Open

The house of Open Source is collapsing because of vibecoding

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When it arrived, GitHub was miraculous for Open Source developers. Not only did it allow you to have a platform on which to host your code and always have it updated thanks to the version control software on which it was based (Git), but it did so with a social network component that definitively boosted its growth. Everything was wonderful, but suddenly it wasn’t. When GitHub didn’t exist. Developer Armin Ronacher I remembered GitHub before GitHub. When your Open Source software was on SourceForge, you had Trac running and that segment was filled with decentralized and anarchic Subversion repositories. It is a good way to remember how important the arrival of GitHub was, which solved almost all the problems that existed for these developers and became the backbone of the Open Source community. The Ghostty Earthquake. Although there had already been criticism and complaints in recent months, there has been a before and after in this situation. It happened this week, when Mitchell Hashimoto, developer of ghosttyannounced that left GitHub. This terminal emulator is a project with notable popularity on GitHub (more than 52,000 stars), but its creator has become fed up with the platform’s unreliability and has declared that “this is no longer a serious place to work.” GitHub acknowledges the problems. Last March, GitHub CTO, Vlad Fedorov, admitted in an article on the company’s official blog that the platform was indeed suffering availability problems. Hashimoto’s post seemed to set off even more alarm bells, because the same engineer published an article shortly after titled “An update on GitHub availability.” In it he apologized again, but also explained that the problems have a culprit. At GitHub they wanted to explain that the availability problems are due to the brutal growth they have had in software creation in recent months. Source: GitHub. Damn AI agents. This engineer indicated how in recent months they have realized that they need a redesign of GitHub that can scale by multiplying its capacity by 30. “The main reason for this rapid change is in how the software is being developed. Since the second half of December 2025, agentic development workflows have accelerated significantly.” The vibecoding phenomenon and the rise of Claude Code and other agentic development tools have caused companies and new users to develop more and more software, and that has caused reliability problems in a platform that was not prepared for this avalanche of code. They promise to fix the problem. At GitHub they know what to do: “Our priorities are clear: first availability, then capacity, then new features.” They are going to focus entirely on that to improve the behavior of critical services and optimize availability that in April has fallen to 85%, something unacceptable for a service on which millions of developers depend. The official history of its availability makes it clear: too many yellow and red updates. GitHub has no CEO. There is one more element that worries in the future of the company. In August 2025 Thomas Dohmke left office CEO and Microsoft did not replace him. Instead of that distributed management functions among several executives and integrated GitHub into the CoreAI division. Meanwhile, Dohmke announced in February the creation of his new startup, called Entire, which is precisely intended as an evolved successor to GitHub that proposes solutions for the new flow of software development that has emerged with AI. The alternatives are fine, but. There are, of course, very valid alternative platforms. Among them is including Plastic SCM, from the Spanish Códice Softwarewhich in turn was purchased by Unity in 2020. There are others like CodeBerg or GitLab even more popular among the community, and even OpenAI seems want to create your own platform. Whether you do it or not, the problem with all of them is the same: GitHub had become a social network for developers, and it showed that in this case centralization provided more advantages than disadvantages. If the community now spreads out, project discovery and contributions will become fragmented. Image | Rubaitul Azad In Xataka | AI came into our lives under a “freemium” model: GitHub and Claude are clear that the future is paying for it

