Japan did not need another aircraft carrier to make a move. His next military step begins with Vietnam

Japan has spent decades measuring every military gesture with almost surgical caution. Not due to lack of industry, technology or capacity, but due to the weight of its recent history and the political limits that have marked its defense since the post-war period. Therefore, when Tokyo moves a piece in this area, it is advisable to look beyond the apparent size of the gesture. What we have before us shows where the Asian country is moving. The specific news. The movement appears in a statement from the Japanese Ministry of Defense after the meeting that the Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi He held two days earlier with General Phan Van Giang, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense of Vietnam. According to Tokyo, both agreed to start talks to establish new forms of cooperation in defense equipment and technology. The most striking part is the possibility of jointly developing and producing fast landing craft. Vietnam, partner without alliance. The choice of Vietnam is not coincidental. We are talking about a country whose recent history was marked by the war with the United Stateswhich since diplomatic normalization in 1995 has elevated its relationship with Washington to the rank of comprehensive strategic partnership and that, at the same time, avoids presenting itself as part of a military bloc. That combination is precisely what makes its role interesting for Japan: Hanoi needs to strengthen its capabilities, diversify partners and protect its maritime interests, but without becoming trapped in a formal alliance. In this balance, Tokyo appears as a useful, advanced and politically less strident partner than other actors. The policy of balance. This position has a very specific translation in Vietnamese defense doctrine: the so-called “four noes”. Hanoi maintains that it does not participate in military alliances, does not align itself with one country against another, does not allow foreign military bases or other countries to use its territory against third parties, and does not resort to the use or threat of force in its international relations. It is an architecture designed to cooperate without being absorbed by anyone. The maritime map. The Japanese statement does not mention China as a direct recipient of the message, but it does place the conversation in two very specific spaces: the East China Sea and the South China Sea. For Tokyo,the first is part of its major security concerns; for Hanoi, The second is the stage where they concentrate some of its main maritime tensions. That is why the two ministers stressed the freedom of navigation and overflight, in addition to respect for international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Why they matter. The expression “fast landing craft” may sound minor compared to submarines, fighters or large warships, but their function is very specific: moving troops, vehicles, equipment or supplies to a coast, an island or an area that is difficult to access. In a fragmented maritime environment, with archipelagos, reefs and territories where distance is not always measured in kilometers but rather in the ability to arrive sooner, this mobility has strategic value. We are not talking about a spectacular weapon, but rather a practical tool for operating where the map narrows. Japan moves its industry. The possible cooperation with Vietnam fits into a broader transformation: Japan is trying that its defense industrial base weighs more inside and outside the country. We have seen this in the reform of its military equipment transfer rules, revised again in April 2026 to promote more defensive cooperation with allies and like-minded countries, and also in advanced projects that are still in the research phase, such as the electromagnetic railgun. The point is that Tokyo is moving away from viewing its military industry as a purely domestic matter. A very measured turn. The interesting thing is that neither country needs to present this as a breakup for it to have weight. Japan does not suddenly abandon its historical caution, and Vietnam does not sign a formal military alliance. What we see is a much more discreet formula: industrial cooperation, defensive technology and naval capabilities in an area where every small movement is read in a strategic key. That’s why landing craft may seem like a small thing on paper, but they say a lot about where the Indo-Pacific is moving. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | Germany wanted to armor its army with a volunteer military. He has encountered a boom of conscientious objectors

Peter Thiel is one of the pillars of Silicon Valley. His record-breaking move to Florida is one more nail in California’s coffin

