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The legal shield of the wolf has been cracking for years. Now the majority of communities in Spain have opened the door to hunting them

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Maybe not at the level of the housing or corruption, but in the political chronicle of recent years there has been a topic of debate that has exacerbated tempers: the wolf. From 2022 The European and Spanish institutions are immersed in a thorny debate about the degree of protection of the Canis lupuswhether it should be allowed to be hunted or whether it remains vulnerable. The result of this tug of war has not been exactly positive for the species, whose legal shield It has been eroding little by little. Now just received a new setback in Spain, where the majority of communities have made it clear that they don’t look with evil eyes his hunting. What has happened? That the legal status of the wolf has just received a new setback in Spain, where it has become clear (for the umpteenth time) that everything related to the management of the herds is a matter of political dispute. To understand it, we have to go back to last Monday, when the majority of communities and the Ministry of Ecological Transition (Miteco) staged their difference of opinions around a report that, in practice, will influence the really relevant issue: whether or not wolf hunting is allowed in Spain. What exactly was discussed? He sexennial report about the situation of the wolf in Spain. Basically it is a study that shows how the country’s herds evolved between 2019 and 2024 and (importantly) concludes whether or not the current conservation status of the species can be considered ‘favorable’. Said like this, it may not seem like a big deal, but that label (‘favorable’ or ‘unfavorable’) in turn influences whether hunting should be allowed. Furthermore, it is a report required by the European Commission (EC) and which is already a year late: Spain should have sent it before July 31, 2025. Why has it taken so long? Because before the report had to go through the Sectoral Environment Conferencea body in which two parties sit with totally opposite positions: the ministry, in favor of considering the situation of the wolf in Spain as ‘unfavorable’, and therefore in need of high protection; and the majority of autonomous communities, who believe that after years of preservation the species is already in a ‘favorable’ situation. And what did they agree? The positions of each other are so far apart that at Monday’s meeting they were put on the table two reportsboth focused on the wolf but with different conclusions. One was made by Miteco and advocated protecting the herds. The other was presented by the Xunta de Galicia and basically concluded that the herds have increased so much since 2019 that we can now speak of an acceptable level of conservation in the Atlantic and Mediterranean. That last one was (by far) the position that received the most endorsements during the meeting. The autonomous governments of Galicia, Andalusia, Cantabria, La Rioja, Region of Murcia, Valencian Community, Aragon, Canary Islands, Extremadura, Balearic Islands, Madrid, Castilla y León and the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla supported the report that concludes that the situation of the wolf today in Spain is “favorable.” The only votes against were those of the Government and Catalonia, which delegated to Miteco. Basque Country and Castilla-La Mancha they abstained. What does the Government say? The Minister of Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, claimed on Tuesday that “technical and scientific rigor” prevailed and recalled that the objective of the report should be to show the state of conservation of the species in the last six years. Along similar lines, Jordi Sargatal, from the Government, judged “without scientific basis or value” the report of the communities led by the PP. Miteco has actually advanced that it will send to the European Commission “all the information” on the subject, which would include both studies. Just a year ago the ministry published a census which concluded that in Spain there are 333 herds, 12% more than in the previous census, carried out between 2012 and 2014. Although this data is positive, the Government itself accompanied it with a footnote: that 12% is still insufficient. “Scientists consider that, to ensure long-term genetic viability, 500 herds must be reached.” What do the communities say? They argue that the species has recovered ground, which would justify opening the door to hunters. “The current status of the book is favorable and there is no scientific basis to justify it having a special protection regime,” argues the Xunta. At stake are not the herds, but their impact, as remember Joaquín A. Pino, counselor of Castilla y León, who recalled that ranchers “suffer recurrently” attacks from wolves. “The management of the species must be based on the reality accredited by the six-year report to also protect extensive livestock farming and rural areas,” insist the regional government before remembering that damage to the primary sector has been increasing by more than 10% annually and, only in Castilla y León, was it recorded last year 4,474 attacks from wolves to livestock farms. The compensation for these damages (6,294 dead cattle) exceeded four million. Images | Arturo de Frias Marques (Wikipeda) and AR ® Higher School of the Environment (Flickr) and Mytec In Xataka | Mexico desperately needed Mexicans to care about axolotls. So he put them on the bills

The World Cup has turned bar terraces into the big business of the summer. In Asturias this has opened a thorny debate

