Islands

Yemen is one of the most dangerous places on the planet. And despite this there are Spanish tourists traveling to one of their islands

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Socotra is a paradisiacal archipelago located in the Indian Ocean, near the Gulf of Aden, just over 300 kilometers from the southern coast of Yemen, the country to which it belongs. Its biodiversity and abundance of native species earned it becoming a World Heritage Site 18 years ago. However, despite its idyllic appearance, for a few days Socotra has been something more: a large mousetrap in which they have been trapped. 600 touristsincluding 20 Spaniards. The reason? Socotra is full of corners instagrammablebut it is also (like the rest of Yemen) a destination that Foreign advises against visiting. What has happened? What was promised as a dream vacation on an idyllic island in the Indian Ocean has ended up turning into a nightmare. And all by the work and grace of the complex situation politics that Yemen is going through, marked by tensions between the Government and a separatist faction that at the beginning of December took control from two important provinces in the south of the country. With this backdrop, on December 30, the Executive decided to apply a air embargosea and land of several days that fully affected flights with Socotra, the largest of the islands that make up the archipelago of the same name. The territory was left without one-way services. No return. And how do I get out of here? That is the question that more than one in the archipelago asked. About 60,000 islanders who depend on Yemen reside there, but also hundreds of tourists. In fact, at the time of the cancellation of the flights, it is estimated that there were close to 600 foreigners. Although not all of them have the same nationality, they do share the same problem: How to leave the island? With flights cancelled, they were stranded more than 300 km from the coast. The regional deputy governor for Tourism and Cultural Affairs, Yahya Saleh Afrar, was quick to clarify that the situation in Socotra is “good” and the archipelago “safe.” “Everything’s fine”, emphasized a few days ago after ensuring that tourists continued with “their activities thanks to the agreements of the tourism companies.” That does not mean, Afrar also acknowledged, that “a certain anxiety” about the situation spread among travelers. In fact, as soon as talk of evacuation began, the authorities they found each other with that “everyone wanted to travel, but they were afraid.” Does it affect Spain? Yes. Most of the 600 affected tourists are Russians and Polesbut the list includes travelers from many other countries: Brazil, Italy, Russia, Poland, the US and China… Also Spain. Local authorities have confirmed that there have been a variety of cases on the island “between 15 and 20” who suffer exactly the same fate as the rest of international travelers. Yesterday the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured to the EFE agency that the group is fine, but is still on the island, with no choice but to extend their stay in Socotra. Everything indicates, however, that their ‘adventure’ will not last much longer. Why’s that? Because in recent days evacuation flights have begun to take off. The first one left on Wednesday with 179 people on board, another one followed yesterday with 145 foreign travelers and the idea, assures Swiss Infois that two more trips are scheduled today and tomorrow to get the rest of the tourists out of the archipelago. A priori and according to the data managed by EFEthe twenty Spaniards were still in Socotra yesterday, so they would fly today or tomorrow. Evacuations come after Russia and Poland They will confirm on Tuesday a new scheduled air route of the Yemeni national airline, Yemenia Airways, to Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. As slide The New York TimesUntil now, tourists traveled to Socotra basically from Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) aboard the Air Arabia airline. The change is interesting because both countries, Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, are indirect protagonists of the Yemen conflict. The first supports the recognized Yemeni Executive. The latter (UAE) support the separatist forces. Holidays in Socotra? Like many other tourist destinations, Socotra has “a side A and B” for island lovers: it is a paradisiacal enclave, but clouded by the political scene. UNESCO stands out that the archipelago has “global importance” for its biodiversity, flora and fauna, with a great abundance of native species that are only found on its islands. The images that are shared on networks also show endless sandy beaches bathed by turquoise water, dunes and unique vegetation. The “B side” (much less friendly) is marked by the conflict in Yemen. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is very clear. On your website make it clear which “advises against travel under any circumstances” to the country, including the island of Socotra, and invites any Spanish visitor to leave the territory “as soon as possible.” “Some agencies and tour operators organize trips to offshore islands, such as Socotra. This type of trip is discouraged due to the lack of safety guarantees and the possibility of problems returning.” Images | Valerian Guillot (Flickr) and Rod Waddington (Flickr) In Xataka | The Valencian Community has a single inhabited island. And when summer arrives, tourism is the least of their problems

China has been dumping tons of sand into the ocean for 12 years. And now we are seeing islands emerging in the middle of nowhere

