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Europe believed that the Russian ghost fleet moved oil. Report points to something much worse: drone “aircraft carriers”

July 6, 2026 by usatoday24

During the First World War, the United Kingdom created the called Q-ships: Seemingly harmless merchant ships that hid cannons under their decks to attract German submarines and surprise them when they approached. The idea of turning a commercial ship into a weapon It wasn’t new.. The striking thing is that, more than a century later, it could have evolved much more than we imagined. It all started with some drones. At the end of 2024 they began to register drone raids on several American military bases in England and, shortly after, on other strategic facilities in Germany. The devices appeared and disappeared without a trace, forcing investigations to be opened that they never identified publicly to those responsible. Those flights seemed like another episode in Europe’s growing hybrid war, although a new report maintains that the true origin could have been much further from the coast. Capture of the IISS report The hypothesis. a study from the International Institute for Strategic Studies maintains that it is “highly probable” that Russia used ships linked to its well-known ghost fleet as platforms to launch and recover drones. This network of oil tankers and merchants had been associated until now with crude oil transportation to avoid Western sanctions. If the hypothesis ends up being confirmed, those ships would have also played a military function much more sophisticated covert. A tanker can become an aircraft carrier. They counted TWZ analysts that the great advantage of a merchant ship is precisely that no one expects it to act as a military platform. A ship can remain for days in international waters, discreetly approach the coast, launch a reconnaissance drone and continue its trade route without raising suspicion. Compared to an aircraft carrier, whose presence is impossible to hide, a cargo ship offers perfect cover for operations that are difficult to attribute. The chosen bases. The targets included facilities such as RAF Lakenheathwhich is being prepared for host nuclear weapons American, as well as RAF Mildenhall, RAF Fairford, RAF Feltwell and Ramstein air base in Germany. The researchers collected around of 170 citizen noticesof which approximately half were considered credible after being corroborated by several witnesses or images. They also detected coordinated flight patternsdifferent types of aircraft and trajectories incompatible with recreational use. The sea offers an explanation. The report poses that some drones were able to take off from Russian-related ships located out of visual range of the coast. Among the possibilities is the Orlan-10a military drone with sufficient autonomy to cover these distances and equipped with intelligence sensors, surveillance, reconnaissance and even electronic warfare capabilities. The authors themselves recognize that using an identifiable military model would increase the risk of attribution, so they do not rule out the use of modified commercial drones to make it even more difficult to trace their origin. The boss worries. Plus: the study’s authors admit that their conclusions rest on a combination of cluesknown capabilities and geographical coincidences, not on definitive public evidence. No European government has officially linked a specific ship to a specific incursion, although various policymakers have called for new investigations. For their part, both the British Ministry of Defense and the US Air Force in Europe have confirmed drone flights, but remain silent on any intelligence information related to their possible authorship. The hybrid war. If the hypothesis is correct, the problem would no longer be solely the existence of a ghost fleet dedicated to transporting Russian oil. Europe would also have to assume that some of those same ships can serve as discrete platforms for espionage operationsreconnaissance or electronic warfare hundreds of kilometers from the front. In other words, the biggest threat of the report is not to identify who launched those drones, but to propose that a simple merchant ship could play part of the role that until now was only attributed to an aircraft carrier. Image | Google In Xataka | Europe has encountered a problem bigger than Russia: drones cannot be stored for more than eight weeks In Xataka | Cities such as London or Madrid appear on Russia’s new objective map. The reason: drone production

There are a lot of people replacing the oil on ham toast with coffee and orange. And oddly enough, it makes sense.

