Spain

make China part of Spain

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Some of the greatest historical ambitions began with ideas that, on paper, seemed surprisingly simple. During European expansion into Asia, it was not uncommon what reports and letters described distant territories as rich and accessible places, ready to be influenced with relative ease. On more than one occasion, these optimistic descriptions ended up marking strategic decisions that later collided head-on with a reality much more complex than expected. It happened to Spain… with China. When you think you’re unstoppable. The story began at the end of the 16th century, when Philip II ruled an empire that spanned several continents and was coming to chain conquests fast and spectacular in America. In that context, he fueled an idea that today seems like many things, but, at the very least, unthinkable: if it had been possible to overthrow empires like the Aztec or the Inca, it could also be done. the same with China. In that climate of almost absolute trust, the court began to seriously contemplate a project that was not a simple expedition, but a definitive leap into the void towards global hegemony. Conquer the unconquerable. The plan took shape in what became known as the “China Company”in essence, a structure organized by the monarchy itself to study, plan and eventually execute the conquest of the Asian giant. It was not an isolated occurrence or a joke in bad taste: the work included detailed reports, diplomatic missions, missionary presence and intelligence gathering from the Philippines and Macau. The idea was a mix where trade, evangelization and military force were combined, replicating the model that had worked in America, with the ambition to subdue the territory, reorganize it and make it part of the Spanish imperial system, who knows if in a future autonomous Iberian community. Planned phases in the China Company Detailed… and deeply unreal. Documents from the time even described how the invasion would be carried out, with tens of thousands of soldiers entering along the southern coast of chinaadvancing towards Beijing and replacing the emperor with a like-minded power in the blink of an eye. Not only that. A complete integration based on evangelization, the creation of loyal local elites and, attention, miscegenation, following the American pattern, was then proposed. What’s more, some councilors went so far as to affirm that a few few hundred soldiers to achieve this, reflecting the extent to which the real complexity of the territory and its capacity for resistance was underestimated. Portrait of Philip II China is not America, even if it is believed to be so. Indeed, the great underlying error was assuming that China would function little less than the American empires. Interested reports described her like rich but weakopen to internal alliances and susceptible to being transformed with relative ease. However, it was an organized statewith very advanced military, administrative and technological structures. That distance between perception and reality made the project more hyperbolic of Philip II in a mixture of imperial ambition, incomplete information and a certain strategic illusion that is difficult to sustain. The blow of reality: logistics, politics and defeats. The truth is that the “China Company” It was not executed due to a combination of factors. The distances, logistics and cost made the operation extremely difficult. complex and prolonged in time. Added to this were internal tensions between those who defended a military conquest and those who bet through the missionary waydiametrically opposite options. However, the final blow came in 1588 with the failure of the Invincible Armadawhich forced other fronts to be prioritized and made it clear that even the largest empire of the moment had very specific limits. More than a military plan, a window. Although it never materialized, that “China Company” clearly reveals how far he went Spanish ambition at its time of greatest expansion. It was not just a military project, but a way of thinking the world: a system in which trade, religion, diplomacy and war were part of a same global strategy. Be that as it may, in the end the plan remained an exercise in imperial imagination that collided with harsh reality, but which reflects better than anything to what extent Spain came to consider something as extreme and surreal as integrating China into its own empire. Image | Nagihuin, CC0 1.0 – Ruland Kolen, Sofonisba Anguissola In Xataka | Rise and Fall of European Empires: A Journey of 550 Years of Colonialism Through an Enlightening Chart In Xataka | That time Spain bombed Istanbul: nine ships, a movie escape and the obsession of Octavio of Aragón