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It has been more than a decade since China began a striking strategy of territorial expansion: throwing tons of sand into the South China Sea. This is not unique to China and, in fact, Japan thus built an airport that soon it will be an underwater airportbut China is doing it massively and with one objective: to claim what is its own. And seeing how they raise these artificial islands is… hypnotic. Context. The end of 2013 marked a turning point in China: the country started to massively fill in seven of the reefs of the Nansha and Xisha archipelagos (Spratly and Paracels, respectively). In record time between December of that year and June 2015, China carried out the first phase of the operation: the filling phase. From 2015 onwards, they have dedicated themselves to consolidate that territory through the construction of infrastructure such as landing strips, hangars, ports, radars and support structures. According to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, between December 2015 and October 2015, China had built artificially about 12 km² of land on the Nansha reefs. While the United States said it with concern, the Chinese media confirmed the information with pride. Before and then How they do it. They did not use overly complex methods to do so. On the one hand, they cut the coral bottom and pumped sediments to shallow areas. The earth was deposited as fill to later build dikes and retaining walls around the reef. The next step was to deposit more fill and, finally, large steamrollers and shovels were compacting that earth to give consistency to the whole. The last thing was to create paving, landing strips, roads and other infrastructure. The result is more than 12 km², and put in context they represent “17 times more land claimed in 20 months than all the other international claimants have achieved during the last 40 years.” In action. Seeing the satellite photos that show the before and after, something easy to do using the history function of Google Earth, is interesting, but seeing a timelapse of how one of these new territories has been built is, as I said, something hypnotic. An example, the following video ‘tweet‘ (if you can’t see it, click on it): Narrative. What motivation does China have for such a deployment of resources and money? It depends who you ask. On the one hand, the Chinese government has defended that the creation of these islands serves the support in rescue missions on the high seasalso to fishing, scientific research, navigation support points thanks to these radars and the collection of data for its meteorological service. Finally, it also serves for defense if necessary. The neighbors are not convinced by the explanation and, in fact, think that it is a strategy that responds to a single interest: claiming territories that China considers its property. The Ministry of Defense of Japan assures that these infrastructures allow a permanent Chinese presence in waters that do not belong to it, with offensive capacity in practically the entire South China Sea. Military. Recent reports, such as the one from CSIS in 2025, underlines that China’s recent near-perennial activity in the South China Sea has only been possible thanks to that decade-old construction work. Western analyzes they point that the runways for aircraft are prepared for combat aircraft and land transport, as well as the presence of ports for warships, underground facilities and even missile platforms. The tension is evident because Beijing claims sovereignty over territories that its neighbors deny. Those neighbors are Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan or the Philippines. And Vietnam, in fact, is doing the same thing as China in 2013: throwing land into the sea. Their progress has also been considerable in a short time in an area that has become a real hotbed. The ecological impact. But beyond the intentions of each other, something undeniable that cannot be hidden under any narrative is the environmental damage that these artificial islands cause to their surroundings. In some articles it has been indicated that this ‘island’ desire has caused the loss of some 12 to 18 km² of reef, damaging some of the best preserved reefs in the region directly, but also affecting distant systems due to the ‘clouds’ of sediment formed during the dumping of sediments. Chinese scientific articles have also shown that these practices eliminate completely the ecosystem of the occupied area and negatively affects currents and sediment patterns, causing the aforementioned degradation of neighboring areas. However, the State Oceanic Administration of China defend that all projects were thoroughly evaluated and do not harm corals. The fault of it? Global trends such as sea acidification or climate change. Images | Ma Wukong In Xataka | China is building something that looks like an oil well. It is actually a nuclear bunker with a command center

For decades rats devastated these Pacific islands. Now we’re finding out what happens when they leave

