huge

China has closed a huge chunk of sky for 40 days. And all we know is that space is bigger than Taiwan

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In aviation, advisories restricting the use of airspace usually last just a few days and are linked to very specific operations, while areas without altitude limits are reserved on rare occasions due to its impact on air traffic. In strategic regions of the planet, any prolonged alteration in these patterns is often interpreted as more than a simple technical measure. It just happened in China. An unprecedented air closure. China has closed for 40 days (from March 27 to May 6) a huge maritime airspace without offering any clear explanation, delimiting areas through aeronautical warnings which are normally used for short exercises but in this case they are unusually prolonged. To give us an idea, the extension of that space exceeds the size of Taiwan, which makes the measure difficult to fit within operational normality. The official silence and the scale of the movement suggest a deliberate decision that goes beyond simple air traffic management. What these notices really mean. The NOTAM (Notice to Air Missions) are designed to warn of risks or temporary restrictions, but their usual use is far from the current scenario, since they usually last a few days and are linked to specific, clearly identified maneuvers. Therefore, the combination of an extraordinary duration and the absence of explanations points more to a position of sustained activity more than a specific exercise. A priori, this implies that airspace control is being used as an active tool within a broader strategy. A key space on the regional board. counted the wall street journal A few hours ago, the affected areas extended from the Yellow Sea to the East China Sea, covering areas in front of South Korea and Japan and being located in strategic corridors for any military operation in the region. Although they are far from Taiwan (several hundred km), their location does not seem coincidental and fits with scenarios where the air route control would be decisive. The scale of the reserved area reinforces the idea that this is not a limited trial, but something with deeper operational implications. Signs in the midst of a tense context. The closure also coincides with a moment of high tension in the Indo-Pacific, with military movements in Japan, pressure about Taiwan and diplomatic activity relevant in parallel. Not only that. It also occurs after a striking pause on Chinese military flights near Taiwan, followed of its resumptionsuggesting a recalibration of activity. In this context, the measure can be interpreted as a way to send strategic messages without the need for explicit statements. Ambiguity as a strategy. In short, and although there are precedents for similar airspace reservations, they had never been so long nor so widewhich marks a clear difference compared to previous practices. If you like, this ambiguity also allows China to maintain operational flexibility, test scenarios and, ultimately, generate uncertainty among its rivals without publicly committing. The result is a signal that is difficult to interpret, one that, possibly or precisely because of this, multiply your impact strategic. Image | LG Images In Xataka | In silence, China is making giant strides in a race that until now it was not leading: space. In Xataka | The US opted for the quality of the F-35 rather than quantity. China opted for the opposite and it is already a problem

The chemical composition of galaxies has always been full of unknowns. James Webb has taken a huge step to solve it