Spain has found 134 shipwrecks off Cádiz

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Sometimes the most traveled places hide stories that only come to light centuries later. For decades, fishermen in southern Spain commented that their nets they got stuck in the bottom in very specific points, as if there were invisible obstacles underwater. It was not until much later, with the use of sonar and systematic studies, when it began to be understood that these were not simple rocks, but rather remains of a past much more intense than it seemed. Much more than a step. The truth is that, if today the Strait of Hormuz concentrates all the great tensions global issues, the Strait of Gibraltar has been a critical point where trade, war and geopolitics constantly intersect. It is not an exaggeration, since every ship that enters or leaves the Mediterranean passes through here, which makes it a natural funnel where accumulate interest and risks. This almost obligatory nature has meant that, throughout history, the area has functioned as a recurring scene of accidents, naval conflicts and military operations. More than a hundred shipwrecks off Cádiz. The data sums it all up: 134 wrecks and remains of sunken ships in the bay of Algeciras alone, recently documented by Spanish archaeologists from the University of Cádiz and the University of Granada after completing the Herakles Projecta work that has successfully cataloged the vast expanse of this archaeological paradise. They say that, in just a few kilometers, more than 150 sites and at least 134 shipwrecks spanning from the 5th century BC to the Second World War. Reasons? They argue that, for centuries, this area has been a kind of forced “waiting port”, where ships stopped before crossing the strait, increasing the probability of accidents, collisions or attacks. Herakles Project Crossing of civilizations. What makes this archaeological find unique is not only the quantity, but the variety. Punic, Roman, medieval and modern remains coexist on the seabed, along with Spanish, British, Dutch and Venetian ships. This mosaic reflects that the strait was not only a trade route, but a point where they converged empires, exploration routes and conflicts. If you like, each shipwreck is a piece of that puzzle, from ships loaded with goods to warships designed for rapid attacks. War, espionage and naval tactics. Some of the findings They show to what extent this space was a constant battlefield. Among them appear 18th century gunboats designed to surprise attack large ships, or even remnants of World War II operations. These small boats, capable of camouflage like fishing boats before attacking, they reflect a logic very similar to the current one where ingenious and asymmetric solutions were the basis for facing superior rivals. A historical archive back. Researchers say that for decades only a few remains were known in the area, but that new techniques such as sonar or magnetometers have allowed us to discover an authentic underwater archive. Added to this is an unexpected factor: the change in currents and sediments, natural processes that are revealing remains hidden for centuries. The problem is that this same process, along with maritime traffic and industrial activity, also threatens to destroy them before they can be studied. The same problem, in historical version. The parallel is quite clear, because just as maritime bottlenecks today concentrate tensions economic and military, Gibraltar has been for millennia a point where everything intensifies. Possibly the difference is that here there is a cumulative physical test at the bottom of the sea. More than a simple collection of sunken ships, what is off the coast of Cádiz is the tangible trace of centuries of forced traffic, and of conflicts and repeated errors in one of the most strategic places on the planet. Image | NASA, Project Herakles In Xataka | We have been believing for 50 years that the Strait of Gibraltar was “closed” with an apocalyptic cataract. Now we have nuances In Xataka | The US is preparing a shipment of F-35s, Apache helicopters and missiles. And his destiny is in front of Cádiz: arming Morocco

If the question is whether the rich are born or made, the answer is condensed in a graph that shows that Spain is different