the strange atmosphere of the Mutua Madrid Open

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The Caja Mágica is, on paper, one of the best-conceived tennis venues on the circuit in Spain. Modern facilities, first-class slopes, careful organization. And yet, each edition of the Mutua Madrid Open sparks the same conversation: why are the stands so empty? Why is the atmosphere more like a corporate event than a Masters 1000? The answers are uncomfortable and point in very specific directions. What is the Madrid Open. The Mutua Madrid Open celebrates its 25th edition in 2026. Since 2009 it has been played in the Caja Mágica, the venue designed by Dominique Perrault in the Parque Lineal del Manzanares, and since 2019 it has been directed by Feliciano López, who combines that role with his last seasons as a professional player. It is a combined Masters 1000 tournament, which means it simultaneously hosts the ATP men’s draw and the WTA women’s draw: one of nine events of that category in the world, one step below the four Grand Slams. The prices. Tickets for the Manolo Santana Stadium, the center court of the tournament, with capacity for just under 10,000 spectators, oscillate between 10 euros in the first days and 176 euros in the semis and final. They are not scandalous numbers, but at Roland Garros, tickets for the main draw with assigned seating on the Philippe-Chatrier court (the equivalent of Manolo Santana, with capacity for more than 14,000 spectators) They start at 95 euros in day sessions. Tickets for the semifinals started at 120 euros, and the final at 220 euros. In other words: The semifinal of the most important clay Grand Slam in the world has a price similar to what Madrid asks for a final round match in a Masters 1000. And Paris is Paris. From here, prices skyrocket: a second week pass has a starting price of more than 850 euros, which places the Madrid Open in a league of exclusivity that its weight on the circuit does not fully justify. Furthermore, the sales model (separate sessions, stadiums with differentiated access, multiplication of premium categories) turns the purchase of a ticket into a labyrinth for deep pockets. When the VIP is empty. In May 2024, one of the most commented images on social networks was the image of the Manolo Santana VIP boxes during the women’s final, played between the two best tennis players in the world at that time, with dozens of empty seats. Complaints from fans were especially directed at that area, occupied largely by guests, with low attendance that was visible both in smaller matches and in meetings with the most popular figures of the tournament: tickets sell out quickly, resellers raise prices, and at the same time there are dozens of seats reserved for guests who end up not showing up. Image problems. Outside, the tournament projects an exclusive and aspirational image. But inside, the empty stands do not go unnoticed. When Feliciano López himself spoke this month about the controversies over the invitations, his explanation pointed directly to the structure that owns the event: “The owners of the tournament are not us; they are other companies, with other interests, clients who have to help.” Tennis and networking. The tournament’s own official website describes its premium spaces as ideal for combining “leisure, sports and networking with the idea of ​​satisfying the needs of the most demanding fans.” It is not an oversight in the writing, it is just that this is the business model: in a tournament with the relatively short tradition of the Madrid tournament, the imbalance between the space conceived as a social experience and as a sporting spectacle is even more evident. The result is an atmosphere that lifelong fans criticize with phrases like “I’m going to take a photo, I don’t care about tennis.” Attending the Open has become a social event where tennis is the decoration. Gamblers in the stands. Another type of networking: in the 2025 Madrid Challenger (a minor category tournament held at the Country Club) incidents related to bettors they marked the entire week. During the quarterfinals, comments such as “Gaubas is going to pay me” could be heard as attendees looked at their phones to check live betting apps. The Slovak tennis player Norbert Gombos even stopped the match to directly rebuke a group of young people in the stands. It was a semi-final, and a scene difficult to imagine at Roland Garros or Wimbledon. LaLiga’s Integrity Director warned that tennis and basketball are the sports where the pressure of bettors on the atmosphere in the stands becomes more evident, due to the pace of the game and the proliferation of micro-event markets (point-to-point betting, per game, per set). The public no longer cheers out of hobby: they are getting excited or angry depending on the money they win or lose. An attitude that degrades the atmosphere of a sport that requires concentration and silence. The drama. Neither the Madrid Open is a failure nor the Caja Mágica is a bad venue. But there are doubts about the tournament model that has been built: prices that leave out the average fan, stands that look like corporate meeting rooms, a poorly maintained invitation policy and results that give a bad image… an atmosphere that does not accompany the quality of the tennis played on the court. In Xataka | If Carlos Alcaraz is not allowed to wear a smart bracelet, Whoop has provided him with the solution: underwear with sensors

Ukraine has tested whether Russia was complying with the ceasefire with an optical illusion in the open field. The video is self-explanatory

