great

The EU and India finally seal their great trade agreement. Trump has accelerated what had been stuck for two decades

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The European Union is beginning to make moves on a board that no longer looks like it did a few years ago. With Donald Trump straining international trade and European dependence on external partners increasingly at the center of the debate, Brussels seeks to gain room for maneuver. This idea of ​​strategic autonomy, repeated for years in speeches and documents, is beginning to be translated into concrete decisions. Some point to digital, others to securityand others to commerce. In this context, the announcement of a great agreement with India after almost two decades of negotiation is understood. The advertisement. The news comes from New Delhi, after a summit in which Narendra Modi and two of the main European figures, António Costa and Ursula von der Leyen, participated. The agreement, negotiated for almost twenty yearsseeks to open a new commercial stage between the European Union and India, with a scope that Brussels has wanted to highlight from the first minute. Von der Leyen lor defined on social networks as “the mother of all trade agreements.” Click to see the original publication in X What goes in and what stays out. The announcement speaks of a broad agreement, but its perimeter is defined quite carefully. According to Reutersthe pact focuses on trade in goods and services and standards, while especially sensitive issues, such as investment protection, are negotiated separately. In addition, there are explicit exclusions: agriculture and dairy are not part of the package, a decision that seeks to avoid resistance from some sectors. The key is in the cars. The EU statement itself recalls that tariffs on cars imported into India can reach 110%, a barrier that in practice blocks the entry of a good part of European models. For this reason, the pact includes cuts that could place these tariffs at a minimum of 10%. These discounts would apply to a volume of up to 250,000 cars coming from the European Union. For European manufacturers, the attraction is obvious: access to a huge market that until now has been almost closed. The exchange of concessions. The potential benefits are distributed, although not symmetrically. India would gain competitiveness in labor-intensive industries, such as textiles and garments, which in Europe still face tariffs close to 10%. It also seeks to improve the access of its professionals and technological services to the European market. The EU, on the other hand, aims at a different objective: to better enter an expanding market, where its exports face a weighted average tariff of 9.3% and especially high charges on cars, chemicals and plastics. A geopolitical acceleration. The timing of the announcement is not coincidental. In recent months, both India and the European Union have felt more closely the protectionist turn that accompanies the new era of Donald Trump. Reuters recalls that India has not managed to close an agreement with the Trump Administration since the White House announced in April the so-called “reciprocal tariffs“, and that in August imposed an additional punitive tariff of 25% for the purchase of Russian oil, raising the total tax on Indian goods to 50%. For Europe, the message has been similar: tariffs have once again been an instrument of political pressure. Nothing is in effect yet. The announcement is important, but the institutional path is just beginning. The final text must still pass legal scrutiny in Brussels and New Delhi. Then comes the most delicate stage: ratification. Reuters notes that the pact will have to be approved by the European Parliament, a process that could take at least a year. For example, the EU-Mercosur pact: it was signed on January 17, 2026 in Asunción, but days later the European Parliament decided to refer it to the Court of Justice of the EU for review, something that could delay its application for up to two years. The movement with India does not have to follow that path, but it invites us to be cautious. Images | Olga Nayda | Mitul Gajera | frank mckenna In Xataka | Something has broken between Europe and the US: France leaving Zoom behind and Teams in its administration points to something bigger

Apple announced with great fanfare that the new Siri would be different from the rest of the AIs. It turned out that without Google there was no Siri