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Before we get to work I propose a game: open Google Earth, type “Bikar Atoll” either Jemo Island and let the search engine take you to those remote points lost in the middle of the Pacific. What do you see? Beaches with turquoise waters and white sand, leafy trees, nature in its purest form. The typical place that promises paradise on earth and where anyone would want to go for a week’s trip. The problem is that until recently both islands had a problem: they were rat infested that had turned their ecosystem upside down. Until recently. In a remote part of the Pacific… They are found Marshall Islandsan island republic located in the region of Micronesia, Oceania, famous for its paradisiacal images and dreamy sandy beaches. Among its string of islands there are two in particular that in recent months have caught the attention of environmentalists: Bikar Atoll and the Jemo Islandboth included in the Ratak island chain. The reason? After intense conservation work and a campaign that dates back to 2024, the two islands have seen their fauna and vegetation recover little by little. As an example, environmentalists they explain who have found a colony of hundreds of onychoprion fuscatus (sooty terns) with chicks in an area where until not so long ago there was not a single one. Not to mention the thousands of sprouts that have begun to appear on previously bare soil. An annoying (and voracious) stowaway. There is little mystery about this change. It is explained by a campaign launched last year and which focused the focus on the big problem that was devastating the ecosystems of Bikar and Jemo: rats. Although both islands have always stood out for their birds (when Spanish explorers discovered Jemo They nicknamed her ‘The Birds’‘), over time they ended up displaced by another animal with a voracious appetite: rodents that arrived hidden on board ships and fed on eggs and other local species, which drastically impacted the delicate island ecosystem. A date: 7/24. Things began to change in July 2024when Island Conservationtogether with the Marshallese Marine Resources Authority, launched an ambitious campaign to eliminate the invasive rats. With the help of a drone he launched baits throughout the islands, a meticulous task that led him to cover each hectare with around 25 kilos of a product designed especially for rodents without affecting the rest of the native species. Months later the team returned to Bikar and Jemo to assess the scope of the campaign. “As soon as you step onto the island, your senses are activated to the maximum: you look for the rats, you look for birds on the ground, look for any clue that indicates whether we have won or lost,” confesses Paul Jacquesdirector of Island Conservation to CNN. What he obtained during that visit was “a great revelation,” confirmation (confirmed with studies) that the plague had subsided. Change of terrain after the disappearance of the rats. Baby birds found on the island. “Drastic transformation”. The quote is by Paul Jacques, who summarizes what they found on the islands: “A colony of 200 sooty terns where there were none before fed hundreds of chicks.” “We also counted thousands of seedlings of the native tree Pisonia grandis in just 60 supervised 12-meter plots in the forest. In 2024 we had not found any,” relates the person responsible for the project, who remembers that this regeneration is essential for the fauna that inhabits both islands. “Native forests are essential for nesting seabirds and crucial for carbon absorption and the ecological health of the island,” insist. When the rats disappeared, the turtles, crabs and birds were no longer harassed, which was soon reflected in the rest of the ecosystem. More birds translated into more guano, which in turn improved soil fertility, encouraging more native vegetation and reefs. And as a picture always says more than a thousand words, Island Conservation has taken care of document the change with a series of photos that show the before and after of the campaign. Far beyond Bikar and Jemo. Change is important for the islands, but from Island Conservation it is insisted in that the success of your campaign goes further. “This integrated approach offers enormous benefits for biodiversity, demonstrating how land and sea conservation, when strategically linked, can boost resilience and ecological impact.” The organization also recalls that the regeneration of the islands benefits neighboring island communities, such as the one located in Likipe, which have historically come to Jemo in search of natural resources. Without rats, they now find more crabs there and hope to achieve sustainable fishing. Images | Andrew Arch (Flickr)Google Earth and Island Conservation In Xataka | New York rats have become a pest that is impossible to eradicate. They have a secret: their own language

Japan has warned China about Taiwan. And China has taken it so seriously that they have surrounded some islands in Japan