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during the call Christmas Truce In the First World War, enemy soldiers came out of their trenches, exchanged gifts and even played soccer games in no man’s land, in one of the most unusual episodes of the conflict. That scene, as brief as it was unexpected, showed to what extent war can change shape in a matter of hours. A ceasefire on paper. Russia had announced a ceasefire for Orthodox Easter with a strong symbolic and political component, seeking to project an image of negotiating will in the middle of war. However, on the ground the reality has been very different, with thousands of violations recorded in just 32 hours, including artillery attacks, assaults and a massive use of tactical drones. Although long-range attacks were reduced, information arriving from kyiv They point out that the intensity on the near front was maintained, reflecting a dynamic where pauses are used more as a narrative tool than as a true attempt to stop the fighting. The war of stories. Both Moscow and kyiv tried to position themselves as the party that respected the truce, in a conditioned diplomatic pulse also due to international pressure, especially from the United States. While Russia defended having complied with the ceasefire, Ukraine documented thousands of violations in a matter of hours, showing an obvious gap between the official discourse and what was happening on the battlefield. This duality reinforced the idea that truce announcements are part of a communication strategy as much as the war itself. The unexpected test: an optical illusion. In this context, Ukraine decided to go beyond the accusations and designed a direct test to check Russian behavior: evacuate apparently own soldiers, unarmed and wounded, complying with all the conditions of a ceasefire. It turns out that, in reality, it was Russian prisoners in disguise with neutral uniforms, used as a kind of “visual bait” to verify whether the agreements were respected. The scene functioned as a kind of terrifying optical illusion on the battlefield, where what looked like a legitimate evacuation hid a carefully prepared experiment. The video that dismantles the truce. The outcome was so fast as forceful: because a swarm of Russian drones attacked the evacuees, killing several of them without knowing that they were actually their own captured soldiers. The episode, recorded on video and broadcast Later on different social networks, he crudely exposed the fragility of the ceasefire and the inability (or lack of will) to respect it even in situations clearly protected by the rules of war. Beyond the tactical impact, the incident became in a visual test difficult to refute about what was really happening on the front. An episode that also leaves everyone in a bad light due to the crudeness of the visual piece. An impossible truce. If you also want, the set of events confirms that the ceasefire was, in practice, untenable in a conflict where both parties seek to maintain the military initiative while competing for the international narrative. For Russia, the test reveals the extent to which modern combat (based on the intensive use of drones, quick decisions and targets detected without full verification) can turn against him even in sensitive situations. For Ukraine, the test not only highlighted Russian non-compliance, but also showed the extent to which the battle has entered a phase where even humanitarian gestures can become in strategic tools. In this scenario, the truce was nothing more than a nominal pause in a war that continues to develop with the same intensity under a layer of unfulfilled promises. Image | x In Xataka | If fog was deadly in Ukraine’s winter, spring is offering Russia a key advantage: greenery In Xataka | Ukraine is close to what no one has achieved in a war: shooting down missiles for less than a million dollars

There is a way to open the dishwasher incorrectly. This is bad news for your kitchen furniture.

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Practically half of Spanish homes have a dishwasher. And some of the most reputable manufacturers have had to come to the fore to explain why. it’s not a good idea Open the door as soon as the washing cycle ends. Don’t be craving. Opening the dishwasher as soon as the wash cycle is finished is not the best idea, according to the manufacturers themselves. Some, like Boschrecommend waiting for it to cool a little before opening the door so that less steam comes out of the opening. Others, such as Siemens, make exactly the same recommendation: let the appliance cool down slightly after the program ends before opening the door. Because. Opening the dishwasher at the end of the cycle is not particularly dangerous, but it can cause problems in your kitchen in the long term. Manufacturers point out that excess steam when opening the door when it is still quite hot can end up damaging kitchen furniture. Similarly, dishwashers use their own residual heat to help the correct drying process. All this without taking into account the most obvious detail: if we open the appliance when it is full of high-temperature steam, we run a greater risk of suffering a slight burn. How the dishwasher works. To understand why the dishwasher generates so much steam at the end of the cycle, it is worth doing a brief review of how it works. Basically, it is a closed circuit that allows hot water to be pumped into rotating arms. When you choose the program, the door closes. Water enters its base and the dishwasher heats it. When the water is hot, the pump pushes it under pressure into your arms. The water hits the dishes and drags away the dirt. The detergent is released and begins to break down grease and food debris. The residual heat dries the dishes little by little. The heat problem. Aware that opening the dishwasher as soon as it is finished is common practice in homes, manufacturers have been devising solutions for years to prevent excess steam. Some appliances of this type have an automatic opening system. The door opens just a few centimeters to let the steam out little by little, so that when we finish opening it manually we avoid that initial blow. Other systems, even more advanced, they use zeolites. Zeolites are microporous aluminosilicates (of mineral or synthetic origin) that have a crystalline structure with a huge internal surface area. When they absorb water molecules the process is exothermic, that is, they release heat. This allows part of the steam to be collected and used as waste heat for drying. Increasingly advanced solutions to address a problem as simple as it is common. In Xataka | A user bought a next-generation connected dishwasher. That’s where his nightmare began

