record

Last year, almost no robots finished the Beijing half marathon. This year one has broken the human world record by seven minutes

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The half marathon world record is held by Jacob Kiplimo with a time of 57:20 achieved just a month ago in Lisbon. This Sunday a humanoid robot called Lightning ran that distance in 50:26achieving for the first time a milestone that had never been achieved. Robots seemed clumsy and unable to outrun humans, but that is no longer true. And it’s just the beginning. Robots are already faster than humans. In the half marathon held on Sunday, April 19, 2026 in Beijing, the absolute dominators were the humanoid robots. Lightning not only broke the human world record by almost seven minutes: he managed to arrive 17 minutes before the first human runner to cross the finish line. The first three classified They were also Lightning models developed by Honor. From disaster to excellence. The first edition of this same event, the Beijing E-Town Half Marathon and Humanoid Robot Half Marathon, It was an absolute disaster for humanoid robots. Only a third of those who ran it managed to finish the race, they were controlled remotely and ran at a pace much lower than that of human runners. This year things were very different: more than 100 robots were presented and most finished the test, but also almost half ran autonomously and several managed to surpass even the best human runners in the world. This is Lightning. The winning robot measures 169 centimeters, weighs 45 kg and was specifically designed to adapt to complex terrain and move at high speed. Its legs measure about 95 cm and its proportions are designed to imitate the stride of elite human runners. It has a liquid cooling system which curiously has been adapted from the one found on Honor smartphones. Du Xiaodi, engineer in charge of this project at Honor, explained that “Running faster may not seem significant at first glance, but it allows technological transfer, for example in structural reliability and cooling, and eventually in industrial applications“. Not everything went well. The race, however, also had moments in which the robots failed. One of them collided with a nearby vehicle although he managed to stabilize himself and continue walking. The H1 model from Unitree, the most famous humanoid robot manufacturer in China, collapsed as it approached the finish line and had to be removed from the road. One of the Lightning models hit a barrier after crossing the finish line, and some other robots they had difficulties with the curves and unevenness of the route. The event also served as a test bed for batteries, joints, motors and algorithms that control these machines. Industrial applications. Xiaodi mentioned it but also Liu Xiangquan, professor of robotics at the University of Science and Information in Beijing. According to him, these long-distance races allow the resistance and behavior of these robots to be evaluated, something essential for their application in industrial environments. Here not only speed is evaluated, but also the aforementioned resistance, stability or the capacity for autonomous navigation in uncontrolled environments. But a key component is missing. Although the demonstration and milestone is fascinating, what this field needs most is other things. For example, advance manual dexterityperceive the real environment in unforeseen situations and be able to perform varied tasks and not focus so much on repetitive movements. Industrial robots are already good at that, but here we are looking for much more versatility because at the moment these robots They are not able to fold clothes or put the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher with sufficient speed and dexterity. China continues to set the robotic pace. The Asian country has completely devoted itself to the world of robotics. Dominate this segment and its companies They manufacture 80% of global production. In recent months we have seen spectacular demonstrations such as the one Unitree carried out with a dozen humanoid robots at a martial arts show. Sunday’s half marathon is one more element of that narrative and that message that China is leaving to the world: robots are our thing. And in a year, what? Breaking the world record is very striking, but this event tells another story: that of how in just one year Chinese manufacturers have managed to improve their models in an amazing way. If everything continues to improve at this rate, it is difficult to predict what the robots that run the next marathon will be capable of, but it seems logical to think that at this point the athletic ability of robots will be absolutely amazing. Image | CGTN In Xataka | In China they are not satisfied with creating advanced robots: a company has developed a head that gestures like a human

China is building a tunnel under the sea for its high speed. It has already reached a record depth