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I’m not going to hide, I’m one of those who believed Apple when announced with great fanfare that Apple Intelligence It would be different from the rest. He had reasons to do so: his financial muscle, his obsession with taking care of the software and his philosophy of arriving late to the game to score the goals at the last minute. But here I was wrong. The only way Google has had to play in this game has been using someone else’s deck. From waiting almost two years to having it now. Apple announced Apple Intelligence in its 2024 keynote. One in which it did not give too many details but showed us a different approach to AI than that of Google and OpenAI. An AI with real interaction with the operating system, integration with both native and third-party apps… a real “co-pilot” completely integrated into iOS, and not a super-vitamined app, but isolated from the whole. From that keynote until then the only thing we have is Siri being able to open ChatGPT when the question gets a little complicated. And, just a few weeks after announcement of the agreement between Apple and GoogleGurman affirms that we will see the new Siri in a matter of weeks. If the prediction came true, it was not a matter of time. It was a matter of not having the resources. What’s coming in February. Gurman tells Power On that the Siri 2.0 that we have been waiting for since 2024 can become a reality in the second half of February. In fact, he points out that one of the reasons why Apple made the announcement of the collaboration with Google official was because it was close to obtaining sufficient demonstrations of its functionality. Although there are no details about how their disembarkation will be, the modus operandi from Apple is easy to predict: we will have to update our iPhone to the corresponding version of iOS 26 that includes these new features, since Apple introduces improvements to its native apps through system updates. Not so fast. Although there are no details on how long Apple and Google have actually been working, what we do know is that the new Siri is not ready yet. Gurman points out that it will arrive in beta phase starting in February, and that the objective is not to delay the final version until beyond April. Again, evidence that Apple did not have the Siri that it boasted so much about ready, accelerating and putting two extra gears now that it has the support of Google. It can turn out well. My colleague Javier Pastor told, very correctly, how Apple can the parasite’s strategy works for him. The company is not going to enter the investment battle for new models: it is going to spend millions of dollars to take advantage of an existing infrastructure and use an already proven pillar. The new Siri will be a premium wrapper for Gemini and, landing in the real world, few beyond those of you reading these lines will even be aware that Google’s AI is what is powering your iPhone’s AI. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The Apple Intelligence and Siri disaster has caused something unusual: Apple gives the keys to its kingdom to Google

Madrid has bought so many electric cars that the DGT has ended one of its great incentives

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Electric cars and plug-in hybrids will not be able to circulate in the Bus-HOV lane unless the signs indicate so. The DGT has confirmed that it was one of the most attractive measures for the potential customer of a car with a Zero Emissions label to take the leap. Now, so many cars of this type have been sold in Madrid that they have ended up putting an end to this advantage. What has happened? The DGT has sent a statement announcing the “Resolution on special traffic regulation measures for 2026.” Nothing very juicy except for one detail: the announcement that the Zero Emission cars they have run out of taking advantage the Bus-HOV lane to avoid traffic jams. The DGT explains that from now on, drivers of a Zero Emissions car (electric or plug-in hybrid with more than 40 kilometers of autonomy) will only be able to circulate on this special lane when it is specifically signposted. By default, they will not be able to enter it. Because? According to the DGT, the decision “responds both to the demand of the citizens and to the requests of the public transport companies and the Ombudsman who have conveyed to the DGT their concern about the progressive loss of effectiveness of the HOV lanes that directly affects the regularity and punctuality of the service, discouraging its use and harming thousands of daily users who opt for public transport.” And they provide data: traffic jams on the main roads have increased by 10%, while in the Bus-HOV lanes they have increased by 22%. But the data skyrockets in Madrid. According to their accounts, traffic jams are 20% more frequent on the main road of the A-6 entering and exiting Madrid. In its Bus-HOV lane, traffic jams have increased by 90%. Madrid, absolute leader. According to ANFAC data, Madrid was the Autonomous Community where the most electrified cars (electric and plug-in hybrids because the data also discriminate by non-plug-in hybrids) were purchased. In total, at the end of 2025, 102,245 cars of this type were recorded. Across Spain, 245,629 Zero Emission cars were purchased. The next region in which the most Zero Emission cars were purchased was Catalonia but it remained at 33,309 units. Behind them, only the Valencian Community and Andalusia exceeded 20,000 units. Goodbye to one of the great incentives. Until now, switching to the Bus-HOV lane despite only having one passenger traveling in an electric or plug-in hybrid car was one of the great incentives to get a vehicle of this type. The HOV Bus on the A-6 in Madrid, the only one for which the DGT offers data, is a relief for a road that is clogged daily. Beyond the driving comfort (absence of noise or vibrations) and the savings if we recharge at home, the Zero Emissions cars had two great incentives that were considered “political”. One is the purchasing aid that until now was collected in the MOVES III Plan but that have been frozen waiting for a Auto+ Plan that has not yet materialized. The second was this use of the Bus-HOV lane, since the time saved per day was considerable. However, advantages applied by each municipality such as unlimited access to ZBEsexemptions in the payment of road taxes or free parking in regulated parking areas. These aids are of municipal application and, therefore, vary from one city to another. Goodbye, goodbye. The loss of the unlimited pass for the VAO Bus is only a reminder that Zero Emission cars continue to enjoy some aid that, it is hoped, will end up disappearing. This is what has happened, for example, in Norway, where the exemption from paying taxes has caused a hole of 1.8 billion euros. The solution that has been proposed is to tax the weight of vehicles to alleviate this problem. In other cities, like parisit is also ignored whether the car is electric or not and a similar mechanism is also used to charge in regulated parking areas. Photo | DGT In Xataka | Guide to know if your car will be able to circulate in the ZBEs of Madrid in 2026: labels, registrations and areas

The internet has decided that 2016 was great and worth remembering. But there’s a problem: it wasn’t at all.