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Globally, the distribution of wealth is not only measured by how much money the richest have, but also by the economic flow and what it is like. the architecture of success that each country has built. The balance between “own merit” and “cradle” defines the identity of an economy: while in some countries they function as innovation laboratories where fortunes emerge from nothing, in others they function as a kind of safe deposit box where heritage is transmitted from generation to generation like a modern noble title. This chart from the German economic data analysis platform DataPulse and is made from Forbes data for June 2025. At that time, the business magazine counted 2,838 billionaires around the world. Forbes ranks each using its own scoring system (Self-Made score), which ranges from 1 to 10 according to the weight of the inheritance versus one’s own merit. The overall result is clear: two out of every three millionaires are millionaires because they “made themselves.” But this statement hides abysmal differences that reflect how economic power works in each society. By the way, a global fact that the graph itself highlights: between 2024 and 2025 the total wealth of all the billionaires in the world grew by 13.4%. According to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025that growth pushed aggregate wealth to an all-time high of $15.8 trillion. Wealth: Self-made vs. inheritances. Data Pulse with data from Forbes Where does the fortune of the world’s richest come from: inheritance or self-made? The upper area of ​​the graph is where those countries are located where it is easier to get rich on your own and is led by Russia and China: both appear with 97% of billionaires self-madethe highest percentage in the world. They may be entrepreneurial countries, but the true differential feature must be found in their history: their respective revolutions of the 20th century They destroyed any inheritable private capital (the Bolshevik in 1917 and the Maoist in 1949). So technically, their fortunes are first generation because they couldn’t be from any other. However, this small print also includes Forbes’ conception of Self-made: In the Russian case, the main oligarchs accumulated their wealth in the 90s by taking advantage of Yeltsin’s savage privatizations. He Harvard’s Wilson Center says it loud and clear: It was one of the largest transfers of public wealth into private hands in modern history. Calling it self-made is at least generous. Although the United States is the country with the most millionaires in number with almost 924 people and according to the UBS Billionaire Ambitions Report 2025 74% of them are self-made, not the one that appears higher in the graph. The United Kingdom, Canada and Israel stand out there. What they all have in common are economies with developed capital markets, active venture capital ecosystems and legal frameworks that facilitate the creation and scaling of companies. In Germany, France or Spain inheritance rules. The Western European bloc is the area where inherited wealth weighs the most, with Germany as an extreme case: only 25% of its rich people are so because they built their own fortune. Family Capital explains it quite well: the ten largest German assets are all linked to family businesses. There are no great new generation technological fortunes. What there are are “old-fashioned” names, such as the Quandts at BMW, the Albrechts behind Aldi or the Würths: post-war industrial dynasties that have passed down their empires from generation to generation. Spain and France embrace a similar logic: they have legal frameworks that strongly protect intergenerational wealth transmission, scarcity and/or weakness of a technological ecosystem comparable to that which exists in the Anglo-Saxon or Asian ecosystem, and a business culture where family control of capital is considered a value in itself. Just above Germany is Spain, which has second place in the world in percentage of inherited wealth, with 74% of its billionaires in that category and only 26% self-made. Although there is the occasional green shoot of a modernized economy, it is residual: Spanish wealth is historically concentrated in a very small number of families with dominant positions in sectors with little competition. In short, generally In Spain wealth comes from dad. As in Germany, the names in the Spanish state are great classics: the Ortega family with Inditex, the Del Pino with Ferrovial, the March, the Entrecanales or the Lara. They are fortunes built for the most part during the Franco regime or the transition, in a context of little competition, privileged access to credit and close relations with political power. The result is what the graph shows: a country where becoming a billionaire from scratch is statistically almost an anomaly. In Xataka | We thought that millionaires had their fortune rain down from the sky without the slightest effort: Spain is different In Xataka | The “Great Transfer of Wealth” is not only a thing for the rich: demographic change will concentrate wealth among the youngest Cover | DataPulse

Spain 1- Hungary 0. MG chooses Spain for its European electric car factory, according to Bloomberg