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It started a few days ago, when the Japanese Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, declared before parliament that Chinese aggression against Taiwan could constitute a “survival threat situation”, the legal formula that would allow Tokyo to use force in support of its allies. With his words, he not only broke the “strategic ambiguity” maintained by Japan for decades, he thus opened a Pandora’s box that at this time hangs on a very thin line. The explosion. As we said, the Takaichi gesturewhich broke with decades of caution and “strategic ambiguity” around the Taiwanese issue, was interpreted by Beijing as a direct provocation and a sign that the new Japanese government was willing to align itself more openly with Washington and Taipei in the most sensitive scenario in the Asia-Pacific. The Chinese reaction It was immediate: summoned the Japanese ambassador with unusually harsh language, issued official editorials calling Takaichi’s words “fundamentally evil” and warned that any Japanese intervention would be a failure destined to turn “the entire country into a battlefield.” That aggressive turnmore typical of moments of maximum tension than of routine diplomacy, announced that Beijing was not willing to leave a change of position that affects one of its vital interests unanswered. The military front is activated. While charging politically against Tokyo, China opened a second front in the military terrain. The most “showy”: the arrival of its coast guard ships on a patrol mission within the waters of the Senkaku Islands (administered by Japan but claimed by China like Diaoyu), one more step in a theater where both countries have been competing for years, but whose meaning is different in the midst of a diplomatic clash. Simultaneously, the Taiwanese Ministry of Defense detected thirty aircraftseven ships and one official Chinese vessel operating around the island in just 24 hours, with maps showing drones approaching dangerously close to Yonaguni, the Japanese island located just 110 kilometers from the Taiwanese coast. Chinese patrol with the Senkaku in the background The red line. China it takes months combining these “joint patrols” with intrusive flights in the Taiwanese ADIZ as part of a pressure strategy persistent, but do it right after Takaichi’s statements He turned these maneuvers into a message addressed to Tokyo as well as Taipei. For Japan, see military drones Chinese bordering its southernmost islands is a warning that any clash in the Taiwan Strait would have direct repercussions on its territory, a reminder that its security is inexorably linked to the future of the self-governed island. After using water cannon to turn back a flotilla of Taiwanese fishing and coast guard vessels in 2012, the Japanese Coast Guard has shown increasing vigilance in defending the waters surrounding the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. In its territorial claim, Japan’s maritime border covers about 27 kilometers around the archipelago. The economic front. The second line of Chinese response came through economic waya tool that Beijing has perfected in previous disputes with Australia, South Korea or the United States. First issued a travel notice to its citizens warning of the “increased risks” in Japan, then urged reconsider studies in the country, directly affecting more than 123,000 Chinese students registered in Japanese centers, and then allowed the main Chinese airlines will refund free of charge tickets to Japan. This sequence, apparently dispersed, has a crystal clear logic: in a country where Chinese visitors represent nearly a quarter of total tourism, a diplomatic warning is enough to shake an entire sector. The Japanese stock market showed it: Shiseido, Uniqlo, Isetan-Mitsukoshi, Takashimaya and the airlines JAL and ANA suffered drops of between 5 and 12%, while Oriental Land, operator of Tokyo Disney Resort, fell almost 6%. Extra ball. It does not seem, therefore, that we are facing a simple stock market fluctuation, but rather the sign that a giant economic actor can, with a phrase on an official website, compromise vital income for a neighboring country and remind it of the asymmetry of economic power between the two. As I remembered French geopolitical analyst Arnaud Bertrand to put the situation in perspective, from China’s point of view, it is as if Macron officially announced that the French army would militarily defend Catalonia from Spain, just after the anniversary of Napoleon’s defeat and the end of the French occupation of Spain. In other words, a kind of disproportionate provocation if, in addition, we take into account that it occurs shortly after the 80th anniversary of the end of the japanese colonial occupation from Taiwan and Second World War. Sanae Takaichi The political dimension. Beyond tourism and education, Bloomberg told A few hours ago, Beijing allowed accounts affiliated with its media apparatus to announce that it was “fully prepared for substantive retaliation.” The insinuations range from targeted sanctions even trade restrictionssuspension of diplomatic contacts or symbolic military measures, a repertoire that China already applied harshly against South Korea after the deployment of the THAAD anti-missile system in 2017. That historical reference did not go unnoticed: then, the tourist boycott and the pressure on South Korean companies took away 0.4 points to GDP of the country, a figure strong enough to serve as a warning. For Tokyo, the threat does not come in a vacuum: China is its main business partner and supplier of critical materialsan Achilles heel that Beijing knows and exploits when you need mark limits. However, the Chinese offensive aims beyond Japanese punishment: it also seeks to deter other governments (particularly European) to speak out on Taiwan, after the recent gesture of the EU by welcoming a Taiwanese vice president for the first time in decades. And Taiwan in the center. we have been counting during the year. The element that gives coherence to this crisis is the Taiwanese issue. For Beijing, unification is an imperative political and militaryand any mention of the possibility of Japan intervening constitutes a red line. For Tokyo, geographical proximity turns any Chinese invasion into an existential threat: The fall of Taiwan could place the Chinese navy one step away from the sea … Read more

The largest telescope in the northern hemisphere is looking for a home. And the Canary Islands have just taken the lead

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Spain is getting closer to having in its territory the most powerful telescope on the entire planet, the Teinta Meter Telescope (TMT). Its location may finally be the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, which for many years has been the emergency ‘plan B’, in case the original idea of ​​having it in the United States failed. And in the end, due to a large set of triggers, La Palma is gaining a lot of strength. A change of direction. He original use of the TMT was intended Mauna Kea volcano in Hawaii. But it is a plan that was paralyzed due to the rejection of the native communities, who consider this a sacred place. Although it is not only the ‘fault’ of the natives, but also of the cuts that the Trump administration has made intended for research and science in general. Given this situation, Spain has offered to host the project in La Palma as announced by the TMT International Observatory LLC on your website. In this case, he thanks the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the offer made of commit to invest 400 million euros to install this telescope at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory. The next steps are focused on developing together with the Ministry a “detailed roadmap towards the possible realization of the TMT at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory”, with the aim of this project moving forward at this location. The importance of La Palma. The Roque de los Muchachos Observatory already houses world-renowned facilities such as the Canary Islands Great Telescope (GTC), which is the largest optical and near-infrared telescope on the planet. In addition, it participates in new generation projects such as the Cherenkov telescopes, dedicated to observing high-energy gamma rays. And this is something that the Minister of Science herself, Diana Morant, wanted to remember, who through from your X account has celebrated this advance as the necessary step to turn “the Canarian sky into the main observatory in the northern hemisphere.” Why it is important. The TMT is not just any project: its construction involves some of the most influential scientific organizations on the planet, such as the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) or the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which represents more than 40 academic entities from around the world. Beyond this, we are also talking about the TMT being one of the three reference telescopes globally along with the Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) in Chile or the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) being developed in the Atacama Desert. Its 30-meter diameter mirror, made up of 492 hexagonal segments, will make it a key tool for exploring exoplanets, black holes, dark matter and the formation of the first galaxies, with a resolution ten times higher than that of Hubble. Political impact. Beyond the astronomical potential, hosting the TMT would mean a leap in scale for Spain in its presence in international research, reinforcing the role of the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) as a strategic partner in global scientific projects and attracting talent and technological investment. Images | Alin Corneliu In Xataka | Which telescope to buy to enjoy the nights and stars: 20 telescopes, binoculars, gadgets, accessories and more

