Global

The war in Iran has reconfigured global airspace and its consequences are worrying

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Europe and Asia, continents united by land, are more separated than ever by the skies. Or, at least, it is more complicated than ever to travel between them. With the conflict in Ukraine and Iran active, airlines are either dealing with a bottleneck in their usual corridors or, on the contrary, are being forced to make long detours. And that has enormous implications. The latest. We have now been two weeks since the United States and Israel opened hostilities against Iran. The country’s response against the latter country and all those neighboring countries that host US bases caused chaos in air mobility in the area. Overnight, thousands of people saw how their flights departing or stopping in Dubai or Doha, two of the 10 largest airports in the world by passenger volumethey were cancelled. And they began to enter the hallways hundreds and thousands of other people looking for a quick exit of countries that were beginning to suffer bombings. Only in the first two days of conflict More than 5,000 operations have already been suspended with Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways some of the most affected companies. The consequences were immediate: passengers traveling 10 hours by car to neighboring countries to find free seats and tickets shot over the top. 10,000, 20,000 and up to 80,000 euros. Coping as they can. Little by little, the volume of flights at these airports has been increasing. After the first days of hostilities, Dubai is handling about 500 operations daily but this is much lower than the usual average of 1,200 operations. And airlines are in a similar situation. As stated in Business InsiderEmirates aspired to recover 100% of flights this Friday, March 13. Until the start of the conflict, they operated more than 500 flights daily and at the moment they have barely been exceeding 300. And in a worse situation are Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways, with a volume of operations that does not reach 100 daily flights when in the past they also exceeded 500. The passage between Iran and Russia has become a funnel a funnel. Those who do not have to make a stopover or are not destined for Middle Eastern countries are also not free of problems. With airspace closed over Iran, the passage between Europe and Asia has been reconfigured into a kind of funnel where Azerbaijan is key. And in the south the airlines have to deal with the conflict in the East, in the north they have to deal with the War in Ukraine. Most flights between Europe and Asia without stops in the Middle East are passing through the narrow passage between Türkiye, southern Russia and northern Iran. The other alternative is to divert flights through the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. These narrow corridors represent a new obstacle for travel from Europe that had to pass through Russia before this country’s attacks on Ukraine. And this last country was chosen for a good part of the routes that connect with China or Japan. Now the airlines have two paths: go around to the south or go around far to the north. More, many more kilometers. Obviously, planes have to fly many more kilometers and burn much more kerosene. In The New York Times They give the example of the Nordic countries. Before 2022, flying from Helsinki to Tokyo was as easy as passing through Russia. Now flights have to circle the latter country from the north or south, spending time, fuel and, of course, money. The same has happened with Helsinki-Bangkok, which used Iran to take advantage of the forced detour to avoid passing through Russia. Now they are diverted through the funnel that is the narrow corridor between Russia and Iran. In BBC They already picked up on this problem a few days ago. With growing tension in the Middle East, some airlines had already chosen to reconfigure their flights through the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula before the first attacks. With greater air traffic in the area and more kilometers to travel, the experts consulted by the media point to something obvious: flights will be longer and the risks of delay greater. And the fuel through the clouds. These diversions also arrive when fuel for airplanes has skyrocketed. They collect in Argus that jet fuel is now double the price of oil before its refinement. The gap between both products is so high that American Airlines has lost 19% in stock market value so far this year. The reason: investors distrust the future of airlines. The fuel used by airplanes is a very delicate refined product whose storage costs are enormous so reserves are small. This causes its price to skyrocket with each new conflict and even its supply to be put at risk. When an unexpected situation involves a war conflict in a corridor through which 20% of oil and gas circulates around the world, the situation is much more delicate. and when 40% of aircraft fuel for Europe arrives through the Strait of Hormuz and it closes, we already know what to expect. From tourism to bankruptcy. The consequences of changes in routes and increases in fuel prices are very diverse. According to Deutsches Bankairlines are at risk of bankruptcy if fuel prices remain so high. They don’t talk just to talk. The last time there was such a big gap between the price of oil and jet fuel was in 2005 after the Katrina and Rita disasters. It was the trigger for the airlines Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines went bankrupt. But the change in routes is also key for the cities of the Gulf countries. Dubai or Doha have achieved attract Western tourists who spend a few days in its streets in a kind of gigantic terminal. Without intermediate stops on major trips between Europe and Asia, they risk losing their status as a recreational space between both continents, with tourists having a handful of days between two long trips. … Read more