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MG is one of the Chinese fashion brands in Spain. It is the company that dominates the market by sales volume, among other things thanks to its clear focus on the entry-level or mid-range. Its figures in the Spanish state rise like foam: In 2025 they sold 45,163 units and grew by 46.78%. In the midst of the global structural reconfiguration of the sector towards electric mobility enhanced by an EU that does not hesitate to try to regulate the market in favor of classic players located in its territory against the deluge in quantity, quality and price made in ChinaSAIC motor has made a move to protect its piece of the pie in the old continent: set up a plant to act as a European hub. Anonymous sources They have leaked to Bloomberg that the chosen destination is Spain. MG Choose Spain. SAIC Motor, one of the China’s largest automakers by volumeplans to establish its first electric vehicle production plant in Europe within Spanish territory. Anonymous sources linked to the sector they point out to Bloomberg that the decision is not yet final and that key details such as the size of the investment, production capacity or deadlines are missing. As explains The EconomistSAIC Motor has been studying options within the Spanish state for more than a year, which has experience in the deployment of electric vehicle platforms under the umbrella of government incentives. Why is it important. For SAIC Motor the answer is simple: investment is critical to mitigate the impact of the tariffs that the EU applies to Chinese manufacturers. By producing on European soil, MG escapes these taxes, which allows it to continue maintaining its aggressive pricing strategy, essential for its rapid growth. From a technical point of view, having a plant here would allow it to better adapt its models to the standards and tastes of the European consumer, in addition to reducing its logistical footprint. Spain It is the second European automobile producer and ninth in the world, with almost 2.3 million vehicles produced in 2025 according to ANFAC data. The arrival of a brand with the sales volume of MG represents traction for the entire automotive and associated industry, in the face of a panorama of forced transition from combustion engines and with an uncertain future of its most historic plants. That the industry shifts from fossil fuel engines to electromobility is key so that it does not lose relevance in the state GDP. Context. After eight months of investigation, Brussels determined that Chinese electric manufacturers receive state subsidies that distort competition and threaten millions of European jobs, so producing these cars on the old continent avoids those tariffs in the bud. The final tariffs approved by the European Commission applicable to BEVs imported from China are: BYD Group, 17%; Geely Group, 18.8%; SAIC Group, 35.3%, among others. To that we must add 10% base. Bottom line: SAIC Motor Corporation Limited is more interested than anyone in finding a solution. Despite this, they are selling cars like hotcakes: just look at any recent ranking of best-selling cars. Chinese brands have found two ways to avoid tariffs: establish factories within Europe or import vehicles in unassembled kits (CKD) to assemble them on European soil. SAIC aims to combine both phases. What Spain has that Hungary does not have. The eastern European country has until now been the favorite of Chinese manufacturers in terms of electric cars and batteries and there are no shortage of reasons to choose it: it offers lower labor costs, it has a geographically central position in Europe and direct links with China through the Belt and Road Initiative (Belt and Road). In addition, it already accumulates investments from BYD, CATL either NIOas well as other classic actors in the industry. Spain adds to its industrial muscle and its consolidated experience in the sector an advantage that Hungary does not have: a market where MG already leads sales and an ecosystem that is fully activated. In addition to having efficiency as a flag, in the words of the Spanish Minister of IndustryJordi Hereu. But there is a key milestone: the Figueruelas (Zaragoza) plant now has a date for make Leapmotor electric vehicles starting in October of this year, combining Chinese technology and Spanish production, consolidating a model in which SAIC can be reflected. Zaragoza is not only a precedent: it is proof that Spain can accommodate the Chinese electricity transition without industrial or political friction. All the pools point to Galicia. In the absence of official confirmation and knowing more details, the location for the future plant What sounds the most is Galicia: has extensive industrial experience linked to the sector, a consolidated chain of suppliers, the Salvaterra-As Neves logistics platform and the proximity to the port of Vigo, which opens the doors to maritime connections with the United Kingdom, northern Europe and Atlantic markets. The icing on the cake: the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, focused on his recent official trip to China in strengthening commercial relations in the automotive industry and in his busy schedule he had time to visit the SAIC factories and hold a meeting with the board of directors. First steps. Unveil Galicia Press that the model initially proposed for its Spanish plant points to CKD assembly, with the possibility of evolving towards full production according to sources in the sector. That is, the main components of the vehicle are manufactured at source and sent in pieces to the new factory for final assembly. Leo Zhang, head of SAIC for Spain and Portugal, has already spoken profitability of a possible European plant: from around 250,000 units per year. Although it is unknown which model they will start with (there are those who point to the utility vehicle MG2, direct rival of the Renault 5 and the future Volkswagen ID.2), if there is an orientation regarding deadlines: SAIC intends launch the first model manufactured in Europe in 2027. Yes, but. The news rests on anonymous … Read more

Spain has a very ugly bird that does not want it to become extinct. And all of Europe depends on you not doing it