We know that the price of housing in the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands is skyrocketing because neither the British nor the Germans can afford it.

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The price of housing in highly stressed tourist areas, such as the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, has reached levels so high that neither the British nor the Germans, traditionally the most active foreign buyers and wealthy people on the islands, can afford to continue acquiring properties at the rate of previous years. As and how they collected in Express this trend well supported by the latest data of the General Council of Notaries, in which a very relevant change can be seen in the Spanish real estate market, especially on the islands, where international demand has always been noted as part of the problem. Fewer houses are sold. According to the log data Notaries, during the first half of 2025, the Balearic and Canary Islands have experienced a real turnaround in the home buying and selling market. The percentage of home sales by foreigners fell by 7.7% in the Canary Islands and 6.8% in the Balearic Islands during the first half of 2025. In the same period, only two territories showed a behavior similar to the islands: Valencia, which fell by 3.6% and Navarra, which reduced the number of purchase and sale operations with foreigners by 3.7%. The reason: too expensive housing. It is enough to continue reviewing the data provided by the College of Notaries to find one of the reasons that could have caused this. drop in trading volume: prices have skyrocketed. The figures show how the traditional appeal for British and German buyers is declining. The data reveal that the average price paid by foreigners in purchase and sale operations in Spain as a whole was 2,417 euros per square meter, which represents an increase of 7.6% compared to the price in 2024. Non-resident foreigners continue to pay higher amounts for their homes (€3,126/m2) than resident foreigners (€1,912/m2) and nationals (1,809 €/m2). In the Canary Islands the average price rose by 14.1%, far exceeding the national average, while in the Balearic Islands the average increase was up to 9% compared to 2024. Source: General Council of Notaries Foreigners continue buying in Spain. The data indicate that the volume of foreign sales operations in Spain has not decreased in the territory as a whole, where the total number of homes bought by foreigners increased 2% compared to last year, reaching 71,155 operations. This variation in the volume of operations on the islands, together with the increase in their price, leads us to suspect that price pressure is differentially affecting the most touristic and stressed areas, especially those that, as in the case of the islandsthe options to expand the surface area for residential housing are very limited. That is to say, it is not that foreigners are buying less, but that they are doing so in less tense and with more reasonable prices. Who buys in Spain? Despite the drop in sales from the islands, the British continue to lead the list of foreign buyers in Spain, with 5,731 registered transactions, followed by Moroccans (5,654 transactions) and Germans (4,756 purchases and sales). However, operations carried out by foreigners represented 19.3% of total sales, a slightly lower proportion than that registered in 2024 with 20.3%. This loss of prominence is felt above all in the islands, where the British and Germans clearly dominated the statistics. The end of the “Golden Visa”. Besides, the advertisement of the elimination of the so-called golden visas or “Golden Visa”“, which allowed you to obtain residency in Spain in exchange for investing a certain amount of money in real estate, has also conditioned the decline in demand. In the first six months of 2025, foreign residents accounted for 60.9% of the purchases made, which represents 6.4% more than the previous year. On the other hand, non-resident foreigners who were affected by the elimination of the ‘Golden Visa’ and had to assume new tax limits, they reduced their purchases by 4.1%. In Xataka | Hoteliers dream of hanging the sign full in 2025. The rent that their employees must pay is their worst nightmare Image | Unsplash (Boris Busorgin)

While all Spain is pending that their children learn English, in the Canary Islands they have another obsession: the German