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The James Webb Space Telescope sees where others can’t: its infrared vision pierces clouds of cosmic dust and reaches galaxies so far away that it took billions of years for its light to reach us. Looking far into space is, in that sense, looking back in time. However, what James Webb has seen in these galaxies differs from what was expected: these early galaxies seem to have too much nitrogen, much more than expected. Among the exotic possible explanations of science, hypotheses such as gigantic stars never seen before, black holes functioning as catalysts for galactic chemistry or large quantities of stars have passed. In fact, that was the topic of conversation in the middle of a phone call while Mexican astrophysicist José Eduardo Méndez-Delgado waited in line for the doctor. On the other end of the line, his colleague Karla Arellano-Córdova, who was in Edinburgh. In that informal talk they decided to change the prism: perhaps the problem was not the galaxies, but how we measure them. The discovery. The proposal from this international team is to analyze three light signals from the same oxygen ion to calculate temperature and density at the same time, without starting from one to calculate the other (the original source of error). The result: the gas was a hundred or a thousand times denser than was assumed in those galaxies. With that correction, the galaxies turned out to be richer in metals than they appeared and the excess nitrogen was drastically reduced. Why it is important. First, because the metallicity of a galaxy is directly related to its history: the more metals there are in its composition, the more stars have been born and died within it. Until now we were underestimating this figure, which made those early galaxies appear very different from our own and suggested a sharp and discontinuous evolution. Now they look more like what we know. But the elements essential for life, such as carbon, oxygen or nitrogen, did not exist when the universe was born: they were manufactured by the stars inside and expanded when they died. Hence the interest in knowing the chemistry of galaxies: it helps to understand when the universe had the necessary ingredients for life. With the wrong measurements, we don’t know if those ingredients were there earlier and in more places than we thought. Context. The standard method to know the composition of a distant galaxy is to analyze the spectral lines of its light based on the density of the gas and its temperature. The problem is that in these primitive galaxies the gas is much denser than expected, so its application as a thermometer works poorly. And from here on, everything failed. The nitrogen anomalies appeared in the first scientific data from the James Webb Space Telescope, as this either this. Since the results did not fit the models, the scientific community threw itself into trying to find explanations. This paper proposes to take a step back: before interpreting stellar physics, check that the measurements are correct. Besides, the Webb now allows it: simultaneously detects oxygen lines in the ultraviolet and in the optical in such distant galaxies. How they do it. In essence, the trick is choosing the right signals. One of the oxygen light lines, visible in ultraviolet, has a special property: it does not distort even if the gas is very dense, something that happened with the lines they were using previously. By combining it with two other signals from the same atom, the research team can calculate temperature and density at the same time, as if they were solving two simultaneous and independent equations. Using statistical simulations, the team found that the results were consistent with other independent measurements of the same galaxies. Yes, but. As the team explains in the work, their method corrects the density error, but not other possible errors that are equally important: the gas of these galaxies also has internal temperature variations, and that can bias the results in ways that this study does not resolve. Furthermore, the method only works well when all three light signals from oxygen are clearly detected. In three of the six galaxies analyzed this was not possible, and the results are less precise. Nitrogen remains a problem. The overabundances come almost entirely from a particular ion whose emission is extraordinarily sensitive to temperature: a variation of just ten percent in that parameter would reduce the calculated nitrogen by half. No one has yet measured that temperature directly. However, it points out a path to follow before looking for “exotic” explanations: verify that the measurement tools are up to par. In Xataka | For a time it was one of the asteroids most watched by astronomers: the Webb has just resolved a key doubt In Xataka | James Webb has been detecting red dots in the universe for years: the only problem is that we don’t know what they are Cover | Oleg Moroz