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Under the seabed, dozens of meters deep, there is a work that is progressing with a minimal margin of error. It cannot be seen from the surface, but it is part of a railway infrastructure key in southern China. According to CGTNthe country has reached a new milestone in the construction of a high-speed underwater tunnel: the excavation has already reached 113 meters under the seabed. The figure is not minor, because it places the work at a point where the geological conditions and water pressure significantly increase the technical difficulty. This advance is part of a much larger infrastructure that is taking shape in the south of the country. The 116-kilometer Shenzhen-Jiangmen high-speed line is designed to connect both cities in less than an hour, integrating into the rail corridor that runs along the Chinese coast. In this way, the project has entered a particularly demanding phase, in which the tunnel under the Pearl River estuary becomes one of the most technically complex points of the entire work. A section under the sea that concentrates the greatest technical challenge At the center of this phase of the project is the underwater infrastructure that requires refinement of each step. To execute it, the work relies on a large diameter tunnel boring machine developed in China. The machine, known as “Shenjiang-1”, has kept the excavation going continuously, even during festive periods such as Qingming. It not only drills the ground, it also allows progress while the interior lining of the tunnel is being built, a system that seeks to gain efficiency in one of the most delicate points of the route. From there, the challenge stops being just mechanical and becomes conditioned by the terrain. The TBM must traverse 13 different strata, with five types of composite geology and six fault zones along the route. These types of conditions force the operation to be constantly adjusted, because each layer can respond differently to the excavation. In this context, moving forward does not depend solely on the power of the machinery, but also on maintaining control in a challenging environment. Added to this complexity of the terrain is a less visible, but equally determining factor: the pressure of the water at those depths. The tunnel is planned to reach a maximum of 116 meters below the seabeda level at which hydraulic conditions become especially demanding for the machinery and the structure itself. To operate in this environment, the system uses a sludge circuit that fulfills a double function: on the one hand, it reduces friction at the excavation face and, on the other, it transports the extracted material to the surface, where it is separated and reused in the process. While the machine advances, the tunnel is not far behind. Just behind the excavation face, the teams are assembling the prefabricated concrete segments that form the interior lining. Each one measures around two meters wide and nine are needed to complete a ring in a structure that exceeds 13 meters in diameter. This system allows excavation and construction to progress at the same time, reducing time and helping to maintain the pace of execution. The magnitude of this work is better understood when put into perspective. Official information indicates that this section extends over 13.69 kilometers and crosses several waterways at the mouth of the river, located between Dongguan and Guangzhou. It is a key piece within a line designed to improve the connection in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Beyond the depth already achieved, the project seeks to strengthen regional connectivity and support economic integration in one of the most active areas of the country. Images | CGTN In Xataka | Singapore is literally coming into its own: reclaiming 25% of land from the sea and turning wastewater into drinking water

Apple has broken an all-time sales record with the MacBook Neo in its first week. The surprise is absolutely zero

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Tim Cook himself confirmed it a few days ago in X. And Apple has managed to beat its own record with the help of MacBook Neo In terms of sales, it is the best launch of a Mac for new users in its entire history. The theme is striking to say the least, although it is little surprising considering that it is a significantly cheaper product than the rest of the equipment offered by the brand. Why does it matter? Apple has dominated the premium laptop market for decades, but it has always had a clear ceiling: its entry price. He MacBook Air with M5 part of the 1,199 euros, which leaves out a huge group of Windows PC users, Chromebook or directly without a computer. The launch of the MacBook Neo, at 699 euros (which remains at 599 for students), is Apple’s first serious attempt to conquer that market. And it seems to be working. busy week. On March 11, Apple presented three new computers simultaneously: the MacBook Neo, the MacBook Air with M5 chip and the MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max. It was a pretty dense week for the Mac line. A few days later, Tim Cook published in X that this launch had broken the historical record of new Mac buyers, that is, people who purchased an Apple computer for the first time. Although Cook does not break down the figures or specify which model leads the data, the logic points in one direction. The responsible one. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro have a consolidated user base that periodically renews their equipment. The MacBook Neo, on the other hand, has no previous installed base: it is a completely new product, designed from the ground up to attract those who have never bought a Mac. With a price approximately half that of the Air, it is a profile that fits exactly with that of a buyer making the jump from Windows or a Chromebook. And it should be noted that the Mac has been on the market for decades, but there is still a huge volume of PC users who have never had one, and the Neo seems destined to change that. Who would imagine that a Mac would sell more if it were at a more competitive price… Demand exceeds supply. Another indicator of the Neo’s impact is that Apple is not being able to meet demand, according to they count from 9to5Mac. During March 20, all MacBook Neo models in Apple’s online store had a delivery date between April 6 and 13, according to the media, which means between two and three weeks of waiting for a product launched just a week ago. Normally it is something that usually happens when a new iPhone arrives, but on Mac it is something much less common. Those with an Apple Store nearby may have better luck, although the assortment varies greatly depending on location and color. The industry was already on alert. The impact of the Neo has not gone unnoticed outside of Apple. According to AppleInsiderWindows PC manufacturers have been surprised by both the price and the features of the new laptop. It is not a device for everyone, but it does seem to be for many: it has the A18 Pro chip (the same as iPhone 16 Pro) that, for office automation and navigation tasks it gives you plentyand it comes in a good assortment of colors, with a value proposition that was unprecedented on Mac and that seems to convince many users. Cover image | Apple In Xataka | Apple is not only being penalized for being late to the AI ​​boom: it is also penalizing itself for allying itself solely with Google