a global superbug has cornered us and only a vaccine can save us

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The arms race between humanity and bacteria has a battle front that continues to worsen year after year. For decades, we have relied on antibiotics like our definitive shield in order to put an end to them and prevent them from continuing to generate diseases. The problem is that they are very smart and know how to evade the effect of antibiotics, and the latest major scientific warning focuses on an old acquaintance, the Salmonella typhimuriumthe bacteria that causes typhoid fever. A new strain. We are not talking about a minor problem, and to understand it you have to travel to the province of Sindh, in Pakistan. There, as detailed in a study in 2008, all the alarms went off when a clone of this bacteria was detected that was named XDR and which has the characteristic of being very resistant to all medications that are available today. In this way, we are not facing a bacteria that is a little tougher to peel, but rather it is a strain that carries within itself a great genetic superpower: simultaneous resistance to major antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, ampicillin, cotrimoxazole, fluoroquinolones and third generation cephalosporins. In this way, overnight, the entire basic medical arsenal had become obsolete to be able to fight this bacteria. An expansion. What happens in Pakistan, in a hyperconnected world, does not stay in Pakistan. And this makes science be warning from the year 2022 where an international team sequenced 3,489 genomes of S. Typhi from Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and India. The result. Here you could clearly see the map of an enemy that is rapidly gaining ground. The research confirmed not only the increase in XDR strains, but also their international dispersion, crossing continental borders with astonishing ease. That is why imported cases of this highly resistant bacteria have begun to be detected in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, alerting the health systems of developed countries. No weapons. As medicines that we can use to kill these bacteria, we have few left. For now, science suggests that these XDR strains can be treated with antibiotics called meropenem and azithromycin. However, experts warn of the critical danger of this situation, since azithromycin has become the last viable oral antibiotic to treat these outpatient infections. The problem is that if we abuse this antibiotic, the bacteria will be able to create resistance against the drug, which would mean that all these infections would have to be treated in a hospital with intravenous medications and not oral ones. Simply because they would no longer exist. The vaccine. At this point, the scientific community is clear that we cannot win this war just by creating new antibiotics, but we have to prevent people from getting sick in the first place. And this particular case is where they come into play. typhoid conjugate vaccines. In this case, the WHO itself has prequalified four of these vaccines and the CDC also supports their use in vaccination programs in countries endemic to the disease. That is why the data suggests that an aggressive childhood vaccination campaign in urban areas of India could prevent approximately 36% of cases and deaths from typhoid fever. And it is great news, since preventing these deaths also prevents their widespread spread to other countries. In Xataka | AI is no longer a promise in breast cancer: the largest clinical trial confirms that it detects more and reduces the burden on the radiologist

Spain is letting the lisp die in Andalusia without knowing that the /θ/ sound is a global rarity that we are losing