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The aesthetics of 2016 comes back strong: filters that They imitate the Instagram of then (according to Wikipedia, more than 200 million videos with filters that imitate visuals), trends that they recover photos from thenrecreations of the summer of ‘Pokémon GO’, tributes and memories to David Bowie. Generation Z users, many of them teenagers at the time, they rebuild 2016 like a golden age (there has been a 450% increase in searches of the term “2016” on TikTok). The contradiction is obvious: That same year, numerous media declared it one of the worst in recent history. What happened. On January 10 he died David Bowie; they followed him Prince, Leonard Cohen, George Michael, Carrie Fisher. On June 23, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. On November 8, Donald Trump won the US election. Media like slate either Newsweek They wondered if it was the worst year in history. Less than a decade later, that same year it has become an object of nostalgia. Starting shot. The Bowie’s death January 10 marked the year since its inception. Two days before he had published ‘Blackstar’, an album that today is interpreted as a farewell but that then went unnoticed in its testamentary dimension. The shock was immediate: an artist who had hidden his cancer for 18 months disappeared without warning, and memes filled that void almost immediately. The artists mentioned above followed, and each death reinforced the same idea: 2016 was cursed. In Xataka All the reasons you should listen to David Bowie if you haven’t already Imbalance. Trump and Brexit shattered the expectations of progress and openness that dominated Western political discourse. In‘The future of nostalgia’already in 2001, Svetlana Boym distinguished between “restorative nostalgia” (which seeks to reconstruct a mythical home) and “reflective nostalgia” (which enjoys longing without seeking to recover anything). Nostalgia for 2016 is of the first kind: it invents a year that never existed. Boym noted that restorative nostalgia “does not recognize itself as nostalgia, but as truth and tradition.” Just what happens when TikTok recreates the summer ofPokémon GO as if it had been edenic. This has already been said. There are theorists who have reflected on the phenomenon to remember 2016 just ten years later. David Foster Wallace documented in the 1990s what he called “nostalgia for the present”: the urge to long for something that is not yet over. 2016 fulfills that paradox: it has become an object of nostalgia before being historically processed, while its political consequences remain active. The temporal distance necessary for nostalgia, usually two or three decades, has been compressed to the point of almost disappearing. {“videoId”:”x9785qi”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Prince – Partyman”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”233″} Retromania. It is inevitable to refer to ‘Retromania‘a 2011 essay in which Simon Reynolds argued that since the 2000s, pop culture had reversed its direction: instead of generating the future, it was dedicated to reactivating the past. Reynolds documented band reunions, deluxe reissues, revival festivals, nostalgic samples. Fifteen years later, his thesis has intensified: no society has ever been so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its most recent past. The return to 2016 confirms his diagnosis: a decade is enough to activate nostalgia. Hauntology. Mark Fisher elaborated on this idea in ‘The ghosts of my life’where he developed the concept of “hauntology” that Derrida had coined: we are inhabited by futures that did not materialize. Fisher, who died in 2017, argued that contemporary culture had lost its ability to imagine alternatives to the present. The past cannot be recovered; Their ghosts haunt a present incapable of projecting forward. Nostalgia for 2016 materializes this paralysis: one longs for a year defined by its catastrophic nature because there is a lack of vocabulary to articulate desirable futures. In Xataka A rosy past: why our brains can’t fight nostalgia Nostalgia mode. Finally, Fredric Jameson had anticipated this phenomenon in ‘Postmodernism: or the cultural logic of late capitalism’ in 1991, when describing the “nostalgia mode”: postmodern culture reproduces styles from the past by emptying them of historical reference and reducing them to an aesthetic surface. Instagram and TikTok accelerate this process. What was present yesterday is content today vintage available for consumption. The Spotify playlists of 2016 and the summer of ‘Pokémon GO’ are remembered, but not the bad thing. The algorithm creates a sweetened version of the past that eliminates conflict. It could be worse. 2026, without going any further. The nostalgia of 2016 reveals an escape from much more present horrors: those of 2026. That year has been dwarfed as a “bad year” because a decade later Trump returns to the presidency in a much more virulent way, with attacks on international law and invasion of countries, the war in Ukraine has no signs of ending, Gaza is going through a humanitarian disaster that shames the planet, political and media polarization has become radicalized, housing has become inaccessible… Carrie Fisher, who died in 2016 If in 2016 there were those who considered it exaggerated to talk about authoritarian drift, 2026 materializes that exaggeration: the alarms that seemed like hyperbole turned out to be prophetic. Nostalgia for 2016 is not innocent: it is the implicit recognition that the situation has worsened, that that year, with all its disasters, was preferable to the present. It’s coming. The cycle accelerates. If 2016 is already an object of nostalgia in 2026, what year will be nostalgic in 2030? 2020, the year of the global pandemic? 2024? Culture is caught in a loop where the present devours itself before it has been digested, where the ability to imagine alternatives has atrophied to the point that we can only look back. Even when what we see behind is disaster. In Xataka | People are so fed up with the current Internet that they are returning to MySpace. Not out of nostalgia, but out of rebellion (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news … Read more

