government

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

The Government already has a plan to return to physical buttons

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Many of us miss the presence of physical buttons inside the vehicles that land on the market today, that is a fact. However, from various points of the globe there is already a certain movement in reversing and require a certain balance. In this sense, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China (MIIT) has proposed a new regulation which will force manufacturers to install physical buttons and controls for essential vehicle functions. The ‘all screen’ has dominated the automobile industry in China in recent years, but everything indicates that there is now an intention to stop this trend for safety reasons. The underlying problem. The obsession with minimalist interiors with huge touch screens has led many Chinese manufacturers to eliminate virtually all physical buttons from the cabin. A trend largely started by Tesla and that brands like BYD, Xiaomi or Geely have adopted it massively. As if navigating our phone’s interface wasn’t enough, now we also have to spend some time on the central screen of our car, and in several vehicles we have to go through this screen for functions as basic as the turn signals or emergency lights. Which functions will have mandatory physical controls. The regulations specify a clear list of items which must have physical buttons or controls with a minimum size of 10×10 millimeters: turn signals, emergency lights, horn, gear selection (P/R/N/D), windshield wipers, defroster, electric windows, switch to activate driving assistance systems and emergency lights. Technical requirements. Under the proposal, physical controls would need to be in fixed positions, allow use without looking, and provide tactile or auditory feedback. Additionally, basic functions must remain available even when the vehicle system fails or loses power. In this way, the regulatory body intends for the driver to be able to operate these controls without taking their eyes off the road or depending on the screen to respond correctly. It is not an isolated case. China has begun a regulatory crusade for security in recent months. A few days ago we were talking about the ban on hidden handles retractable after several fatal accidents in the country. There is also an intention to eliminate yoke-type (U-shaped) steering wheels, arguing that their design is not suitable for the 10-specific point impact tests on the steering wheel required by new safety regulations, which will come into force in January 2027. Stricter regulation for autonomous driving. The new rules also tighten the requirements for autonomous driving systems levels 3 and 4. Manufacturers will have to demonstrate that their systems can drive as well as “a competent and attentive human driver”, presenting case studies to support this. According to the regulations, if the system fails or the driver does not respond, the vehicle must reach what regulators call a “minimum risk condition” – that is, stop safely on its own. Implementation schedule. The draft is open to public consultation until April 13. According to ChinaEVHomethe regulations on physical controls would come into force on July 1, 2027, with a transition period of approximately six months. New models seeking approval must comply with all of this immediately, while existing models will have 13 months to adapt, according to they count from CarScoops. In Xataka | Two centuries ago the tires on cars and motorcycles were white. It had nothing to do with the design.

The Government remains committed to ending telephone SPAM and is now targeting electricity companies. It’s still a shot in the air

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The Spanish Government’s crusade against SPAM calls continues. At the beginning of the week, the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge approved the new General Regulations supply, marketing and aggregation of electrical energy. The main purpose of this is, according to the Government, to protect consumers through new measures. And one of them collides head-on with a recurring practice of marketers: SPAM calls. The measure. After the entry into force of the new regulation, telephone calls to advertise or contract services are prohibited, as long as “they have not been expressly requested by the consumer in advance or they are the one who calls the company.” It will not have immediate effect, companies will have four months to adapt to the regulations, under penalty of fines of between 600,000 and 6,000,000 euros if they fail to comply, according to the Law 24/2013, of the Electrical Sector. There is more. In addition to the prohibition of calls without express consent, the Royal Decree establishes the obligation to provide a completely free customer service number, as well as a maximum period of 15 days to respond to user claims and complaints. It is also prohibited to cut power to electro-dependent consumers on holidays and eves. Very nice, but. Although the Government has been trying to tackle the SPAM problem for more than a year, the reality is very different. According to the OCU, 99% of Spaniards (me among them, this week) continue to receive unwanted calls. Some companies continue to take advantage prior consent to send advertising communications, and others are providing their call centers with telephone numbers outside the traditional prefixes to continue with their practice, despite the fact that the law penalizes it. An endless war. The war against SPAM does not only affect Image | Xataka In Xataka | If you are tired of receiving spam calls every day, good news: MasOrange is tired too

The Nazis produced 1,200 films. 44 of them remain prohibited and guarded by the German Government to this day.