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The Canarian ties with Germany are strong. And they come from afar. They date back (at least) at the end of the 19th century And they have been reinforcing thanks to the Expats and the Huge weight which has the German market in the Canarian tourism sector, capital piece in the economy of the region. This link explains that in its classrooms it is studied more German than anywhere else in Spain and Parents committed in which their children learn at the same time the languages ​​of Cervantes and Goethe. It is the ‘Germanization’ of Canarian education. What happened? That Canary Islands show signs that little by little in a key area is being germanized: early childhood education. At least if we compare it with the rest of Spain. German influence on the archipelago (and more in zones With a strong foreign presence) it is nothing new, but there are indicators that help to better understand what extent they are pending in their classrooms and homes. The last one left it a few months ago The confidential in A report which shows how parents are betting on their children speak of Goethe’s tongue (almost) from the cradle or even cases of children who chapurre them before the Spanish. Are there figures to try it? Yes. Those of the Ministry of Education, which reflect how the teaching of German stands out in the archipelago against other regions of Spain. Although Canary Islands is one of the communities Less populated of the country is the one that has the most students studying German in the classrooms. At least in the 2020-2021 course They added 31,300considerably above the Community of Madrid (28,300), Catalonia (24,600), Andalusia (18,100) or Balearic Islands (13,800), two regions in which there is also a strong presence of tourists and Expats. And who studies it? That is the most interesting. The language is not only learned by young people who study ESO or university students. In the archipelago he has also penetrated among the youngest children. The 2020-2021 course there was almost 500 students Studying German in the Early Childhood Education stage, data that exceed only Catalonia and Andalusia, with much greater population. If we talk about Primary the figure, the largest registration in the country is triggered. In general the learning of German It is less extended than that of English or French, but still reaches a notable weight in the Canary classrooms. The region stands out For how extended the study of the second languages ​​is. What is the reason? There are several factors that explain that clear Germanization, but two stand out above the rest: the first are the Historical ties Between the Canary Islands and Germany, which date back to 19th century And they explain that there is a German school in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and another in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. According to the Canarian Institute of Statistics (Istac), the Germans are one of the main foreign population groups in the region, although they are significantly below nationalities such as the Colombian, Venezuelan or English. The second factor is tourism. The sector has A crucial weight In the GDP of the region, where it generates thousands of millions of euros every year. And much of that flow of money comes out of German pockets, such as I recognized Recently the Canary Islands government itself, taking stock of the 2024 campaign. statistics From Exeltur they show that in 2024 the German was The second market International most relevant to the tourism sector of the region. Only the British is overcome. What supposes that in practice? That speaking German becomes a key tool, both in the Canary Islands (work or not in tourism) and when looking for a job in the rest of the country or the EU. “Everything that is science and engineering is very enhanced in German, but nothing happens if the girl later chooses to be a hairdresser and not continue studying. I try to give her best for her future,” Explain to The confidential A Canarian mother who pays 600 euros per month (activities included) so that her daughter is formed at the German school. “I know people who have studied in this school and thanks to that they work or live outside.” Is it important? There are those who believe it. “Learning this language here is a priority for two reasons. First because it gives you the possibility of leaving the islands to, for example, exercising as an engineer or sanitary in other places. It is also essential to work in the southern area of ​​the island (Gran Canaria), where tourism is concentrated and people are always needed to deal with Germans,” Marta García reflectshistorian of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. “Here is key to accessing certain positions and ascending.” That influence explains that there are also adults who throw themselves to study the language to prosper, that the Canarian government has reinforced your bet For the linguistic immersion scholarships to study in Germany (and Ireland) or that there are even cases of children who begin to Chapurrean German before Spanish. Although it is not a generalized trend, a few months ago The confidential He reviewed A specific case, that of a four -year -old girl who entered the German school in Santa Cruz de Tenerife without speaking at all Spanish and surprised her parents by expressing themselves first in German. “I had a delay in language and I worried when I saw her speaking first German. I thought I was wrong and went to see the pediatrician, but luckily she started speaking Spanish last year.” Images | Norbert Braun (UNSPLASH), Guillaume Didelet (UNSPLASH) Via | The confidential In Xataka | For the first time in ten years, La Palma has shown the best creatures of its parties: the disturbing dwarfs that dance Polca

It seemed difficult for the Galapagos Islands to be more threatened. And then a watchmaking pump arrived: Airbnb

