Global

It seemed difficult for China to compete with the US as a global tourism power. And yet it’s happening

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Although tempers have cooled after the war in Iran and the doubts about what impact it will have on the sector, in general international tourism is experiencing its ‘roaring 20s’. Families have come out of the pandemic break wanting to pack their bags and get to know new countries, something that has not taken long to be noticed by the UN tourism observatory, which last year registered an increase of 4% in the flow of international travel, as in the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which estimates that the sector represents almost 10% of global GDP. The increase, however, has not been equally strong around the world. What’s more, WTTC itself has noted important differences in the two large economies of the sector, the US and China, which could precipitate a surprise historical. I like to travel. The world has emerged from the pandemic with a desire to travel. Many. It is a trend that has already been noted in 2024when pre-COVID levels were recovered, and has continued to consolidate over time, which explains, for example, that Spain is bordering on the historical barrier of the 100 million travelers a year or that Japan gives clear samples of saturation. According to the latest calculations of the WTTC, 2025 was “the best year in history for the sector”, at least as far as economic growth is concerned. Its contribution to world GDP exceeded 10.7 billion eurosabout 10% of the global economy, and supported almost one in ten jobs worldwide. These are compelling data not only because of their scope, but also because of the trend they show: in general the tourism sector is growing more than the international economy. The US slows down. The ‘photo’ is not, however, equally good in everyone. The WTTC technicians have noticed a weight loss in the main economy tourism on the planet, the American one. Although the country governed by Trump remains “the largest travel and tourism market in the world”, the truth is that it is losing market share. The data is resounding: while the sector grew at 4.1% overall, in North America that percentage was four times lower (1%). In fact, it was the “slowest growing region in the world.” The balance was even worse in the US, with an increase of 0.9%. A key fact: 5.5%. “In 2025, eighty million more people took international trips compared to the previous year, although they chose other destinations. The number of American visitors decreased by 5.5% compared to 2024 and spending by international visitors decreased by 4.6%, reaching $176 billion,” they point out those responsible for the WTTC. His analysis joins others that in recent months have warned of a setback in the flow of foreign tourists arriving in the US and the loss of attractiveness in key markets. For example, the country’s Department of Commerce registered in 2025 a drop of 20.9% at the entrance of visitors from Canada. In 2024 it had already registered a decline, but of only 1.3%. Why is it important? For what it means for the American tourism industry. And for its implications in the sector worldwide. As the WTTC reminds us, today the US continues to be the economy that more money moves thanks to tourism and travel, with a notable advantage over the second On the list, China: the US moves at 2.63 trillion dollars while the Asian giant is around 1.75 trillion. How has the US achieved that weight in the sector? Thanks to two legs: the local market, the trips that Americans make when traveling from one city or state to another, and the arrival of foreign visitors. If we look at the latest reports from the US Travel Association and the WTTC, the first leg continues to respond well. In 2025, Americans they accounted for 87% of the country’s tourism business and increased their contribution to the sector. Their spending was 14.3% higher than pre-pandemic levels. Things change, however, when we look at the arrival of tourists from other countries: their flow was reduced by around 2.3% and their spending indicators are also not good when compared to those the country managed before COVID. Losing “hook”. This loss of attractiveness among foreigners coincides with a hardening of the conditions to enter the US and news about arrests in airports, which even led some European embassies to give guidelines to its citizens to avoid surprises with their visas. Another key factor was the international policy deployed by the White House, which strained relations with countries such as Canada and Denmark. The decisions made by the Trump administration soon gave rise to campaigns that advocated boycotting American products, something that was felt in tourism. In January WTTC itself warned Washington that if it finally approved the new requirements it had on the table for ESTA authorization applicants, which included a thorough review of tourists’ online activity, it risked losing just over a third of its visitors. “34% of those surveyed say they are less likely to visit the United States in the next two or three years if the changes are implemented,” he warned. China on the prowl. It is not just that the US sees its market share in international tourism shrink, it is that everything indicates that China will take advantage of this situation to cut positions. “While the US contracts, China grows at a dizzying pace,” explains Gloria Guevarapresident and CEO of WTTC to Bloomberg. “If this continues, in three or four years it will reach the US.” In another interview A recent interview with USA Today even went further and warned that, if the current situation continues, China will end up “replacing” the US as the world’s main tourist market in a matter of four years. today the gap Between both markets it is enormous (the US sector contributes 2.63 trillion dollars and the Chinese 1.75), but Beijing is growing at high speed. WTTC estimates that its tourism sector is growing at a rate of 9.9% and that, unlike what … Read more