Offering the cheapest gasoline in Spain has become an obsession. And 2026 is going to be the year of the great battle

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The cheapest gasoline in Spain today, January 7, is found at a Ballenoil service station in Coslada (Madrid) at a price of 1,239 euros/liter, according to dieselgasolina.coma portal that monitors the price of service stations throughout our country. The second position is also from a Ballenoil service station and is also in Coslada. And the third. And the fourth and the fifth. Oh. And also the seventh, the eighth and the tenth. And the company low cost has started a war to be the company that sells us fuel the cheapest in our country. It wants to continue expanding. And along the way it will face Plenergy, another of the queens of cheap gasoline. Both have undertaken strong expansion. The cheap gasoline war Ballenoil, which is part of Cepsa moeve since just over two yearsis the leg that its parent company has to continue attracting customers who prioritize the price of gasoline above any other incentive. The company goes through a transformation campaignmaking greater efforts for sustainable fuels and electricity. With Ballenoil, Moeve has some safety net. Its service stations require very little expense because, precisely, that is the secret of gasoline low cost. Minimum investments in the stations, forget about additives and any other additional service so that word of mouth is the true driver of service stations. Low prices but good performance at volume. The strategy is working. They point out in Five Days that Ballenoil sold 1.385 million liters of fuel in 2024 and that the target figure for 2026 is 1.8 billion liters. To do this, they seek to consolidate at the end of the year an offer of 500 gas stations spread throughout Spain. Last November they were the first low cost to reach 350 stations of service in Spain. The investment is by no means exceptional. Plenergy is another of the kings of low cost with a turnover of 1,550 million euros in sales in 2024. Right now, it has 352 gas stations on the Peninsula, of which 10 are in Portugal and the rest in Spain. The objective is the same as that of Ballenoil: 500 service stations by the end of 2026. He growth of this type of business It is so high that if the plans are fulfilled we will be seeing one opening of this type of company every four days. That is, every two weeks there should be three new service stations and another on the way. And to certify it, the objective of Plenergy, they point out in Five Days is to have a 10% market share in our country. That would place it as the third most used company, only behind Repsol and Moeve. To these two giants we must add the third in contention. Petroprix, which shares with Ballenoil the service stations with the cheapest fuel in Spain according to dieselgasolina.com, also plans an expansion. For now, talk about extend your influence abroad But it also does not turn its back on Spain and talks about having 400 service stations ready in our country by 2027. gasoline low cost proves to be a huge business in our country. As we counted on Xatakaits competitive advantage is zero investment in marketing or additives. The fuel arrives at these service stations as it is distributed by Exolum, former CHLin charge of distributing all gasoline throughout our country. In return, the business model proposes sales that are large enough to compensate for the narrow profit margin, without an alternative for additional services such as large gas stations such as Repsol or Moeve receive. Photo | Ballenoil and Plenergy In Xataka | Look at gasoline and diesel to improve the electric motor. This project is committed to an untested solution

The great plan of Chinese brands to open hundreds of dealerships in Spain: a movement against the current