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The World Cup is much more than football. Each ‘La Roja’ match is also an event capable of paralyzing the country and a lifeline (wink, wink) for a sector, the hospitality sector, that deals with changes in consumption of alcohol and the growing competition from the merchants. However, bars do not have it equally easy in all cities when it comes to exploiting the World Cup gold medal. Although in much of Spain it is allowed to take TVs out to terraces to broadcast matches, the requirements of the town councils do not always coincide. In fact there are consistories that prohibit the use of screens outdoors. One figure: 30%. Spain is a football country. That is not debatable. When we talk about hospitality, however, football is much more than a sport or a passion: it is above all a powerful economic lever. The employers’ association of the sector calculates that the businesses that broadcast the World Cup will skyrocket their cash between 25 and 30% on match days. What’s more, Hospitality of Spain estimates that if ‘la Roja’ reaches the final it will inject 130 million extra to your billing. Terrace slopes. In view of these figures and in the midst of the dog days, it is easier to understand why bars in a good part of Spain have asked for permission to, exceptionally, put televisions on their terraces. Their proposal is very simple: given the interest aroused by the tournament and how overwhelming crowds in closed venues can be, they want to install screens outside to broadcast ‘La Roja’ matches. More comfort, more income. It’s nothing exceptional. What is striking is that this request has not received the same response in all city councils in Spain. While some councils They have given the green light to the installation of TVs on terraces, imposing only some restrictions, others they have closed in band to that possibility arguing that it would go against noise regulations. There are also town councils that allow the installation of screens outside the bars, but require that all matches be broadcast. no sound. The case of Asturias. Although the topic has generated headlines throughout the country, probably the most interesting case is that of Asturias. There the hotel management association OTEA headed to the town councils requesting permission so that customers of bars and restaurants could follow the World Cup matches from the terraces, through TVs. In cities like Oviedo either Gijon The restaurateurs received the green light (with certain conditions), but other councils have told them no. It is the case of Aviles and Langreowho have decided that the bars’ request clashes with other prioritiessuch as the “right to rest” of the neighbors. “It is not possible to authorize non-compliance with the Law 37/2003of November 17, of noise, since the exemption from compliance with the acoustic emission and reception indicators on terraces (…) would be an action null and void,” states a resolution published by the town of the Nalón region. Click on the image to go to the tweet. The law is made… cheated, as the saying goes. That the local authorities are not convinced by the installation of screens on the terraces does not mean that the hoteliers of Langreo or Avilés have not looked for a way for their clientele to enjoy the games from the terraces without breaking the regulations. So reveals it The New Spainwhich tells how yesterday in Avilés there were bars that placed their screens strategically, next to their windows and facing the street, so that customers sitting on the terraces could follow the game. “We always meet at this bar. What seems incredible to me is the City Council’s rule of not playing loudly,” commented one of the clients who followed the meeting of Spain and Saudi Arabia from outside a bar in Avilés. It is not the first time that an international football tournament is accompanied by controversy in the Asturian hospitality industry. It happened two years agowhen OTEA disgraced the Avilés and Gijón City Councils for their decision to install giant screens in public spaces to follow the Euro Cup final. Beyond the criticism for the loss of customers, in the case of Avilés the hoteliers recalled that shortly before the City Council had prohibited them from doing something similar on their terraces. One dilemma, several answers. The most curious thing is that, although the laws on noise pollution are common to the entire country, not all councils have responded in the same way to the hoteliers’ request. In Toledo, for example, they has given the green lightbut on condition that the equipment works without sound. The only exception is venues licensed for music installations. In Albacete, the City Council has also authorized outdoor screens during ‘la Roja’ matches, the semi-finals and the final on July 19, but with an important fine print: whether or not the matches have ended, the TVs must be silent at midnight and in the Special Acoustic Protection Zone (ZPAE) the devices will not be able to emit sound even in the afternoons. Something similar happens in Salamanca. In any case, for hoteliers these are better conditions than those imposed by Teruel. Over there, COPE chain advancesrestaurants have found a response similar to that of Avilés. World yes, but with control. In general, even the most permissive city councils impose limits on match broadcasts: screens on terraces are usually allowed only for ‘special’ events, such as matches played by Spain, the semi-finals or the final in July, and even in those cases limits on noise and time restrictions apply. In the case of the capital, Hostelería Madrid assures that article 11 of the evening terrace ordinance prevents the installation of televisions outside the premises, which makes it difficult for bars and cafes to make the tournament profitable. Image | Jorge Franganillo-Flickr (Image taken in Lisbon in 2024) In Xataka | 24 years ago Oliver Kahn sued EA and won. Then a new goalkeeper appeared in football games: Jens … Read more

2,000 years ago the Romans sold perfumes in glass doves that could only be opened by breaking their necks.