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In the Faculty of Information Sciences of the Complutense University of Madrid An optional subject is taught called History of informative and documentary cinema. A few years ago, the teacher who taught that class had the habit of giving his students fragments of ‘The triumph of the will‘, the documentary that Leni Riefenstahl directed about the Nazi party congress in Nuremberg, in 1934. She always added that she only showed those fragments because, if she put it in its entirety, she feared that we would want to join the party. ‘Triumph of the Will’ is one of the more than 1,200 films that the Ministry of Propaganda German, under the command of Joseph Goebbels, produced to spread Nazi ideals, anti-Semitism and to justify the Second World War. When the war ended, the Allies banned about 300 of them, and 44 are still on that list in charge of the German government. Why are these movies banned? Those forty-four were the subject of a documentary a few years ago, ‘Forbidden Films’which not only explained what kind of tapes they were and what they were about, but also asked whether they should no longer be banned and what legacy they might have left, 70 years after the end of the war. Your director, Felix Moellerproduced it in the face of disinterest of German youth about the history of the Nazis and the rise of the extreme right in Europe, and the documentary shows the reactions of different people when watching some of these films. Because the German government does allow their exhibition, but for educational purposes and with an expert in the room to explain and contextualize them. In the trailer you can already see some of these opinions, from those who are surprised because these films have good technical quality and are entertaining, to those who think that some of them should remain prohibited because they were, at the time, Nazi symbols, such as ‘The Jew Süss‘, which was probably the most successful of all the productions promoted by Goebbels. ‘The Jew Süss’ was the second film adaptation of the life of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, financial advisor to the Duke of Württemberg during the 18th century and who was accused of fraud, bribery, treason and even illicit relations with several ladies of the court, and executed for these crimes. His story had been treated in books and even in plays that generally focused on it as a great human tragedy. But Goebbels saw that he could present Süss as a arrogant jew who infiltrated the Germans to take away what was theirs. He already had the most important piece in his cinematic anti-Semitic propaganda. ‘The Jew Süss’ was a great popular success. It was screened at the 1940 Venice Film Festival, receiving good reviews for its technical workmanship, reviews that did not seem to be aware of the ultimate objective of the film. Goebbels himself wrote in his diary about the film that it was “an anti-Semitic film of the kind we could only wish for. I’m very happy about it.” Good but dangerous movies In 1994, the film critic Roger Ebert wrote about one of those 44 banned Nazi films, ‘Triumph of the Will’, that “we would all have reflected on the received opinion that the film is good but evil, and that writing about it raises the question of whether quality art can be in the service of evil.” Ebert asked himself the same question with ‘The Birth of a Nation’, RW Griffith’s film that is considered one of the founding works of cinema and, at the same time, deeply racist. Those films, at the time, were not considered that way. Luis Buñuel himself stated in his memories that, in 1935, no one in Hollywood thought that ‘Triumph of the Will’ was dangerous because there were too many regional dances and too many songs for its propaganda message to be taken seriously. The Second World War drastically changed that perception, but until then, the productions of the Ministry of Propaganda Germans used entertaining stories to convey their ideals. They portrayed the British as cruel inventors of concentration camps or justified the invasion of Poland by showing the Poles persecuting the German minority living there. They could be full of stereotypes, historical manipulations and blatant attempts to “brainwash” their viewers, but they were well produced and shot and were very successful at the time. For all these reasons, they remain prohibited. But should they continue to be? In ‘Forbidden films’ there are scholars who claim that these films clearly show what should not be repeated in the future and that, therefore, their access to them should not be restricted, while former members of neo-Nazi parties point out another reason for them to be removed from the “black list”: “When something is prohibited, it becomes interesting. Prohibiting things makes them fascinating and taboo because if it is prohibited, it must be true to a certain extent.” Other Banned Non-Nazi Films Nazi ideological propaganda is the reason why these 44 films remain banned in Germany, which also has a great controversy over the passage to public domain of ‘Mein Kampf’but throughout the history of cinema there have been films that have also been included in “blacklists” for reasons that can range from accusations of obscenity to, directly, blasphemy. Or it could have happened to them like ‘The great dictator‘, the satire that Charles Chaplin made of Hitler and Mussolini, in 1940, and which was banned in Argentina precisely for that parody, since Germany had been an ally of Juan Domingo Perón. It was even on the verge of not being shown in the United Kingdom because, when filming was announced, the country was trying to appease Hitler in his expansionist desires for Europe. When it was released, however, the British were already at war with the Germans and there was no reason for its censorship. You don’t have to go to China or countries with fundamentalist regimes to find the most … Read more