The entire global electricity grid, in an impressive interactive map that shows the evolution of the energy transition

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There are few infrastructures as complex and essential to living in the world as we know it as the electrical grid, which in practice for most mortals is reduced to touching a switch or connecting a plug to the socket and it works. Behind the world’s electrical infrastructure there is a huge conglomerate of equipment, careful planning and uses that are changing (among other things, due to the now so famous data centers). It is not the only thing that is being transformed: the energy transition is making it possible for those resources that once supplied the electrical grid to give way to renewable energies. But not all countries in the world have the same density of electrical networks or the same sources, because in fact there are real black holes in this very complete world map of the electrical network. Is called OpenGridWorks and is an interactive map of the entire world’s electrical infrastructure, from a small solar plant to the great lines that cross continents. And we already told you that it attracts attention not only for the beauty of the chromatic compositions, but also for practical purposes: from planning an engineering project to analyzing energy policy. Opengridworks This map is actually a web platform for geospatial visualization of electrical infrastructure. All its data comes from OpenStreetMap, the world’s largest open, collaborative geographic database, maintained by volunteers and experts on an ongoing basis. This guarantees global coverage, constant updating and completely free access. But for network and infrastructure data it uses information from Global Energy Monitor or the United States Energy Information Administration, among others. Its purpose is to show, in a clear and interactive way, where electricity is generated, how it travels through the grid and where consumption is concentrated. It is worth stopping at the layers and all the information it shows because as we warned you before it is very complete, so if you leave all the options activated you will find yourself in a mess. If you move on the map and get closer, you will be able to see information such as: What technology provides the energy in the form of a colored bubble: blue for hydroelectric, red for thermal, yellow for solar, green for wind and purple for nuclear. The size of each bubble represents the installed capacity in MW Transmission lines are drawn thicker the higher their voltage (from 100 kV to 765 kV) and substations appear as nodes where these lines converge. Data centers also appear in the shape of a white diamond as they are points of intensive consumption. On the other hand, easement strips (ROW) appear as shaded areas around lines and facilities. Opengridworks But you will also be able to see additional information when you hover the pointer over any of the points. An example: when touching the Montes de Cierzo wind farm in Tudela, we will see that it is in operation and the energy it provides. What the global electrical map reveals about the energy transition Playing with the zoom and scrolling you quickly discover that there are areas of saturation and others that are a desert of infrastructure. From an engineering point of view, the map allows you to search for the closest interconnection point for a new project or detect nodes whose failure would leave regions without supply. Beyond engineering, it is an energy policy tool: it highlights the electrification gaps in developing countries, shows the real progress of renewables compared to fossil fuels, and allows the resilience of different national networks to be compared. AND abysmal differences are observed. Opengridworks The densest networks They are concentrated in the United States, central Europe and China, while sub-Saharan Africa and central Asia show very poor coverage that reveals an electrical blackout. In South America, the areas with the most infrastructure are on the Atlantic coast, although there are also some timid points on the Pacific coast. However, inside we barely find more than a fade to black. The colors of energy sources also change on the map, still dominated by thermal generation, although in Western Europe and China the advance of solar and wind power is a reality already perfectly visible. This map also reveals curiosities such as that nuclear plants always appear next to rivers or coasts due to cooling needs and hydroelectric plants are concentrated in the large river systems of the world. The data centers are also not placed at random, but are clustered near large transmission nodes to ensure supply. In Xataka | How much electricity each country on the map produces with renewable energy, displayed on a graph In Xataka | The amount of nuclear energy generated by each country, detailed in this interactive map Cover | OpenGrid Works

Singapore is the hidden “heart” of the Internet and global telecommunications. It all started with a tree from there.