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Despite their great efforts, the cities of the Roman Empire they didn’t smell good and well, it makes sense: they lived in conditions of high fecal contamination and also they used feces as medicine. Of course, to Caesar what belongs to Caesar: they had bottles to store their ointments and oils that, like the best current perfumes, promised a lot. Without going any further, the two bottles you see above these lines date from the 1st century AD, are from the Roman Empire and belong to the MET collection. Because from then on they knew that the (good) smell, coming from anointing oneself after bathing in hot springs, from incense from temples or from burials, was something more: it could be a language of status, identity and power. So for those smells they needed a container at their height that would turn the task of perfuming themselves into almost a ritual. For example, a dove. Dove-shaped jars. The ointments of the Romans were, in a nutshell, something like today’s ampoules: small ceramic or glass containers where they stored oils, commercial products or substances for funeral practices. blown glass arrive In the 1st century BC and 200 years later, the Romans were true virtuosos of glass manufacturing both in quality and quantity: according to the Penn Museummanufactured up to 100 million containers a year. These curious zoomorphic specimens in the shape of a bird and the size of which fit in the palm of the hand became so popular that they constitute a subcategory in themselves within their unguentary and it is common to find it in deposits. The method of use was practically identical to a vial: you have to break that small neck to access the contents inside. In this case, literally breaking the bird’s neck. In addition to its aesthetic value, they met their goal when storing valuable ointments: it protected the contents from excessive exposure to oxygen and helped to dose the amount poured. Why is it important. Converting ointment bottles into something more sophisticated in the shape of a bird constitutes one of the first and most striking cases of packaging and user experience (imagine that unboxing of an influencer of the time). Have a glass jar and also with this type of shapes It was a status indicator.as witnessed by the art of that period, where we see men and women perfumed after a visit to the hot springs. On the other hand and leaving aside the shape, these jars are the vestiges of the imperial commercial network: spices from India, resins from Arabia and locally grown flowers were used to make perfumes and ointments. If they also go to the laboratory, they constitute a valuable source of chemical data on Roman civilization and its customs. Without going any further, a laboratory analysis allowed identify a primal patchouli in an exhibition in Carmona (Seville). Context. Among these zoomorphic glasses the dove was the star: archaeological evidence suggests that the dove was one of the first birds domesticated by humans, so people learned its habits and characteristics and used it for messaging. On the spiritual level, they introduced it into their religious rituals and mythology. Thus, the dove was the sacred animal of Venus and she was often represented in statues with a dove perched on her hand or on her head. However, this relationship is much older: already in the Bronze Age, in Sumerian Mesopotamia, consists the association between doves and the mother goddess. Storing perfume in a container in the shape of your sacred animal is a fully conscious and coherent act. Yes, but. Many of these readings of the dove-shaped glass jars are hypotheses based on what we know about the Romans, but we don’t know for sure: these perfumes could well be for everyday use or for funeral rituals. Likewise, they were not exclusive objects of the wealthiest classes: the simplest ointments were within the reach of the popular classes and their shapes were refined over time. In short, the dove could have different meanings depending on who had it and what for. In Xataka | The fall of the Roman Empire has obsessed us for centuries: some economists believe they have the answer in 400,000 coins In Xataka | Almost 2,000 years ago a Celtiberian soldier visited the most remote frontier of the Roman Empire. Then he returned to Soria with a souvenir Cover | MET

Spain fails to comply with the rules with the registration of travelers. Brussels has just opened a file and gives him two months to fix it

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The European Commission opened this Thursday an infringement procedure against Spain for the controversial traveler registry promoted by the Ministry of the Interior. Brussels considers that the rule violates European regulations on data protection in the criminal field, by forcing hotels, digital platforms and car rental companies to collect and send personal information of tourists to a state database that is then accessible to the Police. We tell you all the details. What are we talking about? This is known as the Traveler Registry, regulated by the Royal Decree 933/2021 and fully operational since the end of last year. The regulations obliges accommodations, travel agencies and vehicle rental companies to upload their clients’ data into the ‘ses.hospedajes’ application and transmit them to a centralized Government database. Just like point La Vanguardia, the objective declared by the Interior, which can be read in the preamble of the decree itselfis to reinforce the fight against terrorism and organized crime, activities in which, the ministry argues, accommodation and the use of vehicles have special logistical relevance. What a reproach Brussels. The Commission points to three specific problems. First, consider that the categories of data collected and stored are “excessive”, due to the variety of sets they cover, including payment and GPS data. Second, it maintains that access by police authorities “is not limited to specific and explicit purposes”, as required by directive 2016/680. And third, it describes as “disproportionate” that these data are kept for three years after the traveler’s stay. Amount of data. One of the big discussions revolves around how much data there really is to deliver. The hotel sector has denounced that the standard requires up to 42 different fields, while the Government insists that only 13 are mandatory: name and surname, number and type of document, reference and date of the contract, arrival and departure dates, means of payment, telephone or email and the relationship of kinship when a minor travels. The remaining data, according to the Executive, are not mandatory to complete. The file. The procedure opens a period of two months for Spain to respond and correct the irregularities. If the answer is not convincing, the Commission can issue a reasoned opinion, a kind of official ultimatum. And if non-compliance persists, the last step would be to take the State before the Court of Justice of the EU. The reaction of the sector. Hoteliers and travel agencies have been on the warpath for some time. The Spanish Confederation of Hotels and Tourist Accommodations (CEHAT) has questioned the legality of the collection and transmission of data because it conflicts with European regulations on free circulation and data protection. After learning about the file, the agency associations Fetave and Unav They have asked the Government the “urgent suspension” of Royal Decree 933/2021 and an immediate meeting with the Interior, considering that the Executive “cannot act as if nothing had happened” when Brussels has formally questioned the compatibility of the rule with EU Law. And now what. Spain has two months to make a move. Interior can defend the rule, modify it or suspend it while the procedure is resolved. However, pressure is growing, on the one hand from the tourism sector, which has been demanding changes even before the rule came into force; on the other, that of the European Commission, which had already warned of the clash of that decision with data protection regulations. Now that warning is in writing, so we will have to wait and see how things progress. Cover image | François Genon and Square In Xataka | The European Union has been flooding the countryside with billions of euros for half a century. It has been of no use