wants to build a huge lake 2.8 kilometers long

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If you go to Google Maps and search for ‘Saudi Arabia’, you will find a large piece of land within the Arabian Peninsula. The word “earth” is not just a saying: the sand color predominates throughout its geography. Because Saudi Arabia is sand. Beneath that surface there are important and invaluable deposits of oil, natural gas and minerals that make any construction, even if it defies the rules of logic, profitability or common sense, possible. As a mega ski resort in the middle of the desert. EITHER water parks throughout the dry land. EITHER a Caribbean style resort. Have we already mentioned that there is no water in Saudi Arabia? That is not an obstacle to mounting an artificial lake high mountain with three dams. The most dystopian future is in NEOM and we already know that it’s very expensive. The project. It is called Trojena Lake and it will be a freshwater lake in the middle of the desert, at an altitude of 2,600 meters in the mountains of Tabuk, as a bucolic backdrop for its ski resort. According to the construction company, the reservoir will be the largest artificial body of water in the entire country, 2.8 kilometers long and 1.5 square kilometers in surface. To contain the water between the mountains, it will use a system with three dams and inside there will be an artificial island for recreational use. As if the above were not enough, the lake will not have a normal shape: on one side will be The Bow, a cantilever that will extend the surface of the lake beyond the front of the main dam, as if it were a kind of balcony overlooking the mountain. It will be shaped like the bow of a suspended ship and will house a luxury hotel, residential and entertainment areas. It is not a ship stranded in the middle of the mountain: it is an artificial lake with a view of the valley. WeBuild Why it is important. To begin with, because as we have already been able to glimpse in the main details of its construction, we are facing a challenging project from an engineering point of view: due to its size, the construction challenge of constructing the dams or excavating the rock and even the way of obtaining water. Or simply because it is in a hostile environment where it should not even exist (naturally). On the other hand, because it is a thermometer of the real state of NEOM, a project whose future seems increasingly uncertain after cuts and delays. Trojena Lake one of its most advanced and tangible projects: there is a contract of 4.7 billion dollars signed with a renowned Italian construction company, machinery in the mountains and real progress. And although its completion was scheduled for the end of 2026, there are already leaks from Saudi officials pointing to delays of three to four years. Render of the lake. NEOM Context. The economic engine of Saudi Arabia has been, for decades, oil. But black gold has an expiration date, so it takes time for the Middle Eastern country to diversify its economy. As? with his Vision 2030 plan to promote tourism, infrastructure and, ultimately, other ways to monetize. NEOM is their urban development megaproject, but it is not just any one: it is exuberant and ostentatious, an instrument of international reputation that seeks to attract investment, talent and tourism through a modern and futuristic image. In a nutshell: another Dubai (pre-conflict Dubai between the US, Israel and Iran). For now, influencers have already attracted. In figures. Here are some of the astronomical numerical data from Trojana Lake: An initial $4.7 billion contract signed with We Build in January 2024. A lake 2.8 kilometers long and 1.5 square kilometers in area. An excavation of 90,000 cubic meters of rock per week. Manpower: 10,000 people. Technical challenges. Many and large. To build the lake they will use three dams: the main one will be 145 meters high and 475 meters long and will be made of RCC concrete, like the second dam. The third, however, will be made of rock and will have a volume of 4.3 million cubic meters. The logistics are extreme as they are in the desert, with no pre-existing infrastructure, so everything is moved to that remote location. On the other hand, The Bow is a long-span cantilever suspended over an active reservoir, which combines complex structural engineering with continuous and permanent exposure to water loading. The icing on the cake is the water: WeBuild’s press release does not specify its origin and there are no rivers around it, which implies pumping, desalination or collection of aquifers. According to Arabian Gulf Business Insightthe water will come from an area near the Gulf of Aqaba, more than 200 kilometers away. But there are many more. Trojena Lake cannot be understood without the framework that surrounds it and here the list of problems that threaten NEOM and Saudi Arabia’s desire to diversify its economy by offering a futuristic image is revealed. The 2029 Winter Olympics were postponed indefinitelythe costs of the futuristic city have been shotthe delay of the specific project is an open secret within a general delay. Not only that, even there is talk of a rescaling of its size. And we have barely mentioned the elephant in the room: the war adds a new layer of difficulty, both directly (drone attacks have already reached Riyadh) and indirectly, with the blockage of maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, the uncertainty of energy trade and, in general, the disincentive for foreign capital investment in the face of instability. In Xataka | The Line and Trojena were the jewels of the new Saudi Arabia. They will also be the first to face reality: they are very expensive In Xataka | Saudi Arabia’s impossible bridge to join Africa and Asia: a 32-kilometer megastructure over the Red Sea Cover | NEOM

Four days (or more) of unlimited data is a huge price

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Nobody likes to be left without Internet, but much less when we are traveling. If you don’t want to use roaming or public WiFi, you can always buy a SIM card at the destination, although this can be a hassle and not cheap. The solution? A eSIM installed on your mobile and you forget about problems. You have a very good option with eSimFLAG: if we use the code ‘XATAKA’ we will get three days free contracting at least four days of unlimited data. eSimFLAG – 4 days of unlimited data The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Unlimited data in more than 170 different destinations This promo is quite interesting if we plan to travel soon, such as next Easter. The code that we indicated above is already active and will be until next April 17so we have plenty of time to use it. For example, if right now we contract seven days of unlimited data in Japan and use the code ‘XATAKA’, it will only cost us 15.60 euros (outside of the promo, 27.30 euros). So with all destinations. Why choose an eSIM instead of a conventional SIM? In line with what we told you above, the key is in comfort. It installs in just a few minutes on your mobile, without having to use the typical spike that comes in the boxes. In addition, you install it once and forget it, so if you travel again in the future and use eSimFLAG you will not have to install it again. Another important point is the peace of mind that an eSIM provides in this type of case. Since you are paying for unlimited data, You will not have any scare in the form of a kilometer bill as could happen if you use your company’s roaming. And, if you set it up at home before leaving, you’ll already have Internet once you get off the plane. eSimFLAG offers its service in more than 170 countries, so it is very useful. Having unlimited data, We can continue using WhatsApp or Google Maps at our destinationmaking the trip a much more comfortable and simple experience. And if you do it at a reduced price with this promo, all the better. 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 | eSimFLAG In Xataka | eSIM in Spain: all operators, compatible devices, prices and conditions (2026) In Xataka | eSIM or virtual SIM: what it is, what advantages it has and what is its compatibility in Spain