The question is not whether 2027 will be the warmest year on record, the question is by how much. And the answer lies in El Niño who is approaching us.

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Not one, not two; but three independent forecasts They converge on the same idea: 2027 is being given the face of a record. And in recent days, events have happened very quickly: The Child is at the doors and, from what we know so far, it may be a historic event. This means that next year has a very good chance of becoming the warmest year ever recorded, surpassing 2024 and exceeding the 1.5 degrees of the Paris Agreement. But let’s start with El Niño. ENSO (English acronym for El Niño-Southern Oscillation) is a cyclical, although irregular, climate phenomenon that has large effects on the global climate. Great, in fact. If we exclude the stations, it is the most important source of annual climate variability from all over the planet. During the warm phase (which will now affect us), the lack of trade winds that cool the surface of the equatorial Pacific causes the temperature to skyrocket. And so, through different atmospheric teleconnectionsdisrupts all of Earth’s weather systems. The effects in terms of precipitation change depending on the region (“drier than normal conditions in certain parts of the world, while in others it causes more precipitation. Some countries have to deal with major droughts and others with torrential rains”, says AEMET); but no one escapes from the temperature. What is happening with him? That between the forecasts for December 2025 and those for March 2026, everything has accelerated radically. Although La Niña is officially with us, the chances that we will end up with a strong or very strong EL Niño continue to grow. Above all, since researchers discovered this massive surface heating of the equatorial Pacific caused by Kelvin waves and which has already hopelessly eroded the cold pocket of water that we associate with La Niña. This is the most interesting because, as pointed out by Severe Weather Europe and Climate Impact Companythe parallels with other superChildren They are more than patent. What does all this mean? That, barring a miracle, temperatures are going to skyrocket until they exceed the red lines that we had set for ourselves. Each and every one of the last three years have surpassed 1.4 degrees over the pre-industrial period: 2026 will continue along the same lines, but 2027 has everything “in its favor” to settle above 1.5 degrees. That, translated into natural language, means ‘problems’. Issues? ENSO is a highly variable phenomenon and, in general terms, each phase is unpredictable in terms of intensity, duration, time of year and various interactions. However, the effects are sharp. On the one hand, El Niño causes flooding in California, Central America, northern Peru, Ecuador and large areas of northern and southeastern South America; torrential rains in the eastern-central Pacific islands and central Asia. On the other, is synonymous with droughts in southern Africa, the Sahel, Southeast Asia and, apparently, the Valley of Mexico. In Spain, in addition to the temperatures, it usually coincides with a small increase in rain. Could this rapid warming be indicative of something else? But beyond all this, there is something that worries researchers: that this sudden warming is a symptom of changes between the three phases of El Niño that are faster than they have been until now. Nothing is clear, obviously, but the mere possibility makes experts from half the world nervous. Meanwhile, Image | Climate Realanyzer In Xataka | We don’t know anything about El Niño at this time of year. That’s a meteorological mystery… and good news