The Government applauded Repsol’s discounts in the midst of the gasoline crisis. Competition the fine now with 20.5 million for them

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February 2022. Spain is still suffering the economic consequences of the coronavirus crisis. After two years with workers suffering ERTES, Russia invades Ukraine and a war breaks out that we continue to suffer four years later. Immediately, the economy of the entire continent is reeling. Basic products skyrocket in price and, among them, fuel enters a runaway inflationary race. One that, in turn, once again raises the prices of basic products. February 3, 2022 we counted on Xataka that gasoline was more expensive than ever. We paid 1,538 euros per liter. 24% more than the previous year. In summer we were close to two euros per liter. By then the Government had launched its action plan. After a transport strike and with France applying state aid to the purchase of gasoline, the State began to subsidize with 20 cents/liter the purchase of fuel for all drivers. The measure only proved to be a plug through which water leaked. In summer the most pessimistic voices already pointed to a price of up to three euros per liter in gasoline. The pump price, fortunately, did not reach that point. In fact, that same summer another war began. This time at the service stations. And although the price of gasoline continued to rise to the point that at the till We were paying 1.80 euros for each liter again, The big oil companies brought out all their weapons: points cards, temporary discounts, loyalty plans… Movements that hid something that the CNMC already warned about that same summer: the big oil companies were getting rich. Now, it is the same CNMC that has made a decision: to fine Repsol 20.5 million euros. Abuse of power against competitors The CNMC has confirmed a sanction of 20.5 million euros to several Repsol Group companies and punishes them with disqualification from participating in public contracts for six months on the understanding that they abused their position of power to narrow profit margins with the intention of driving competitors out of the market. Competition defends that the discounts applied during the year 2022, which at the time were applauded by the Governmentthey narrowed the profit margins in the sale of fuel to the point of preventing companies selling low-cost fuel from competing on equal terms. The CNMC alleges that “competition law requires that companies in dominance position are especially responsible for not restricting competition. They assure that after various complaints they went to the Repsol Group service stations at the end of 2022 and that at the end of 2023 They initiated the disciplinary proceedings with the information collected. In the investigation. The behavior of Moeve, then Cepsa, and BP was also analyzed. However, only Repsol has been sanctioned. From the company, they point out in Five Daysassure that they will appeal the fine while arguing that “it is the first time in the history of national and community competition law that the CNMC sanctions a company for applying discounts.” Those days of 2022 were marked by the role of the oil companies. In April, when the State began to apply the discount of 20 cents per liter of fuel, low-cost operators They threatened to strike because they understood that the money they had to put out of their own pocket (of the 20 cents/liter, five were borne by the operator) destroyed their profit margins. Later, the CNMC confirmed that the companies in charge of supplying fuel were obtaining a juicy profit with the increase in fuel prices, to the point that their profit margins had widened despite having to put money in to subsidize fuel, with record gross margins. Now, the entity in charge of ensuring competition points out that Repsol also took the opportunity to try to sweep away the competition. It will have to be Repsol that manages to demonstrate that it did not act in this way and as the CNMC defends. Photo | Repsol In Xataka | For the first time, electrified cars are outselling gasoline cars. It is the beginning of the inevitable