Beyond prices and vacation rentals, housing in Madrid faces a huge problem: irregular houses

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Beyond price escalation, the pressure of the vacation rental or the decoupling Between the speed at which homes are created and new buildings built, in Madrid the real estate market faces a tricky challenge: irregular developments. The latest data of the Community of Madrid reveal that in the region there are dozens of settlements of illegal origin that bring together thousands of homes that start from an irregular situation. all one hot potato for administration. What has happened? The data has revealed it The Newspaper. The Community of Madrid has registered almost 200 developments built without the necessary permits, settlements of illegal origin that add up to thousands of homes. The calculation is based on an update of the inventory from the 1980s, when 136 irregular settlements were identified. The figure has changed since then for two reasons. The first, because there were nuclei that have managed to regularize themselves. The second, because the technicians have added to the list others that (for one reason or another) did not appear in the catalog that accompanied the 1985 regulations. What do the figures say? If you walk around Madrid you can find dozens of housing units built without respecting the regulations. Some very populous. Specifically, The Newspaper talks about 184 urbanizations or settlements of illegal origin and some 10,500 homes. The figure is partly explained because the 1980s census incorporated almost a hundred new consolidated residential areas. The Ministry of the Environment clarifies that in most cases they are the result of “urbanization processes outside the law” and “lacking planning”, which explains why they often do not offer “minimum conditions for urbanization.” Are all cases the same? Not at all. Not all urbanizations identified by the Community of Madrid are the same nor do they have the same dimensions. Particularly noteworthy is the settlement of La Vega del Tajuñawhich brings together a large part of the residences in an irregular situation detected by regional technicians. Specifically, there are 5,513 distributed over more than 2,700 hectares. With those dimensions it would be the largest settlement of its kind in the community, although not the only one where hundreds of people live. In Camino Viejo de Madrid and Vega Baja del Guadarrama there are also more than 1,400 buildings and there are others, such as El Rondelo, Pico Valsarón or Dehesa Nueva, with hundreds of homes. The Community has also noted constructions located in locations very close to the capital, such as Improved Field. How is that possible? The circumstances and context are not always the same, but a few days ago EPE visited a nucleus of Mejorada del Campo that helps to understand how settlements like this can be formed in the heart of Madrid. Specifically, the newspaper visited a nucleus that began to form in the 1980s, driven by developers who parceled out rural land and sold the land at affordable prices, offering it as an ideal space for “urban gardens” with access to water. Time, use and the increasing pressure that affect housing prices in Madrid did the rest. What were initially huts designed for tools gave way to more ambitious installations. Is it something new? Not at all. And not only because the history of these settlements can go back a long time. At the end of 2025, the Community of Madrid has already issued a statement in which he recalled that in just four years he had inspected 1,906 “irregular constructions” on protected land. To be precise, the regional government spoke of 5,334.3 hectares “affected by this type of settlements”, also identified in 56 municipalities. “Of them, about 80% are concentrated in the plains of the main Madrid rivers, the majority in the areas of the Tajuña River (2,712.5 hectares), followed by the Jarama (1,019.5), Guadarrama (363.2) and Tajo (150.2)”, explains the Madrid Executive, which warns of the “risk” it represents “both for people and the environment.” Hence, this type of construction appears among the objectives of the Urban Inspection and Discipline Plan. Does it only happen in Madrid? No. Settlements of this type are also common in other parts of Spain, such as Catalonia. “There are many urbanizations that were built in the 60s, 70s and early 80s of the 20th century, which were marketed without the necessary planning, urban management or basic public services,” recognize from the Catalan Generalitat. “Of the 1,433 identified in the 2015 catalogue, there are 730 with urban deficits. Many are concentrated in small municipalities and the tendency to convert housing estates into primary residences aggravates their situation,” acknowledges the regional government. The topic is complex because, as remember EPE When talking about the Madrid case, the legal framework varies over time: if a home built on non-developable land remains long enough outside the ‘radar’ of the authorities, the crime expires and can no longer be demolished. Images | Community of Madrid Via | The Newspaper In Xataka | Madrid believed itself immune to the TukTuk plague in the most tourist cities in the world. Now someone wants to ban them

Carrefour sells off this huge 65-inch Neo QLED Samsung TV, with MiniLED and 120 Hz