A rental contract does not usually provide enough space for owners, except if it is for a centrally located apartment in Madrid or Barcelona for less than 600 euros. Then, it would be a miracle. But when the signer is one of the names that they defined Silicon Valley and their destination is Florida, things change. As and how I collected the North American Fox BusinessPeter Thiel has just signed the contract for what will be his offices in Miami, paying more than anyone else in that city before. “For Peter Thiel to sign that lease, marking a milestone of $250 per square foot, is absolutely incredible,” said Joe DaGrosa, founder and president of the real estate investment consultancy. DaGrosa Capital Partners. The record price reached in office rentals draws attention, but what is truly interesting is what lies behind it: a historic name in Silicon Valley is willing to pay more just to leave California as soon as possible, joining (and urgently) the migratory wave of millionaires who have already established their residence in front of the warm waters from Miami. A record rental that hides a trend Thiel’s office will occupy part of the 44th floor of the tower 830 Brickella busy building in which it will share elevators with companies such as Microsoft or Citadel. Its offices will occupy about 1,690 m2 and the price that has registered the record is $2,690.98 per square meter. That is, a bill of 4.55 million dollars per year. As Joe DaGrosa explained to Fox Businessthe average rent in that area was around $40 or $60 per square foot for an office, which implies that Peter Thiel would be paying between 525% and 316% surcharge for the rent of their offices. The increase in the price of business land in South Florida already compete with the prices of Manhattan and San Francisco. This price increase has arisen from the growing interest of technology companies that until now had their headquarters in Silicon Valley, but are now moving en masse to Miami, following in the footsteps of their founders. Thiel hasn’t arrived in Florida overnight. Just like other millionaires have done like Jeff Bezos o Ken Griffin, founder and CEO of Citadel, Thiel bought a property in Miami Beach more than five years ago. In December 2025, with California already debating the tax on great fortunes, Thiel Capital announced that opened office in that same area. The final blow came in February with the announcement of Palantir: the company chaired by Thiel confirmed the move from its headquarters to Miami, thus completing the migration of Thiel’s main businesses to Miami. Expelled by a tax that does not exist Behind so much movement there is a very specific reason: tax payment. California has been debating for months application of a tax single 5% on the assets of those who exceed $1 billion and reside in the state on January 1, 2026. This tax is expected to raise about $100 billion over the next five years, which will be used to mitigate cuts in social benefits for the most vulnerable population in California. The measure has already gathered more than 1.5 million signatures, well above the million necessary, and was confirmed to be submitted to vote next November after the failure of negotiations between the driving unions and Governor Gavin Newsom, who is against imposing the new rate that would affect about 200 people. That is, the millionaires already have started their preventive migration reacting to a tax that has not even been approved and that does not even have the support of the state governor. Larry Page and Sergey Brin left California before the tax deadline. Page paid more than 170 million dollars for two houses in Coconut Grove, and Brin was bought a 51 million home on Allison Island. Mark Zuckerberg, after two decades in San Francisco, changed zip code to become Jeff Bezos’ neighbor in Billionaire Bunker. The great beneficiary of the move It’s been Florida. His choice has not been causal, and responds to a compelling reason: he does not charge income or wealth tax, and that weighs a lot when the fortune is counted in billions of dollars. Not all technology magnates take a dim view of the tax on large fortunes. Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, has expressed his willingness to pay taxes get approved and stay in California. But Thiel already donated three million dollars to the California Business Roundtable, the group fighting the proposal. In Xataka | More and more millionaires and technology companies are fleeing California. The winners: Texas and Miami In Xataka | Billionaires prepare their mansions for the apocalypse: luxury bunkers have become a trend Image | Gage SkidmoreUnsplash (mark)

“When things move fast, people make mistakes and it costs them money”