Social networks are a problem for teenagers. Taking them away as the Government wants will also be

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As father of two teenagershe Pedro Sánchez announcement It touches me closely. It has also done so in recent months the conversation and the measures that They have already been activated in other countries. For all parents in a similar situation, and for all those who are going to experience it – if indeed those measures end up being activated—, the conclusion is clear. For those under 16 years of age, the smartphone is two things at the same time. The first, a black hole that devours your attention and that also conditions that basic structure on which they build their own social identity. It is not just that the cell phone is a disturbing dopamine instrument in which they spend hours and hours: it is that it is there where they socialize. In fact, in 2026, leaving a teenager without a cell phone not only prevents them from accessing the entire viral world: it means leaving them in a situation of social ostracism. You make him more or less a pariah. WhatsApp—at least, in Spain—is the main and primary communication channel for adolescents, even more than that of adults. There they organize class work, meet to go out and manage their own group dynamics. If this measure is activated, couldn’t that significantly influence your ability to connect with your friends and acquaintances? Nowadays, relationships for them are already totally hybrid, and removing their access to social networks, no matter how well-intentioned the measure, can have a terrible impact for many of them. Banning social media seems like a good idea until it doesn’t. All this debate has brought back the buzz of dumb phones, dumbphones. They are those mobile phones with aesthetics from the 2000s that recover shell-type designs or even physical keyboards and small screensbut rather than being limited in form, they are limited in substance. The idea is to reduce this dependence on the smartphone and turn that device into something minimal to call, send SMS and little else with the idea of ​​not being glued to the screen all day. The idea is nostalgic, again well-intentioned and even romantic, but impractical. Those dumbphones They are postulated as a tool for digital detoxification, but this movement faces an overwhelming technological and social reality. In the short term the concept may be nice and praiseworthy. In the long term it is, above all, an obstacle. And it is because the modern world has been designed by and for be lived with the smartphone at your side. Not using it means returning to a more uncomfortable and less practical life. On the one hand, that FOMO which can be beneficial (not everything we miss will be important, and probably most of it will not be), but on the other hand, there are real advantages in that total access to today’s world that the mobile phone gives us. We actually don’t even need a stupid cell phone. There have long been ways to limit the use of applications and those dedicated to social networks—the settings of digital well-being from Android or iOS—as well as tone up our mobile so that its home screen does not encourage us to use the mobile, but precisely the opposite. Parents also have access to parental control solutions, and at home, for example, we use Family Link with some success, although recognizing that it is virtually impossible to control everything. Trying to solve the current problem – which there is – with these types of measures is like putting doors on the countryside. It is a technical challenge that is almost impossible to solve and that follow in the wake of the famous pajaporte. Beyond the other gigantic debate that arises from this, that of privacy, here this control of minors seems unfeasible. The solution is probably not in the device or the apps it runs, but in re-educating the kids. The mobile phone should be a functional tool, not an object of constant validation. Parents there all have a difficult role, and I always say that if I had had a cell phone at their age I would probably be as trapped by it as they are, or more so. Do we have a problem with young people, cell phones and social networks? Definitely. Is this measure the solution? It seems hard to believe. I, of course, have serious doubts that it is. Image | Miguel Angel Perez In Xataka | The life of those of us who change our mobile phone almost every week (for work)

The Government of Spain has announced a “sovereign fund.” It has nothing to do with a sovereign fund