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Although it is clear that the OLED TVs They are the highest in image quality, it is true that they are expensive. This has made QLED TVs become one of the most popular options currently, due to their excellent quality-price ratio. If you are looking for a large one, now at Carrefour you can get this Samsung TQ65QN1EFAU with 200 euros discount, for 649 euros. Furthermore, if you have the Carrefour Pass card you can pay it in 10 easy installments of 64.90 euros. Smart TV Samsung TQ65QN1EFAU The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A large screen TV at an unbeatable price As we have already said before, this TV has a 65-inch Neo QLED panel and has technology MiniLED. These LEDs are much smaller than those of a conventional TV, so the zone lighting control is very good, offering very deep blacks, almost at the levels of OLED screens. For gaming it is also a good option, since it has 120Hz refresh ratefour ports HDMI 2.1 and support for FreeSync Premium Pro. In addition, its latency is very low, so it will allow you to make the most of your PS5 either Xbox Series X at 120 fps. This is a 2025 model, so today it is still a very good purchasing option. The operating system under which it works is tizen and is compatible with Apple AirPlay. As for sound, its speakers offer an RMS power of 20 W, although it is something you can improve with a sound bar. ⚡ IN SUMMARY: offer for the Samsung TQ65QN1EFAU smart TV today ✅ THE BEST Its processor is powerful: The NQ4 AI Gen2 is a processor with one of the best image scaling functions. It is capable of taking low-resolution content and cleaning it of “noise” through Artificial Intelligence. Impact shine: Being NEO QLED, the peak brightness offered by this TV is very high. This makes it an ideal TV for living rooms with lots of natural light or windows, where an OLED would suffer from reflections. ❌ THE WORST Without Dolby Vision… It is one of the big “buts” of Samsung. Of course, it supports HDR10+, but you miss out on the most used standard on platforms like Disney+ or Netflix. Intrusion in Tizen… Although Tizen is a very complete operating system, the interface is filled with recommendations and advertising from Samsung’s own channels. This can be somewhat annoying and slow down your browsing. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are going to use the console a lot in a bright room and if you are going to have the TV on for a long time with cartoon channels or DTT, since there is no risk of screen burn-in. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… You are a purist Dolby Vision movie buff, since the absence of this is a handicap for them. Some accessories that may interest you for this TV Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Plus The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Sound Bar HW-B46CF/ZF 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 | Webedia and Samsung In Xataka | The nine best sound bars and bases for less than 400 euros In Xataka | Mega-guide to set up a home theater: projector, screen, sound system and more

The US has been looking from space for years at a huge brown ribbon in the Atlantic that goes from Mexico to Africa that should not be there

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The blue planet looks very different from space. We have internalized things like that the Chinese Wall is seen and it is not true: what is appreciated They are the greenhouses of Almería. Or a great old man desknown as the Great Dam of Zimbabwe. And for a few years now, NASA satellites they have been registering the presence of a brown stripe that extends across the Atlantic Ocean. It’s not a big brown island or a continent, but it looks like it. What is that “brown continent”. It is a mass of brown algae that, according to research from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and Florida Atlantic University in whose last record It weighed 37.5 million tons and surpasses the 8,000 kilometers in length, more than from New York to Madrid. And it has a name: the Great Sargassum Belt. Context. He pelagic sargassum It is a seaweed that historically has always lived confined to the Sargasso Sea. However, since 2011 NASA has been documenting its expansion into the open sea until what it is now: a brown strip that by the end of 2024 left the Gulf of Mexico and spread until it reached the coasts of West Africa. This phenomenon is actually a huge accumulation of algae that reappears almost every year with one exception: 2013. The Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt is bigger than ever: evolution documented by NASA Why is it important. Because this stratospheric mass of algae is not only spectacular from a visual point of view: it has repercussions on the marine ecosystem, destroys beaches and even contributes to accelerating climate change. It is also an ecological alarm signal for the Atlantic. According to Dr. Brian Lapointelead author of the review of changes in pelagic sargassum and professor at FAU Harbor Branch, explains that it even caused the emergency shutdown of a Florida nuclear power plant in 1991. Why are they growing like foam?. Lapointe and his team have been investigating the evolution since the 1980s and have found that the nitrogen content in brown algae has increased by 55% between 1980 and 2020; the nitrogen/phosphorus ratio also increased by 50%. This change has occurred because brown algae no longer only feed on natural nutrients from the ocean, but also receive nitrogen and phosphorus from land thanks to human activity, such as agricultural runoff or wastewater discharge. The result is uncontrolled growth. Sargassum is transported by ocean currents, especially in floods from the Amazon, towards the Atlantic. There it thrives thanks to that extra supply of nutrients. An unaesthetic and harmful stain. Brown algae per se are not harmful and in fact, they serve as habitat for different species. However, its enormous presence has altered the ecosystem. Upon reaching the coasts, they begin to decompose, thus releasing hydrogen sulfide, a toxic gas that damages coral reefs, reduces the oxygen present and emits greenhouse gases. What can we do. In short: stop feeding them. After this exhaustive monitoring, the research team warns that humans should reduce nutrient runoff from the coast since, if this continues, more Great Sargassum Belts could appear throughout the ocean. In Xataka | The brutal floods facing Portugal and western Spain, seen from space In Xataka | A 2.5 billion-year-old geological wonder: Zimbabwe’s Great Dam seen by NASA from space Cover | POT