to open Hormuz the US is no longer going to bomb, but rather something more dangerous

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In the Persian Gulf there is an enclave of just a few square kilometers that, despite its size, became bombed hundreds of times during the war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s while continuing to function as one of the main crude oil outlets in the world. Their history shows that sometimes the smallest places are also the hardest to replace. The war is changing the verb. Over the weekend, the arrival of a second amphibious group US launch into the Gulf, with thousands of Marines on board, is not just another tactical move but rather a sign that the war is possibly coming to a head. a new phase: to open the Strait of Hormuz, Washington is no longer thinking only of bombing, but of doing something much more dangerous, taking the key territory. How have we been countingKharg, the small island off the Iranian coast, concentrated near the 90% of exports of the country’s oil and has become the true center of gravity of the conflict, not because it is large or defensible, but because whoever controls it control the flow economy that sustains the regime. After weeks of remote attacks, the accelerated dispatch of amphibious forces indicates that the United States is preparing the option that involves boots on the ground, a qualitative leap that transforms an air campaign into a potential occupation operation. The plan is not new, it is from 40 years ago. I remembered the financial times this morning that what today seems like an improvised escalation actually has much deeper roots, because the idea of ​​taking Kharg is not new, but is part of a script that Trump had already outlined in the eightieswhen he openly argued that the United States should directly hit Iranian oil assets to force concessions. So talked about “go and take the island” as a response to any challenge in the Gulf, and four decades later that same scheme (ultimatum, economic pressure and decisive use of force) reappears almost no changes. The difference is that now it is not campaign rhetoric, but a very real option on the table, turning an old strategic intuition into an operational plan with global implications. The economic switch of war. The logic behind this move seems quite obvious: Iran has managed resist bombing and, at the same time, maintain its crude oil exports while blocking those of its rivals, turning the closure of Hormuz into an economic weapon that puts pressure on the rest of the world. From that perspective, for the United States, taking Kharg would break that dynamic by cutting off Tehran’s main source of income and striking back in the same area, the economic one, where Iran is trying to win the war. In other words, it is not so much about destroying as to control and taketo use the island as a negotiating lever to force the reopening of the strait and, ultimately, force the regime to accept imposed conditions from outside. The impossible operation. On paper, the capture of the island could be relatively fastsupported by previous attacks and the deployment of amphibious units capable of assaulting key points such as the airport and port facilities. However, the difficulty is not in conquering Kharg, but rather in holding it: its proximity to the Iranian coast makes it an exposed target to missiles, drones and constant attacks, while American supply lines would be vulnerable in an environment saturated with asymmetric threats. That is to say, the scenario looks less like the traditional blitzkrieg campaigns of the Americans and more like a war of attritionwhere holding a small island can become a large-scale strategic problem. The risk of escalation without return. Most analysts agree on the same diagnosis: the real danger is not only military, but political and economic. Such an assault operation would imply a direct escalation against the economic heart of Iran, with unforeseeable consequences: from regional attacks to energy infrastructures (Iran, in fact, has already warned with this) to a prolonged rise in oil prices and increasing pressure on the United States to exit the conflict. Furthermore, it must be taken into account that there is no guarantee that taking the island will force Tehran to give in. In fact, it could, on the contrary, further harden its stance and widen the conflict. In this unstable balance, Kharg Island has ceased to be just a military objective and has become a strategic bet high risk for Washington: a move that could change the course of the war… or trap it in an even more dangerous phase. Image | USN In Xataka | We wonder if it is safe to fly now that there are more drones than Ryanair planes: the answer is an Ockham’s razor In Xataka | The weapon to liberate Hormuz has fled 6,000 km from the war. And that just means the US is preparing for what comes next.