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We live in a connected and globalized world where (almost) everything is in the cloud and available through the internet. Although these connections seem invisible to the eye, they are not: submarine cables are responsible for of 97% of intercontinental traffic. If you take a look at the world submarine cables mapyou will see that there are areas that are true deserts and others that are tangles. One of the most congested points is precisely in Singapore. That the enclave is on the maritime route between Europe, the Middle East and East Asia partly explains why: geography is a historically compelling reason. However, the real trigger was a very curious Scottish doctor and a tree native to the Malay Peninsula. The impressive Singapore node. That Singapore is Asia’s great connectivity hub is a reality: it unites East Asia, South Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean and Europe. But it is not only a busy area, it is among the large exchangers that keep the world connected through their interconnection density and operational resilience. Approximately 30 active cables and many others in imminent deployment converge in just 720 square kilometers of territory, according to TeleGeography. To prevent your seabed from becoming a tangle of cables, the deployment is restricted to three specific areas awarded in strict order of arrival eight landing stations. On the Equinix campus is the Singapore Internet Exchange (SGIX), a point where traffic is literally exchanged between hundreds of operators throughout Asia at a very short physical distance, which translates into ultra-low latency. In addition, its redundant capacity is such that when other critical routes fail, it is capable of absorbing traffic diversions, as happened during the Red Sea crisis in 2022. That tangle of cables is Singapore. Submarinecablemap Context: geography as state policy. Singapore’s reality as a first-rate hub is largely to blame for its strategic location: it is at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula, where the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea meet. In the Strait of Malacca, right where it becomes the Strait of Singapore, its narrowest point is only 2.8 kilometers wide and there are areas where the depth around 25 meters. over there 80,000 ships pass through each year. Its position is key, but there is a milestone that marked everything: in 1819 the British East India Company obtained the right to establish a trading post over there. Since then, the Strait of Malacca has been a usual suspect in international trade: it is where much of the world’s oil (even more so than Hormuz, which is currently raging with the conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran). Is one of China’s doors to the world. And also the area through which any cable that connects the West with East Asia passes. Many ships, many cables and little space constitute a potential recipe for disaster, which your government conscientiously manages and continues to promote vigorously. favorable regulatory conditions to attract more wiring. The material that started submarine cables. We have made a small flashback to the 19th century with the British East India Company that we now return to. When in 1822 the Scottish surgeon William Montgomerie was in Singapore precisely at the service of the East India Company, something caught his attention: the handles of parang (a type of machete) were made of a material that looked like plastic wood. Of course, unlike wood, this material did not splinter, was resistant to impacts, molded to the workers’ hands and was immune to water. A marvel, come on. A material with properties that he had never seen in his life, so he sent a sample to London for exhibition at the Society of Arts. There were no wires in Montgomerie’s head, what he had in mind were surgical instruments. In 1845 the Society awarded him an award and engineers began to work with this prodigious substance. Illustration of the Palaquium gutta. Franz Eugen Köhler, Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen – (1883) Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem. Plastic before the plastic boom. Gutta-percha is the dried sap of trees native to the Malay Archipelago such as the Palaquium gutta, a natural latex that becomes rigid when cooled and has waterproof, saltwater-resistant and electrically insulating properties. Taking into account that Bakelite did not arrive until 1907in the 19th century it was the only material with that magnificent combination of properties, ideal for insulating an electric cable at the bottom of the sea. At that time there was no fiber optics, but there was telegraph. The rapid industrialization of gutta-percha. British engineering stepped on the accelerator and by 1851 we already had the first submarine cable with gutta-percha crossing the English Channel, led by the brothers Jacob and John Watkins Brett. The “nervous system” of the British Empire It grew at dizzying speed: by 1866 it had 15,000 nautical miles and by 1900 it reached 200,000 nautical miles. Singapore was already on the wiring map thanks to London’s connection to Hong Kong through India and the Strait of Malacca, laid by the British-Indian Submarine Telegraph Company. That stretch of coast where the cable reached in 1871 is where the Meta or Google cables pass today for identical geographical reasons as they do now, a century and a half later. The environmental drama. We have already seen that in the West there was a real furor over gutta-percha, the obtaining of which had small print: unlike rubber, it was not enough to bleed the tree, it had to be cut, removed the bark and boiled. An adult tree produced between one and seven kilos. For the first attempt at a transatlantic cable, which dates back to 1858, it required an enormous amount: for 2,500 nautical miles in length (4,630 km) 300 tons were needed. Only two years after Montgomery introduced gutta-percha to the old continent, Tomas Oxley estimated that the 412 tons exported to Europe had caused the felling of 69,000 trees. He Palaquium gutta disappeared from Singapore by 1857 and much … Read more