The US opened the door to Nvidia’s H200 chip in China. The Chinese army has been waiting for a long time on the other side

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Jensen Huang, the CEO of Nvidia, has been forced to “fight” with the US Department of Commerce for months, but he has achieved what he wanted: your company can now deliver some of its Chinese clients its chip to artificial intelligence (AI) H200. As we explain to you On May 14, Alibaba, Tencent, ByteDance and JD.com are four of the ten Chinese companies that already have access to this powerful GPU. And they have it because the US Department of Commerce, which is the institution that grants or denies export licenses, has authorized at least ten Chinese companies and several distributors, including Lenovo and Foxconn, to acquire the second most powerful AI chip that Nvidia has. This decision has come almost two months after the US Government confirmed which was going to allow the company led by Jensen Huang to deliver its H200 chip to its Chinese customers. However, Nvidia likely won’t have time to savor this victory. Once again, dark clouds are gathering over it that threaten to compromise, once again, its business in China. And, according to Bloombergat least seven Chinese universities linked to the country’s armed forces and defense industry are trying to obtain H200 chips. This disclosure comes from China’s public procurement records, so it is presumably reliable. Remote rental: the avenue that the Department of Commerce still does not know how to close In the US there is a pressure group that opposes the sale of advanced American AI chips in China. Chris McGuire, senior fellow on China and emerging technologies at the Council on Foreign Relations, holds that “any deal that allows Nvidia to sell more chips to China means fewer Nvidia chips for US companies and a smaller US advantage over China in AI.” Besides, McGuire argues that “it is surprising that President Trump continues to allow himself to be convinced to put Nvidia’s interests before those of America.” Chinese entities increasingly resort to renting airtime on servers equipped with restricted Nvidia chips What is happening right now with Chinese universities is the ideal breeding ground to reinforce the theses of this pressure group in the US. Two of the institutions that have expressed interest in H200 chipsBeihang University and Northwest Polytechnic University, are among China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense”, a select group of universities dedicated to supporting the People’s Liberation Army. Both have been included in the blacklist of the US Department of Commerce for their involvement in the advancement of Chinese military capabilities. And public procurement records reveal that the Beihang School of Cyber ​​Science and Technology, which claims to have “national defense characteristics and aerospace advantages,” is attempting to rent the use of Nvidia chips. Northwestern Polytechnic University’s School of Cyberspace Security is also trying to rent access to H200 chips, according to those same records. Chinese entities are increasingly resorting to time of use rental on servers equipped with restricted Nvidia chips as a way to access prohibited hardware without having to import it directly. This is the strategy that the US Government will surely try to dismantle. What is not clear at the moment is how he is going to do it. Image | Nvidia More information | Bloomberg In Xataka | The US remains committed to stopping China. Now it has targeted the second largest Chinese chip manufacturer

That Iran shot down a US F-15 was something unusual. The problem is that they have opened the missile… and everything points to China