Next to the Fiorano track, the small circuit inside the Maranello factory on which Ferrari tests its F1 cars every winter, the noise is deafening. “When things move too fast, people make mistakes,” he explains. Bogdan Botezaturesearch director of bitdefenderone of the largest cybersecurity companies in the world. Botezatu could refer to the sports cars that, right at that moment, are spinning around the circuit without stopping. But he’s actually talking about something else. Last month, Bitdefender released its first Cybersecurity Grand Prix Fan Threat Indexan elaborate study of the risks and threats that spectators of sports around the world, including F1, face every weekend. The purpose of the investigation is simple: to show the multiple tools that hackers have around them to violate the privacy of viewers and, in the most extreme cases, raid their bank account. “Frauds are evolving. Last year, cybercrime had a turnover of around 9 billion (trillion in English) of dollars globally. Of those 9 billion, only 1 billion came from the scamming“explains Botezatu. His index aims to monitor how scams evolve. In the middle of the Soccer World Cupwith millions of viewers glued to their mobile phone screens every day, the phenomenon is more current than ever. Bitdefender, however, focuses on another area: motorsports. For years, the company has collaborated closely with Ferrari, whom it sponsors and offers cybersecurity solutions for its F1 team. This is no small matter: Ferrari, like all other F1 teams, jealously protects its technical findings. Industrial espionage has always been the order of the day in a competitive environment. With Bitdefender, Ferrari aims to limit damage in today’s highly digitalized environment. “If you look at what happens to large companies, they are constantly being attacked by ransomwareintellectual property theft, infiltrations… But they are protected, they have their own cybersecurity teams, they can protect their perimeters, they can service their infrastructure, they have agreements with companies like Bitdefender. They are protected,” Botezatu points out. We are not, he implicitly suggests. “Things at home are fundamentally different,” he continues, “spectators watching F1 or other motor sports don’t have these safety nets, they aren’t even aware of the risks of cybercrime.” When we sit in front of the television to watch an F1 race or a soccer match, we focus on sport. The only problem is that on the other side of the screen there is a army of scammers and hackers trying to take advantage of the show. To take it out at our expense. The range of tools available to scam us is wide. From merchandise from smuggling (fake t-shirts, accessories, jackets, caps; in the case of football teams, t-shirts) to fraud in the purchase of tickets (often with juicy and pompous “last minute” offers), passing through the ecosystems of streaming. Much of Bitdefender’s talk emphasizes this last aspect. How it works The order of the factors is almost always the same: before a big event, such as an F1 GP or a football tournament, there is an uptick in fraud due to illegal tickets, in addition to a growth in fake advertisements. merchandising. During the celebration of the event, the numbers increase exponentially. streaming malicious, in most cases disappearing at the end of the show. After the race or the game, the scam in the form of highlights or surveys that give rise to abuse. “In the case of motorsports, its ecosystems are dominated by speed. You have to sell or buy tickets quickly, you have to find a service streamingyou have to find legitimate stores merchandising. If there are mistakes, they cost money,” Botezatu reasons. “And there is also an emotional investment during the weekends,” he adds, pointing to the impetuous, nervous and effusive aspect of the sports fan. It’s not just about watching an F1 race or a soccer match: you want be part of itso decision making is sometimes conditioned. Bogdan Botezatu. One of the advantages of protecting users during sporting events is that the behavior of cybercriminals is predictable. The scammers They know that the activity is concentrated during the weekends on Telegram or Discord channels and on streaming unofficial. There are suspicious VPNs, aggressive ads, fake subscriptions and a long list of mechanisms to capture our attention and surprise us. Its operation, in the case of streamingis always the same: First there is amplification on social media: Telegram channels, Facebook groups, Discord servers and Reddit discussions. Then direct monetization is sought: unlock payments, force interactions with ads, redirect users, push notifications push. He streaming of the race is secondary. And finally, the infrastructure is disposable: domains that appear and disappear just before and after the race often use the “cc” domain. Another problem identified by Bitdefender is the services of streaming of Android. We talk about applications like Playfy TV and Cricfy TV. According to them, they require installing APKs and are risky. At the same time, all this It is related to the “streaming boxes” offered by Chinese companies, specifically BADBOX 2.0. They put malware on Android, phones, tablets and much more. Its impact is very high, they seek compromise devices before even reaching the consumer. Using this technology we open our devices to the enemy, according to Botezatu, who specifically focuses on this mechanism. He streaming sports is fundamentally based on Discord servers, Telegram channels and communication systems. backup They work by invitation. The references of streaming They are deleted after the races, the servers are migrated and there is a very high link rotation that makes it impossible to chase them or protect against them effectively. For all this, the Bitdefender expert insists, it is very important to be aware of the risks involved. His summary is very simple: if you have to install something, a bad sign. Given the location of the talk, in the heart of a racing circuit, and the orientation of Bitdefender, sponsor of an F1 team, it is natural to suspect that his efforts are aimed at motor sports fans. and your Fan Thread Indexin … Read more

Ukraine has found Russia’s weak point in Crimea. And now there is a line of Russian trucks that cannot move forward