The US Navy already knows what is going to happen to the planet. The mission to open Hormuz is the closest thing to a suicide operation

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In the world there are only a dozen maritime passages capable of altering the global economy if they are blocked. Some are so narrow that, at certain points, they barely exceed 30 kilometers wide. However, millions of barrels of oil, huge ships of liquefied natural gas and a good part of the planet’s energy trade circulate through them every day. When one of those places goes into crisisthe impact it doesn’t take long to feel in markets, governments and homes around the world. And the Strait of Hormuz points to a unprecedented scenario. The impossible mission. Yes, the Strait of Hormuz has become the point most dangerous on the planet for global energy trade. Some 20 million barrels of oil daily (around 20% of global consumption) in addition to one fifth of liquefied natural gas that supplies numerous countries. The conflict with Iran has transformed that corridor into a war zone where attacks on oil tankers, drones, missiles and sabotage have paralyzed much of the traffic. But what is most revealing is not only the violence of the incidents, but Washington’s reaction: even the world’s largest naval power just recognized which is not prepared to escort oil tankers through the area. That delay is a clear sign of the magnitude of the problem, because if the US Navy needs weeks to organize convoys, and that is exactly the words they have usedthe implicit message for the markets is that the Gulf energy blockade may last much longer than many imagined. Convoys under fire. To understand it we must imagine the scenario. The idea of ​​accompanying oil tankers with warships seems, on paper, a direct solution. In practice, it is one of the riskiest missions that a modern navy can face. The convoys would need frigates and destroyers protecting the freighters while specialized units They search for mines and drones in an environment saturated with threats. The ships would be exposed to anti-ship missiles launched from mobile trucks off the Iranian coast, swarms of explosive speedboats, kamikaze drones and possible mines hidden in the strait. To completely eliminate these threats, some analysts they even propose something Washington would prefer to avoid: a ground operation to control the Iranian coast that dominates the sea passage. This scenario explains why military planners speak of a “very complicated” situation: reopening the strait does not depend only on naval superiority, but on neutralizing an entire ecosystem of asymmetric warfare. Iranian missile boat moments before being attacked The cheapest weapon to paralyze commerce. And among all the threats, one stands out for its effectiveness: naval mines. We are talking about simple, cheap and extremely disruptive weapons that can transform a maritime corridor in a death trap. Even a few mines in a narrow spot are enough to paralyze traffic, because shipping companies and their insurers simply refuse to take the risk. Iran has several types of these devices, from floating mines to models anchored to the seabed capable of detonating charges of more than one hundred kilos of explosives upon contact. Not only that. You can also display them in ways difficult to detect: from small boats camouflaged as fishing boats or by divers who attach them to the hull of the ships. History, in fact, has already demonstrated his powerbecause mines have damaged more American ships than any other weapon naval since World War II. Hence its true effect is not to sink ships, but to sow enough fear to block traffic. Map with the strategic location of the Strait of Hormuz The invisible lock. The paradox of this type of war is that it is not necessary to mine the entire strait to close it. In reality, it is enough the simple suspicion. The reason is simple: in such a narrow channel, the presence of a few mines requires inspection every meter of water with sonar, underwater drones and specialized ships. A slow and dangerous process, especially if the enemy continues to lay new mines or attack demining units. Plus: recent experience in the black sea has shown that even uncertainty about their presence can keep commercial ships away for months. And in the Persian Gulf the same thing happens: Thousands of ships wait for instructions while the risk of mines, missiles or drones turns each voyage into a gamble. Oil as a geopolitical hostage. There is no doubt, all this gives Iran a strategic power of large dimensions. Before the conflict, about a fifth of the world’s oil passed through Hormuz daily. With this altered flow, energy prices react immediately and governments release strategic reserves to contain the impact. The strait thus becomes a colossal geopolitical lever: Even if the war were to end soon, something that is currently a utopia, an Iranian regime still capable of launching drones, missiles or mines could keep threatening maritime traffic when it suits you. That means oil and gas can stay hostage of Gulf stability for a long time, something that worries both the markets and Washington’s regional allies. There is no easy way out. Under this scenario, the dilemma For the United States it is evident. Stopping the war too soon could leave intact Iran’s ability to blockade the strait and put pressure on global energy markets. Continuing it could require a major climbincluding land operations or prolonged naval campaigns to ensure the security of the sea passage. Meanwhile, the conflict has already demonstrated something truly disturbing: even in the face of a military power like the United States, Iran retains enough tools to disrupt the global energy system. That is why the real alarm signal is not only the closure of Hormuz, but the realization that opening it may be much more difficult (and expensive) than many thought at the beginning of the war. Image | US NAVY, Oils & Fats international In Xataka | China has just found a hole in the US’s quietest weapon: an algorithm has hacked its B-2s in Iran In Xataka | The great paradox of war: the … Read more