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For the last decade, Villafranca de los Barros (in the heart of the province of Badajoz) was the European vulture capital. More than 600 black and griffon vultures They have left the AMUS wildlife hospital in Villafranqués to repopulate places in France, Sicily, Cyprus or Bulgaria. Now and this is the news, receives 15 specimens of Italian vultures. Are we running out of Egyptian vultures? Are there few in Spain? It depends on how we define “few.” It is true that the numbers continue to fall in Aragón, Andalusia and part of Castilla y León; However, it is no less true that around 82% of all Egyptian vultures in Europe. And then? Why do we want twelve birds? Essentially, because the Italian Egyptian Vultures are having a very bad time. The Cisalpine country has only a dozen wild breeding pairs and needs Spain to keep the genetics and breeding capacity alive. The idea is to use the Italian specimens to reinforce the European capacity to obtain chickens (something that, in this species, is especially difficult). And scavengers, despite the cultural disdain we have for them, are important. Only Iberian vultures They remove bodies from the field for a value of about 45 million a year and save about 77,000 tons of CO2 in the same period. But there are even much clearer cases: India, for example. Eyal Frank and Anant Sudarshan of the Harris School of Public Policy and the University of Warwick they did the math of the economic impact of the loss of vultures in the subcontinent. We talk about $69.4 billion annually derived from mortality and the economic costs associated with premature deaths. “The collapse of vultures in India provides a clear example of the kind of hard-to-reverse and unpredictable costs that the loss of a species can have on humans,” The great European hope. If it works, many of the first chickens will be released in Italy with the idea of ​​​​reinforcing the wild population of southern Italy. After that, they will be used to reinforce other weakened nuclei: first in Spain and then in the rest of the continent. In this sense, Spain has become the last great European reservoir. And that between poisoned baits (979 corpses between 2019 and 2023), power lines and wind turbines, it’s not that we treat vultures very well. Image | Nitish Patel In Xataka | Mia, the world’s first bionic vulture who has been able to land and walk again thanks to a titanium “suchi roll”

In November, Spain is supposed to force stores to charge an amount for each bottle and can sold. It is supposed

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Something ticks inside every yellow recycling bin and the noise perfectly reaches newsrooms across the country. Hence the articles, pieces and reports that They say that “starting in November the stores will charge” for each plastic bottle. The good news is that yes, the law says that. The bad news is that where the ticking does not reach is the power centers of Madrid capital. What’s happening? Indeed, the Waste Law of 2022 obliges Spain to have a Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR) for plastic bottles, cans and beverage bricks operational as of November 22, 2026. And the reason is simple: the country had to recycle 70% of everything introduced into the market by 2023 and we did not achieve it. Faced with this possibility, the legislator was clear: the current system had to be abandoned and the packaging return system adopted (the one that charges a deposit for each container and returns it later). Portugal found itself in a similar situation and just introduced the European system. So? What is the problem? The truth is that we have no shortage of problems. To begin with, measuring how we really recycle. For years, stakeholders claimed that recycling rates were close to 80%; However, in 2024, the General Subdirectorate of Waste prepared a report relating to the calculation of the separate collection of SUP bottles for beverages that lowered that figure to 41.3% (well below the 70% required). The second problem is regulation. Following the Law, in May 2025, four organizations (Ecoembes, AECOC, Procircular and CorePET) They asked the Community of Madrid that authorized them as Collective Systems of Extended Producer Responsibility in charge of managing the SDDR. The Community is the competent one since the organizations have their headquarters there. And then? Then nothing. Madrid legally had six months to resolve the request; but it granted itself an extension of another six months that would end next month. However, the Ministry of the Environment has already explained that they have no intention of doing anything because of the “legal uncertainty (that it entails), since adequate and sufficient regulations have not been developed at the state level.” MITECO, for its part, responds that there is no insecurity and that they are not going to do anything more. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Nobody knows anything. While the CAM runs out of its extension, there are less than seven months left before we begin to break the Law and all scenarios are on the table: from a quick solution to a blockade that delayed everything two or three more years (most likely). What is out of the question is that there is no political will to implement this and nothing suggests that this will change. If you had to bet and taking into account that Spain is the country with the most cases of infractions for not transposing community regulationsit would be surprising if the SDDR started in November of this year. Image | James Lo In Xataka | Europe decided to regulate how garbage should be disposed of. We will pay it with a new mandatory rate in 2025

In Spain we have glorified the long nap. In scientific studies they have a different opinion on the matter.