During World War II, General George S. Patton It stopped its advance not because of a lack of tanks or ammunition, but because of something much more basic: gasoline. Their armored columns consumed so much fuel that logistics could not keep up. Since then, armies learned a brutally simple lesson: sometimes war is decided not by who fires the most, but by who keeps the tank full. The real Achilles heel. For months, the war in Crimea had been told in terms of missiles, air bases and attacks on the Black Sea Fleet. But Ukraine seems to have identified something much more vulnerable, the same thing we just saw with the US agreement with Iran to end the war: the fuel. It is not just about destroying military objectives, but about attacking the “blood” that makes the entire Russian machine work. Without gasoline, trucks do not move, projectiles do not arrive, drones do not fly, nor an offensive is sustained. And that’s exactly what kyiv is cutting. Hit the artery. I was counting this morning the financial times that the Ukrainian campaign has concentrated on the land corridor connecting continental Russia with Crimea, especially the “Novorossiya” highwaythe great logistics work inaugurated in 2023 and presented by Vladimir Putin as one of the great strategic successes of the war. It we counted recently. That road connects Rostov with the peninsula through occupied Mariupol and Melitopol, and has now become a shooting gallery: more than 375 documented attacks against trucks and vehicles since May, many of them precisely on that road. The message is clear: there is no need to destroy Crimea, enough is enough with disconnecting it. A peninsula that lives off what it enters. The problem for Moscow It is structural. Crimea neither produces oil nor has enough refining capacity to sustain itself. It has always depended on external supplies, before from Ukraine and now from Russia. This dependency turns each destroyed convoy into an immediate problem. The images of kilometric queuesdigital coupons and rationing at gas stations in Sevastopol show how the logistical impact translates almost instantly into social pressure. What at the front is a supply interruption, in the rear already seems like a siege. The Kerch bridge is no longer enough. For a long time, the bridge was the great russian lifeguard. But since the 2022 attack that damaged its stretches and set a fuel train on fire, Moscow has greatly reduced its use for sensitive shipments. Transporting fuel by road is much less efficient than by train, because a single rail convoy is equivalent to dozens and dozens of tanker trucks. And therein lies the problem: Ukraine is hitting both systems at the same time, forcing Russia to improvise floating bridges and much slower and more vulnerable secondary routes. The intermediate drone war. The most interesting thing is that this campaign is not being led by either small front-line drones or large strategic drones, but rather a new intermediate category that we have been explaining. We talk about systems like the FP-2, Behemoth or the Hornet that allow you to attack at distances of up to 200 kilometers with enough charge to destroy trucks, warehouses and bridges. They are cheap devices, difficult to intercept and operate with networks like Starlink that complicate Russian electronic warfare. It’s a major change, as Ukraine is turning logistics into its own front. Crimea is an island again. If you like, the great effect of this strategy It is psychological and military both. Crimea was conquered by Russia as a platform to project power, and now it is beginning to look an isolated enclave which needs to be fed daily to survive. If Ukraine keeps up the pace through the summer, the pressure will not only be on the southern front, but at full capacity Russian to sustain operations in the region. And there is the central idea: Moscow still has missiles, bases and soldiers in Crimea, but Ukraine has understood that the weak point was not so much in destroying them directly, it was in simply leaving them without gasoline. Image | Britannia In Xataka | We have to start thinking about the Ukrainian war in terms greater than those of the First World War. In Xataka | The drone war has left a clear lesson for Ukraine: you can’t leave home without a 100-year-old machine gun

“we will move more than a million passengers”

Ryanair will reduce its activity in Zaragoza by 45% starting in November. At least, that is the threat that is on the table if Aena does not lower its airport taxes. But far from falling in traffic, Zaragoza has one goal: to reach a record number of travelers. And that’s how they intend to achieve it. The notice. Ryanair will cut its activity in Zaragoza by 45% if airport taxes remain as they are. And, of course, if the increase that Aena wants to apply starting next year is maintained, with an eye on the period 2027-2031. The movement is framed within the cut of 1.2 million places that the company has announced for the regional airports of our country in the next winter season. Asturias, Valladolid, Jerez, Tenerife North and Vigo will say goodbye to all the company’s activities, if the plan goes ahead. The data. So far this year, Zaragoza has recorded a drop in the number of passengers of 0.5% but its operations have skyrocketed, registering an increase of 16%. The data has some interesting figures: Passengers on domestic flights have barely fallen by 0.1% Passengers on international flights have fallen by 1.4% International operations have soared by 21% while national operations have grown by 7% Operations to move merchandise are the ones that increase the most. In total, the total cargo moved has increased by 22% so far this year. All this data is collected by Aena. and the answer. To Ryanair’s threats, the response from Zaragoza is clear: they want to continue growing. Last year, Zaragoza barely exceeded 700,000 passengers, with a growth of 1.9% compared to 2024. For next year, the goal is to reach one million passengers, an ambitious figure taking into account that Ryanair would reduce its activity by half. In words collected by The Newspaper of Aragon, The general director of Transport of the Government of Aragon, David Sánchez, assures that the current volume of passengers is very far from what was expected in a city like Zaragoza and that they intend to increase them with new international routes. And he emphasizes: “in the year 2027, Zaragoza Airport will handle more than a million travelers.” In that same newspaper, reference is made to the fact that the Aragon Government Council will soon present “the tender for a tourism promotion contract for the opening of new routes, both national and international” with the aim of increasing these flights. Where to? In Herald They explain that two legs support the project to multiply the number of travelers. The main objective would be a connection with Frankfurt, a key city in international air traffic. By passenger volume, It is the fifth in Europemany companies use it as a stopover for their connections with long-haul flights and it is located in the economic capital of the European Union. Also, a few weeks ago Wizz Air confirmed that it will connect Zaragoza with Milan starting in September through Malpensa airport. It will make three weekly flights and its 40,000 seats will replace Ryanair’s withdrawal from this connection (it flew to Bergamo, the usual route for low-cost operators) and which also offered 11,500 fewer seats for that same period. But above all, we want to continue increasing the workload in the transport of goods. Right now, Zaragoza is the second airport in Spain in this section and since The Aragon Newspaper They point out that continuing to grow is one of the great objectives for next year. Back to the rates. It remains to be seen, however, how the issue of airport taxes and Ryanair’s threats turns out. The Irish company assures that if the expected increase continues from next year, its activities at regional airports will be reduced and, with them, the routes it has available in Zaragoza. Aena wants to apply a 3.82% increase to current rates in the period 2027-2031. The airlines, however, want the current fee to be reduced by 4.9%. The CNMC defends a rate cut of 0.59%a figure very far from the airlines’ claims but halfway between both parties. For now, Ryanair has welcomed this proposal from the CNMC but it is not confirmed that Aena will listen to her when proposing to the Government its plan for the coming years. Photo | Pedro Sanz and Burak Sahin In Xataka | The new EU border system is leaving people without flights. Ryanair has a solution: close check-in early