July 6, 2026 by usatoday24

“You insist on putting olive oil on our Iberian ham toast and this is like putting sugar on top of a chocolate cake.” Víctor Sanchego did not know it, but with those words was about to make thousands of people prepare the strangest breakfast we’ve seen in a long time. How come you don’t have to add oil to the ham? Sanchego’s argument is that “the fat of Iberian ham contains more than 60% oleic acid, the same component of extra virgin olive oil.” Therefore, as happens in a perfumery when we have already worn several colognes, when we mix oil and ham at the same time our taste buds become saturated. “Instead of helping it enhance the flavor, it is subtracting it,” says the ham man. The reality, of course, is more complex. The general idea is true for Iberian ham: adding oil (especially if it is an intense and complex one) blurs the flavor profile and can actually oversaturate the bite. This, however, does not happen with the rest of the hams or with the rest of the oils. It is, so to speak, a borderline case. And a well-known one, at that. The normal thing when we talk about Iberian ham, in fact, is that it is recommended to enjoy it alone or with an accompaniment that cleanses the palate, such as a piece of neutral bread. Nobody usually proposes eating a plate of ham with a glass of EVOO on the side. The striking thing about all this is not that. The striking thing is the coffee with orange zest. Because Víctor Sanchego does not propose to eat ham with white bread, nothing like that. He suggests smearing the bread in a mixture of black coffee and orange peel, toasting it and, now, putting the Iberian ham on top. It’s a strange thing, yes; but we cannot define it as madness either. We said before that the ideal thing is to eat Iberian ham with something that ‘cleanses the palate’ and Sanchego’s idea goes directly there: coffee, due to its dry and intense qualities, allows us to enhance the organoleptic properties of our ham. Is it the most interesting decision? Well, the truth is that I couldn’t say. On a theoretical level, there could be dozens of similar combinations that fit better with our usual organoleptic repertoire; but without a doubt it is bold and many of those who try it (on social networks) They are delighted with the result. And that, without a doubt, is good news. Not because of the ham, not because of the coffee, not because of the orange zest. It’s good news because culinary Talibanism It is a practice that greatly impoverishes our understanding of food. And it limits us for no reason. Being open to ‘playing’ with products as iconic as Iberian ham is a symptom of a gastronomic maturity that, used well, can help us resolve problems in a much simpler way. big problems of the food security of the century. Image | Stephan Coudassot | Nathan Dumlao In Xataka | We’ve been telling ourselves for 100 years that breakfast is the “most important meal of the day.” The problem is that it is not true In Xataka | We’ve gone from “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” to “I grab something quick and stick with it.” And that has problems A version of this theme was published in 2025

Spanish oil is changing radically and we are only now beginning to realize it

June 29, 2026 by usatoday24

There was a time when some olive oil jugs came with an anti-theft alarm. Those were the years in which the liter was close to ten euros and analysts wondered if the EVOO culture was dead. Traditional producers were drowning between meager production and falling demand. That was all two years ago. Now things have changed. Now prices are at rock bottom and, as a consequence, more than 75% of the Spanish olive grove, according to the association of olive municipalities, already produces below costs. The data is accurate; the producers are still drowning; The panorama is desolate. However, none of this means what it seems. The 75% figure. The assembly of the AEMO (Spanish Association of Municipalities of the Olivo) met in Adamuz and advanced its cost study for 2026. According to its calculations, the price at origin is 3.51 euros and that means that More than 75% of the olive growing area is already producing at a loss or at the limit of profitability. It makes sense. The AEMO does a more subtle job than we usually see and elaborates not “a cost” but sevenone for each cultivation system. As soon as we start to think in those terms, the olive grove stops being a ‘sea of olive trees’ and becomes a very complex agro-industrial system. To give us an idea, the costs of the traditional mountain olive grove are about 5.31 euros per kilo, while the irrigated hedge is 3.07. Thus, with the average price of 3.51 euros, the hedge gains money and the traditional mountain hedge loses almost two euros. The hunger games. To be fair, we have to recognize that the AEMO is ‘part’ in this discussion (it defends the traditional olive grove) and, furthermore, has not yet published the entire report. However, the figures fit with what we already knew: no matter what happens in the olive oil market, the result is always the same: the irrigated olive grove wins. This is so clear that there is a whole mad race for make all hectares irrigated that they can (at all costs at a social, economic and environmental level). The current situation… It has to do, above all, with excess oil: after some bad seasons, we have gone from around 666,000 tons in 2022/23 to around 1.4 million in the last two campaigns. As there is a type of olive tree that can continue to be profitable at very low prices, there are no real incentives to contain the supply and that exposes a good part of the industry to having to assume the losses to stay alive for another season. And why should we care about olive farmers now? In our country (and without going into speculation about how good or bad the sector is), the olive grove has a key role in the economic, labor and industrial structure of Empty Spain. It is a discreet and underappreciated role; but that undoubtedly forms part of the basal structure of a good part of the country. It is not an accident that the association that is moving this is of municipalities: the traditional olive grove is an issue of great territorial importance. Because we must not be fooled. We talk about surface, not production. The irrigated olive grove is much more productive and is increasingly important. What we are seeing is a change of model within the sector and, linked to that, we are beginning to see the consequences it will have in the medium term. Spiler: they will not be good for most of olive-growing Spain. Image | Maximo Lopez In Xataka | Spain faces its greatest agricultural challenge of the century: converting 1,901,529 hectares of olive groves into irrigation before it is too late