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Search, compare and if you find something better, buy it It was the 80s and Colón’s detergents had snuck their famous slogan into every house in Spain. 40 years later, a BYD worker explained to me how they sought to break down prejudices in Spain: “We are letting people take the car home. We don’t want to do the typical 20-minute test with the salesperson inside the car. We tell the customer not to be afraid, to take the car and bring it to us the next day” BYD barely had a handful of points of sale in Spain those days in 2023. Shortly before we had attended the official presentation of the brand. The Chinese company arrived with three electric cars (two of them with a clear premium focus) and I saw it clearly: the brand had to attract the customer to the dealership. Let him sit in the car, touch it and feel it. It was the only way to dynamit prejudices. We are just over a month away from the end of 2025. At the end of October, BYD has sold 22,357 exclusively plug-in units in Spain according to data from Anfac. They easily double Fiat. They surpass Mazda and Volvo. They left Tesla behind a long time ago. They have Opel or Cupra on the near horizon. They begin to approach Ford. At the same time, BYD will close 100 dealerships this year (96 are already active throughout Spain) and they plan to open another thirty next year. At the same time, Chery has placed 31,493 cars in our country at the end of November between Ebro, Omoda and Jaecoo. And we are facing the first full year in which they have sold cars in our country. The sum of all of them also easily exceeds one hundred points of sale. MG adds 38,989 units between January and October 2025. With 11 points of sale available throughout Spain. The irruption is such that 10% of the cars purchased in Spain they are Chinese. It was a figure that was difficult to imagine just a few years ago. A figure that has been achieved by taking the customer to the dealership. And dynamiting their prejudices. The importance of being on the street There are many factors that explain the brutal growth of Chinese brands in our country. We can talk about its low prices, about offering a gateway to a technology (electric or plug-in hybrid) that has made the product more expensive or the extensive equipment offered in each car. But in addition to the price, which overrides all the previous arguments, we find an expansive effort by all these brands to be on the street, at the customer’s feet, with the dealers. “We had been waiting for its arrival for a long time. Already 15 years ago, in the brand’s first foray, we had one of its models, now I don’t remember exactly the name. In terms of volume, manufacturing capacity and development, it is a really excellent product. We think it is above the rest of the Chinese brands that are arriving in our country.” The speaker is José María Blitz, Project Director at the dealership that BYD has on Concha Espina Street in Madrid (next to the Santiago Bernabéu) and which belongs to Astara Retaila distributor with a presence in 19 countries and that sells you a Bentley or a Rolls-Royce as well as a BYD. This time it is the Chinese brand he is referring to. He tells us that the public has welcomed the company with open arms and that since they opened their first dealership, this one next to the Madrid stadium, interest has only increased. “The client It has already surpassed that of ‘unknown brand’. There could have been one at the beginning, three or four years ago, but I think it is practically expired. What’s more, the customer’s perception of the brand is excellent,” he explains. Added to that, “the European product was very expensive and the equipment was very fair. Chinese brands offer a quality product at a competitive price with a much higher level of equipment. We can easily be 20% or 25% below competing brands with higher equipment levels,” says Blitz. BYD is just one of the Chinese brands that sell in our country. Together with MG and the Chery Group (Omoda, Jaecoo and Ebro) they form a kind of quintet representative of the 28 Chinese brands that already sell in our country, according to Faconauto. The dealer association of our country says it has about 600 points of sale right now, between dealers and official services. Of course, they point out to us that “it is convenient to contextualize this figure: the majority of points of sale in Spain continue to correspond to consolidated manufacturers – European, Japanese, Korean or American – whose presence is structural and has developed over decades. Right now, Faconauto has 28 Chinese companies selling cars through 600 dealerships spread throughout the country. What happened to find us with this explosion? Blitz is clear, the product, he assures, is part of the success. But also who these brands have partnered with. “Their strategy has been to close agreements with large groups of dealers, people who are really professional,” they say from this dealership owned by Astara. The same is the opinion of Faconauto, who point out that “they have decided to enter our market with a ‘traditional’ model, taking advantage of the establishment of business dealers. And the key is the word ‘businessmen’, who choose where to invest their money. It is evident that many dealer groups have seen a good opportunity in investing in the distribution of Chinese brands.” This commitment generates trust in the customer, which has allowed them to grow “to the level of any other European brand,” for Blitz. The key: a disruptive product and good after-sales service. “They are very agile and they want their employees to be agile too. There is a sense of … Read more

