on the island of Guam. Before Panorama the governor of Hawaii, Josh Green, has declared The state of emergency and ordered evacuations in areas of the coast, which has even derived in traffic jams. In the islands they have also enabled shelters in schools, hotels or community centers. It is not the only American territory that looks at the Pacific. The National Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has also transferred the alert to some parts of Alaska and follows the situation on the east coast of the country, such as California. “Keep strong already except!” I exhort Donald Trump. Are there more countries on alert? Yes. In Chile President Gabriel Boric He has recognized That, “for now, we have Tsunami alert for the entire coast” on Wednesday. “The protocol is to evacuate three hours before the estimation of arrival of the wave,” he said. In China the tsunamis alert center He has warned also of the possibility of receiving waves of between 30 and 40 cm in Zhejiang and Shanghai and Peru has activated Also alert in his coast. Ecuador has even gone further to order the eviction of the Galapagos Islands, “which implies the suspension of maritime activities and eviction of beaches, docks and low areas.” The list adds and continues with organisms from different nations that ask for caution in different points of the Pacific. In Mexico the Semar has issued an alert For the country’s coast bathed by that ocean after the Kamchatka earthquake and has asked its population to remain away from the beaches and warn of strong currents. Images | USGS, NOAA and X In Xataka | Tsunami’s alert is leading people to get on the roofs of Japan. It is a good idea, but only at the beginning

The sugary drinks tax has been a resounding success. And there are those who want to extend it now to salt

At the beginning of the week, Chris Hilson, a professor at Reading University, brought together the press and presented The most ambitious report which had been done to analyze the United Kingdom sugar tax. His data were begged: since the tax was introduced, the sugar content in the drinks 44% has been reduced. However, Hilson doesn’t want to stay there. Why not use this approach to improve food, address the obesity epidemic and promote a healthy and sustainable diet? Why not launch, for example, a salt tax? The salt? Indeed. Salt has been in the spotlight of doctors, nutritionists and health researchers for many years. And rightly: Reducing salt intake is one of the simpler and more profitable ways to reduce the incidence of diseases such as arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease or strokes. The problem is that we don’t even know how much salt we consume. And we don’t know because it is very difficult to know: According to the surveys availableapproximately 70% of the salt consumed by Western populations comes from processed foods. The “approximately” is key. It is not easy to measure at the individual level and not even biometric analyzes (such as urine) are very precise when determining consumption. But we know that, if we discount the effect of other critical factors, add salt to meals on the table It is related With a reduction of more than two years life expectancy in men and about a year and a half for women. It is not, seen what is seen, something lower. But what can we do? There it enters Hilson’s idea: “It is vital to extend sugar tax to all processed foods. The current tax has reduced sugar in soft drinks, but we need to see the same success in products such as milkshakes, cookies, yogurts and cereals for breakfast to improve public health,” said. In the background, according to your team’s data, well -designed regulations in the food sector in general could translate into “a healthier environment, as well as a healthier population.” A tax that always ends up. It is curious because salt taxes have historically been one of the most unpopular taxes. From French gabela to the Indian nationalist movementsSalt has played a very important role in the formation of contemporary political societies. It is true that the current tax that is being considered in places like the United Kingdom It is very different to those who disappeared throughout the twentieth century. The importance and scarcity of this resource changed radically with our technical capacity. However, it is still curious that this compound is in the pillory. As epidemics like obesity grow, more and more experts They believe that states They should take action on the matter. Above all, in well -being systems such as Europeans. The evidence shows that These types of interventions are effective. However, we are still taking the first steps in this field. Image | Timo Volz / Victoriano Izquierdo In Xataka | We have a problem with our salt consumption. And there are several alternative ingredients to remedy it

Congress has shown its intention to extend its useful life

The Congress of Deputies has approved This Tuesday a non -law proposition (NLP) on the extension of the useful life of the Nuclear power plants in Spain. The initiative, presented by the Popular Party, has come forward with 171 votes in favor (of the 349 cast), thanks to the support of Vox and a UPN deputy, in addition to the abstention of Junts and ERC. Of course, being a non -binding figure, its approval does not entail any change in the formalized closing calendar six years ago, but it does reflect the position of the chamber and summons the government to assess possible measures in that direction. No change in the nuclear blackout. The Government marked the course of the future energy policy in 2019, when it agreed with the National Radioactive Waste (Enresa), Iberdrola, Endesa, Naturgy and EDP company, the stepped closure of the five nuclear power plants in the country. It is expected that dismantling tasks will begin in 2027 and extend until 2035, with some facilities ceasing to produce electricity before others. To do this, several measures are being launched in parallel, such as the development of a radioactive waste cemetery and a portable laboratory for transfer. Nuclear remains a significant energy source. According to the Nuclear Forumwith electricity data, nuclear plants generated 19.57% of electricity in Spain in 2024. It was not only the technology with the highest number of hours of operation at full power (83.27% of the total hours) , but also the second most important production source in the country, only behind wind. At present, government plans go through renewable energies, But some actors believe that this bet will result in a less robust and stable electrical system than the current one. Nuclear centrals from Spain Europe attends the “rebirth” of nuclear. While Spain keeps firm its nuclear closure calendar, in much of Europe the trend is the opposite. A clear example is Francewhich a decade ago planned to reduce its dependence on atomic energy, but in 2022 it changed course. Not only did he abandon that idea, but decided to bet on new reactors. Finland, Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary They have also announced or are considering the construction of new nuclear plants. The reasons for doing them are many, but one of them is artificial intelligence (AI). AI and Nuclear Energy. Data centers that train next -generation language models require huge amounts of energy. These avant -garde infrastructures operate with the most advanced processing units of companies such as NVIDIA, which triggers their electric demand. Given the need for an abundant and stable supply, technological giants have begun to close agreements to directly access nuclear energy. Microsoft, Google, Oracle and other companies have already taken steps in that direction. And some governments, such as the American and French, are supporting these initiatives. The United States has given green light to the use of federal lands for the construction of data centers and seeks to expedite both permits and access to nuclear energy. Meanwhile, France advances strongly to become a key actor in the sector. Not only is it promoting “the largest campus in Europe” With investment of United Arab Emiratesbut also promotes a data center of more than 1 power gigavatio In collaboration with Fluidstack. “Electricity is available, you just have to connect”, Emmanuel Macron said this week. A small victory, although without concrete changes. As we have seen above, the non -law proposition has come forward with the support of Junts and ERC, Catalan parties in whose region are the nuclear power plants of Ascó I, Ascó II and Vandellós II. These facilities generate 60% of the electricity consumed in Catalonia, which underlines the relevance of the debate. However, beyond reflecting a political position and reviving the discussion about the future of nuclear energy in Spain, the measure does not alter the planned closing calendar. Today, the official plan continues its course and there is no indications that it will be modified. Images | WILLTRON ( CC by-SA 3.0) | Ministry for ecological transition and demographic challenge In Xataka | We are two years after the beginning of the “nuclear blackout” in Spain. Go against the countercurrent raises many doubts and few certainties

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