Arab Emirates has oil and desert in abundance. Now they have discovered how to take advantage of sand: turning it into brick

June 20, 2026 by usatoday24

Although transport or energy are the sectors that first come to mind when we talk about emissions, there is a third industry with a comparable share of responsibility: construction, responsible for 34% of global CO₂ emissions, according to the International Energy Agency. The problem is in the materials: manufacturing a ton of Portland cement emits between 0.6 and 0.8 tons of CO₂ both due to the energy consumed in the process and the chemical reaction that produces it. So any idea to replace classic construction materials such as concrete and brick is good to decarbonize the industry. We have already seen alternatives such as the shells on the beachbut to a company in Dubai Another idea has occurred to him: instead of importing materials, manufacture them with abundant resources in the area. More specifically, with sand and date seeds. The invention. The star product of ARDH Collective, which is the name of the Dubai company formed by Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Máximo Tettamanzi, is DuneCrete: An alternative to concrete made from locally sourced desert sand, which reduces cement content by 50%. From there they manufacture the DuneBlockthe building blocks. In their product catalog they also have the Dateforma material that reuses 1,000 date seeds per square meter. Why is it important. Because after water, sand is the second resource we consume the most. The United Nations Environment Program esteem that up to 50,000 million tons of sand and gravel are consumed annually worldwide. Removing sand from rivers and coastal ecosystems causes erosion, damages water supplies, harms biodiversity and reduces storm protection, so replacing it with underused desert sand would be a turning point. DuneCrete reduces cement content by 50%, which according to its founders represents approximately half the carbon dioxide emissions compared to conventional concrete. It makes sense: Portland cement alone is responsible for 8% of global emissions and its footprint does not disappear using renewable energy, since much of it comes from a chemical reaction, not from burning fuel. Context. Paradoxically, the UAE has to import sand even though it is basically a desert. The underlying problem is that desert sand particles are rounded due to wind erosion, which makes their adhesion in conventional concrete mixtures difficult, while river sand has more angular particles that favor compaction and resistance. In detail. This project arose during a master’s degree at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. After obtaining a couple of grants totaling $8,000, they began research in a laboratory that they set up in the garage of one of their homes in Dubai during the pandemic. That was where they found the formula that stabilized the mixture with desert sand. Laboratory tests confirmed that the material met the resistance standards necessary for commercial development. The company start production in 2021. Yes, but. Once the problem of the geometry of desert sand has been solved, there is another obstacle to solve to scale the project: its morphology varies enormously by region and is not homogeneous. ARDHCollective affirms DuneCrete is “just as strong” as conventional concrete, but there are no academic publications or third-party test reports to support its mechanical properties. Simply put, the transformative potential of this DuneCrete remains to be seen. In Xataka | A young woman from Kenya has developed brick 2.0: the main ingredient is the plastic of the shampoo bottle In Xataka | We have just reinvented the brick. It is just as it was millennia ago Cover | ARDHCollective and Fredrik Öhlander