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This summer, and while Spain declared war to the sector, the holiday rental He reached levels that until recently they would have seemed more typical of a dystopia. In fact, the platforms began to do business to the Pool rental for hours. Meanwhile, in places like New York, who closed the tap to Airbnb in 2023, they had discovered that two years later Hotels are happy. With this scenario, the Galapagos Islands have encountered the problem at home. The arrival of Airbnb. I told the weekend The New York Times. In the Galapagos Islands, one of the most delicate natural environments on the planet, the rise of Airbnb after the pandemic has transformed the tourist panorama. Alicia Ayalaknown as “the queen of Airbnb”, Symbolize This turn: rent apartments at affordable prices that attract backpackers and middle -class families, in contrast to elitist tourism that dominated for decades. Figures? Today there is More than 1,300 accommodations of this type compared to about 300 regulated hotels, which has generated an explosion of low -budget visitors who spend less and, according to critics, contribute to environmental deterioration and the banalization of a declared place World Heritage. Impact and tensions. Criticisms focus on the inability of short rentals to meet the Strict environmental standards that do govern for hotels, forced to pay permits, provide conservation funds and manage waste in a territory without drinking water or sustainable energy. The proliferation of uninformed visitors multiplies harmful behaviors: garbage on beaches, protected fauna or consumption of threatened species. In fact, researchers They warn that uncontrolled tourism threatens to convert the islands into a “Venice of Nature”, where the immediate economy of the preservation of unique ecosystems. Mass tourism and local economy. The archipelago went from receiving 6,000 annual visitors in the seventies to a forecast of 300,000 in 2025driven by commercial flights, social networks and the appearance of cheap excursions replacing the traditional luxury cruises. What is happening is A stage that It is repeated in The entire planet. This massification has left family hotels with empty rooms, while competing against Airbnbs that operate with lower costs and low supervision. At the same time, the tourism sector holds 80% Of the 30,000 inhabitants, so the dilemma between immediate income and sustainability becomes more acute in an isolated environment that depends on expensive imports and limited services. The legal (and political) battle. Although the Ecuadorian Constitution and the special legislation of the Galapagos They recognize rights of nature and limit hotel development, the absence of specific regulation for Airbnb generates a void that the hosts have taken advantage of. The Ministry of Tourism He has declared illegal Many of these accommodations and has ordered closures, but lacks effective control mechanisms, while platforms such as Airbnb claim to comply with current regulations and ask for clear rules. UNESCO He has urged Ecuador to stop growth and regulate digital tourism, although the attempts of hoteliers to achieve changes have been left unworthy. Threats and uncertain future. To tensions for tourism problems are added of illegal fishing, drug trafficking And, more recently, the fusion of the Ministry of Environment with that of Energy and Mines, played by experts such as a turn towards The exploitation of resources above conservation. In this context, the dispute between regulated hotels and hosts of Airbnb reflects a deeper conflict: to what extent Ecuador is willing to sacrifice Ecological integrity of the galapagos to sustain their economy. Among the pressure of tourism growth, the lack of effective regulation and the political signals that prioritize extraction on preservation, the future of the archipelago as a natural sanctuary remains, more than ever, in question. Image | Diego Delso In Xataka | In 2023 New York closed the tap to Airbnb to protect his home. Two years later, only hotels are happy In Xataka | Airbnb has just eliminated 65,000 tourist floors. The problem is that consumption has found another 55,000

The Canary Islands will tend an underwater cable to Morocco. If Morocco decides to extend it, Spain will have a problem

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An underwater cable of 49 million euros will connect the Canary Islands with Africa, but it will stop just where the legal problem begins: the border of the Western Sahara. What is happening. The Ring of the East islands will first join Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura with the latest generation fiber. Then it will jump to the African continent, to Tarfaya, the last Moroccan city before the West Sahara. The Canarian government It has been clear: “The cable goes to Tarfaya, it has nothing to do with Western Sahara.” But Morocco has other plans. His government wants to extend that connection to what he calls his “South Provinces”, the euphemism with which he refers to the Saharawi territory since 1975, when Spain abandoned it. Why is it important. Submarine cables are Internet highways. 99% of data traffic between continents travels through them. This project promises to make the Canary Islands a digital node between Europe and Africa. But there is a huge legal problem. The EU Court of Justice considers any economic activity in the Western Sahara without consent of the Polisario Front, recognized by the UN as representative of the Saharawi people. And the Polisario He has already warned: If the cable reaches Saharawi territory, they will go to court. The context. Since Pedro Sánchez supported the Moroccan Autonomy Plan for Sahara in 2022Spain tries to maintain the balance between its economic interests with Morocco and its international legal obligations. This cable puts that test balance. If the infrastructure that Spain finances with European funds ends up facilitating Moroccan expansion in Sahara, could splash Spain with legal problems in European courts. The money trail. The construction has already begun with these numbers: 49 million total budget. 20 million provided by the European Investment Bank. Additional 7.5 million for connection with Tarfaya. In February, Canalink technicians – the Canarian public company that leads the project— Tarfaya visited to study the land and design the submarine layout. The cable will be manufactured in 2025 and will be deployed in 2026. The precedent. It is not the first time that Canary Islands connect with Morocco. Since 2011 There is a cable with Asilahin the north of the country. But that did not generate any controversy because it is far from the territory in dispute. This is different. It reaches the same border of the Sahara. And even if technically stops there, it creates the perfect basis for Morocco to complete what European companies cannot do directly by legal restrictions. The threat. The Polisario Front has a history of victories in European courts. He has lying fishing agreements and agriculture between the EU and Morocco for including resources from the Sahara without its consent. “We will carry out any action to guarantee the rights of the Saharawi people,” He said Abdulah Arabi, representative of the Polisario in Spain. A data cable would be your next goal if you cross the border. And now what. The project will continue because Canary Islands need this connection. The ESSI Spain will be able to maintain the legal fiction that its responsibility ends in Tarfaya. If Morocco extends the cable to the Sahara using the base infrastructure financed with European money, Spain could be found in the midst of another conflict between its economic interests and its obligations with the territory that it abandoned 50 years ago. And this time it will not be for fishing or phosphates, but for the control of the data between two continents. In Xataka | The Google Maps of submarine cables: an imposing interactive map that allows us to know the skeleton of the modern world Outstanding image | TelefónicaGoogle Maps