the intrahistory of the pact that isolates Spain from the global energy panic

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The world holds its breath in the face of what many already consider the Third Gulf War. According to ReutersEuropean gas prices have skyrocketed by more than 70%, dragged down by the Iranian attacks that 17% have been rendered useless of Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) export capacity, and by the almost total closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The situation is so critical that the European Commission has urgently urged member countries to replenish their reserves – currently at a meager 28% – for next winter. However, in the midst of this geopolitical chaos, Spain breathes with unusual tranquility. A resounding calm. During the recent shareholders meeting of Naturgy, its executive president, Francisco Reynés, sent the following message: “Our customers are assured of supply.” Reynés guaranteed that the company feels “more protected” by not depending “absolutely anything on any Middle Eastern country.” Also backed by a strong historical commitment for renewable energiesSpain seems to have its homework done. But, just in case, the Government of Spain has decided to activate a “Plan B” to shield the country and keep energy prices at bay. This plan has a geographical name and surname: Algeria. A lifesaver that not only ensures volume, but also guarantees an energy bill with a strategic ‘discount’ compared to the exorbitant prices of the rest of Europe. A strategic partner. To consolidate this energy shield, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has met on his first official trip to Algiers not only with his counterpart, Ahmed Attaf, and the Minister of Hydrocarbons, Mohamed Arkab, but with the Algerian president himself, Abdelmayid Tebune. The primary objective of the meeting has been to strengthen the bilateral strategic partnership in energy matters in the face of fears of global shortages. but this trip certifies the definitive end of the deep diplomatic crisis unleashed in 2022, when Spain aligned itself with Morocco’s theses on Western Sahara. Despite that historic setback, Albares wanted to emphasize that “Algeria is a reliable, constant supplier, under any circumstances”, recalling that the flow of Algerian gas was never interrupted during the months of tension. How is this cheap shielding going to materialize? The negotiations are in an advanced phase to squeeze the most out of the Medgaz underwater gas pipeline. The intention is to increase the volume of supply up to 10%which would mean injecting around 1,000 million additional cubic meters per year. At the moment, according to data from Bloombergthe pipeline was operating at about 28 million cubic meters per day at the beginning of the year, compared to its nominal capacity of 32 million. This government movement walks hand in hand with corporate strategy. Naturgy seeks to give even greater stability to its historical relationship with Sonatrach, the Algerian state company, with which it maintains supply contracts for around 5,000 million cubic meters annually until 2030. The alliance is so close that Sonatrach owns 51% of Medgaz and 4.1% of