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In recent days, the University of Granada has presented a macroatlas with almost half a million audios that shows how the way of speaking of Andalusians has changed. The research is very interesting for many reasons, but today I want to focus on something specific: the slow, but inexorable agony of lisp. What is lisp. While the distinction between ‘s”https://www.xataka.com/”z’ and seseo gains ground in the south, lisping is losing speakers in the only place where lisping is used. It is a sociological question, yes: researchers are clear that stigma is the main force against this phonetic subsystem. But there is something else Because, in reality, what we are seeing is not just the death of the lisp, it is the end of the sound (θ) itself: one of the most unknown oddities of the Spanish language. A Spanish oddity? Although it is not something that is often explained much, the ‘c’ sound (/θ/) is relatively rare in the world — only in 43 of 566 languages ​​(7.6%) in the world. WALS sampling appears and only in 4% of the counts in typological databases (UPSID: 3.99%; PHOIBLE: ~4%). That is, very few living languages ​​have that sound among their phonetic repertoires. To give us an idea, the phoneme of the ñ (ɲ), quintessence of Spanish, appears in 35% of the world’s languages. But… what about the ‘c’? The usual explanation Why (θ)/(ð) are less frequent and why they are disappearing is simple: they are “soft” fricatives; That is, they are less strident sounds than (s)/(z) and, therefore, have less perceptual salience. This is what makes them tend to be lost or transformed easily over time. That does not mean that the Spaniard of the future is going to be sesante; but there is a high probability that it is sesante. The heritage of a language in the trash. It is clear that it cannot be argued from a philological point of view that the disappearance of (θ) is a bad thing. The Earth turns, languages ​​change. But it is striking that in a society in which historical heritage continues to be “valued”, the progressive loss of a sound does not set off alarm bells. And that it does so because we are not capable of accepting the diversity of our own language, normalizing it and defending it in the public sphere, is perhaps worse. Image | Wiebrig Krakau (Modified) In Xataka | “The most serious attack since there is memory”: Pérez-Reverte has started a crusade against the RAE from within the RAE

The economy’s big fear was a simultaneous global drought. Science has found our lifesaver

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We have been observing for years how climatic extremes They hit different parts of the globe, with the experience in Spain still very marked. But with him increase in temperatures To the extreme, one of the biggest fears of climatologists and economists is the synchrony of global droughts. That is, a scenario in which the main food-producing regions dry out at the same time. The good news is that science indicates that the Earth (at the moment) is not drying out. A problem. Logically, if the main countries in the world where wheat, rice, corn or soybeans are produced had a drought simultaneously, we would have a huge problem of product supplywhich for many is a real nightmare. But here the researchers have reached a conclusion: synchronized global droughts are severely limited and barely affect between 1.8% and 6.5% of the global land surface at the same time. Without a doubt, a great respite for economists who saw the end of the world as we know it and who has been published in Nature. But the most impressive thing is that all this is thanks to the oceans. What we knew. Until now, we knew that major climate events such as The Child wave North Atlantic Oscillationcould alter rainfall patterns thousands of miles away through what scientists call “teleconnections.” And it is something that the research team itself pointed out in the past: there are interconnected drought nodes at different latitudes, most in North America, South America, Africa and Australia. That is, when there is drought in one place, it can move to another. But, if these nodes are connected… Why doesn’t the entire planet dry out at once when there is an anomaly like El Niño? The answer is in the oceanic variability. An ally. In this case, the oceans act as an immense regulatory mechanism and that is why the authors literally speak of a phenomenon called ‘geographic trapping’. In this way, the dynamics of the oceans force the scale of these hydrological extremes to remain confined to certain areas, preventing drought from spreading across all continents simultaneously between the different nodes. It matters more that it doesn’t rain. Another of the findings that may be surprising derives from a common myth about extreme droughts. In this case we usually automatically associate the worst droughts with the suffocating heat wavesbut, nevertheless, the data from the last 120 years are clear in pointing out that the lack of precipitation dominates over high temperatures when determining the severity of a drought. That is to say, it is important that it does not rain or that it is extremely hot. Specifically, the lack of rain is responsible for two-thirds of the impact of the severity of these events, relegating temperature to a secondary role, although not negligible in a world that is moving towards warming of up to three degrees Celsius. It’s good news. That the planet has mechanisms to avoid a total global drought is excellent news for global food security and international markets, by ensuring supply for supermarkets. But scientists point out that we should not let our guard down. It must be kept in mind that, although 6.5% of land affected simultaneously, the maximum possibility that we have mentioned before, seems small on a planetary scale, if that percentage coincides exactly with the great “breadbaskets of the world”, the economic and humanitarian disaster can be equally devastating. In this way, the regions identified as “hubs” host a large part of global agricultural production, and the study warns of a growing systemic vulnerability in these areas. Images | edcharlie In Xataka | The drought is turning water into a very scarce and valuable commodity in Spain. And there are already organized groups of thieves