The biggest problem for Spanish olive trees is neither costs nor climate change: it is ‘ghost oil’

June 18, 2026 by usatoday24

Something smells bad in the olive oil market. We knew it for a long timebut it is now with the collapse of prices at source (almost 46%) that everyone has become nervous. The figures do not add up and the bill will not be paid by the large olive oil groups, but by the small producers. For this reason, on June 15, a COAG representative stood in front of the microphones and reported that 81% of olive oil Tunisian was entering Spain undercover. But how do you put 65,500 tons of oil under the radar? It has not been easy to determine, the truth is. But if the organization is right, the oil ship has more than one leak compromising its future. But it doesn’t have it. Always according to the COAGa good part of that oil comes from Portugal. But the ‘Portuguese way’ does not add up: with the data from the 2024-2025 campaign, Portugal produces between 160,000 and 195,000 tons of its own and imported only 3,406 of Tunisian oil. Those 3,406 tons cannot explain the 131,877 that it re-exports to Spain. Some part yes, but not all of it. And then? The problem seems different. It looks like ours, in fact. Because what COAG does seem to be right about is that a good part of the oil that entered the country did so under a special regime: that of active development. It is a formula of the Customs Code of the European Union that allows the importation of non-EU merchandise without tariffs or VAT as long as it is transformed and exported again. What the producers point out is that a good part of the oil that arrives in Spain to be “perfected” ends up being sold in the country without appearing in the statistics (marked, in fact, as community). The consumer does not notice it substantially in the price, but it is noticeable at the source. And a lot. But there is more. A few years ago, honey became a problem. Nobody really knew what they were eating in Europe. The key to this was to mix it up. Above all, because with completely insufficient regulation, it was enough to put “mix” so that there was nothing more to ask. This was attempted to be resolved with Directive (EU) 2024/1438 (the “Breakfast Guidelines“) which has not come into force in Spain until June 14, 2026. Among many other things, Brussels demands that the package states where what is inside comes from. Easy, clean, effective and… …non-existent for oil. The big problem, as almost always, is traceability. Not that we have problems, but that there is almost no real interest in doing it. As we have said many times, the Spanish agricultural market is a giant with feet of clay and now is the time to think if we want it to be something else. In Xataka | Something strange is happening with the price of olive oil and farmers have just denounced it: there are up to 2.8 billion at stake

The Strait of Hormuz has become a death trap. The Arab Emirates’ solution is a pharaonic oil “bypass” through the desert