Loop Infinito, Xataka’s daily podcast, will record live in Seville on March 19: this is how you can come

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The next March 19, Infinite Loop leaves the usual studio. Within the framework of CTx Techthe great technology event that It is celebrated in Seville on the 19th and 20thI will record a special live episode with Antonio Ortizone of the founders of Xataka and current podcast co-host Stochastic Monkeys. It will be at 8:40 p.m. at the ADA Auditorium. The topic: AI without hype. What is real, what is noise and why it is so difficult to distinguish one from the other. If you are going to be in Seville those days – or if the event itself is reason enough to come – we will be there. CTx Tech brings together more than 400 hours of content and 15,000 expected attendees. Tickets are available at ctx-tech.com. Featured image | Transfers

A single shareholder will earn 3,234 million euros thanks to Inditex’s record profits: Amancio Ortega, of course

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There are companies that never stop breaking their own records and Inditex is one of them. The Galician group that owns Zara, Massimo Dutti or Pull&Bear has closed its 2025 fiscal year with a record net profit of 6,220 million euros, which is 6% more than the previous year. It is the fourth consecutive year that Inditex exceeds its own historical highs. However, what is really striking is not only the record achieved by the textile giant based in Arteixobut that record profit also implies unprecedented dividends for its shareholders. The 2026 dividend is the largest that Amancio Ortega will receive from Inditex in the entire historical series. No less than 3,234 million euros. A billion-dollar dividend. The Board of Directors of Inditex approved in its presentation of 2025 results the distribution of dividends among its shareholders. Given the increase in profits obtained this year, Inditex will offer a total dividend of 1.75 euros gross per share, which represents an increase of 4.17% compared to what it delivered the previous year. This dividend is made up of two parts: an ordinary component of 1.20 euros per share, equivalent to 60% of net profit, and an extraordinary payment of 0.55 euros per share. As is customary for the textile giant, the distribution of this dividend will be carried out in two equal payments of 0.875 euros per share. The first, scheduled for May 4, 2026, and the second will be sent on November 2, 2026. Two dates on the calendar that, for Amancio Ortega, have a very specific economic implication. What happens to Amancio Ortega. With a participation of 59.29% of the capital, distributed between his company Pontegadea (50.010%) and Partler Participaciones, Amancio Ortega controls 1,848 million shares of Inditex. Applying the dividend of 1.75 euros for each share, the resulting figure is 3,234 million euros gross, which implies surpassing the barrier of 3,000 million euros for the second consecutive year. Ortega received 3,104 million euros in 2025 for this same concept. To put this data in a little perspective, in the last five years, Inditex has raised its dividend by 88%. During that period alone, Ortega has earned 13.12 billion euros in dividends. Almost half of that amount, about 6.3 billion, corresponds only to the last two years. 100% of that income has gone directly to the accounts of Pontegadea, with which it makes all the investments that have led it to become the largest Spanish real estate by value of assets and one of the largest in Europe. The rest of the Ortega family also receives dividends. Despite being the largest company on the Ibex 35, Inditex has not lost the participation of the Ortega family, so its founder is not the only one who benefits from the distribution. His eldest daughter, Sandra Ortegacontrols 5.05% of the capital through the Rosp Corunna companywith 157.48 million shares without voting rights. For them, he will receive 275 million euros in dividends. A figure that, by itself, would be an extraordinary income for any medium-sized company. Curiously, Marta Ortega, youngest daughter of the tycoon of fashion and current president of the company, only controls 42,511 Inditex shares, for which she will receive a payment of 74,400 euros for those dividends. An abysmal difference with respect to his father. In Xataka | Amancio Ortega: the billionaire who lives like a neighbor (except for private jets and superyachts) Image | GTRES, Unsplash (Igal Ness)