We still don’t know if humanoid robots will be the next great technological revolution. Yes we know that China will lead it

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There are a lot of companies determined to sell us the idea that, in the not too distant future, everyone we will have a humanoid robot at home. We have many doubts that they will be the revolution that they promise (and there are reasons for this), but in China they have it very clear. Patents. They count in South China Morning Post that Morgan Stanley has published volume 3 of its series ‘Robot Almanac‘, which details some key data on the state of the humanoid robot industry. China is far ahead when it comes to patents, having registered 7,705 patents in the last five years, while in the United States they have registered 1,561, almost five times less than its technological rival par excellence. Dependence. It’s not just about patents, China has another key advantage and that is that its production lines are much more efficient from a cost point of view. This causes the rest of the companies that manufacture humanoids to depend on them if they do not want their production costs to skyrocket. The cost of building a supply chain in which China was left out would raise prices exponentially. The report estimates that manufacturing the Tesla Optimus Gen 2 without China’s participation would raise the cost from about $46,000 to $131,000. Obsession with robots. Humanoid robots from companies like Unitree or Deep Robotics have been in the public eye for a long time. We have seen them participate in the first robotic olympics, fight, play soccer and how dance corps in macro concerts. They are appearances clearly focused on going viral, showing their capabilities to the world and, ultimately, making people see them as something cool and want to buy one. However, although humanoids take all the spotlight, they are only the tip of the iceberg of a strategy that goes much further. Personified AI. In English it would be ’embodied AI’ and it is the approach that China has taken in his particular AI career. The government included the term in his job report this year, which highlights its strategic importance. More than large language and software models, China wants AI that is present, whether in the form of humanoid robots, drones, autonomous vehicles or industrial robots. Speaking of industry, guess who has 51% of all industrial robots in the world. Exactly: China. Industrial robots. According to data from Financial TimesChina installs 280,000 robots a year in its factories with a clear objective: automate to achieve greater efficiency and power continue being the factory of the world. Now that workers’ salaries are higherthe way they have found to remain competitive against markets like India or Bangladesh is automation. Image | Andy Kelly in Unsplash In Xataka | I have asked for water from the first humanoid robot working in Beijing. It’s a weird vending machine.

five great gift ideas for the Three Wise Men

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If you still don’t have the gifts of the Three Wise Men and you are looking for inspiration to hit the nail on the head, El Corte Inglés has a section called Geek Universe with ideas to give and take. Therefore, in this article we are going to review some board games, audio devices and also kitchen devices. The K-Pop Warriors ‘The K-Pop Warriors‘have enjoyed (and continue to do so) enormous popularity on the Netflix platform, managing to reach millions of views and breaking records. It is not surprising that the platform launched a karaoke for the little ones, or not so little ones, in the house, although if we prefer to have the physical soundtrack we can opt for vinyl of ‘Las Guerreras K-Pop’ which is available at El Corte Inglés. If you prefer, it is also CD available. The K-Pop Warriors – Vinyl The price could vary. We earn commission from these links DeLorean replica For the most nostalgic there is also a large assortment of products related to movies, being the DeLorean replica one of the coolest. This is the car of ‘back to the future‘ in 1/24 scale which has a good level of detail. It is manufactured by the Welly brand and has dimensions of 17 cm wide, 7 cm high and 6 cm long. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links One Piece Monopoly ‘One Piece‘ has amassed a good audience during the long years in which both the manga and the anime have been (and are) on the air. The Mugiwara (Straw Hats) have made the leap into the field of board games with an adaptation of the Monopoly in One Piece edition. Includes figures of almost the entire crew and both the cards, the board and the coins are personalized. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Iron Man speaker If you liked the first phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (UCM), and especially those related to the character played by Robert Downey Jr., El Corte Inglés has a curious Iron Man Bluetooth speaker which has a pretty cool design. Incorporates Bluetooth, NFC and 3.5 mm Jack connectivityits battery offers a range of approximately 4 or 5 hours and has a hands-free function. Iron Man Bluetooth Speaker The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Pokémon waffle maker If you are passionate about waffles and want to make them with very different designs, El Corte Inglés has a practical waffle maker or waffle machine to prepare them Pokémon style. In this case, the waffle maker has a design of the iconic Pokéball from the series and the video games, but it is also allows you to prepare waffles with the same Pokéball design. In addition, it has non-stick treatment and its dimensions are 10 x 20 x 25 centimeters. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | El Corte Inglés and Compradicción (header), Sony and Netflix, Welly, Monopoly, Ekids, Uncanny Brands In Xataka | Five board and card games to spend a family Christmas with games for between 2 and 18 players In Xataka | Best Bluetooth speakers in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