Verdeliss’s latest challenge reminds us that impossible challenges are huge business

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Before we get into the matter, let me ask you an indiscreet question: What did you do between seven in the afternoon on Wednesday and the same time on Thursday? Most likely several things, including eating, sleeping, and stretching your legs. Of all of them Estefanía Unzu, better known by her alias ‘Verdeliss’he only did the last one. And in an unorthodox way. During 24 hours the influencer He dedicated himself to running on a treadmill installed behind a shop window in Madrid. It is the umpteenth proof of two trends that they walk run hand in hand: business and the fever generated by impossible challenges, a field that Verdeliss know well. What has happened? If in the last few hours you have stopped by the Decathlon store in Nuevos Ministerios (Orense Street, Madrid) it is quite likely that you have been surprised. On Wednesday the 25th at 7:01 p.m. in its window you could see a treadmill with a runner taking strides. At 2:00 a.m. the image was identical. And at 6:59 p.m. on Thursday the 26th, the same thing happened. The surprising thing is that during all that time (the 24 hours from 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday to 7:00 p.m. on Thursday) the person who ran on the treadmill was always the same: Verdeliss. His balance: 24 hours of walking and more than 250 km. Why did he do it? Advertising. The challenge is part of the campaign orchestrated by Decathlon to promote the sneakers Kipride Maxof Kiprunthe brand with which the French chain aspires to expand its space in the growing business athletics and amateur running. In fact, the company has been in charge of giving visibility to the Verdeliss challenge on its networks, with videos, photos, interviews with passers-by and of course to the influencer herselfwho before starting to run assured that his objective is to test his limits. The underlying purpose: to take advantage of the challenge to give notoriety to the new Decathlin sneakers and provide them with a place in a hypercompetitive market, in which large multinationals such as Adidas or Nike work in different price ranges and frequently launch promotions. Kiprin introduced the Kipride Max ago just a monthpromote them as daily training shoes “designed to offer the brand’s most cushioned and comfortable ride.” Why Verdeliss? Because of his public profile. Runners there are many. Influencers, too. Estefanía Unizo Ripoll (‘Verdeliss’) has however managed to gain notable fame. And it has done so with two ingredients: an unconventional profile and a commitment to extreme challenges like Decathlon. The influencer Navarre has 40 years, eight children and combines his love for extreme sports with his businesswoman facet and media figure (he reached go through Big Brother). Since he joined YouTube in 2008, his profile has also changed: from basically publishing family content he has turned towards extreme sports. If his name sounds familiar to you even if you don’t follow current events running maybe it’s because in 2025 he went for it World Marathon Challengea test that consists of seven marathons in seven days and different continents. And that is just one of the challenges he has conquered. Another is the national championship 100 km on the road. Why is it important? Because Decathlon’s challenge not only tells us about it. It also tells us a lot about the fever (and business) generated around impossible challenges. People like to explore (or see how others explore) physical limits, whether climbing skyscrapersjumping from heart attack distances either swimming and running enormous distances with hardly any breaks. Behind many of these initiatives there are sponsorships (also campaigns with a more or less solidarity approach) and above all a huge media exposure for those who star in them. Verdeliss, for example, adds some 1.6 million of followers on Instagram and others 2.1 million on YouTube. The organization of extreme events also opens a business avenue: without going any further, participating in the World Marathon Challenge requires paying tens of thousands of euros. With yesterday’s campaign, Decathlon manages to position itself in a hypercompetitive market and the influencer (beyond the promotional agreement itself) feeds her image as an athlete capable of conquering extraordinary challenges, traveling 255 km in 24 hours. In the background there is another debate: to what extent facing challenges like this pushes the body to its limits. In the past Unzu herself has recognized having done “savages” and who does not seek to be “exemplary.” In fact, he even warns his followers: “Don’t do this in your house.” Images |Decathlon (IG) and Verdeliss In Xataka | The Winter Olympics leave Italy with a debt of 7.8 million dollars. Not to organize them, to win them