May 15, 2026 by usatoday24

The new energy order is not debated in suit and tie summits, but is rising against the clock under the scorching sun of the Arabian Peninsula. Suffocated by the Third Gulf War, the United Arab Emirates has hit the table: it refuses to leave the survival of its trade routes in the hands of chance, war or its neighbors. The strategy is clear: if the strait is a minefield, they will build a rear exit. The news that has shaken the foundations of oil logistics came to light through official channels. According to a statement from the company itself ADNOC (the Emirati state oil company), His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed has chaired a key meeting in which he has ordered an urgent directive: to accelerate the construction of the new “West-East Pipeline” project. But what infrastructure are we talking about exactly? As energy analyst Javier Blas points outthe key to this movement is that the Emirates is laying out a second oil pipeline expressly designed to turn its back on the Strait of Hormuz. The date marked on the calendar is 2027. When they open the tap, this new infrastructure will double the volume of crude oil that the country takes out to the world through the port of Fujairah (in the Gulf of Oman). In practical figures, this represents a gigantic leap: they will go from the 1.5 million barrels a day that they move right now, to injecting between 3 and 3.5 million. It is not a project improvised in the last week. As analyst Bachar El-Halabi points outwork on this project began quietly in early 2024, long before the war in Iran paralyzed the region. However, the conflict has acted as the definitive “catalyst.” The war did not inspire the pipeline, but it has injected it with urgency. The logistical “antidote” As was discussed in the middle Amwaj Mediathe Iran war has starkly exhibited the tremendous vulnerability of maritime bottlenecks (chokepoints). The near-total shutdown of Hormuz has caused the worst supply disruption in history, removing 12% of the world’s oil from the market. In this context, the West-East pipeline stands as a lifeline. This Emirati infrastructure, added to the gigantic oil pipeline East-West (or Petroline) of 1,200 kilometers that Saudi Arabia has reactivated towards the Red Sea, form a true logistical “antidote.” They are escape routes that neutralize Tehran’s blackmail, allowing crude oil to go out into the world without entering the range of missiles and blockades in the Persian Gulf. They are, in the words of experts, “buying invaluable time” for the West. To understand the privilege of having this infrastructure, just look at the neighboring country: the situation in Iraq exposes the other side of the coin. Lacking alternative outlets to the sea and completely dependent on Hormuz, Iraq has been left without physical space to store its own oil. As a result, Baghdad has been forced to shut down 70% of production in its prolific southern fields and beg the Kurdistan region to let them use an old, patched-up pipeline to Turkey that barely manages to export 250,000 barrels a day. Iraq is a hostage to its own geography; The Emirates, on the other hand, are buying their freedom with steel and engineering. A free (and flooded) market by 2027 All this new logistical muscle takes on its true meaning when it intersects with another historic decision: the Emirates’ slamming of the door on OPEC+. Emirates has formally left the organizationarguing the defense of their “national interest.” After almost six decades, the country has decided that its national interests no longer fit into the cartel’s quotas. The UAE had been accumulating commercial frustration for years because OPEC forced them to limit their pumping to 3.2 million barrels per day, despite the fact that the country has invested aggressively to reach a production capacity of 5 million barrels by 2027, the same year in which its new megagas pipeline to Fujairah will be ready. But as various international media explain, this divorce is not just about money. Abu Dhabi feels betrayed. The Emirates have had to absorb much of the impact of Iranian missiles and drones alone, feeling that their Arab “brothers” and the Gulf Cooperation Council were turning their backs on them. Therefore, the consequences of this schism will be tectonic. The cartel has seen its global market share plummet to 26%. When the Strait of Hormuz reopens and the West-East pipeline operates at full capacity, the Emirates will flood the market under its own rules, leaving a lone Saudi Arabia to bear the brutal cost of trying to stabilize prices in a world of extreme volatility. The cold war for the future The Emirati order, in fact, is directly addressed to Riyadh. In the silent cold war it is waging with Saudi Arabia for regional hegemony, the Emirates refuses to be a supporting actor in the face of Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s monolithic “Vision 2030.” As explained Middle East Economythe UAE can afford to leave OPEC and endure a downward pulse in prices because its break-even Fiscal is around a comfortable $45 per barrel, compared to the much greater needs of its neighbors. Thanks to diversification, the Emirates today generates 25% of its electricity with the Barakah nuclear power plant and has immense solar parks, allowing itself to use today’s petrodollars to finance hydrogen and the technology of tomorrow. However, this apparent invulnerability has a terrifying blind spot. Military analysts warn that, in the era of hybrid warfare, a steel pipe is of little use if a $500 drone can paralyze the region. The Third Gulf War already demonstrated this fragility when a drone reached the gigantic Emirati Ruwais refinery. Added to this is the panic unleashed when pro-Iranian militias explicitly threatened vital infrastructure such as the Barakah nuclear power plant. The Emirates is building its financial and logistical freedom, yes, but it is doing so through a minefield. The new West-East pipeline is ultimately much more than a … Read more

Dubai has come to the same conclusion as Russia. To protect your oil from drones there is something better than missiles: giant cages