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The siesta is, for many, a fundamental pillar of the Mediterranean lifestyle and an essential pleasure during the afternoon to be able to endure the rest of the day. However, scientific evidence has put this habit under the microscope, especially when naps last several hours and even give you time to dream several times. And the duration, frequency and especially age have a lot to say about the impact on health. The border of time. The current scientific consensus draws a fairly clear line between the classic power nap and the nap of putting on your pajamas and getting into bed for several hours. Because the barrier is marked precisely at the half hour mark, meaning that whoever passes it may begin to notice changes in their health. Here, a recent study from the University of Murcia analyzed to more than 3,000 adults in a Mediterranean environment to analyze the effect of naps. And the reality is that spending more than these 30 minutes was associated with having a higher BMI, a higher incidence of obesity and also being more likely to have a metabolic syndrome such as, for example, diabetes or hypertension. And there is more. When it comes to cardiovascular health, the reality is that the heart can suffer. Here the European Society of Cardiology presented In 2023, different data associated naps longer than 30 minutes with almost double the risk of developing atrial fibrillation. But also the American Heart Association took data who supported this point by pointing out that naps lasting longer than an hour increased the rate of cardiovascular disease by 1.82 times. The age factor. In this sense, one of the most important studies published is found in JAMA, that after following 1,338 older adults for 19 years and objectively measuring their sleep, they were able to see the effect it had. Here it was seen that sleeping more during the day, doing so more frequently or concentrating the nap in the morning was associated with with higher mortality from any cause. Specifically, each extra hour of daytime sleep increased the risk of mortality by 13%. There is much left to investigate. Among the studies that are currently available, no clear correlation has been found, that is, that someone who takes a three-hour nap a day should not have any problems. The only thing that is pointed out is that having the need to sleep excessively during the day can be a consequence of a poor night’s rest because there is a disease that is beginning to see the light, such as sleep apnea. You can take a nap. Although it may seem that we are demonizing the nap, the reality is that it has an important beneficial component when it comes to naps. less than 30 minutes. Here we are achieving an improvement in cognitive performance and it is also a way to recharge our energy a little for the rest of the day. But from here to actively planning a nap that can last for hours, there is a long way that should undoubtedly be avoided. Images | Unsplash In Xataka | Sleeping four hours a day and performing at your best is not a myth, it is a genetic rarity of 1% of the population

Spain continues refining oil and, once again, is once again Europe’s energy lifeline