How to find free, open source or one-time payment alternatives to subscription services with this website

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Do you want to reduce the number of subscriptions you pay? Let’s tell you how to find the best alternatives to programs and applications that require a subscription. Among the alternatives you will have open source services, free or that only require a single payment. We are going to do this with one of those pages that should be saved in favorites. It’s about the web nosubscription.organd we are going to teach you how to use it to find your alternatives. The best alternatives to subscription services NoSubscription is a project with a manifesto in which they believe that users should own their toolsnot renting them with monthly subscriptions. For this reason, those responsible for the website say their mission is to find, verify and promote the best software and services that you buy with a single payment, free and open source. All you have to do is enter nosubscription.organd at the top use your search engine. In it, you can write the name of the subscription tool you want to replacebut also the category of the tool or application. When you type a name, the results will appear with the best alternatives. Notice that below the name it appears which services are alternatives for, because sometimes it can appear out of order. Then, The type of price will appear in green that is, as if it is free or even the total price if it is a single payment. And if you write a category, such as Socialyou will see that alternatives appear and in each one for which service or social network they are a substitute. you will also see What operating systems do you have apps for?with the logos of each one or a globe if used by browser. You can also look for alternatives to other applications popular ones, like Chrome, social networks, operating systems, whatever. When you click on one of the services you will go to its file. In it you will have a description and a list with its key features. On the right you will see its category, the type of application or service it is, where it is available and a button to go to the official website in case you want to find out more. In Xataka Basics | European alternatives to Gmail and Outlook: the best email providers made in Europe

Now that the most wanted cartel in Mexico has died, three disturbing possibilities open up. All with the US in the target