To move the cutting head of the ‘Monica’ tunnel boring machine, a 152-wheel truck was needed. It’s the key to Australia’s ‘water battery’

Transporting a gigantic tunnel boring machine to the work point is no small feat, and Madrid has a few things to say about this. However, in Cooma, a small town in the Australian state of New South Wales, they seem to have gotten the hang of it. And the colossal piece of steel crossed its streets at a snail’s pace on a 152 wheel truck. The cargo was part of Snowy 2.0one of the largest energy storage projects in the world. What is it about?. The piece was the central block of the cutting head of the tunnel boring machine named Monica. According to Snowy Hydro, the public company behind the project, this component weighs more than 137 tons and measures seven meters wide. The head is the part that really matters in a tunnel boring machine, since it is the rotating disc that faces the rock and crushes it as it moves. Media deployment. Monica’s head is too big to transport in one piece, so it had to be divided into five parts. Still, just moving the center block required months of preparation. The entire transport reached 73 meters in length, and was moved at night facing the last stretch along the Snowy Mountains Highway, heading to the Marica site, north of Kiandra, where the machine would be assembled. A colossal engineering project. This move was just one piece of a much larger puzzle. The company indicates that in the previous weeks more than 140 large loads were delivered to Marica from the port of Port Kembla, south of Sydney. The tunnel boring machines do not arrive assembled, as they are transported in sections (head, drive system, shields, support platforms) and are assembled on site. In fact, last October, the transport of Monica’s motor system (a component about 207 tons and eight meters wide) brought more than 1,500 people to Cooma, in what Snowy Hydro called one of the largest loads ever transported by road in New South Wales. What is all this for? Snowy 2.0 is, in essence, a gigantic water battery. The project will connect the Tantangara and Talbingo reservoirs through some 27 kilometers of tunnels and an underground power station. The idea is to generate electricity by turbineing water when demand is high and, in times of surplus solar and wind energy, pump it back uphill for reuse. The company assures that it will have a capacity of 2,200 megawatts and enough stored energy to supply about three million homes for a week. Start-up. Last February, Snowy Hydro announced that Monica had been commissioned and would be responsible for excavating the section of the tunnel that crosses the Long Plain fault zone, a geologically complicated area. Designed by the German firm Herrenknecht, the machine advances at one end of the tunnel while another tunnel boring machine, Florence, does so at the opposite. The idea is that both are underground before being dismantled. For those dates the project exceeded 70% execution. Snowy 2.0 has not been without controversy with news of cost overruns and delays, and completion is now scheduled for December 2028. Images | Snowy Hydro In Xataka | Canada is going to debut the residential skyscraper with the most floors in all of North America: it has 12 sides and 351 meters high

China is about to launch the most powerful cargo drone in the world. And it will move it with hydrogen