Naturgy’s capital. It is precisely these long-term contracts that act as an “anti-inflation shield”, protecting Spanish consumers from the violent increases of the free market. Beyond gas. The recovered attunement is not limited to ensuring the most immediate fossil supply. According to Europa PressAlbares and his counterparts have agreed to explore greater cooperation at the infrastructure level, opening the door to “possible analyzes and joint work” between Spanish and Algerian companies throughout the hydrocarbon sector. Furthermore, the will of both governments is to go one step ahead and analyze another type of supply where there is “a shared interest and commitment”, putting on the table the development of solar energy and the promising green hydrogen. The Italy factor: copy or desperate competition? Spain’s movement is not an isolated event in the Mediterranean. Just one day before Albares’ arrival, the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, also landed in Algiers looking for exactly the same thing: gas. According to Financial TimesItaly is one of the European economies most exposed to this crisis, since 44% of its electricity is generated in gas plants. Its big problem is that Qatar, which supplied 33% of Italian LNG, has declared force majeure after the Iranian attacks on its Ras Laffan facilities. To patch this huge hole, Meloni has appealed to historical diplomacy recalling the “Mattei Plan”, the legendary founder of the Italian energy company ENI, which financed and supported Algerian independence in the 50s and 60s. Accompanied by the current CEO of ENI, Meloni has signed agreements with Sonatrach for the extraction of shale gas and offshore exploration, with the dream of turning Italy into the gas distribution “hub” for northern Europe, as pointed out Euronews. Does this pose a threat to Spanish supply? In the short term, it seems difficult. As detailed by the British media, the TransMed gas pipeline that connects Algeria with Italy is already operating at maximum capacity. Furthermore, Algerian domestic consumption has grown by 7% in the last year, limiting its physical margin to export additional gas. And there is another difference, while Spain has done its homework, Italy has stagnated. The installation of new renewable capacity in Italy fell 8.2% last year, leaving it at the mercy of the whims of a hydrocarbon market with skyrocketing prices. The Mediterranean as a refuge. Ultimately, the Third Gulf War has forced Spain to relocate its energy compass, moving it away from the turbulent waters of the Strait of Hormuz to dock in the safety of the Mediterranean. By strengthening its ties with Algeria and supported by the strength of key companies such as Naturgy, the country has managed to isolate itself from the panic that is currently devouring its European partners. Leaving complex geopolitical tensions aside, the triumph of this shielding is above all economic. While Europe looks in panic at next winter’s energy bill after suffering increases of 70%, Spain has managed to secure a stable supply, direct by tube and at protected prices. An Algerian “discount” that, today, is worth its weight in gold. Image | Photo by Helio Dilolwa on … Read more