The Canary Islands gave 24 tons of sand from La Palma volcano to Madrid. Now Madrid doesn’t know what to do with them

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Madrid has 24 tons of volcanic sand of the palm with which he does not know very well what to do. It sounds strange, but that is the peculiar outcome with which the consular and capital governments have been found after an initiative designed to value the Canarian cultural heritage in the Peninsula. The idea worked, but has ended up leaving that peculiar inheritance: bags and more bags of dark ash that accumulate dust (and controversy) without a clear destination. We explain ourselves. Presuming culture. May 17 was a day to frame in the history of Canarian culture. Or at least in one of its most popular disciplines: The Canarian fighta sport that hurts its roots in the first settlers of the islands. His practice is very popular in the archipelago, but not so much out. Hence, on May 17, as part of the Month of the Canary Islandsthe Government promoted A milestone In the discipline: the first day of official Canarian struggle in Madrid. FIGHTERS AND MUCH (MUCH) ARENA. For the appointment, fighters of the Saladar de Jandía and the Candelaria de Mircatwo key teams of the discipline that were measured in the twentieth day of the DISA Tournament of the Canary Islands. And something else: tons of volcanic sand transported from the palm to cover the pitch. The idea was to give even more epic to the appointment carrying a piece of the Canary Islands (literally) to Madrid and deploying it in the middle of Callao, where the Canarian fighters were measured. A 24 tons “ring”. The idea worked. The photos Shared by the Canarian government (with volcanic sand covering callus) they are fascinating and also show that the appointment attracted a good handful of curious. To host them, even a portable stand with capacity for 200 spectators. The event was also attended by President Fernando Clavijo along with regional positions and representatives of the institutional, sports and social life of the archipelago. In case that was not enough, the Executive took care of the last detail. Any type of volcanic sand was not transported to Madrid. No. The authorities chose ashes from the island of La Palma that were generated during the Tajogaite eruption In 2021. “The youngest of the islands, chosen as a symbol of identity, roots and renewal,” the Canarian government insisted in its community. In total some mobilized some 24 tonsaccording to the institution itself. And what happened to that sand? The fight was held on May 17, Jandía’s Salader won the Candelaria de Mirca in a fierce encounter (12-10), but … and then? What happened to tons of volcanic sand? That is the question that was asked recently eldiario.es, which after consulting with the Madrid City Council reached an amazing conclusion: the bags seemed to have vanished. “Without a trace of the 24 tons”, He titled The newspaper. The news was even more striking because, as confirmed by the regional government, the agreement contemplated that, after the May fight, the 24,000 kilos of ash were ceded to the Madrid City Council so that it could cover with it the fields of beach volleyball. From the Consistory they assured however not to have proof of that initiative. I wasn’t dead … It was not the last chapter of the curious soap opera of the traveling volcanic sand. On Saturday Eldiario.es published again Another revelation About the 24 tons of Tajogaite: the material was not lost by Madrid, but stored in work bags in a Torrelodones industrial ship. The reason? Although the initial idea was to allocate the sand to Madrid Volleyball courts, the authorities of the capital came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea to give it that use. His grains may serve for a Canarian fighting fight, but in the opinion of Madrid technicians they tend to heat up easily, which led the authorities to rule it out for the courts. And what will it be used for? It doesn’t seem to be very clear. At least according to the information handled by eldiario.es, which ensures that the Department of the Environment is looking for an adequate destination for the Canarian gift. The bags are also waiting for the Consistory Ultime for a collaboration agreement to accept the material, which, a priori, will have environmental use. In the authorization of the Cabildo it is noted that the material “lacks commercial value”, although as He put value The Canarian government does have a symbolic value. Images | The Government of the Canary Islands (X) and Canary Islands In Xataka | The Canary Islands have seven islands, but only one has escaped from the hordes of tourists: its secret is literally on earth

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