Meta’s glasses record everything we see. Some gentlemen in Kenya are also looking at it to train AI

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Meta is competing in two races. On the one hand, that of the artificial intelligence. On the other hand, finding the “new smartphone.” In this sense, your total bet is on glasses with AI. Devices like Ray-Ban Meta 2 They have the potential to record everything we see. And within that “everything” is getting naked in a fitting room, having sexual relations or entering the bank password into our cell phone. And someone in Kenya is watching all of this with one goal: training artificial intelligence. In short. Before we delve deeper, let’s get the context. The Swedish media Svenska Dagbladet has published a report in which they explain how Meta’s artificial intelligence is being trained. At least, to the AI ​​that gives life to your smart glasses. For this training, Meta collects our data such as conversations, photos and videos, which are sent in massive packets to companies that break them down and then ‘shot’ the information into the training software. One of those companies is Sama. It is located in Kenya and some of its employees have revealed to Swedish journalists what type of information they see every day, recounting some cases that are still everyday actions that we all do. The problem is that we do them in privacy. That said, we are going little by little because there is a lot. Ray-Ban Meta. The glasses need no introduction and, in fact, we tested the second generation a few weeks ago. In our analysis of the Ray-Ban Meta 2 We already said that they were part of that post-smartphone vision thanks to a very decent camera and sound, but with disappointing AI. That is precisely the point on which Meta had to work more and it does so thanks to the images it collects from each user. What we give up. In the investigation of the Swedish environment, and it is something that we can see in the terms of use of Meta AI services, details a situation where it appears that we have significant control over data such as images or voice recordings. The document notes that certain data can be saved and used to improve Meta products if the user gives their consent, but there is a side B: for the AI ​​assistant to work, voice, text, image and video must be provided. According to these conditions, “in some cases, Meta will review interactions with the AI, including the content of conversations or messages to the AI. This review may be automated or manual.” In addition, it is also established that the user should not share information that they do not want the AI ​​to use or retain, such as “information on sensitive topics.” The problem is that, if you do not accept, you cannot use Meta AI. Training AI manually. When the data review is manual, that is when the problem begins. The article states that one of the analysis centers is located in Kenya. It is called Sama and it is a company hired by Meta to carry out a task known as “labeling.” The data leaving the device goes through a cleaning process that blurs faces and private data, but then workers perform some manual actions on the images. An example of labeling For example, selecting outlines of people, naming objects such as “lamp”, “car”, “book”, “computer”, registering traffic signs and, in short, everything we see. Then all that correctly labeled is organized into data packets that are ‘launched’ to the artificial intelligence training systems. Because if an AI “knows” that a ‘STOP’ sign is a ‘STOP’ sign, it is because it has been taught before with real images. The goal is to improve, precisely, what we criticized in our analysis: artificial intelligence and its connection with the world. When the system fails. For the analysis, they have contacted former Meta employees in labeling centers in the United States. They assure that the system automatically anonymizes faces and sensitive data, but “the algorithms sometimes get lost. Especially in difficult lighting conditions, certain faces and bodies are perfectly visible.” And that’s where the problem begins. The workers at the labeling center that has been put under the microscope are not there watching what I will detail below for pleasure or voyeurism, but because they are labeling to train the AI. The problem is… what you supposedly see in the images. nothing is private. An employee at the Kenyan data center explains that “in some videos you can see someone going to the bathroom or taking off their clothes. I don’t think they know, because if they didn’t, they wouldn’t record.” But going to the bathroom is not the only thing they have seen at that labeling center. Everyday scenes in a Western room followed by others in which sexual relations take place. Recording another person naked by mistake (when your partner gets out of the shower, for example), or leaving your glasses on a surface in the room to record how your wife changes without her knowing. Transcripts about protests, “very dark things” crimes or topics such as the description of a woman by a man who argues that he would like to have relations with her are also analyzed. “We see everything and Meta has that type of content in its database. People can record themselves in the wrong way and not know they are doing it,” says one of the workers who assures that, if the clips are leaked, it would be a “huge scandal.” “I think that if they knew the extent of the data collection, no one would dare to wear the glasses” What if I don’t record? Svenska Dagbladet has not done this report for two days. They point out that they have been working on the information for months, meeting with the parties and asking both the opticians where the glasses can be purchased and Meta itself. Regarding retailers, they claim that they have no idea where the data goes. Others point out that “everything is … Read more