The aeronautical industry has been researching and experimenting for quite some time. with hydrogen turboprop engines on airplanes. A Chinese company is about to break that barrier, as it has taken off an airplane with one of these megawatt-scale engines. Aero Engine Corporation of China (AECC) has completed the first test flight of the AEP100, installed on a 7.5-ton cargo drone, in an operation that took off from Zhuzhou airport, in Hunan province. what has happened. The device flew for 16 minutes, reached an altitude of 300 meters and traveled 36 kilometers at a speed of 220 km/h before landing without incident. According to AECC, the engine operated stably throughout the flight profile and responded as expected. Chinese state media present it as the world’s first flight with a hydrogen turboprop of this power. Why is it relevant?. Yes, it is a short, unmanned, low-altitude test. But this means that hydrogen aeronautical propulsion leaves the laboratory and test benches to face real flight conditions. AECC maintains that the country already has a complete technological chain for hydrogen aeronautical engines, from essential components to system integration. direct combustion. The AEP100 does not use fuel cells to power an electric motor. It burns liquid hydrogen directly in a turbine cycle, just as a conventional turboprop would burn kerosene. This is the main difference with other bets. Airbus, for example, has prioritized fuel cells on its roadmap to a hydrogen commercial aircraft in 2035, while China has opted for direct combustion. Combustion is more complicated to tame in engineering, but offers much higher power density, something key to scaling up to larger aircraft. What aircraft is it intended for?. The AEP100 is custom designed for the W5000, a twin-engine cargo drone developed by Chinese startup Air White Whale. According to the manufacturer’s data, we are talking about a device with a maximum takeoff weight of 10.8 tons, 5 tons of payload, more than 65 cubic meters of hold and a range of 2,600 kilometers. Just like share from China Daily, when it completes its first flight, it will become the most powerful transport drone in the world, surpassing the Norinco Luca. Deadlines. Yuan An, general manager of subsidiary AE General Aviation Power Tech, has explained The engine is in the final phase of the type certification process and they hope to obtain approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2027. The process is progressing faster than usual because the AEP100 shares a core with the AES100 turboshaft, which shortens procedures. Yuan has also assured that the AEP100 and its variants will “end the heavy dependence on foreign engines” in Chinese general aviation. Where will it be used first?. For now, we have to forget about getting on a hydrogen-powered passenger plane. The bet goes through what they call the “low altitude economy”that is, situations in which unmanned cargo drones, inter-island logistics or controlled transport routes to remote areas are used, being scenarios where hydrogen refueling infrastructure, certification and operational economics are more manageable than in passenger aviation. Yuan remember also that the United States has more than 275,000 general aviation aircraft, while in China there are only a few thousand. The problems that remain unresolved. Burning hydrogen in a turbine is no small feat, as you can imagine. It burns at higher temperatures than kerosene and with a much higher flame speed, which requires the design of systems that avoid autoignition, flame flashbacks and combustion oscillations. Added to this is storage, since liquid hydrogen requires cryogenic temperatures close to -253 ° C, heavily insulated tanks and, most likely, redesigning the geometry of the fuselage itself to accommodate it. Sustainability. aviation Today it is around 2% of global CO₂ emissions, a figure that could skyrocket in the coming decades if the sector maintains its dependence on fossil fuels. China aims to reduce its exposure to imported oil in an increasingly complicated geopolitical scenario, so hydrogen can fit into both narratives. And now what. China’s road map mark 2028 as horizon to validate similar technologies in small unmanned aircraft, helicopters and urban air mobility, 2035 for applications in broader regions and 2050 for large commercial turbofan aircraft. The first flight of the W5000 with the AEP100 installed is expected in the coming months and will be the next litmus test. Cover image | CCTV In Xataka | For China, DeepSeek is more than just AI: it is the key to creating an industry that makes them independent of Nvidia

7,000 employees move to AI while 8,000 clear their desks

Thousands of Meta employees will go to sleep tonight without knowing if tomorrow they will have work. Mark Zuckerberg’s company has set a date and time to put end to the long agony that their employees were suffering in one of the further staff cuts that Meta has done in its recent history. According to advanced Reuters, the company has asked its US employees to telework tomorrow while layoff notices are rolled out. A measure that, beyond logistics, reflects the enormous tension that the company knew would be generated that day. Layoffs at 4 in the morning and without relief. According to an internal document to which the news agency has had access, the layoffs will be carried out in three waves that will begin at 4 a.m. on Wednesday, local time, in each region. This was detailed by Janelle Gale, director of Human Resources at Meta, in an internal memo shared with employees. “Many leaders will announce organizational changes,” the directive wrote. According to that document, the set of layoffs will affect about 10% of the entire workforce of the 77,986 employees that Meta had at the end of March. Furthermore, the company has withdrawn 6,000 offers of work to fill vacancies that were open. More than 7,000 employees relocated to AI. The layoffs are just one part of the restructuring movement that Mark Zuckerberg is carrying out. Meta has already reassigned more than 7,000 employees to new positions in new projects linked to AIaccording to the same Gale memo. Some transfers have already become effective before May 20, but in other cases employees will be notified throughout the same Wednesday. In that internal communication, Gale explained the goal of the changes: “We are now at a stage where many organizations can operate with a more horizontal structure, with smaller teams of groups or cohorts that can move more quickly and with greater autonomy.” The company also will eliminate middle management to flatten your hierarchy and speed up decision making. Weeks of anguish before the cut. The last few weeks at Meta have been especially hard for workers after the news of the layoffs leaked, and the hasty confirmation by the company. Meta employees rated the experience as “a hell of 28 days.” During these days a group of employees protested against the use of mouse tracking technology to monitor productivity, in a tension scenario in which many workers questioned their permanence in the company. The price of betting everything on AI. These changes are part of a profound renewal at Meta this year, which many are already calling Meta’s “second Year of Efficiency”, in reference to the first major restructuring that Mark Zuckerberg applied between 2023 and 2024. According to pointed Business Insider, several company leaders did not rule out further cuts beyond this initial 10%which makes May 20 the beginning of a process of thinning the Mera structure that is more intense than anticipated in the initial figures. In Xataka | Technology companies have laid off 92,000 employees to invest in AI. The problem is that the layoffs are costing them a fortune. Image | Unsplash (Mariia Shalabaieva), Goal