In the 15th century Mallorca was a great manufacturer of nautical charts. Now that has allowed him to get hold of a treasure

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When almost six centuries ago the cartographer Pere Rossell created a detailed nautical chart of the Mediterranean, its purpose was to help sailors negotiate the winding coasts of North Africa and the Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Black Seas, a vast expanse of water crisscrossed with trade routes. What Rossell probably did not imagine is that in 2025 that Portulan letter full of annotations, lines and the occasional illustration would end up becoming a treasure in itself. One for which the Consell de Mallorca has paid 700,000 euros. The goal: bring him back home. A map, a treasure. That there are maps (and codices) that are worth more than many treasures is nothing new. He reminded us a few years ago an atlas supposedly consulted by Christopher Columbus on his first trip to America that ended up sold for several million euros. And we has remembered again now the Consell de Mallorca, although with a much more modest outlay. The island government has just paid 700,000 euros by a nautical chart prepared in the mid-15th century by one of the most important (and prolific) cartographers on the island at that time: Pere Rossellpart of the Mallorcan cartographic schoolwhich in turn connects with one of the eras of greatest splendor of the region in the preparation of nautical charts. From the workshops of Mallorca came plans so precious that they were in demand from Flanders to Alexandria. The Mediterranean on paper. The Majorcan press assures that the objective of the Consell is to expose the document in the Mallorca Museumbut the truth is that you don’t have to wait that long to enjoy its details, colors and annotations. At least if we don’t mind doing it through a screen. Sotheby’s, the firm in charge of the auction, includes a description and a detailed gallery of images on your websitewhich recalls that the plan was drawn up at the end of the 1440s, is written in Latin and Catalan and shows the Mediterranean and Black Seas in great detail. In the work Rossell reviewed dozens and dozens of place names and multiple navigation routes. As a cherry on top, it included shields, flags and details of nine cities with their fortifications. “Part of our identity”. Sotheby’s also stated that the plan has been valued by between 700,000 and one million of pounds. Mallorca Diary precise that the starting price was 600,000, around 687,000 euros, the amount that the island Government has decided to disburse through a direct purchase. The effort is more than justified for the Consell. Its head of Culture, Antònia Roca, celebrated a few days ago that portulano returns to Mallorca after spending several centuries outside the land where it was made, around the year 1447. “We acquired one of the most important jewels of maritime navigation and our historical heritage and we want to share it with the citizens.” A jewel that comes home. Roca is not the only one who thinks this way. A few weeks ago, prestigious historians such as María Barceló, emeritus professor of Medieval History, they claimed to local institutions to take advantage of the Sotheby’s auction to enrich the island’s heritage with a unique piece. Among other reasons, they alleged that no Majorcan public institution has one of the 15th century letters that came from the island’s School of Cartography. “They are the first who should act, they have the moral obligation to acquire it. We must recover the cultural heritage of this land dispersed throughout the world,” the expert insisted. Days later the Consell seemed to take note. Is it so valuable? Beyond its heritage value, Sotheby’s highlights the peculiarity of the nautical chart within Rossell’s legacy: the work that the Consell has just acquired is “the oldest of the ten navigation maps signed by Rossell”, one of the great exponents of the Mallorcan school. The plan was probably drawn up as a commission from the powerful Florentine Martelli family, in whose archive it was preserved for more than five centuries, until almost the 1970s, when it appears in the book dealer’s catalogue. Kenneth Nebenzahl. In the 80s it passed into the hands of the Pritzker couple and now (after a stop at the Sotheby’s auction house) it returns to Mallorca. Works of art…practical. Pere Rossell’s nautical chart is relevant for another reason. In his day there were ordinary plans in which practical criteria predominated and were basically designed for use on board ships, so they were sparse in decorations and ornaments. Then there were luxury portulans, meticulously decorated objects that usually ended up in palaces. As explains Ramón J. Pujadeshead of research at the Barcelona History Museum, The Worldthe work acquired by the Consell is halfway between both categories. They are premium nautical charts, designed for navigation but that do not give up aesthetics or becoming a status symbol. Images | Shoteby’s and Wikipedia In Xataka | Someone has created abstract works of art with one of the most unique forms of engineering: highway “knots”