Spain has broken employment records. It has also broken a record of workers who need two payrolls

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The Spanish labor market closed 2025 with a record that no one would want to celebrate: never before have so many people needed to juggle two jobs at the same time. While the data highlighted in bold reveals record in memberships and a unemployment downthere is a figure that tells another equally revealing story about how the reality of employment in Spain is changing. Low salaries and the imposition of part-time work hours are the main triggers for the need to have several jobs to make ends meet. The data collected by a study of Randstad reveals that the number of employed people with more than one job In Spain they have already exceeded 630,000, which is a historic figure. The highest number ever recorded. At the end of 2025, a total of 632,800 employed people in Spain had a secondary job (or several), which is 50,000 more people than last year. In it last data Collected by the INE in 2022, the number of multi-employed people stood at 520,500 people. That of 2025 is the highest figure and represents an increase of 8.6% in just twelve months. The phenomenon continues to be a minority in relative terms since it affects around 2.8% of the total number of employed people, but its growth reveals that something is happening in the labor market. However, this growth is also included in the logic of growth of the labor market: there are more employees with jobs, so the probability that these employees have more than one job also increases. Precariousness is one of the keys. One of the keys to understanding this increase is not so much to look at the number of people with more than one job, but rather at the number of people with part-time work. According to EPA data From the last quarter of 2024, full-time employment decreased by 115,600 people, while part-time employment increased by 191,800. This information is relevant because a worker who wants to work full-time will look for a way to combine two (or more) part-time jobs to complete (or exceed) the time and salary that he or she would obtain with a full-time job. More women, but just barely. Although the difference is small, women slightly outnumber men in moonlighting. According to INE data corresponding to the end of 2025, a total of 317,200 women had more than one job, which is equivalent to 3% of the total number of employed women, compared to 315,400 men, which represented 2.6% of the total number of men. Once again, we find ourselves in a scenario in which, due to the need to reconcile childcare and precariousness, women are more likely to occupy positions with part-time hours. According to official dataIn 2025, part-time contracts for women increased by 62,311. A few hours in hospitality. The sector where the majority of those who chain two jobs are concentrated is the services sector, which brings together 87.5% of all multi-employed workers in the country. As and how I collected Investedof the more than 632,000 workers with double occupation, some 553,300 carried out their activity in this hospitality sector and services. The industrial and productive sectors reduce the presence of multi-employment workers due to the high demand for full-time labor that is registered in them. Thus, Industry recognizes 40,700 employees with more than one job, Construction 21,600 multiple employees and Agriculture 17,000. ​What’s coming in 2026. Randstad Research’s forecasts for this year indicate that Spain will reach an annual average employed population of 22.64 million people, which would represent a growth of 1.9% compared to 2025. The unemployment rate, according to these estimates, will continue to decline and will reach an annual average of 9.8%. However, 2026 presents a complicated economic scenario in which inflation can reduce purchasing power of families, which will predictably contribute to multiple employment in Spain continuing to rise, setting new records. In Xataka | A 22-year-old engineer combined two full-time jobs. His secret: do the minimum so that they don’t give him more work Image | Unsplash (Valentine)

Ouigo has presented record numbers (and profits) in Spain. Renfe’s response is clear: they do not believe it