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In 1960, when an American U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet UnionWashington initially believed it was facing a military problem. He ended up discovering that the incident had diplomatic consequences much larger and blew up a summit between the two superpowers. Because sometimes a single downed plane reveals a story much bigger than the battle in which it fell. The takedown that changed the conversation. He downing of an F-15E on Iran last month was, in itself, an extraordinary event. It had been decades since a United States fighter had been shot down by enemy fire, and the rescue movie operation later, with one of the crew hiding for two days in the Zagros Mountains, underlined the seriousness of the episode. However, as investigations continue, the incident is shifting from being a story about Iranian military capabilities to something else: a story about China. According to cited sources by NBC News the suspicion that the plane was hit by a portable anti-aircraft missile (MANPADS) of Chinese manufacture has shifted the focus from the battlefield to a much more uncomfortable question for Washington: to what extent Beijing is helping to sustain Tehran’s military capacity. More important than the missile. From a military point of view, a portable anti-aircraft missile is not a revolutionary weapon. Its appeal lies precisely on the contrary: It is relatively cheap, easy to deploy, and capable of threatening even extremely sophisticated platforms if circumstances are favorable. Hence, what has aroused American interest is not so much the type of weapon used as its possible origin. If suspicions are correct, the shootdown would demonstrate that Chinese technology has ended up participatingdirectly or indirectly, in one of the more symbolic hits suffered by American aviation in years. From that perspective, the discussion then stops revolving around how Iran managed to shoot down an F-15 and begins to focus on what role played China to make it possible. The shadow of broader support. Because suspicions are not limited to the missile. US sources also suggest that China may have provided Iran with radar systems capable of detecting stealth aircraft and access to space capabilities that would facilitate the location of targets. So far none of these accusations have been conclusively proven publicly and Beijing categorically rejects them, but together they paint an image that is worrying in Washington: that of a technological support network which, without involving direct military involvement, could significantly increase Iran’s ability to challenge the United States and its allies. In this context, the downed F-15 becomes tangible proof of a broader phenomenon that US officials have been denouncing for some time. The contradiction of American diplomacy. The situation is especially delicate because the United States simultaneously needs to contain Iran and keep channels open with China. Beijing is the main buyer of the iranian oil and one of the few actors with enough influence to put economic pressure on Tehran. During negotiations to reach a ceasefire, the Trump administration sought precisely that collaboration. But every new accusation on Chinese missiles, radars or satellites used by Iran complicates that balance. Washington thus finds itself in an uncomfortable position: it needs China to contribute to stabilizing the region while accusing it of providing tools that strengthen one of its main adversaries in the Middle East. The real message. That’s why the downing of the F-15 It has a relevance that goes far beyond the loss of a plane. What is at stake is not only the effectiveness of Iranian defenses, but the American perception that more and more regional conflicts are connected to global strategic competition. against China. The investigation on the missile seeks to determine how the fighter fell, but also who was behind the technology that made it possible. In a sense, Washington has opened up the missile to examine it piece by piece, and in doing so has discovered that the biggest questions no longer point solely to Tehran. They aim more and more towards Beijingwhere the United States believes is a growing part of the economic, technological and military infrastructure that allows its rivals to challenge its power in different corners of the world. Image | U.S. Force In Xataka | The US has copied its very cheap drone swarms from Iran and Russia. The problem is what Starlink asks for connecting them In Xataka | The war in the East has reached an unexpected agreement: one where the US does not discuss Iran’s missiles, bombs or uranium

The Social Security reform has opened the door to working longer. Early retirement will remain half closed