The Government of Mexico says that the measles crisis is a “global problem.” The data says it is a self-inflicted crisis

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Mexico is going through a very critical moment as far as measles is concerned, since infections they don’t stop increasing in different parts of the country and even with several dozen dead for the infection. And here the question we can ask ourselves is quite obvious: How is it possible that this has happened with a disease that was practically under control? The statements. In the offices of the Ministry of Health of Mexico they have found a rhetorical umbrella for the storm that is falling on them, pointing to the “global context”. According to the official narrative, the rebound in measles that the country is experiencing is simply the local echo of a trend that also you are living in other countriesso it may serve as political consolation not to be the only country to go through this crisis. The problem with this defense is that, when one stops looking at the world map and zooms in on the national data for each country, the excuse falls apart. All this because Mexico is not suffering from measles “like everyone else” but is suffering it with an intensity and lethality that shows structural cracks in its own public health system. Measles is here. To understand the defense of the Mexican Government, we must first grant them the part they are right. Measles, a disease from which many they had forgotten due to their high controlhas had a revival unpleasant in recent years. To give us an idea, the WHO itself registered more than 552,000 cases suspected in 179 countries during 2025, which was accompanied by vaccination coverage that was declining globally while the world looked almost exclusively at COVID-19. In this way, it is a fact that the virus is circulating and, in American countries, the Pan American Health Organization has already warned of a large increase in measles cases between 2024 and 2025 in different regions. The Mexican exception. However, hiding behind the global trend to explain what is happening on Mexican soil is cheating the solitary. The key in this case is in the figures for the month of February, which paint a quite disproportionate scenario compared to its neighbors. To give us an idea, Mexico accumulates more than 9,400 cases confirmed from the end of 2025 to mid-2026. And to put it in context, in all of 2025 America added 14,891 cases, so Mexico is not just another statistic, but is the epicenter of the problem in the hemisphere, concentrating a large part of the infections in North America. His mortality. While in other countries the different outbreaks are being contained, in Mexico the number of deaths is counted in the dozens. Right now in Mexico there are 29 deaths in seven states, and the most worrying data comes from Chihuahua, which accumulates 21 of these deaths, followed by a worrying situation in Mexico City with two deaths and Jalisco, which accounts for 60% of the cases in 2026. The extra problem is that they are not isolated outbreaks, but rather there is active transmission in 32 states and 335 municipalities, so the virus moves with a freedom that suggests that the epidemiological firewalls have failed. The reasons. If the virus is the same for everyone, why does Mexico take the brunt of it? The answer is not abroad, but in the internal management of recent years. The local press here points to a dismantling of the surveillance systems and also to a collapse in the routine vaccination system that has affected children from 1 to 4 years old. Right now the health authorities boast of having administered millions of doses of vaccine against measles, rubella or mumps, but the reality on the street is different. In this case, coverage in rural areas has fallen well below the 95% necessary for herd immunity and high population mobility, anti-vaccine misinformation and a late response that prioritized the political narrative over health containment also play a role. Images | Jezael Melgoza In Xataka | The myth of 37º: it is increasingly clear to us that there is no “normal” body temperature

A third of the planet’s ships depend on a single Norwegian company. And they have chosen Alicante for their global expansion