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For more than four decades, the relationship between Mexico and the United States has been marked by a shared war and asymmetric against drug traffickinga fight that has oscillated between open confrontation, silent cooperation and the reproaches mutual while criminal networks adapted, fragmented and strengthened in the heat of the demand for drugs north of the border and violence to the south. In this permanent pulse, each hit against a boss has not only been an operational successbut also the beginning of a new disturbing phase. The biggest blow in a decade. The death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho”undisputed leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, represents the most important blow against organized crime in Mexico since fall of “El Chapo”. It is, not only because of the dejected figure, but because structural weight of the organization he directed, which became one of the most expansive, violent and with the greatest international capacity in the country. We are talking about an organization with presence in dozens of nations and a central role in the trafficking of methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States. The definitive breakup. From the political side, the operation confirms the breakup with the stage of “hugs, not bullets” and consolidates a strategy based on intelligence, coordination and direct action against criminal leaders. In fact, the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum has multiplied arrests, seizures and deployments on the northern border. The internal message is crystal clear: the State seeks regain the initiative in the face of organizations that took advantage of years of limited containment to expand and professionalize. Immediate response that has paralyzed regions. There is no doubt, in an operation of this caliber, the reaction of the cartel has been lightning and coordinatedwith blockades, vehicle fires, attacks on infrastructure and suspension of activities in several states. Cities like Guadalajara and Puerto Vallarta are experiencing panic scenes that are reminiscent of previous crises in Sinaloa after the capture of other leaders such as that of “El Mayo”. And, as almost always, the deployment of federal forces and the alerts to foreign citizens show a reality most uncomfortable: The group’s operational capacity does not disappear with the death of its leader. The great unknown and a risk. This being the case, and with the natural heir imprisoned in the United States, the replacement of the next great drug trafficker open a fight potential between regional commanders and key operators. They remembered in the New York Times that, if the chain of command is not imposed quickly, it is very possible that internal disputes will begin to arise that fragment or weaken the organization. The Mexican experience shows that these transitions usually translate in prolonged violence and territorial fights that affect entire communities. The first possibility looking at Washington. With this scenario, what happens in the coming weeks can greatly alter the security architecture not only of the United States, but from all over North America opening before him three most disturbing scenarios. First of all, a more than possible internal war due to the succession within the CJNG that destabilizes the organization and multiplies all types of sources of regional violence, generating in turn displacement, migratory pressure and greater disorderly flow of weapons and drugs towards the north of the continent. And the remaining two. Secondly, the equally plausible possibility opens up: that of a rival cartels offensive to dispute territories and the most strategic routes, a situation that could trigger a prolonged national conflict similar to the one that occurred in Sinaloaaffecting logistics chains, investment and, in general, border stability. Finally, the third way is that of rapid consolidation under a new leadershipone that, far from weakening the business, makes it more opaque and decentralized, maintaining or even sophisticating fentanyl trafficking to the United States and beyond, which would force Washington to rethink its cooperation, its political pressure and even the debate on direct interventions, with profound implications for Mexican sovereignty and regional integration. In short, with consequences for the entire North American security architecture. A turning point in relationships. The last thing that we have known of the operation has been that it was carried out by Mexican forces together with US intelligence, all in a context political pressure from the White House and millionaire rewards offered by the DEA, along with the review of commercial and security commitments. Plus: arrives after months of extraditionsconvictions and mass arrests linked to the capo’s entourage, suggesting that the operation has been a sustained strategy and not an isolated hit. Tactical success obviously reinforces cooperation, but it will also very likely raise expectations and scrutiny over actual results. If violence expands or the criminal business adapts and diversifies without losing any capacity, such as it has already happened In the past, the region could enter a highest voltage phase strategic that redefines the way in which both countries manage their border, their trade and their shared security. Image | Knight Foundation In Xataka | The cartels have a vehicle that looks like something out of Mad Max: it is called a “narcotanque” and it is a nightmare in Mexico In Xataka | There is a “cocaine of the sea” that is breaking the Chinese market. And that is a huge problem for Mexico.

Carrefour is going to open 750 stores in Spain in the next four years. But not as we know them

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Carrefour has announced 750 openings in Spain and not because business is going especially well. He has announced them because the model that made him great (the suburban hypermarket) has been losing steam for a while. This strategic plan until 2030 is, above all, an adaptation to the reality of the modern consumer. The background. Carrefour was one of those who popularized a way of shopping that dominated the retail European for a time: the hypermarket. A huge area on the outskirts, with free parking and the idea of ​​having everything under one roof. Saturday shopping as a family ritual. That model worked while life revolved around cars and rigid schedules. But habits have been changing, and with them the business. The contrast. The 750 planned openings are not hypermarkets. They are mainly small-format, urban convenience stores (Carrefour Express), many operated by franchisees. The kind of place where you walk in on the way home, grab what’s missing, and in ten minutes you’re done. Not where you spend much more time filling a car. In Spain, the only format that grew in 2024 was precisely this: 62 new Express stores compared to zero net openings in hypermarkets and large supermarkets. Yes, but. Growing in convenience is easier to announce than to execute. The margin per square meter is lower, the competition is intense, from Dia to the regional chains; and the franchise model involves relying on third parties to maintain standards. Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour, has admitted that part of the growth will come through acquisitions, because the Spanish market “is fragmented.” In other words: you have to buy to gain scale, and that costs money and time. Meanwhile, Lidl, with almost a 7% share, threatens to take second position from Carrefour in the Spanish market, where the French group has lost 0.7 points in a year and stands at 9%. Very far in any case from Mercadona. The big question. What is done with the 206 hypermarkets that Carrefour has in Spain? The plan talks about converting up to 10% of its surface towards growth categories, such as pets, personal care or financial services. It is a reasonable solution, but it patches the format more than transforms it. Carrefour’s real bet is to build a parallel business to the hypermarket, smaller and more urban, that grows while the large one stabilizes. If you succeed, you will have read the moment correctly. If not, you will have spent a lot of money chasing rivals who already have an advantage. In Xataka | Mercadona has a rival in its absolute dominance of supermarkets: the “ultra low-cost” of PrimaPrix and Sqrups Featured image | Carrefour