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Social Security is pushing those who can continue working to delay their retirement as much as possible, but it resists modifying one of the most discussed rules of the system: the penalty in the pension of those who they retire earlyeven when they accumulate more than 40 years listed. The flexible retirement reform contemplated in the Royal Decree 416/2026 will come into force on August 28, launching the Government’s strategy to extend working life of workers and contain pension spending. What changes with the reform. The new flexible retirement regulation seeks to encourage more people to extend your working life as much as possible voluntarily and can make part of their pension compatible with a salary, something that current regulations did not allow. The idea is not to force anyone to continue working beyond the legal retirement age, but rather offer more incentives so that those who can and want to do so, keep working. The person who is already retired, instead of stopping working completely, can do so part-time. In exchange, they will receive a salary for their work and a supplement to the proportional part of the pension. In this way, someone retired can obtain a higher income while still active, and will receive 100% of their pension again when they stop working. That is, if someone retired receive a pension of 1,000 euros, and for working 32 hours a week (80% of a full day) they will pay you a salary of 1,000 euros, your pension will be cut in that proportion, but the sum of salary (1,000 euros) and pension (200 euros) will provide you with greater monthly income. The current regulations force you to choose between working or receiving the pension. Put obstacles to early retirement. The demographic pyramid in Spain, in which there are fewer and fewer young people to maintain the pension system and a longer life expectancy, has forced successive governments to take measures to maximize working life of employees to continue contributing. This has led to the extension of the retirement age, which has been progressively delayed since 2011 to go from 65 to 67 years in 2027. The other measure approved in the pension reform of 2024 to discourage early retirement is to apply some reducing coefficients to the retirement pension, so that the more you anticipate retirement, the less pension you receive in return. Contribute 40 years without reward. One of the problems posed by the application of reducing coefficients is that those workers who already exceed the maximum limit of years of contributions necessary to access ordinary retirement at age 65 (38 years and six months or more by 2027), will not be able to retire early. without penalizing themand end up getting paid a lower pension than other workers with fewer years of contributions. This group has already organized under the association Asjubi40 and different political groups with representation in Congress have carried out proposals to eliminate this grievance to workers with long contribution periods when they want to advance their retirements. As and how he published The Independentvoluntary early retirees bear an average reduction coefficient of 11.36% and receive an average pension of 2,002.58 euros per month, after retiring at an average age of 63 years and two months. In the case of involuntary early retirement, the average reduction rises to 18.9%, the average pension stands at 2,100.42 euros per month and the average retirement age drops to 61 years and ten months. The unaffordable cost of stopping working. The reason given by the Government for not eliminating these reducing coefficients It’s simple: removing those penalties would be expensive. The Executive estimates an additional cost of 3,358 million euros per year for Social Security if the reducing coefficients are eliminated for those who retire early after having contributed 40 years or more. Of that figure, 1,345 million would correspond to voluntary early retirement, and 2,013 million would correspond to those retired involuntarily, that is, those who have been affected by ERE, business closures, force majeure or other cases considered by the General Law of Social Security. Social Security cannot assume it. Although Spain is registering record numbers in terms of number of members. It closed 2025 with a budget deficit of 5.58 billion euros. Once again, we are facing a record to be treated of the smallest deficit of the last 14 years, as as highlighted The Confidential. But it is a deficit, after all. However, the incorporation of contributions such as the Intergenerational Equity Mechanism (MEI), has contributedIn 2026 alone, 1,162.23 million euros will be added to the Social Security Reserve Fund, which reached a total amount of 15,267 million euros last March. In Xataka | From the “Great Resignation” to the “Great Early Retirement”: the labor market loses the experience of those over 55 years of age Image | Pexels (Joaquin Carfagna)

Ukraine has opened the missile that devastated kyiv. They have found 100 reasons to be angry, and not exactly with Russia

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In 2014, after the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, international investigators spent months reconstructing fragments metallic weapons scattered among fields and roads to identify the weapon responsible. One of the biggest surprises was not just the missile itself, but the enormous amount of information that they could reveal small pieces seemingly insignificant. Ukraine has been “surprised” for some time by what is inside Russian war technology, but the latest perhaps exceeds anything seen before. The 100 components that should not be there. It we have been counting with numerous intercepted drones and missiles by kyiv, but the latest “unboxing” has set off alarms. The reason? When the Ukrainian teams they began to analyze the remains of the Kh-101 missiles that had hit residential buildings in the capital, they hoped to find Russian technology, perhaps Chinese parts or improvised systems to avoid sanctions. What they found was much more uncomfortable for the West: more than one hundred components manufactured by American and European companies inside each missile. Chips, microelectronics and systems produced years after sanctions began, including from this same 2026continued to appear in some of the most advanced weapons in the Russian arsenal. For Ukraine, the discovery has ended up generating a particularly bitter sensation: the missiles that they devastate the cities Ukrainians continue to partially depend on technology designed and manufactured by the same countries that support kyiv militarily. The Kh-101 is mounted on pylons The great crack of sanctions. He Kh-101 case is revealing one of the biggest problems of modern technological warfare: sanctioning does not necessarily mean cut off the supply real. Russia continue accessing to Western microelectronics through re-exports, intermediaries, opaque distributors and commercial networks that are extremely difficult to control. Some pieces even arrive from china as clones or compatible copies of Western designs. The result is that Moscow has achieved maintain and expand its missile production despite economic isolation. Ukraine maintains that many of the components found were fOpened in 2024 and 2025years after the sanctions packages that were supposed to strangle Russian military capacity. The feeling in kyiv is that there is a huge difference between announcing restrictions and making them actually work. The missile that Russia does not stop perfecting. Yes, because the Kh-101 has become a of the central pieces of the Russian air campaign. Launched from strategic bombers and designed for long-range flights at low altitude, Moscow has multiplied its production since 2022 to levels far above those before the invasion. But also, Russia is continually modifying the missile to make it more difficult to intercept. Ukraine assures that the new versions incorporate anti-interference improvements, more sophisticated navigation systems, double charges reducing fuel and even fragmentation munitions with zirconium elements to increase damage. kyiv continues to intercept a good part of them, but each new development forces spend more resources defenses and demonstrates that Russia maintains sufficient industrial capacity to sustain a prolonged technological war. The Western Paradox. Also it we have been counting. The history of the Kh-101 reflects, one more timean extremely uncomfortable contradiction for Europe and the United States. As the West delivers anti-aircraft systems, intelligence and economic aid to Ukraine, part of the global technology industry it keeps leaking towards the Russian military machine. In practice, some Western companies may end up seeing their own chips end up inside the missiles which then force the use of expensive Patriot or NASAMS interceptors also financed by the West. That paradox explains much of the Ukrainian frustration. For kyiv, the problem is no longer just Russia, but the inability of global trade chains to prevent critical technology from ending up feeding the Kremlin’s military production. The industrial war of the 21st century. He analysis of the remains The attack on kyiv is also leaving a deeper conclusion about how modern wars work. No great power today manufactures advanced weapons completely isolated of the global market. Missiles, drones and guidance systems depend of an international network of microelectronics, software and components extremely difficult to control. Russia has shown that even under massive sanctions can still access much of that global technological infrastructure. And Ukraine has discovered something equally disturbing: that in the wars of the 21st century, open a missile enemy is no longer only useful for studying its military technology. It also serves to discover to what extent the connected world continues feeding indirectly the war he is trying to stop. Image | Office of the President of Ukraine, Russia MoD In Xataka | Russia has been advancing at a snail’s pace in Ukraine for months. That’s about to change because of one season: summer. In Xataka | The war in Ukraine has entered such a crazy phase that soldiers are shooting at their own drones