China needs to manufacture cutting-edge chips to challenge the US for global supremacy. To achieve this it has two “Manhattan projects”

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China is putting everything on the table. You have no choice. Either it develops its own cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing technology or it will lose its fight for world supremacy with the US. Without 100% Chinese advanced chips its military capacity, the development of its models of artificial intelligence (AI) and the competitiveness of its technology companies will suffer in the medium term. Huawei and SMIC are making advanced integrated circuits, but they use machines from the Dutch company ASML and a technology known as multiple patterning that compromises its competitiveness. This scenario has caused the Chinese Government support with very juicy subsidies to companies that have the capacity to develop cutting-edge photolithography equipment, such as YesCarrierShanghai Yuliangsheng, Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment (SMEE), Huawei or SMIC. However, its most compelling commitment has taken the form of two extraordinarily ambitious projects that seek to put the capacity to produce cutting-edge semiconductors in China’s hands before the end of the current decade. Shenzhen Hybrid SVU Machine Exactly one year ago, in March 2025, it was leaked that Huawei was testing the first extreme ultraviolet (EUV) photolithography equipment designed and manufactured entirely in China. Over the last twelve months information about this machine has been arriving very slowly, but currently we know enough to take this project very seriously. Its purpose is to place in the hands of Chinese integrated circuit manufacturers the possibility of producing highly integrated chips without using ASML equipment. However, unlike the EUV machines of this company from the Netherlands, the prototype of the project led by Huawei It uses an LDP (laser induced discharge) type ultraviolet light source, and not an LPP (laser generated plasma) class. On paper the LDP source is capable of generating UVE light with a wavelength of 13.5 nmso this Chinese prototype should be able to compete head-to-head with ASML’s UVE photolithography machines. The LDP radiation source is less powerful and simpler to implement than an LPP source, although it has been leaked that the Harbin Institute of Technology, which is located in northeastern China, is testing a 100 watt LPP source. The Changchun Institute of Optics, Mechanics and Physics appears to be able to manufacture the mirrors required for an EUV machine using atomic polishing techniques The most interesting thing about this project is that, if we stick to what we know, it seems to have shaped a hybrid photolithography machine which combines solutions developed by China by reverse engineering ASML’s deep ultraviolet photolithography (UVP) equipment in its possession and innovations devised by Chinese research centers. The Changchun Institute of Optics, Mechanics and Physics appears to be able to manufacture the mirrors required for an EUV machine using atomic polishing techniques with performance close to that of the mirrors produced by ZEISS for ASML. On the other hand, Tsinghua University has recently presented advances in polyteluoxane photoresists designed specifically for interact with the wavelength of 13.5 nm. Furthermore, Xuzhou B&C Chemical, which is one of the leading photoresist materials manufacturers in China, anticipates that in at most five years will have the capacity to produce large-scale advanced KrF photoresists (Krypton Fluoride) and ArF (Argon Fluoride). Be that as it may, the leaks maintain that the first test integrated circuits will be produced by this machine in 2028so that large-scale manufacturing will begin no later than 2030. Tsinghua University’s SSMB-UVE project continues to advance Each of ASML’s UVE machines incorporates its own ultraviolet light source, but Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences seek to generate this radiation, which is so important for produce advanced chips using a synchrotronwhich is nothing more than a circular particle accelerator that is used to analyze the properties of matter at the atomic level, such as various types of materials, or even proteins. It’s called HEPS (High Energy Photon Source o High Energy Photon Source). China’s plan is to place several semiconductor manufacturing plants around the particle accelerator to which the synchrotron will deliver the SVU light. SSMB-UVEwhich is the name of this project, comes from the English name Steady-State Micro-Bunching-UVEwhich we can translate as Microclustering in steady state for the generation of UVE radiation. A priori we may think that a particle accelerator has nothing to do with the manufacturing of integrated circuits, but we would be overlooking something very important: the HEPS synchrotron has the capacity to produce high power UVE light. In fact, it is a source designed to generate a large amount of radiation. China’s plan is to place several semiconductor manufacturing plants around the particle accelerator to which the synchrotron will deliver EUV light in the same way a power plant delivers electricity to its customers. The leaks ensure that this project has already completed the verification phases of the particle beams, although in principle nothing seems to indicate that this synchrotron will be able to be used to produce large-scale integrated circuits in the short term. Presumably the Shenzhen hybrid EUV machine will be ready before the SSMB-UVE project, but the path of the latter, if it finally comes to fruition, it will be much longer because it aspires to put a next-generation UVE radiation source in China’s hands. Image | Generated by Xataka with Gemini In Xataka | TSMC acknowledges that it has considered taking its factories out of Taiwan. It’s impossible for a good reason. In Xataka | The looming bottleneck in AI is neither RAM nor gas: it’s that TSMC’s N3 node is absolutely saturated