Telefónica promised great savings by 2030. Its ERE has been negotiated at 2,500 million euros and 4,525 layoffs

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Telefónica and the majority unions UGT, CCOO and Fetico-Sumados have signed the employment regulation file (ERE) that will affect the seven subsidiaries of the group. The minimum volume of departures is set at 4,525 employees, 14 less than initially planned after a last-minute reduction in the divisions of Telefónica Global Solutions, Telefónica Innovación Digital and Telefónica SA As highlighted by CCOO statementthe agreement is reached after almost a month of marathon negotiations, which began in November when the management communicated its intention to carry out the ERE for objective reasons that would affect 6,088 employees. Fewer layoffs than estimated He agreement reached establishes the minimum departure of some 4,525 employees, which represents a reduction of 25.6% compared to the 6,088 dismissals proposed at the beginning of the negotiations. However, this limit only responds at a minimum estimatethe company estimates that finally about 5,500 employees will take voluntary leave. In any case, it is a lower figure than that announced by the operator before the negotiations. The bulk of the adjustment corresponds to the companies covered by the Related Companies Agreement (CEV), with 3,765 minimum departures distributed as follows: 2,925 in Telefónica de España (almost 33% of a workforce of 8,892 people), 720 in Telefónica Móviles (20% of a total of 3,587 employees) and 120 in Telefónica Soluciones (11% of 1,118 workers). In the case of these companies covered by the Related Companies Agreement, the final number of dismissals is not fixed, but depends on the volume of voluntary adhesions, with a range that goes from 3,765 to 5,040 departures. The group’s global units total 585 layoffs. 109 layoffs in Telefónica Global Solutions (17% of the 638 employees), 182 in Digital Innovation (18.3% of 993 employees) and 294 in the TSA parent company (25.3% of 1,160 employees). Added to these figures are 175 departures from Movistar+, which represent 20.3% of its workforce of 860 people, a significant reduction compared to the 297 departures initially planned. Economic conditions and membership requirements Compensation contemplates different sections depending on the year of birth of the workers. Those born between 1969 and 1971 will receive 68% of the regulatory salary until the age of 63 and 38% thereafter, although in Movistar+ those born in 1971 are excluded. For the oldest For those born between 1965 and 1968, the percentages are 62% up to age 63 and 34% thereafter, while those born in 1964 or before will receive 52% of the salary up to age 63 and 35% thereafter. To voluntarily join with these conditions, 15 years of seniority in related subsidiaries and 13 years of seniority in global subsidiaries are required. In addition, the latter include voluntary bonuses of between 5,000 and 18,000 euros depending on seniority, doubling the amounts initially proposed. The departure process will be carried out in a staggered manner depending on the subsidiary. For related subsidiaries, the voluntary departure request period will begin on December 29 and end on January 26, while for global subsidiaries, it will extend from December 29 to January 29. In Movistar+, the voluntary deadline is postponed until January 7 and will be accepted until February 6. Spend to save Telefónica calculates that this ERE will have a cost of about 2,500 million euros before taxes. For Telefónica España and Movistar Plus+ the provision will be around 2.3 billion euros, while for the corporate units it will be approximately 200 million euros respectively. These staff cuts are part of the new Transform & Grow strategic plan of Telefónica for the period 2026-2030, which seeks to save costs up to 3,000 million euros annually in 2030. However, the company estimates annual savings close to 600 million euros from 2028, with a positive impact on cash generation as early as 2026. Simultaneously with the ERE, Telefónica has reached an agreement with the union centers to extend the collective agreements of the seven subsidiaries until 2030. The most significant advance is the commitment to increase salaries 1.5% each year while the agreement is in force, affecting both the related subsidiaries and the global units of Telefónica. Employees of the linked subsidiaries will receive an additional payment of 300 euros in October, of which 150 euros will be consolidated annually in the salary tables. The social benefits include the extension of the teleworking package up to 12 days, the extension of the 36 hour work week to global units, the improvement of bank guarantees for home purchases from 75,000 to 100,000 euros, aid of 3,000 euros for rent and the declaration of December 24 and 31 as non-working days. In Xataka | The best strategies to ask for a salary increase, the negotiation most similar to a “battle” at work Image | Telephone

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