has just opened its warehouse and delivery network to any company in the world

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For decades, Amazon has built its business one of the most powerful distribution infrastructures on the planet, one that allows its workers to ship products anywhere in the world extremely efficiently. Now he is going to make it available to any business that wants to use it. global network. amazon has announced the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), a service with which any company, not just its marketplace sellers, will be able to access its global logistics network. Transport by sea, air, road and rail; warehouses; distribution centers; and last mile delivery: all under one umbrella and available for companies in all types of sectors, whether healthcare, automotive, manufacturing or retail, among others. Why does it matter? Amazon has a fleet of more than one hundred cargo planes, only behind FedEx and UPS, thousands of warehouses and sorting centers around the world, and its own last-mile delivery service. In fact, according to data from ShipMatrix, this parcel service is already the largest in the United States by volume, ahead of UPS, FedEx and the US Postal Service. What changes now is that all that capacity, previously reserved for its own sellers and internal operations, is formally opened to the market. Likewise, the movement turns Amazon into a gigantic logistics operator, what is known in the sector as 3PL (third-party logistics provider) and places it in direct competition with giants such as DHL, Kuehne + Nagel or DSV. According to data From the consulting firm Armstrong & Associates, it is estimated that this global market moves more than 1.3 trillion dollars. The parallelism with AWS. In 2006, the company took the technological infrastructure it had built to run its own business and began selling it to third parties. This is how Amazon Web Services was borntoday the largest cloud service provider in the world. Now try to replicate that model with logistics. “Amazon brings the infrastructure, intelligence and scale of its decades-proven supply chain services to businesses around the world, just as Amazon Web Services did with cloud computing,” counted Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services, in the company’s official statement. Variety of services. According to the company, ASCS offers services divided into four large blocks: Transportation of goods (sea, air, land and rail freight). Distribution and storage with automated inventory forecasting. Preparation and shipping of orders through any sales channel, including rival platforms such as Walmart, Shopify, Shein or TikTok. Parcel delivery with deadlines of between two and five days, seven days a week. A blow to the sector. Following the news, FedEx and UPS shares fell more than 9% each after the announcement, while GXO Logistics plummeted around 13% and DHL lost 7.3%. For these companies it is a direct competitive blow, and according to analysts from the Baird firm, the impact could also extend to air and maritime cargo transport operators. With this blow on the table, another of the threatened segments is business-to-business (B2B) logistics, a niche with a high profit margin where UPS and FedEx have been focusing all these years. Between the lines. Beyond the competitive threat, Amazon seeks to monetize an infrastructure that already exists and in which it has been investing for almost thirty years. The company was already according to Armstrong & Associatesthe world’s largest logistics operator by gross revenue in 2025, although its services were sold in a fragmented manner and without a unified proposition for external clients. “They have warehousing operations, transportation management, and international air and sea freight, but they did not have a coordinated sale like 3PL, although together they are already the largest,” counted Evan Armstrong, CEO of Armstrong & Associates, told the Wall Street Journal. Customer data. Opening the network to external companies raises a question: what does Amazon do with the information of its logistics clients? The company has already been accused in the past of using data from sellers in its marketplace to compete against them, something it has always denied. Larsen assures told the WSJ that Amazon explicitly prohibits using ASCS customer data to make decisions in its own marketplace, citing the fact that hundreds of thousands of sellers already use its logistics services for channels outside of Amazon. Cover image | Garakhan Safarli and Claudio Schwarz In Xataka | What is the cheapest Amazon device you can use Alexa+ on?