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In the world of shipping, there is a silent giant whose technology is responsible for ensuring that a third of the world’s fleet is not lost at ocean or collided in port. This is Kongsberg, the Norwegian conglomerate controlled mostly by its State, which has turned the province of Alicante into an indispensable piece of its global chess board. Today, more than 30,000 ships they are capable of plowing the seas thanks to systems that are managed, maintained and repaired from offices located between La Vila Joiosa and the NOBO business center in the capital of Alicante. A strategic divorce to conquer the stock market. The news that has shaken the foundations of the industry this year is the segregation of the matrix. According to the company itselfKongsberg Gruppen ASA has decided to split into two independent entities to gain agility: on the one hand, the Defense and “Discovery” division (fishing and research); and on the other, Kongsberg Maritime, the jewel in the crown dedicated to navigation systems, which will begin trading separately on the Oslo Stock Exchange on April 23, 2026. This financial independence is backed by solid figures on Spanish soil. According to the newspaper The Informationthe Spanish subsidiary invoiced a total of 31.7 million euros in 2024, with a profit of more than five million. It is not surprising that Lisa Edvardsen Haugan, future CEO of the new independent company, claim that they are “unitarily positioned for value creation in the global maritime sector.” Why Alicante and not Vigo or Algeciras? The story of how a Nordic power ended up installing its nerve center in the province of Alicante has a component that is as human as it is strategic. In 1995, the company was looking for a headquarters in Spain. Although ports like Vigo or Barcelona seemed logical options, the executive in charge of the expansion opted for the coast of Alicante. The reason was the existence of a historical and consolidated colony of Norwegians in municipalities such as La Vila Joiosa or Altea. However, what began as a small delegation for the fishing sector—under the name Simrad Spain— has mutated into something much more ambitious. After the purchase of the maritime division of Rolls-Royce, the structure became too small. Today, the move of Kongsberg Maritime to the NOBO business center in the capital of Alicante responds to a need to attract talent. Miguel Ángel González, general director in Spain, points out that this change seeks to increase the attractiveness of the firm to retain engineers and software developers, in addition to reducing emissions due to staff travel by 30%. The brain of the autonomous boat. Alicante is not a simple administrative office; It is one of the only three resource hubs that the group has on the planet, along with Poland and Norway itself, capable of serving ships around the world thanks to its strategic position between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. As explained by the company itselfnaval autonomy is not new — they have been developing Dynamic Positioning Systems (DPS) for 40 years that allow a ship to remain stationary at an exact point in the ocean without using anchors — but now the technology has reached a “critical mass.” Yara Birkeland: The world now look in amazement to the world’s first fully electric, autonomous and zero-emission container ship, developed by Kongsberg together with YARA. Reach Remote: This is a series of unmanned surface vessels (USV) that are controlled from a remote center. According to senior designer Erik Leendersthis allows a single captain to control several ships at once from dry land. The “Jewel in the Crown”: The DPS system is what allows that Sasemar (Maritime Rescue) oil platforms or rescue ships operate with extreme safety on the high seas. The horizon. The future of navigation involves electric motors that generate your own energy with the rotation of the propellers. To manage this complex flow of data, the firm Kognifai has launchedan Artificial Intelligence platform that optimizes ship operations. Although the technology is ready, the company’s technical report warns that the biggest current challenge is not engineering, but legislation. As the firm warnswe are in “uncharted territory” and the IMO still needs to define the rules for these ships without humans. What was born in 1995 as a fishing office in La Vila has become in 2026 the command post from which Norway and Alicante dictate the rules of the future of global trade by sea. Image | Kongsberg Xataka | The ships of the oil “ghost fleet” turn off their GPS to avoid being detected. Malaysia is going to hunt them with drones