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“Renfe is today the only high-speed operator in Spain that manages to close the year with profits, while the rest of the companies in the sector continue in the red” The phrase is clear and the content clear: Renfe continues to be considered the only company in Spain that presents benefits in high speed. We could consider the statement valid but it has only been a few days since Ouigo put another piece of information on the table. “For the first time,” they noted in the presentation of their results that the company “managed to generate positive EBITDA for the first time.” And yet, both may be right even if the data seems contradictory. A fight that doesn’t stop From March 15, 2021the Spanish railway sector lives two realities. The first is that Ouigo operates on Spanish railways, standing up to Renfe. The second reality is that both companies maintain an open war in an exchange of statements that does not seem to end. Although a low profile was maintained in the first two years, in 2024 the Government arrived to support Renfe in a fight that they consider unequal. Then, Óscar Puente, Minister of Transportation, already stated that Ouigo operated through unfair competition. According to the Government and Renfe, Ouigo can offer lower prices than them because it is supported by France from the other side of the border. Months later, Puente raised the bar and said that I would report the French to the European Commission for unfair competition. Then it was pointed out that Ouigo was operating in Spain because it was losing money. But, in addition, France would be torpedoing its arrival to new lines in the country that could confront them in the local market. That is to say, Spain had ended up opening doors that France closed to them. Since then, we have not had news of the complaint but it is certain that Ouigo and Renfe maintain an open battle that has presented us with various chapters. We have seen disputes over prices but also over the type of repairs Ouigo was doing in the Renfe workshops (Renfe has to offer them its space but considered that these exceeded the current permits) or statements from the French making it clear that for the particularities of high speed spanish It would be impossible for them to compete in Madrid-Galicia. The last battle of this war has to do with the financial results. January 26, 2026the SCNF group, owner of Ouigo, presented a press release in which it boasted that it had achieved a 44% increase in passengers on its Spanish trains. And, in addition, he pointed out that for the first time they achieved a positive EBITDA. This has been read as if, for the first time, the French company was making profits in our country, although the truth is that the accounts were not detailed and only that financial term is pointed out. The point is that the EBITDA It refers to the operating income of the business and certain expenses but does not take into account taxes on profits, financial expenses such as interest on loans or amortizations. At the moment, Ouigo has not provided these data, but we do know that the companies that operate in our country at high speed they were losing money. This has been a constant since the arrival of Ouigo and Iryo and, in fact, both have had to receive new investments to be able to face the losses that have come upon them in the last four years. This difference between the EBITDA and the net result is what Renfe uses to proclaim itself as the only company that operates on Spanish high speed and making profits. “At the end of 2025, the Renfe division dedicated to passenger transport obtained a net profit of 70.2 million eurosa figure clearly higher than the previous year (5.4 million)”, points out in his statement. Therefore, both companies are right, neither is lying. But none of them tell the whole truth. And Ouigo, everything indicates, will continue to give net losses this year but it is true that it has years left to amortize the investment it had to make to bring its trains to Spain. Collecting a positive EBITDA is a good sign because it indicates that you are moving towards profitability but you will not be able to obtain it until you meet the interest on the requested loans and the amortizations. Renfe, on the contrary, with a consolidated network in Spain and the experience of working in the field since before becoming a company with private capital, has a clear advantage over rivals. It is true that, as Transport Minister Óscar Puente has complainedis also obliged to provide a public service that does not always have to be profitable. Photo | Wayback Machine and Cheng-en Cheng In Xataka | The overwhelming success of the train in Spain: when they gave us a choice, we chose to flee the airports

Japan’s problem is not that it is stopping having babies at a record speed. It’s just that he did it 17 years earlier than he should have.