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Pedro Sánchez announced yesterday Thursday the creation of ‘España Crece’a fund managed by the ICO with an initial endowment of 10.5 billion euros from the Next Generation funds that the Government will not spend before the end of 2026. The stated goal is to mobilize an additional €120 billion through private investment and debt to maintain the reform momentum beyond the European deadline. Why is it important. The European funds expire this year and have been the main investment muscle of the Government, which has not approved budgets in this legislature. Without this vehicle, Spain would lose public investment capacity just when Sánchez boasts of having placed the country “in the Champions League” economically. The announcement arrives in extremiswhen there was a real risk of losing those 10.5 billion that had not been executed. Between the lines. Calling it a “sovereign fund” creates intentional confusion. The classic sovereign funds (Norway, Saudi Arabia, Singapore…) are born from structural surpluses thanks to oil, gas or trade balances that are permanently in the green. Spain has not had a budget surplus since 2007, when there was some debate about converting the pension piggy bank into a vehicle similar to Norwegian. The 2008 crisis buried that discussion. Yes, but. What the Government has presented is more like a renamed investment bank than a traditional sovereign fund. The closest model is British National Wealth Fundoriginally the UK Infrastructure Bank, which raises private funds to co-invest in green technologies and advanced industry. Its capacity is 27,000 million and Spain aspires to quintuple that figure with a smaller public base. In figures: 10.5 billion: initial public endowment, similar to SEPI business rescue fund created in the 2020 pandemic. 120,000 million: theoretical capacity if private investment is added, a “conservative estimate” according to Minister Carlos Body. 60 billion: what the ICO could mobilize directly through leverage. 9 priority sectors: housing (with a focus on the industrialized), energy, digitalization, AI, reindustrialization, circular economy, infrastructure, water and security. The context. Spain has competed well for foreign direct investment in the last decade – fifth world power in projects greenfield since 2013 – and has capitalized on European funds to promote reforms without approved budgets. But the absence of structural surpluses limits ambition too much. Spain has been running a deficit for almost twenty years and its balance of payments, although in surplus since 2012, does not compensate. What is happening. The Government is turning a necessity (not to lose unexecuted European funds) into a narrative of national sovereignty. But the seams are visible: it acts because the deadline is going to expire, not because there is a strategic plan based on its own surpluses. There is neither of the two things. Missing. Minister Corps will present the full details next week. There remain unknowns about the private co-investment mechanisms and how it will be guaranteed that those promised 120 billion will materialize. The experience of the SEPI fund, which barely used a quarter of its endowment, invites skepticism. Sánchez took advantage of the Spain Investors Day to vindicate the economic moment: “We have become accustomed to competing in the Champions League,” he said. He used the same expression as Zapatero in 2007, a few months before the outbreak of the financial crisis. The simile has not gone unnoticed. In Xataka | Carrying your ID on your cell phone is very easy. You just have to take advantage of your next visit to the police station Featured image | Moncloa

Deepfakes are much more than a bad joke. Now the Government wants them to be a violation of the right to honor