Global sperm count has been sinking for years

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There was a time when the movie ‘children of men‘ It seemed like a fairly distant dystopia, but today science forces us to look at it with different eyes due to the great drop in birth rate that we are seeing. Although in principle it could be attributed to social issues such as difficult access to housing or one could even look at women as responsible for this. But it is becoming increasingly clear that human sperm quality is declining. The quality is going down. In this way, it is not that we have fewer children just because we decide to have them later (which too), but that biologically our ability to father them is plummeting. The scientific evidence tells us shows in this case that between 1973 and 2018 total sperm count has fallen by 62.3%. And logically, if men have fewer sperm in general, this leads to a reduced chance of conceiving. Although it does not stop at this data. Studies that have followed men for several years also show that the average sperm concentration has gone from 101 million per ml in the 1970s to just 49 million per ml of ejaculate today. In a generalized way. This is not a phenomenon that is only occurring in Europe or North America, but has also been confirmed by recent studies in Latin America, Asia and Africa that are suffering the same decline. Although the most alarming thing is not the accumulated decline that we are experiencing, but the speed. Specifically, we see that since 2000 the rate of decline has accelerated, exceeding 2.6% annually without any signs of stabilization over time. It’s not just the culture. It is easy to blame the social changes we have experienced to justify the drop in birth rates, such as the delay in couple formation or the economic stress we are experiencing. And it is true that everything influences the birth rate, but it does not explain why semen quality is increasingly worse in our environment. To put it in context, a 30-year-old man today has, on average, half the sperm concentration than the one his grandfather had at the same age. Because. To understand what is happening, there are different scientific reviews that point to lifestyle like an enemy. The obesitysmoking, sedentary lifestyle or diets that have a significant presence of ultra-processed foods They destroy sperm quality. A study published in PMC in 2024 also directly links obesity to oxidative stress and hormonal imbalance to the destruction of sperm quality. But not everything focuses on what we eat, but on what we breathe and touch in our environment. The exposure to microplasticspesticides and endocrine disruptors It is altering male hormonal production that leads to this serious problem. New biological factors. The investigations carried out in 2025 point out two new fronts here to attack in this case. The first is paternal age, since after 35 years of age not only does sperm movement decrease but sperm DNA fragmentation increases, making it of poorer quality. Besides, imbalance in bacteria of semen is behind many cases of infertility that we previously considered “of unknown cause.” If it is true that knowing that the pathogen called Ureaplasma is one of those responsiblecan give rise to personalized treatments. Imminent collapse? The short answer is that we are not facing an apocalyptic scenario where humanity becomes sterile overnight, but the trend is worrying. In the event that sperm concentration continues with this downward trend, a large part of the male population could fall below the threshold of natural fertility, making assisted reproduction cease to be an option and become a structural necessity to perpetuate the species. However, there is a species for the nuance, since a 2025 study in the US suggests that the decline may not be as pronounced in men whose fertility is already confirmed, indicating that the problem could be concentrated in specific subpopulations or closely linked to those environmental factors that we can control. What can we do? The good news is that, unlike other genetic problems, many of these factors are modifiable. The science in this case suggests that adopting the Mediterranean diet, exercising and controlling obesity is a good way to mitigate this decline. Images | freestocks Mohamed Hassan In Xataka | There are couples who couldn’t have children. Now AI has managed to give them hope