May 14, 2026 by usatoday24

In World War II, the British discovered something disconcerting when analyzing the German bombings on its industrial cities: many times it was not necessary to completely destroy a refinery or factory to paralyze it for weeks. It was enough to hit some few vulnerable points to cause fires, disruptions and a disproportionate economic effect. Eight decades later, that same logic once again dominates another war, only now the weapon that attempts to find those weak points fits in an operator’s backpack and costs a fraction of an anti-aircraft missile. Dubai is located in Ukraine. For years, the United Arab Emirates built its security around a very specific idea: cutting-edge technology, advanced anti-aircraft systems and one of the most sophisticated defensive architectures in the Middle East were enough to protect the country’s energy heart. The war with Iran has begun dismantle that trust. After enduring hundreds of missiles and more than 2,200 Iranian drones, Dubai and Abu Dhabi have reached an uncomfortable conclusion that Russia learned before in Ukraine: in the face of cheap, numerous and persistent drones, it is sometimes more effective to raise huge metal structures over oil deposits than spending multimillion-dollar interceptors trying to destroy every threat in the air. The images that appeared near Dubai International Airport show precisely that: those gigantic “cope cages” surrounding fuel tanks, a scene that until recently seemed exclusive to Russian refineries attacked by Ukrainian drones, or in the films of George Miller. The cheap drone war. The problem facing the Emirates has less to do with the individual sophistication of each drone than with the economic logic of the conflict. Iran has demonstrated that it can launch massive waves of Shahed-136-type UAVs and other relatively cheap attack munitions against extremely expensive infrastructure and difficult to replace. Even when air defenses work, the economic drain It’s starting to be absurd: Shooting down low-cost drones using advanced interceptor missiles turns defense into a financially unsustainable battle. That’s where these appear giant metal cages. They are not designed to stop ballistic missiles or complex attacks, but to create a physical separation that reduces the damage of suicide drones or improvised munitions before reaching fuel depots, pipelines or critical facilities. A brutally simple solution, and precisely for this reason it is beginning to spread. Russia led the way. Because what the Emirates is doing now has been going on for years. happening in Russia. Since Ukraine began hitting refineries, oil depots and military bases with long-range drones, Moscow began to cover facilities strategic with nets, metal mesh and improvised structures. What was initially derided as a desperate solution ended up evolving in a defensive system relatively common around vulnerable assets. The logic is simple: an FPV drone or a Shahed does not need to completely destroy a facility to cause a huge problem, it is enough a precise impact on a tank, a pipe or a critical point to cause fires, interruptions and million-dollar costs. The Emirates, despite having practically unlimited resources compared to Russia, is discovering exactly the same structural vulnerability. The difference is that now these cages appear next to the most futuristic skyscrapers and financial centers in the Gulf. Oil as a strategic objective. Iran has focused a good part of its attacks precisely on the Emirati energy heart. Facilities such as the Fujairah oil port or the Habshan gas plant have suffered damage that will take months to fully repair. That explains why the country has accelerated visible defensive measures even after the partial ceasefire between Washington and Tehran. Because the threat has not disappeared. In fact, one of the most disturbing aspects of the conflict is that the attacks continued even after the truce announcements, reinforcing the feeling that any critical infrastructure can become a target again with very little notice. In this context, protecting refineries and warehouses no longer depends only on radars or anti-missile batteries, it also implies physically harden facilities, assume partial impacts and prevent a relatively cheap drone from causing a national energy disaster. The Pentagon changes its mentality. The expansion of these improvised defenses also reflects a broader doctrinal shift within of the US military itself. For years, many officials in Washington considered inefficient invest large amounts of money in physically shielding bases, hangars or critical facilities from cheap drones. Ukraine, Russia and now the Middle East are completely changing that perception. Shortly before the war between Iran and the United States broke out, the Pentagon published new guidelines precisely recommending networks, cables and other passive physical defenses to protect strategic infrastructures. The reasoning is beginning to be difficult to ignore: in an era of massive and cheap dronesthe survival of multi-million dollar facilities may depend less on futuristic systems and more on simple, ugly and gigantic industrial solutions. Dubai, probably one of the most recognizable symbols of global technological modernity, has just assumed exactly that reality. Image | x In Xataka | Every time the US takes stock of Iran’s arsenal and capabilities, it realizes something: it has destroyed very little. In Xataka | Suddenly, a military outpost sprouted up in the Iraq desert: it was Israel in its bombing campaign of Iran

There are a lot of people replacing the oil on ham toast with coffee and orange. And oddly enough, it makes sense.