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The year started with X filling up with photos of women in bikinis. Everything was normal, except that it was other users who “undressed” them using Grok, Elon Musk’s AI. In the midst of the revived debate about deepfakes, the Government has announced a new draft law with which they seek to combat them. Against deepfakes. The text It is a modification of the organic law of civil protection of the right to honor, personal and family privacy and one’s own image. According to the Minister of Inclusion, Elma Saiz, “it is a more protectionist text, adapted to new technologies.” The “ultra-impersonations carried out with artificial intelligence” or deepfakes They will be a crime when the affected person does not give their consent and the objective is to undermine their moral integrity, generating sexual or humiliating content. In these cases there may be a prison sentence of up to 2 years. The draft also raises the age of consent for image transfer to 16 years (currently it is 14 years). However, the text continues to consider use to damage the reputation of the affected person to be illegitimate, even if they have given their consent. After death. The main novelty of this reform is that it contemplates the protection of the image or voice even after the death of the person, as long as it has been specified in the will. As they point out in The Countrythis could directly affect some true-crime content in which it is used AI to recreate the image or voice of murder victims. Another case that is considered is when the perpetrator of a crime tells details of the crime in podcasts, interviews or other media. If your story reopens the victim’s wound, it will be considered an unlawful interference with their rights. Let us remember the case of book by José Bretón. The exceptions. Those that already existed in the old law are maintained, such as recordings authorized by a judge or the publication of private conversations, as long as their content is news of general interest. The novelty is that specific AI exceptions are included. The image or voice of a public figure may be used if it is in a creative or humorous context. Of course, they must clearly specify that AI has been used in its creation. Was it necessary? This is the question that some lawyers like Borja Adsuara in his X profile. His argument is that the current law already protects the right to honor in all areas, so it was not necessary to mention new technologies such as social networks, AI or deepfakes. However, it must be taken into account, as they point out in Reutersthat the European Union is requiring member countries to regulate deepfakes, especially those with non-consensual sexual content, by 2027. Previous cases. The Grok case has reignited the debate about deepfakes by the volume of images generatedbut it is not the first time that this type of practice occurs. In 2023 there was the first massive case in Spain when some teenagers generated fake nude images of several minors. Recently we also learned about the first fine from the Spanish Data Protection Agency for a minor who used an app to “undress” a classmate. Image | Unsplash (edited) In Xataka | The United Kingdom is tired of people bypassing porn blocking: their new idea is to block it on iOS and Android

The Government is looking for someone to manage thousands of affordable homes. An unexpected candidate has emerged: Rental Insurance

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The State already has a ‘girlfriend’ for its affordable rental housing. Barely a month and a half after the SEPES put out to tender a contract to find companies interested in managing its public park of rental apartments, a large pool of 17,300 propertiesthe Ministry of Housing already knows of at least one interested firm. Of course, one that perhaps Isabel Rodríguez’s department did not have: Seguro Rent, the same company that the Ministry of Consumer Affairs wants to impose a fine of 3.6 million for violation of rights. Those responsible for the company they advance that they have all the requirements included in the tender and boast of their “experience and training.” Manager wanted. To understand the case we must go back to December 1, when the SEPES (shortly after converted into HOUSE47) launched a tender which probably whetted the appetite of more than one real estate agency. The contract in question amounted to a total of 55.4 million of euros (not including VAT) and was basically looking for companies interested in assuming for two years the “comprehensive management of the leasing of the public housing stock for affordable rentals.” In total, the tender covers 17,324 homes spread throughout the country, although to facilitate contracting it was divided into lots. Specifically, four were created for different regions, with between 1,600 and 5,700 houses. A name: Rental Insurance. The announcement was posted on the Public Sector Procurement Platform and companies had just over a month, until January 8, to present their offers. At the moment at least the name of one is known: Rental Insurancea firm dedicated to leasing management that boasts of having managed more than 75,000 contracts. Specifically, the company aspires to become with one of the four lots tendered by the State, the first, which covers 1,661 homes located in Galicia and Asturias. In exchange for its management, SEPES (now CASA47) offers about 6.5 million. The company of course defends its resume to win the contract. “Alquiler Seguro has the experience and training required to take charge of the comprehensive management of the rental fleet, as it has been doing for more than 19 years with the more than 28,000 contracts it currently manages throughout the country,” has claimed the signature itself on a note. Bragging about history. The company does not stop there. In addition to highlighting his experience managing house rentals (including public protection), he remembers the agreements and collaborations he has had with firms such as YourTECHÔ and First Hfocused on access to housing for vulnerable people. On its website the agency presume also from its office network, with more than 50 points spread throughout the country, and its portfolio of tens of thousands of properties. Why is it news? Because Rental Insurance not only stands out for its greater or lesser experience. Beyond the criticism that you have received from entities such as the Madrid Tenants Union, the OCU either FACUAthe company it was news recently for a proposed million-dollar fine. In December, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs imposed a fine of around 3.6 million euros on it for violating user rights and taking advantage of its position of strength in the market. At least in December, when the news brokethe resolution was not yet final and the company was advancing its intention to appeal. During the investigation he had already presented more than a dozen allegations. Questionable practices. In the file, advanced by Cadena SERdetailed practices that were at least controversial, such as forcing tenants to take out insurance, being responsible for charges for non-payments or claims or paying for a ‘Tenant Service Service’. Not only that. The file also details the obligation for the tenant to accept being included in a file of defaulters. Your practices already FACUA denounced them at the end of 2023. When SEPES launched its tender insisted in the profile of the company that is seeking to run the public affordable rental park: “Management will be carried out from social commitment and not only based on economic criteria. For this reason, one of the services that the successful bidder must provide consists of the prevention, detection and early attention of situations of risk of loss of housing.” Images | The Moncloa, Rental Insurance and FACUA In Xataka | The Great Rental Review is not going to be a joke for millions of Spaniards: more than 4,000 euros more per year