Changan lands in Spain but its objective is global

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They arrive in our country in 2026 but Changan’s backpack is loaded with experience. With its first two models flanking the presentation and the presence of the personalities who will direct its operations in our country, this Chinese company gained muscle in Madrid, the first stop in an expansion that they want to be as rapid as it is successful. The cover letter was quickly put on the table: “We want to manufacture five million units in 2030. 3.5 million will be new energy cars (a category that in China includes plug-in hybrids and electric cars)” said Manuel Perez Casado, head of sales in our country and on whose shoulders most of the presentation fell. The goal is ambitious. So much so that if it were achieved it would put the company in the famous five million club. A space reserved for the chosen ones. In the absence of knowing the consolidated data for 2025, it is only certain that two brands have far surpassed the five million units sold: Toyota (which has exceeded 11 million of cars sold) and Volkswagen. Behind, BYD has not achieved break the barrier of five million that has been fighting for two years. That is, right now, selling five million cars means becoming the third best-selling manufacturer in the world. That’s where Changan is pointing. Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised? Your arrival in Spain Although Changan arrives in Spain in 2026 as a Chinese firm that may be unknown to the general public, it has 45 years of history behind it. During the presentation, much of the speech focused on building trust in the company. As a group, Changan is fighting, right now, to be the fourth conglomerate of China’s largest car manufacturers. Ahead and as the undisputed leader is BYD, which dominates the Asian country and has found in its BYD Seagull (Dolphin Surf in Europe) a car that has swept the low-priced models. It is followed by Chery, the largest exporter in China that sells in our country under the brands of Omoda and Jaecoo and whose cars serve as a basis for Ebro. The third group is Geely, owner of Volvo or Smart, among other companies. Changan has, like Chery, a long tradition in the export of vehicles. It currently actively sells in 115 different countries, has 21 factories and development centers and more than 24,000 employees spread across 31 countries. In Europe they have centers in Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom that, they say, will help them tune the cars to European tastes. Changan’s contact with countries outside of what has been happening in China is not new. They have development and research centers related to autonomous driving in the United States and design centers in Japan. Furthermore, they have had and have collaborations with Ford and Mazda. So much so that Japanese electric cars are, in essence, Changan cars. Yes, he Mazda 6e and the future Mazda CX-6e They are electric cars built on the Chinese skeleton that Mazda claims to have tuned for European tastes. For now, we have only been able to touch the first of them and we can confirm that it is a good car but that its driving feel and some details of its interior in terms of ergonomics are not exactly what we expect from this Japanese brand. Their weapons to open a gap Ahead of its collaborating company, Changan arrives in our country with the Deepal S05 and S07. They are practically the same car with some differences in equipment and battery size. The first of them is the smallest and makes an appearance in our country with a 68.8 kWh battery with LFP technology which promises 485 kilometers of electric autonomy. For its part, the Deepal S07 does so with an 80 kWh NCM battery that certifies 475 kilometers of autonomy. Both cars were on display during the presentation and we were able to get into one of them in a lap from which we can draw few real conclusions. We will have to wait for a contact or an in-depth test to have a better perspective of the whole. If we talk about driving feel, we found it to be a car that accelerates sufficiently but lacks a bit of restraint in its suspension, too soft which generates very long supports, and that has a proposal that is too artificial in its direction, at times excessively forceful but without the ability to transmit anything that happens with the wheels, which makes us lose feeling when moving quickly. Yes we can say that both cars are greattaking care of the materials that are reached by hand, prioritizing soft plastics and leaving the hard ones where we usually will not touch. They are very spacious cars that comply with the maxim of many other Chinese cars that we have had in our hands. In general, they are well-resolved vehicles inside, with a lot of interior space for the rear seats and with a trunk that is somewhat fair for its size. And, above all, with very extensive equipment. The Deepal S05 comes with a 15.4-inch screen with 2.5K resolution (compatible with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay) that flows very well in the tests that we were able to do when we got on it. Its equipment has all the expected driving assistance systems in level 2 autonomy such as adaptive cruise control. Cameras with what the brand calls 540º vision are also included. That is, we can see what we have under the car. Deepal S05 interior For its part, the Deepal S07 adds a rotating screen that moves left or right to facilitate handling for the driver or passenger. Of course, like its little brother, it lacks any type of physical buttons for the air conditioning functions. Also included as standard is a glass roof and wireless charging for your mobile phone. In this case, the screen is 15.6 inches. The cars have a … Read more

A global trucker crisis is on the horizon. China’s solution: autonomous truck caravans