move two million tons of sand

The paradisiacal coastline of the central Algarve is facing one of the great coastal problems of recent decades, the result of rising sea levels and extreme weather events happening more and more often: the ocean is swallowing its beaches. So he has left behind the classic breakwaters to carry out one of the most ambitious coastal regenerations of its history: moving more than two million tons of sand from the seabed to the shore. There is no beach in the Algarve. The problem of erosion in the area of ​​Forte Novo beach and Garrão beach (both in the municipality of Loulé, Faro district) is not new, but this winter’s storms aggravated it in a worrying way, as explains the Portuguese Environment Agency: Their records have documented a maximum retreat of up to 15 meters on Loulé Velho-Trafal beach and 14 meters in the Quarteira-Garrão area. On Forte Novo beach, a retreat of an additional six meters was detected. These data place this section as one of the most critical in all of continental Portugal. Why is it important. Coastal erosion represents a real physical risk for the population and infrastructure: when the sand of a beach recedes in a sustained manner, the coast is directly exposed to the waves, which accelerates the erosion of cliffs, threatens nearby infrastructure and destroys the associated dune ecosystems. According to a report By 2024 published on the European Union’s Copernicus science platform, between 27 and 40 percent of European sandy coasts are experiencing active retreat, with special incidence in the Mediterranean and the Iberian Atlantic. On the other hand, the Algarve is one of the great tourist engines of Portugal. The region recorded more than 20 million overnight stays in 2023, according to the National Institute of Statistics Portuguese and in 2025 concentrated 85 beaches with the Blue Flag, the highest European certification of coastal quality. Losing beaches means losing its main economic asset, which mostly lives off of sun and sea tourism. Coastal erosion patterns in Europe. European Environment Agency Context. This intervention is part of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Strategy of Portugal, which aims to achieve a harmoniously and sustainably developed coastal area within a period of 20 years (in force since 2009). The APA has already carried out similar and even larger operations: it holds the record Figueira da Foz, where it moved more than 3.3 million cubic meters of sediments in the Cova-Gala/Costa de Lavos section, with an investment of 21.1 million euros. The Quarteira-Garrão operation is, therefore, the second major operation of this type in just over a year, which reflects the State’s policy on coastal protection. The Quarteira-Garrão project is the technical response to a regional-scale problem of the erosive dynamics that affects the entire Gulf of Cádiz. Portugal has opted for large contributions of sand instead of building rigid rock breakwaters, following European trends. These types of solutions seek to have a lower visual impact and better integration into the dynamic coastal ecosystem. In figures. The operation, without being the largest in the history of Portugal, it has some numbers that impact: Transfer of approximately 1.4 million cubic meters of sand (about two million tons). Rehabilitation of 6.7 kilometers of coastline. Planned average widening of 37 meters. Tender budget: 14.9 million euros. How are they doing it. The technique that Portugal is applying is called artificial beach feeding or beach nourishment and consists of extracting sediments from nearby underwater areas and depositing them on the shore through dredging and pipelines. The project has been executed in phases, section by section and in coordination with the Cultural Heritage Agency of Portugal and after an environmental impact assessment: on the one hand, to control the deposition of sediments at each point avoiding saturation and on the other, because this underwater extraction area contains remains of underwater archaeological heritage. The works began between April 2 and 3 and completion was scheduled for May 6, in time for the beginning of the bathing season. Yes, but. The artificial regeneration of beaches is an effective solution in the short and medium term, but it does not solve the underlying problem as science warns: the deposited sand moves again due to the action of waves, currents and storms. In most cases documented in Europeregenerated beaches require new intervention after a few years (it can be more than a decade), depending on the energy exposure of the coast. The underlying structural problem is the chronic loss of sediment throughout the coastal system, aggravated by climate change, the rise in sea level and the reduction in the river supply of sand caused by the regulation of rivers with dams. If these causes are not solved comprehensively, beach recharge is putting a patch on. In fact, the APA itself recognizes it by framing the intervention within a broader coastal protection strategy and continuously monitoring for the next action. In Xataka | Portugal’s radical proposal to stop touristification: an underwater cable that connects with the US In Xataka | “I am an engineer, politics is not my profession”: the mayor of Lisbon has turned it into a magnet for European startups Cover | Bengt Nyman and Ludovico Ceroseis