If you live in Madrid or Barcelona, ​​it is possible that a Latin American bookstore has opened next to your house

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The indomitableopened four months ago in the Madrid neighborhood of Prosperidad and directed by a Mexican. A few meters from Retiro Park, the now classic The Retreat of Lettersowned by two Colombians. In Arganzuela, the Argentine bookstore Mandolin It inaugurated its first Madrid branch a year ago. It is not an isolated or spontaneous phenomenon. It responds to an accumulation of demographic, editorial and economic factors that go beyond the folklore chronicle. From rookies to veterans. In this panorama, the most recent projects coexist with initiatives that have been established for a few years. The Mistral It opened in 2021 in the hall of the old Arenal Theater, two minutes from Puerta del Sol, by the Argentine Andrea Stefanoni, and was considered the most beautiful bookstore in the world by National Geographic that same year. His fame allowed him to organize a short story contest that received 150 manuscripts from different countries. Closer in time, in 2020, a couple of Venezuelans inaugurated The little beings also in Madrid, where they sell new and used books with special attention to Venezuelan and Latin American production. Olavidefounded by two Argentine journalists, combines book sales with cultural activities. AND Late Space It simultaneously functions as a bookstore, cafeteria and headquarters of Late, an Ibero-American network of narrative journalism founded as a cooperative by professionals from Colombia, Spain and Cuba. Repeating pattern. Although they are founded by Latin Americans, these bookstores do not operate exclusively with the diaspora as clientele. They are neighborhood bookstores in the most classic sense: children’s collection, independent labels and a personal relationship between bookseller and customer. They organize workshops and reading clubs. Sometimes they even serve cuisine from their places of origin. As a reflection of this phenomenon, the Madrid Book Fair of 2025 dedicated a table of its Meeting of Independent Ibero-American Bookstores to the phenomenon. The figures behind the phenomenon. The most recent breakdown by Latin American origin available, the analysis of the Elcano Royal Institute Based on INE data as of January 1, 2024, there were 4.25 million people born in Latin America residing in Spain (9% of the total population and 48% of all immigrants). The trend behind that figure has not slowed down: during 2024, the largest increases in the foreign population were once again concentrated in Colombians (+98,057), Venezuelans (+52,555) and Moroccans (+48,306), according to the INE. in December 2025. The accumulated result is that as of January 1, 2026, Spain has exceeded the 10 million inhabitants born abroad. A community of that magnitude, concentrated in large cities, generates cultural demand. But… why is this demand channeled towards the opening of own bookstores and not only towards consumption in establishments that already exist? The distribution obstacle. Part of the answer lies in how the transatlantic publishing market works. That Spain and Latin America share a language does not mean that they share a catalog: for example, El Retiro de las Letras imports directly from publishers in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Argentina to make authors visible that do not reach Spain through conventional distribution channels. Combed Cana bookstore specialized in Latin American fiction with offices in Barcelona and Madrid, recognizes that half of its titles are not distributed in Spain and that These copies cannot be returned if they do not sell.. It is a risk of excess stock that large chains are not willing to assume. The bookstore Juan Rulfoproperty of the Economic Culture Fund of Spain, and the Ibero-American Bookstoreopen in Madrid’s Barrio de las Letras since 2004, have been covering that specialized niche for decades. To those establishments have been added in recent years dozens of projects promoted by immigrants that multiply the offer, from bookstores specialized 100% in Latin American narrative to hybrid spaces with a focus on culture. Relief in the sector. The context of the book sector in Spain is not immune to this phenomenon. There are 2,754 independent bookstores active in Spainand although it is a figure in permanent declinethe business going well in economic terms: In 2024, the Spanish publishing sector had a turnover of 3,037 million euros, 6.3% more than in 2023, in its eleventh consecutive year of growth and with the highest figure since 2008. How do you explain that establishments fall while turnover rises? 85% of closures are caused by the retirement of the bookseller. Latin American booksellers are occupying a space where replacements are scarce, in residential neighborhoods of large cities where the traditional bookstore has closed. The limits of the phenomenon. It is advisable not to exaggerate the scope of the phenomenon. A few dozen bookstores founded by Latin American immigrants in Madrid and Barcelona do not reconfigure the Spanish publishing ecosystem. Spanish book exports in 2024 reached 381 million euros, aimed mainly at Ibero-American countrieswhich indicates that the flow of books between Spain and Latin America continues to be mostly in the opposite direction. What these bookstores do represent is a symptom: that of an immigrant community with sufficient cultural roots to invest in a business with fair profitability and that demands a very high vocation. A sector where the main problem is that retirements are multiplying and where there is a Latin American catalog with four million potential readers who continue to need intermediaries willing to cross the Atlantic. In Xataka | The 24 most beautiful bookstores in the world

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