While cars are becoming more expensive in Europe, they are only going down in China. The Government has had to take measures

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Despite how they are sweeping brands outside of Chinain its domestic market there is voracious competition among all car manufacturers, which has led to an uncontrolled discount trend. For this reason, China’s market regulator has published a draft of guidelines to regulate prices in the automobile industry, seeking to stop the destructive price war that has shaken the sector in recent years. The country’s major manufacturers, including BYD, Xpeng, Great Wall Motors, Chery and BAIC, have publicly expressed their support for these new rules. The origin of the problem. According to data Cited by Wang Xia, chairman of the Automobile Committee of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, more than 200 vehicle models recorded price reductions in the domestic market during 2024. In May, the situation worsened even more when leading manufacturers applied massive discounts that exceeded 50,000 yuan (about 6,300 euros), while some vehicles were sold for as little as 30,000 yuan. This spiral of cuts has forced some small manufacturers to leave the market and has deteriorated the profitability of the sector. What the guidelines propose. The document from the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), published on December 12 and open to public consultation until the 22nd of this month, establish clear requirements for both manufacturers and dealers. Manufacturers must set prices based on production costs and market conditions, respecting the price autonomy of distributors. On the other hand, according to the document, selling below the production cost with the aim of eliminating competitors or achieving a monopoly position is prohibited, as well as price-fixing agreements between manufacturers. Dealers, for their part, must show complete and transparent prices, without false price references or misleading discounts. The reaction of the industry. BYD, the world’s largest manufacturer of electric vehicles, issued an official statement committing to follow the guidelines and optimize their internal price management systems. Xpeng, Nio and other manufacturers released similar statements supporting both the pricing guidelines and other complementary regulations on financing that facilitates the change of vehicle by reducing penalties for early loan repayment. Between the lines. The word “involution” has appeared more than once and twice in China’s hectic domestic vehicle market. Therefore, the Government wants to confront this idea with this new series of price regulations. The authorities They had already tried to stop the price war in June, when they summoned the CEOs of the major electric vehicle manufacturers to warn them about the abusive cuts. However, prices continued to fall: according to account Bloomberg with data collected by China Auto Market, BYD’s average transaction price fell from 116,200 yuan in June to 108,100 yuan in October. The transition aims to be complicated, since according to Bloomberg, there is a persistent weakness in demand, especially in luxury combustion vehicles. The middle account In addition, there are already manufacturers adapting these measures, offering more equipment for the same price or selling large SUVs at the price of smaller models. And now what. Following the public consultation period, which ends on December 22, the guidelines are expected to be formalized and play a key role. November already showed signs of stabilization, with 19 models with price cuts compared to 26 the previous year, according to ChinaEVHome. It remains to be seen if these regulations end up alleviating two of the most serious problems of this industry in China: excess productive capacity and weak demand. Cover image | BYD In Xataka | When the United States handed over its entire electrical grid to Chinese devices it seemed like a good idea. Now you have a problem

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