China needed space to power millions of homes, so it built a mega solar plant in the open sea

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That China is building power plants As if there were no secret, it is not a secret. Without going any further, in the last four years it has been able to replicate the power of the United States, the largest electrical grid in the West. And a good part of the blame solar energy has it. In fact, in 2023 it installed more solar panels than the United States in all of history, as reported by Bloomberg. Solar energy requires space, so China is finding the most varied gaps, from the tibetan plateau to the open sea, where from the end of 2025 It is already connected to the electrical network a mega solar plant that breaks records. In China there are solar panels even in the soup. The largest offshore solar plant in the world. We are talking about the solar plant located off the coast of Kenli district in Dongying city, Shandong province. This engineering project is carried out by China Energy Investment Corporation (CHN Energy) and has a nominal capacity of 1 GW. As explains People’s Dailythe official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is China’s first gigawatt-level offshore photovoltaic project and currently the largest offshore solar installation in the world. This is what the Shandong plant looks like. Via: People’s Daily The context: why at sea. Because land space near its large coastal cities is a precious commodity. The Chinese government has a policy of red line to safeguard land used for agriculture and solve the line “Hu Huanyong Line“: while its great solar and wind potential is concentrated in the west, in the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia, the megacities and their most powerful industrial fabric are in the east. China is already developing parks of renewables in their deserts, but running Ultra High Voltage lines is very expensive, involves losses along the way and crosses complicated orography. The logical but technically infernal solution is to jump into the water. Until now, floating solar energy was limited to calm waters, such as what Germany is doing with its lakesbut China is another story. The open sea brings salt corrosion, typhoons and waves. Why is it important. Because China’s coastal provinces such as Shandong or Jiangsu constitute large centers of industrial consumption. Generating energy right there avoids those transportation losses of thousands of kilometers from the Gobi desert. If it works within the expected design parameters and the maintenance costs are affordable, it will be a good boost to take advantage of the coasts within the energy transition process from fossil to renewables. The panels are simply colossal. Via: X from People’s Daily A prodigious work of engineering. We are talking about an area of ​​more than 1,200 hectares where 2,934 enormous marine photovoltaic panels are located with standardized dimensions of 60 meters long and 35 meters wide. And they are not drifting panels: it is a large infrastructure designed to withstand extreme conditions ranging from storms to freezing water. In addition, it is hybridized: under the panels the project integrates fish farms, that is, producing electricity above and fish below. This type of combination is not new, as in Guizhou province there is a giant solar plant in whose basement mushrooms are grown. Shandong is aquavoltaic and Guizhou is agrivoltaic. Some numbers that make you dizzy. This installed power of 1 Gigawatt is similar to that of a modern nuclear reactor, so that according to estimates, it will be capable of producing 1,780 million kWh of energy that will be fed into the grid each year and thus supply 2.6 million homes in the region. approximately 60% of your demand. According to the estimates of the engineering company behind it, 1.3 million tons of carbon dioxide will no longer be emitted. In Xataka | Germany has had a crazy idea to solve one of the problems of renewables: covering a lake with solar panels In Xataka | The great myth of solar panels: producing them emits hundreds of times less than coal and gas Cover | People’s Daily

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