Mercadona suppliers have invested 1.7 billion euros. That gives you an idea of ​​what a huge business it has become.

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when you want present your model Mercadona’s business strategy usually cites five pillars: “the boss” (the word used to refer to customers), its staff, society and capital. The fifth is his wide network of suppliers. That the Valencian chain includes them on that list is no coincidence. If it has managed to lead the sector until it has gained a business share that is already close to 30%, it is thanks largely to its bet on white labela wide catalog of articles impossible to articulate without a “industrial cluster” with 2,100 suppliers. As Mercadona grows they do it too, but that link is not free. In order not to lose step, they are forced to invest millions. One figure: 1.7 billion. The data has revealed it Expansion. Last year, Mercadona suppliers made investments in Spain and Portugal worth 1.7 billion euros. The figure is not only interesting for its volume, it is also interesting when put into perspective: it represents 31% more than the previous year, when the sum of investments amounted to 1,300 million. If compared to 2023, when ‘only’ 500 million euros were mobilized, the increase in investment is much greater, close to 240%. Of course, not all suppliers have spent the same nor do all the projects in which they have invested have to be 100% focused on Mercadona, although it is true that the chain is the main client of some of its suppliers. Who has invested the most? Mercadona has not yet presented its 2025 report, but we do have that of the previous yearwhich details the suppliers that mobilized the most investment and generated the most employment. At the head was Casa Tarradellas, which supplies Mercadona with ready-made pizzas and fuets for the Hacendado brand. In 2024 the Catalan company invested 104 million to build two new factories, dryers and production lines. The published data by Expansion show that in 2025 it once again led investment in the Mercadona supplier ecosystem, with the mobilization of 117.6 million. At the beginning of last year the firm presented a new mill for wheat flour in Gurb (Barcelona) that required 25 million of euros and throughout the year it also promoted a storage center of species. In 2024 Casa Tarradellas achieved increase 12% its profits to reach 38.4 million euros, consolidating the positive trend already registered in 2023. The result was largely possible due to the increase in income. An investment cluster. The list The greatest investment effort is completed by companies such as Vall Companys (70 million euros), Incarlopsa, Avinatur, Essity and Cañigueral, all four with investments close to 60 million, Covap (42.5 million) and Entrepinares (27 million). Names such as Familia Martínez, Huevos Guillén (50) and Elaborados Naturales (40) also stand out. Not all of that money has had to be allocated to projects focused on supplying Mercadona, but a review of the reports deposited in the Commercial Registry reveals that the supermarket chain has become the main client of its suppliers. In some cases the company founded by Roig actually represents more than 50% of all his income. “Joint planning”. The data is interesting because it does not only tell us about the resources that Mercadona suppliers have dedicated to strengthening their infrastructure and productivity. It also suggests that these companies are forced to make this effort to keep up with the Valencian chain, which in 2024 increased its turnover by 9%, to exceed the 38.8 billion euros. Looking ahead to 2025, it expected to continue growing and reach 40.1 billion. Although Mercadona has not yet presented its report for the past year, we do have studies that show that it has achieved increase your quota of business, moving away from rivals such as Carrefour or Lidl. As its sales grow and its catalog of private labels and ready-to-eat foods triumphs, the Valencian firm needs to rely on its “industrial cluster” of suppliers. Hence the urgency for them to strengthen their production capacity. “These investments are possible thanks to trust and joint planning,” they explain from Mercadona when remembering the 1.7 billion mobilized. Investment… and something more. That these companies are willing to dedicate millions and millions of euros to modernize their facilities, gain production capacity or expand is explained by a very simple reason: keeping up with the Valencian chain has become quite a lucrative business. Recently Five Days he wondered how the companies that supply it with products are doing and, after investigating the Commercial Registry, it found out that in 2024 the 20 main suppliers of the chain increased their sales figures by 18% to exceed 12,000 million euros. In total, aggregate profits grew by 5%, exceeding 360 million. Curiously (or not) at the top in billing volume were Casa Tarradellas, Incarlopsa, J García Carrión and Covap, with sales increases ranging from 12 to 29% between 2022 and 2024. Images | Mercadona and Wikipedia In Xataka | Mercadona and the rest of the supermarkets have realized something worrying: they spend a million dollars on printing paper