May 12, 2026 by usatoday24

The low cost companies of the United States are already suffering from the new oil crisis

May 5, 2026 by usatoday24

2.5 billion dollars. That is the figure that low-cost airlines demand from the United States Government in order to continue operating in the country. The rise in fuel prices has reached such a point that a handful of companies are beginning to see the wolf’s ears. And that wolf is called: bankruptcy. 2.5 billion dollars. The Association of Value Airlines, made up of Allegiant Air, Avelo Air, Frontier Airlines, Spirit Airlines and Sun Country (all low-cost airlines operating in the United States), have asked the United States Government to create a liquidity fund of $2.5 billion to pay for the fuel they need to offer their services. At the meeting, they assure from Reutersairline executives, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy and Head of the Federal Aviation Administration Bryan Bedford met. 111 dollars. It is the average ticket price offered by the low-cost airlines that attended the meeting. A figure that, they say, is impossible to maintain if the price of fuel continues to increase. And, according to his calculations, those 2.5 billion dollars It will be the increase in prices at the end of the year that they will have to assume if the market continues to be as volatile as it has been until now. According to their calculations, the rise in the price of oil has been such that it is forcing them to pay for fuel at twice the price they normally did. This puts their operations at risk to the point that, they say, the profit margin is so narrow that it puts the viability of the companies at risk. Ravine. Neither the White House nor federal aviation officials responded to questions from Reuters but by then it was already known that talks had been initiated to provide $500 million to Spirit Airlines. The airline, however, ended up bankrupt this weekend. The company, they explain in BBChad operated in the country for more than 30 years but since the hardest years of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was going through severe financial difficulties. The rise in fuel prices has been the last straw that has ended up leaving passengers on the ground. The Secretary of Transportation of the United States, Sean Duffy, has assured that the company already had serious problems before the country launched its first attacks against Iran. Now, 17,000 workers have lost their jobs overnight. It’s not the only one. Although the Spirit case has been the most striking (its business became such that in 2014 Morgan Stanley pointed it out as the airline with the greatest potential for its investors). but he withdrew his support in 2023), this airline has not been the only one in which bankruptcy due to the enormous cost of fuel has weighed on the heads of hundreds or thousands of workers. Latvia has had to rescue Air Baltic with a loan of 30 million euros and airlines such as Lufthansa or SAS have had to cancel thousands of flights to try to contain the hemorrhage. In the case of Lufthansathe company has focused on short-haul flights where profit margins are narrower, canceling more than 20,000 of them before the end of the year. For its part, SAS canceled more than 1,000 flights only last April. A warning (with buts). Michael O’Leary, CEO of Ryanair, has also not missed the opportunity to attack his rivals. In The Spanish They report that O’Leary predicts the bankruptcy of two or three European companies before the end of the year if the oil crisis continues. For the manager, WizzAir and Air Baltic would be the main candidates. However, some analysts have pointed out that they consider that the risk of reaching this point is lower among European companies. They point out that in the United States the strength of long-haul airlines is still very high and that, unlike in Europe, low-cost airlines have much less business. What they do not rule out, of course, is that flights will continue to be canceled en masse. less margin. The airline problem low cost It is similar to that of the gas stations serving cheap fuel. In both cases, very narrow profit margins are played in exchange for adding a large number of operations. However, the increase in the cost of fuel kills its business because it places its rates at the prices of its rivals. premium. In the case of airlines, as in the case of gas stations low costhave the added problem that fuel stock is usually small. Furthermore, in the case of aviation, variations in its price tend to be more damaging because its refinement and storage is so expensive and complicated that stocks are usually very small. Photo | Forsaken Films In Xataka | Ryanair asks to suspend the new EU border control system: many are missing flights due to the queues it generates

China turned off the oil tap when the conflict with Iran broke out. Now he reopens it to rescue a thirsty Asia