China has been patiently preparing for a major global energy crisis for years. And now it reaps its fruits

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The Third Gulf War is here and the global oil market looks into the abyss. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has unleashed an unprecedented logistical panic and has catapulted the barrel of Brent well above $100. The panic is palpable throughout the Asian continent: The Philippines cuts working hours, Singapore sends its office workers to telework and Thailand intervenes in diesel prices in desperation. Just a few thousand kilometers away, China observes the global chaos with an almost insulting coldness. The Asian giant has not been saved by providence, but by millimetric planning. Just as centuries ago it built a vast stone infrastructure to stop nomadic invasions, Beijing has been building an invisible Great Wall for more than a decade to isolate itself from fossil volatility. The seed of this resistance must be found five years ago. In 2021, during a visit to an oil field, President Xi Jinping ruled that China should keep the “energy rice bowl” firmly in its own hands. According to The Economisttransferring this traditional metaphor (historically used to appeal to food sovereignty) to energy, made clear a state obsession: the country was going to prepare tirelessly for the worst possible scenario. Is patience a good bet? There are several popular proverbs and sayings that say that whoever waits, victory will be sweeter. In the case of China it is a pure and simple pragmatic and geostrategic application. As we analyze in Xatakathis shielding is the direct result of the strategy “Made in China 2025” designed a decade ago. The Chinese government understood that dependence on foreign oil and gas was its greatest military and economic vulnerability. Mass electrification was not an environmental whim, but a matter of national survival. Today, China generates more than a quarter of its electricity with sun and wind, rewriting the world order and dividing the board between the old “petrostates” and the new “electrostates.” But while that transition is complete, Beijing has not neglected the fossil economy. The Chinese model puts raw resilience before the efficiency of Western markets, As a column points out Five Days. The best example is what happened last year. While global markets debated an alleged oil oversupply, China took advantage of the low prices to spend $10 billion buying heavily sanctioned oil from Russia, Venezuela and Iran; a crude oil that, in reality, I did not need immediately. The result of this silent hoarding is that today China has massive Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR), estimated between 900 and 1.4 billion barrels. This mattress is enough to cover between 96 and 140 days of your internal demand without caring for a single drop from the outside. The shield in action This long-term preparation has allowed China to deploy an arsenal of almost immediate containment measures since the conflict in the Gulf broke out: Closing energy borders: The first lightning order from the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission was to demand from their state giants of refining (PetroChina, Sinopec, CNOOC) to immediately suspend gasoline and diesel exports to protect the supply of the domestic market. The “shadow fleet”: Despite the war and the blockade, oil continues to flow to China. Iran is exporting a daily average of 2.1 million barrels using a fleet of old oil tankers without tracking systems that operate outside the US financial system. Land alternatives: To completely avoid the vulnerable Strait of Hormuz, the Asian power is squeezing to the maximum the land pipelines that connect it directly with Russia and Kazakhstan. Renewable bestiality: This is your shield more impenetrable: The price of solar panels and electric cars does not rise when there is a war in the Persian Gulf. In July 2024, China reached its goal of 1,200 GW of wind and solar capacity, achieving it six years ahead of schedule. In addition, new energy vehicles have already exceeded 60% of total car sales in the country by the end of 2025. Megainfrastructures and market reform: To manage the intermittency of renewables, increased their storage capacity by batteries 75% in 2025. Furthermore, the political response does not stop, as detailed ChinaDailyhave announced that the National Energy Administration will launch urgent reforms ahead of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) to create a “unified national energy market” capable of managing the volatility of having so much green energy on the grid. The dominance of uranium: Faced with the need to fuel its 58 operational nuclear reactors and the 27 under construction, Beijing has budgeted about $16 billion for resource storage in 2026. This includes the exploitation of gigantic deposits in the Ordos Desert and the pioneering extraction of uranium from seawater. The small print However, China’s energy “rice bowl” still has cracks. To keep the system afloat, the country remains dependent on an immense, dirty safety net: the coal. In 2024, this mineral supplied 56% of its energy primary and, currently, they have more than 300 plants under construction. As emphasized a report of ChinaPower Projectdespite the pollution, the vast and abundant supply of coal offers Chinese policymakers a true final “safety net” against disruptions from other sources. But the real battle for survival is not only fought in the oil wells, but in the semiconductor laboratories. Although the country manufactured an astronomical 484 billion chips in 2024, still no access to the UVE lithography machines of the European company ASML. However, the Asian giant is finding cracks in the Western blockade. China already has two companies, SMIC and Huali Microelectronics, capable of producing advanced 7-nanometer chips using engineering techniques ‘multiple patterning’ using machines from previous generations. It is a more expensive and less efficient process, but it shows that sanctions only accelerate their quest for sovereignty. The next bottleneck to overcome is chemical. The country depends almost entirely on Japan (specifically from JSR Corporation) to obtain the hyper-specialized photoresist liquids needed in chip lithography. The new Chinese five-year plan has already set a five-year deadline to also break this Japanese monopoly. And while China weaves this net of absolute … Read more

Iceland, Norway and Switzerland have been boasting independence from the EU for decades. Global chaos is about to change everything