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The global freight transport market is facing a labor crisis. This is what the data says, pointing to a shortage of goods in Europe, North America and China. But also in Australia or Argentina. In search of solutions, Chinese companies are already proposing a way out: autonomous truck caravans. Shortage. 75% of the goods They are transported by road. 85% of the transport of perishable products opt for the same type of route. Although the transport of goods by train increases, the truck continues to be the alternative that best combines flexibility with contained costs and high efficiency for most companies. But these contained costs aim to disappear. According to the International Road Transport Organization (IRU) there is a global shortage of 3.6 million truck drivers. It is more or less 7% of the total places that are active right now. And the prospects are even worse. Road to retirement. The sector has a problem: retirement. A significant number of truck drivers are very close to slamming the door on their cabins. In Europe alone it is estimated that, in this year 2026, there will be a gap between supply and demand of one million truck drivers. And the problem is that the increase in online commerce will only aggravate this situation. By 2030, they believe that there will be a lack of 11% of the places necessary to cover the volume of work that would be necessary to effectively transport all the goods that will be put on the road. This situation is, according to IRUespecially serious in China where they estimate that before the end of the decade 19% of the truck drivers who are currently working will have retired. Let them go alone. With these perspectives on the table, Pony AIa company specialized in artificial intelligence that has your own autonomous car service in China and that has reached a agreement with Stellantis to advance joint developments for Europe, has announced that it has an autonomous truck solution to advance in a caravan. The idea is that the trucks in advance in a 1+4 convoy. Thus, the first of the vehicles is driven by a human and the four remaining autonomous trucks travel completely autonomously, guided by the first but applying level 4 autonomy. That is, trucks can circulate without anyone at the wheel. 2026. The project has a date: this year. Pony AI announced a few weeks ago a collaboration agreement with Sany, a vehicle production company for industrial work or the transportation of goods that will provide the hardware. The digital brain is provided by Pony AI. Together they believe they can have these self-driving truck caravans ready this year. If they are mass produced, they would be the first in the world to manufacture 5G, completely autonomous and electric trucks, They boast from Sany. According to their accounts, it is a business that will reduce the cost per kilometer by 29% and that can boost the operating margin of companies by 195%. First tests. In BBC They report that China was already experimenting with autonomous trucks last year. “Of course, I was a little scared the first time I drove an autonomous truck. But, after spending a lot of time observing and testing these vehicles, I think they are actually quite good and safe,” said one of the truck drivers who have gotten behind the wheel in these tests to take control if necessary. In the video You can see how the trucks circulated alone between Beijing and Tianjin, a route of more than 100 kilometers. It explains that the driver takes control in the first stages of the journey and must be seated to take the wheel at specific times. However, most of the trip is made without making any decisions and with four trucks behind him. Experience. Sany is not inexperienced in this sector either. The company, in addition to electric trucks for Pony AI, has also worked with industrial use vehicles such as trucks to transport minerals. In this videoFor example, a mine is shown in which an operator controls an excavator remotely. With it, it fills trucks with the extracted materials and these, once full, move completely autonomously to transport these minerals and make room for a new vehicle that has already made the same journey previously. A way of working that is also being studied Huawei. Photo | Pony AI In Xataka | Spain and Europe have a problem: they move 85% of their products in trucks and they are missing 3 million truck drivers

Four years ago, China had a chipmaker in the global top 20. Today he has three

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China has gone from having one chip equipment manufacturer in the world’s top 20 in 2022 to having three at the start of 2026. US sanctions, designed to limit Chinese access to this advanced technology, have ended up driving just the opposite: the local industry has become stronger and continues to increase its independence. Why is it important. This advance questions Western technological dominance in such a critical sector that has led to a trade war. The manufacturing of machinery to make semiconductors was a Chinese weakness and is now becoming a real alternative. And the speed at which it is happening tells us that trade restrictions may end up being counterproductive. The protagonists: The context. Three years ago, China manufactured just 10% of its semiconductor equipment locally. Today that figure is between 20% and 30%, according to Tetsuo Omori, an analyst at Techno Systems Research in statements to Nikkei Asia. The government has put in a lot of money through national and local funds, and that has caused an explosion of manufacturers that now cover all stages of production. Between the lines. Western and Japanese companies have two problems on the table: In the short term, more competition in the Chinese marketwhich grew 35% in 2024 to $49.5 billion. In the long term, see how its technological advantage is being curtailed while the Chinese supply chain gains muscle. Yes, but. China still has not mastered the most advanced technology. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography systemsessential for 2 and 3 nanometer chips, are only manufactured by ASML. ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet He said it will take China “many, many years” to develop that capability.. It sounds like a message of calm for the West, but China’s recent history does not encourage us to take anything for granted. In dispute. The race for leadership in semiconductors is now played on two boards. One is technological: who manages to manufacture the most advanced chips. The other is self-sufficiency: who manages to control more links in their supply chain. China is losing in the first but is advancing very quickly in the second. And that could change the rules we knew even more. In Xataka | The ASML-Mistral alliance reveals the European plan B: if we cannot manufacture chips, at least we will control how they are manufactured Featured image | ASML

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