who are the names that move the country’s economy

The size of a company is, ultimately, a matter of perspective. For example, Inditex worth more in the stock market than any other Spanish company, but Repsol far surpasses it if what we look at is its income. On the other hand, Mercadona, without being listed in any index, employs more people in Spain than any large multinational based in the country. They are three different data that return three business maps that barely overlap, but together they form the business reality of Spain and about how the Spanish economy is built, revealing which sectors generate wealth for investorswhich ones move the most money and which are those companies that really move the employment needle in our country. The Top 10 companies of the IBEX35 The most common when we talk about large companies is to go to the IBEX35, the Spanish stock ranking which does not measure how much a company invoices or how many people it employs, but rather how much investors trust in your future. With that criterion, Inditex leads the list with a wide difference. At the end of March 2026, after publishing its annual resultsits stock market value was around 163,500 million euros, although in December 2025 it reached 175,155 million, its historical maximum. At that time, investment bank Jefferies revised upwards its target price for the share, which would imply a value greater than 200,000 million euros. Inditex’s capitalization advantage over the rest of the companies does not come from your sales volumebut of what the company founded by Amancio Ortega win with every euro you sell. In its fiscal year of 2025, the textile company obtained a record net profit of 6,220 million, 6% more than the previous year. This explains why large banks, such as Santander, BBVA or CaixaBank and energy companies such as Iberdrola or Endesa, with larger business figures, are left behind on the stock market. In 2025, by first time in historyfive Spanish companies exceeded 100,000 million euros on the stock market at the same time. Despite this, the index continues to be dominated by banks and electricity companies. However, sectors with a very important presence in the daily lives of Spaniards (such as the food industry, hospitality, automotive) barely have a presence in this index. Largest companies in Spain by turnover When the criterion is not investor confidence, but the total income that a company generates, the map turns upside down. The oil, gas and electricity companies They occupy the first positions because they buy and sell enormous quantities of raw materials, although what they keep as profit is a relatively small part of that figure. In this case, Repsol is the clearest example. In 2025, the fall in the price of oil, with a barrel of Brent falling 14.5% to $69.1 on average, took its toll. His operating result It fell 12.2%, to 5,312 million euros, although the final net profit rose 8.1%, to 1,899 million. That is, billing is not the same as entering. The big surprise from the list of companies with the highest turnover in Spain It’s Mercadona. Without being listed on the stock market and with hardly any presence in the financial debate, the Valencian chain founded by Juan Roig closed 2025 with 41,858 million euros in sales (8% more) and a net profit of 1,729 million (25% more). These figures have left Mercadona with 28.5% of market share in food in Spain, six tenths above 2024. Juan Roig qualified the “historical” exercise. Inditex, on the other hand, despite being the most powerful company in market capitalization, remains in a middle position in the income ranking. Largest companies in Spain by number of employees There is a tendency to think that a large company also needs a large workforce, something that large technology companies also insist on denying month and month with their large rounds of layoffs. In fact, the proof of nine for this theory is that the list of largest companies in Spain for the employment they generate subverts the order again. The company that hires the most people in Spain is neither the largest on the stock market nor the one with the most turnover: it is Santander Bank and all the personnel it employs in the operations management area. More than 198,400 employees, despite the cuts to your workforce of branches. Mercadona closed 2025 with 110,000 workers between Spain and Portugal and that year raised salaries of its entire workforce 8.5%. The most striking contrast in the ranking is the one between the extremes with Repsol, which heads the billing list, is located at the bottom of the employment list since its workforce is around 25,000 people thanks to the high level of automation of its activity. Inditex or ACS need staff five or six times larger than Repsol to function due to the nature of their activity. The difference between selling clothes or build roads and extract oil or distribute electricity, explains why the impact on employment of these companies has nothing to do with their weight on the stock market or income. The largest companies in Spain by autonomous community Reading the business map of Spain by autonomous community reveals something that economic or national lists tend to hide: the country’s economy is more decentralized than it seems, and many of the companies that lead the economy or employment in their region are not even listed on the stock market or are those that obtain the most profits. Autonomous Community Company Sector Billing approx. 2025 Madrid Repsol Energy and oil €76.3 billion the Basque Country Iberdrola Electrical energy €45,546 M Com. Valencian Mercadona Food distribution €41,858 M Galicia Inditex Textile retail €39,864 M Cantabria Santander Bank Banking €135,000 M Catalonia seat Automotive €12,000 M Aragon Stellantis Spain Automotive €4,159 M Navarre Volkswagen Navarra Automotive €12,000 M Castile and León Renault Spain Automotive €10,000 M Andalusia Airbus Spain Aeronautics and defense €73,420 M Asturias ArcelorMittal Spain Iron and steel industry €3,749 M Murcia The Well Feeding €2,000 … Read more

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