“We didn’t expect this.” A Ukrainian drone has revealed a Russian arsenal in a warehouse, and the surprise has been huge: the missiles are animals

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From the early stages of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, when tanks were advancing while logistics columns were bogged down and fuel was scarce, the war began to reveal an uncomfortable paradox: the more modern it became in the skies, more “medieval” It was done on the ground. In fact, in that space where drones, satellites and trenches coexist, the return of solutions from the past apparently overcome was an early sign that the conflict was going to be, above all, a test of resistance. The latest Ukrainian discovery has confirmed that the wear and tear is tremendous. The return of the war of attrition. The irony is that the war in Ukraine has been shedding any illusion of modernity to return, as the days go by, to brutal logic of wear, one in which the quantity and capacity to take losses They weigh more than any technological “game changer”, and where the Russian army, pressured by the massive consumption of material and men, is beginning to show obvious signs of logistical exhaustion. On the southern and eastern front, the shortage of armored vehicles and modern systems is no longer hidden with silence, but is manifest in improvised solutions reminiscent of conflicts from another era and centuries, while Moscow insists on maintaining constant pressure on Ukrainian defenses at any cost. Cavalry in the 21st century. This wear and tear became visible at the beginning of 2026 when Ukrainian units detected and neutralized Russian assaults carried out on horseback, a tactic that seemed banished from modern warfare but that reappeared in sectors such as Oleskiivka in response to lack of means conventional. We are talking about small assault groups that advanced mounted, supported by prior reconnaissance, in infiltration attempts that ended up being aborted by drones and fire defensive, leaving such an absurd image (and repeated) as revealing: many horses survived, but the soldiers did not, and the Russian army confirmed that it was willing to resort to any available resources to sustain its offensive. The drone and the impossible arsenal. Now, the scene What finally condensed this drift came several weeks later, when a Ukrainian drone sneaked through the destroyed roof of a hidden warehouse, several kilometers from the line of contact, with the usual expectation of finding ammunition, fuel or military vehicles. What happened gives an idea of ​​these four years of slow war that has worn down both sides. Instead of artillery and technology to advance, the camera showed something that looked like something out of a rural garage: aging civilian cars, motorcycles from another era, and saddled horses, an “arsenal” as unexpected as it is eloquent of the state of the war in many areas. The message. “We didn’t expect to see this. It was really unusual,” said the drone pilot. to the Insider mediumspeaking on condition that he only be identified by his callsign “Cosmos.” “We were hoping to find some armored vehicles,” he added. He video It went viral because it summarized in seconds the real state of Russian logistics, but also because it demonstrated that those animals were not an isolated anecdote, but part of a system that already uses cheap and expendable media to move and attack under the constant threat of drones. Russia and the logic of sacrifice. For the Ukrainian commanders, this discovery is neither trivial nor a simple curiosity, but rather proof of a way of waging war based on accepting massive losses of material and personnel, replacing armored by civilian cars and horses because they are easier to replace. This logic, which prioritizes the attrition of the enemy, even if the cost is enormous, explains why Moscow continues to advance slowly, launching assaults with many times obsolete or improvised in regions such as Donbas, even when the monthly casualty figures, according to NATOreach levels that are difficult to sustain. If you will, the drone that expected to find missiles and found animals ended up portraying, better than any report, a war that moves backwards while consuming everything at hand. Image | 82nd Air Assault Brigade, State Border Guard Service of Ukraine In Xataka | It is evident that Russia can absorb thousands and thousands of casualties. So Ukraine is already designing a much riskier plan In Xataka | An unprecedented experiment is happening in Ukraine: bombs have turned dogs into other animals

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