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The war between the United States, Israel and Iran is shaking the foundations of the historic independence of the nations that make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA or EFTA). Faced with an increasingly volatile geopolitical panorama, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland find themselves at a crossroads and look, each at their own pace, towards the European Union in search of refuge. The question that now haunts European parliaments is no longer just political, but purely industrial: are they willing to sacrifice parts of their sovereignty in exchange for the protection and stability that Brussels offers? As explained to the newspaper Five Days Sophie Altermatt, economist at Julius Baer, ​​these countries face external pressures from increasingly interventionist superpowers. The United States has become a much less predictable ally on trade and security, while China’s growing ambitions endanger European industrial competitiveness and create vulnerabilities in supply chains. The rhetoric of US President Donald Trump, who has even suggested his intention to annex Greenland, has acted as a powerful catalyst for this change in mentality. As the magazine warns The Spectatorquoting a maxim from Mark Carney: “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu.” The return of hard power politics is forcing middle powers to reevaluate their place in the world. From the European side, the door is open. As detailed by the Icelandic public broadcaster RÚVEU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has stressed that the current geopolitical context is fundamentally different from the past and that EU membership offers “an anchor in a bloc based on values, prosperity and security.” Are we facing a real approach? Moving towards greater integration implies sitting at the table where decisions are made, but also assuming a clash of sovereignties. Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide, leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party, acknowledged in a parliamentary debate collected by Five Days that remaining outside the Union generates enormous vulnerabilities, since their country remains “on the margins of everything we want to enter into.” However, the price of admission is high. Political analyst Thomas Vermes explains in the Norwegian middle ABC Nyheter that the EU is transforming towards a federation where supranational organizations assume more and more authority. Entering means submitting to decisions by qualified majority – where large countries have more demographic weight – and growing pressure to eliminate the right to veto on key issues. In addition, it would imply assuming joint economic burdens, such as the common debt of 90 billion euros contracted to help Ukraine. In fact, the possible entry of Ukraine would radically transform the bloc’s economy. According to the same Norwegian mediathe incorporation of the 41 million hectares of Ukrainian agricultural land would flood the markets and force rural aid to be restructured. Three countries, three different rhythms The answer to this dilemma varies drastically depending on the resources each nation brings to the table. Iceland: The direct path and the referendum in sight The Icelandic government has stepped on the accelerator and passed a resolution to hold a referendum on August 29, 2026 on resuming EU membership, a measure supported by 57% of the population. Iceland would provide the EU with a vital logistics position in the emerging Arctic trade routes and strategic supply: already is the fourth largest supplier of aluminum of the block, material that accounts for more than half of its exports to Europe. Nevertheless, as reported RÚVthe Minister of Foreign Affairs, Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir, has drawn a non-negotiable red line: she will not sign any agreement that involves ceding control over the island’s precious natural resources to the EU. Norway: The fractured debate Although the country rejected joining the EU in 1972 and 1994, the debate has been resurrected. According to The Spectatorthe conservative party (Høyre), now led by the determinedly pro-European Ine Eriksen Søreide, is “clearly a yes party.” Polls show an increase in support for accession, rising from 27% in 2023 to 41% in 2025. However, the current Labor government of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre is strongly opposed. Despite not being a member, Norway is Europe’s absolute energy guarantor after the invasion of Ukraine: it supplies 51.8% of the pipeline gas and 14.6% of the crude oil consumed by the EU. Precisely for this, the internal opposition is fierce. Columnist Hans Christian Hansen warns in the financial journal Finansavisen that the EU is losing technological ground to the US and Asia. According to Hansen, while the US uses energy to attract industry, the EU uses it to “self-regulate with increasing rigor” and promote projects of uncertain profitability such as offshore wind. The question he asks his compatriots is brutal: “Do we want to link our energy policy, our industry and our future to a team that is already losing?” Switzerland: The pragmatic path and bilateral agreements Unlike the Nordics, Switzerland does not contemplate full accession so as not to compromise its historical neutrality, but it is making progress in its economic and technological integration. President Ursula von der Leyen and Swiss President Guy Parmelin They signed the “Bilateral III” package. This framework modernizes agreements on transport and free movement, and adds crucial pacts on health, food security and Swiss participation in the European space agency and the Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ programmes. In addition, it will allow it to fully enter the internal electricity market in the EU. The objective of the Federal Council is “stabilize and future-proof the proven bilateral track“. The Federal Council approved the sending of this package to the Parliamentor, proposing to subject it to an optional referendum to guarantee its democratic legitimacy on sensitive issues such as salary protection. Switzerland’s weight is undeniable: in 2023, bilateral trade in services reached €245 billion, representing almost 9% of the EU’s total services trade. Forecasts in sight? The geopolitical board will continue to move. If Iceland eventually joins the EU, the pressure on Norway will be immense. As conservative leader Søreide arguesNorway would be in a “completely different situation” if its EFTA partner makes the leap. For its part, Switzerland … Read more

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

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