May 4, 2026 by usatoday24

When the Strait of Hormuz was practically sealed after the outbreak of the well-known Third Gulf War, the world held its breath. In the midst of widespread panic over the strangulation of one of the planet’s most vital energy arteries, the first major tectonic movement came from Beijing. The Asian giant opted for the crudest pragmatism: it ordered its large refineries to immediately and opaquely stop gasoline and diesel exports to shield its own tanks. China isolated itself to survive. However, in just a few weeks, the board has taken an unexpected turn. With an Asia that looks into the abyss of the shortage, Beijing has decided to reopen the valve, going from being a protectionist actor to establishing itself as the great energy lifeline of the region. Asia’s savior: China. The shockwaves of war have left the Indo-Pacific region shivering. Asia has become “ground zero” of the crisis. In Australia, the panic has emptied the gas stationsforcing the government to cut emergency taxes; India has had to sacrifice tax revenue to freeze prices due to shortages; Japan has refused to share its strategic reserves with its neighbors; and Vietnam airlines They have had to cancel en masse their flights due to the lack and extra cost of aviation fuel. In the midst of this desperation, China has made its move. As anticipated BloombergBeijing has given the green light to its state refineries to export 500,000 tons of fuels (gasoline, diesel and kerosene) over the next month. According to sources cited by oil pricecompanies such as Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) already have shipments ready on ships that will be destined, as a rescue, to severely punished neighboring nations such as Vietnam and Laos. The energetic rice bowl. That China can afford to export fuel while the rest of the continent applies rationing measures is not a miracle, it is the result of a silent strategy. China took advantage of previous years to buy heavily sanctioned and cheap crude oil (Russian, Venezuelan and Iranian), managing to accumulate colossal reserves of almost 1.4 billion barrels. According to researcher Henry Tugendhatthis gives Beijing a cushion of about 104 days of domestic demand, in addition to having a “floating warehouse” of Iranian oil tankers anchored off its coasts waiting to be unloaded. Returning to “Game of Thrones.” But Beijing’s move goes far beyond helping its neighbors; It is a direct geopolitical challenge. As detailed South China Morning Post (SCMP)China has for the first time activated its so-called “Blockade Rules” of 2021. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has issued an official order prohibiting domestic companies from complying with the sanctions recently imposed by the United States. Washington had sanctioned five refineries Chinese independent companies (known as “teapots”), including Hengli Petrochemical, accusing them of financing the Iranian military by purchasing its oil. By ordering the contempt of these sanctions because they are considered a “improper extraterritorial application”Beijing demonstrates that it not only has physical control of the crude oil, but that it is willing to engage in a legal and financial confrontation with the United States to protect its supply lines. Tightrope diplomacy. The short-term scenario will be played in the offices. As explained The New York TimesChina is playing both sides in this conflict. On the one hand, he acts as a peaceful mediator, pushing Iran to negotiate to de-escalate tension, having been key in the fragile temporary ceasefires. However, on the other hand, US intelligence agencies suspect that Chinese companies continue to export dual-use material and even military technology to Tehran. All of this is meticulously calculated ahead of the imminent May 14 summit in Beijing between Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. According to the analysts consulted through the New York environmentthe fact that the US is bogged down in the Middle East and rapidly spending its military resources, gives China a position of tremendous strength to negotiate over tariffs, trade and the US naval blockade. lenergy as the definitive weapon of the 21st century. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has functioned as a stress test for energy globalization. The sanctions drawn up in Washington attempt to financially suffocate the actors in the conflict, but the tyranny of physical infrastructure imposes its own rules. China has shown that the energy wars in this decade are not only decided with naval deployments, but with warehouses full of strategic reserves, independence in refining capacity and overwhelming dominance in the manufacturing of renewable energy. By reopening its export tap, Beijing sends a clear message to the world: while the West hyperventilates over the price of a barrel, China is the one who has the ability to decide who is left in the dark in Asia. Image | Photo by Bundo Kim on Unsplash Xataka | China is one of the largest refining powers on the planet. And he has decided something: to keep all the gasoline he produces

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