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If there is a way out of demographic pitJapan still hasn’t found it. And not for lack of effort. Although all your effortsof the imagination and million-dollar investment that has been allocated to birth policies, its balance of births continues to be disastrous. The last one has just been published by the Government and shows that in 2025 they were born in Japan 15,179 fewer babies than in 2024. It is the tenth consecutive year of decline, a new historical low and above all a scenario in which Japan did not expect to find itself until 2042. The question is: Is Tokyo willing to cover this birth rate disaster with a greater migratory flow, the demographic table that keeps afloat other countries? What has happened? that Japan has received a hard bath of demographic reality, something that is beginning to be common. The Ministry of Health has just published the birth rate for 2025, a document that leaves little room for optimism. Throughout last year, 705,809 babies were born in the country, a bad figure no matter how you look at it. It represents the lowest record since statistics began to be compiled in 1899, and above all it confirms that the birth rate has been declining for ten consecutive years… with no prospect of improvement. In annual terms, these 705,809 births represent a decrease of 2.1% compared to 2024. If we look further back, to the last decade, the drop is around 30%. The only good news is that the data improves (slightly) some forecasts launched by the Japanese press a few months ago and that the speed at which the birth rate falls seems to be slowing down little by little. At least it is lower than that of the 2022-2024 period, when it exceeded 5% annually. Is it that bad news? Yes. For several reasons. The main one is that the Japanese demographic crisis is worsening much faster than the Government believed, which years ago prepared for a pessimistic scenario. In 2023 the National Population and Security Research Institute and Social Security (IPSS) published a report in which it calculated that the number of annual births would not decrease to 700,000 until 2042. The reality is that the country has already moved within that range in 2025, 17 years than expected. What’s more, the IPSS estimated that 774,000 babies would be born in 2025. The actual data that we know today (705,809) is closer to its most pessimistic projection (681,000). Why is it a problem? Because Japan is proving that, despite its multiple attempts, it has not managed to close its demographic gap. It is not just that their birth rate is falling, it is that vegetative growth (difference between births and deaths) gives clear alarm signals. Although the deaths have decreased by 0.8%the Japanese population shrank by 899,845 people last year. Media like Nikkei either The Japan Times In recent hours, they have published analyzes that warn of the gradual aging of the country and (above all) the pressure it puts on its social security system and pensions. There will be something positive, right? More or less. The statistics leave some positive readings or that show possible paths to follow, although with nuances. For example, in 2025 marriages increased slightly compared to the previous year (1.1%) to reach 505,656. The question is whether this rebound is the result of the hangover from the pandemic, when many couples postponed their weddings. Another curious fact is that there are territories that seem to have hit the right demographic key: in Tokyo the births increased by about 1.3% last year, reaching 88,518, and it is estimated that its metropolitan area accounts for almost a third (30%) of all births registered in the country. What is the solution? The big question. The difficult thing is to answer it. Japan has tried with economic and labor incentives, programs for pair…Everything to boost your birth rate, a goal to which you have dedicated millions and millions. It has been of little use to him. There are those who believe that in this scenario a possible salvation is to rethink the national immigration policy. “Refusing to accept an adequate flow of migrants is not only ignoring economic reality, but giving up on our collective future,” pointed recently to The World Akito Tanaka, from the Migrant Solidarity Network. “Policies that are increasingly limiting the entry of foreign workers are exacerbating precisely this problem,” Tanaka insists.who warns that Japan faces “an unprecedented demographic crossroads.” The latest data from the Ministry of Health actually leaves an interesting idea: the 705,809 babies registered in Japan in 2025 not only correspond to births to parents of Japanese origin, but also include foreigners. What is Tokyo’s position? It does not seem very willing to bet on foreigners to revive its population. In fact just yesterday transcended that Japan’s immigration agency has tightened the guidelines that applicants for permanent residence must comply with. In practice the changes make it more difficult meet the requirements to obtain the visa, for which it is key to demonstrate good conduct and financial self-sufficiency, among other conditions. It’s not exactly new. It has been known for months that the government of the conservative Sanae Takaichi was planning double the time minimum stay that foreigners must remain in Japan to qualify for citizenship. Can it change? In the midst of an avalanche of international tourism (which has generated multiple tensions between foreign visitors and the native population) the presence of foreigners has become a relevant issue in Japanese politics. In fact, after taking the reins of the Government, Takaichi did not take long to promote an immigration policy that revolves around regulations with an eloquent name: “Law for a society of orderly coexistence with foreigners.” His last results at the polls They show that their position does not upset the electorate. Image | Andrew Leu (Unsplash) In Xataka | If Korea believes it is experiencing a demographic crisis, it is because it does not … Read more

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