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The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused panic in Asia and set off all the alarms in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Energy Agency (IEA). Faced with this global shortage, the Spanish system has done its homework. According to Agency EFEour country’s refineries have made their operations more flexible to maximize the production of petroleum derivatives, backed by a supply of crude oil that, for now, remains secure. Gonzalo Escribano, principal researcher at the Elcano Royal Institute, explains in statements to EFE that Spain has “specialized and better adapted refineries” than most of its neighbors. The contrast is blatant: Italy or Germany made the strategic mistake of closing 20% ​​of their refining capacity in recent years, outsourcing production to the Persian Gulf or to chinese refineries. Today, that decision is taking a historic toll on them. The real crisis is in the derivatives. It is easy to look out the window and think that the energy apocalypse has not arrived because there is still fuel at the gas stations. But it is a logistical mirage, maritime supply lines they move at the speed of a bicycle by the sheer inertia of the gigantic supertankers (VLCC) that were already sailing before the closure. The jam of more than 800 ships in the Gulf has already erased hundreds of millions of barrels from the market, and the real problem facing the world is not the lack of crude oil, but of already processed products. The first sector to suffocate has been aviation, which acts like the canary in the mine. global airlines They are canceling thousands of flights in the face of kerosene that has soared above 170 euros per barrel. At this point, the Spanish Fuel Industry Association (ACIE) corroborates EFE that the current bottleneck is in distillates such as diesel and kerosene. The Spanish lifeguard. By keeping its refineries at maximum performance, our country not only covers its demand, but also establishes itself as a logistics node capable of helping its neighbors. The contrast is abysmal: while the United Kingdom is forced to import 80% of the kerosene that its planes burn, Spain is capable of producing 80% of what it consumes. This not only protects the internal market from shortages, but also positions the peninsula to export the surplus to a thirsty Europe. In a scenario where the barrel maintains a “war premium” that inflates prices, having the final product already processed makes the Spanish plants the great emergency supplier. Those countries that decided to outsource their production of derivatives to Asia today depend on Spanish capacity so that their carriers and airlines do not remain grounded. The strategic “bunker”: the ace up CORES’ sleeve. How is it possible for Spain to hold its own if it imports practically 100% of the crude oil it consumes? The answer lies in our emergency reserves. Spain counts with an autonomy of about 105 dayswell above the 92 required by international law, managed through a mixed system between the industry and the Strategic Reserves Corporation (CORES). But the real “trick” of this bunker is not the quantity, but the quality: more than half (54.4%) of CORES’ reserves are already refined diesel fuel. Even if Saudi Arabia manages to bypass the Hormuz blockade by sending crude oil through its pipelines to the Red Sea, Europe has a serious problem if it does not have enough factories to distill it. By having the refining duties done in advance, the Spanish tanks buy the country more than three months of logistical peace to prevent the trucks from stopping. There is another safe passage: the “green shield” exception. Added to this fossil shielding is the electrical part, a front where Spain plays with a structural advantage. More than 60% of our generation mix It is already renewable, supported by massive solar and wind deployment and a solid hydraulic cushion. In the European electricity system—where the most expensive technology, usually gas, dictates the final price of all electricity—this green park acts as a retaining wall. During the central hours of the day, the massive injection of clean energy manages to sink wholesale market prices, reaching zero or even negative values. This protects us from the brutal gas increases that are suffocating bills in Germany or Italy. In practice, it allows the national industry to maintain a vital respite and a huge competitive advantage during sunny hours, cushioning an economic blow that is devastating manufacturers in the rest of the continent. A life preserver that floats, but is not immune. Spain has become a fortunate energy island, but not by chance. It is the result of not having succumbed to the temptation to dismantle its hydrocarbon infrastructure while, in parallel, investing massively in the transition towards sun and wind. However, it would be a mistake to become complacent. The life jacket floats, but the sea is rougher than ever. Fatih Birol, director of the IEA, has warned that this crisis exceeds those of 1973, 1979 and 2022 combined. And our country is not without cracks: we still lack massive batteries to store our renewable energy (which makes us vulnerable to gas every time it gets dark) and our external dependence on crude oil remains almost absolute. We have gained precious time, but the hyper-connected economy of the 21st century reminds us that when the world slows down, no one is completely unscathed. Image | Gregorio Puga Bailón Xataka | First it was the automotive industry, now Europe is going to lose another of its star industries to China

The landing of the first OPPO Ultra in Spain begins with a huge camera

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Sometimes it is enough to look at a device for a few seconds to understand where a brand is going, and that is exactly what happened to me with the OPPO Find X9 Ultra. On paper, its size and the volume of the photographic module could make you think of a cumbersome mobile phone, and it is, but in the hand it also feels light, comfortable and clearly premium. Furthermore, it is a device that does not try to hide its photographic ambition, but rather makes it a central part of its identity. OPPO summoned us to a meeting to calmly explain a product to which it gives special weight within its catalogue, and it is not difficult to understand why. This is the first Ultra that the brand officially puts on the table in Spain and Europe, a move with which it wants to reinforce its position in the highest range. In fact, we will go into more depth about this topic in an interview we had with Kevin Cho, CEO of OPPO in Spain. Oppo Find X9 Ultra technical sheet oppo find x9 ULTRA Dimensions and weight Tundra Umber: 163.16 × 76.97 × 9.10 mm 236g Canyon Orange: 163.16 × 76.97 × 8.65mm 235g screen 6.82 inch AMOLED QHD+ 2K resolution Screen-to-body ratio: 94.60% Refresh Rate: Maximum 144 Hz Brightness: HBM 1800 nits processor Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 memory 12GB storage 512GB battery 7,500 mAh (silicon-carbon) 100W SUPERVOOC 50W AIRVOOC rear cameras 200 MP f/1.5 main, OIS 50 MP f/2.0 Ultra Wide Angle 200 MP f/3.5 3x telephoto, OIS 50 MP f/2.2 10x telephoto, OIS front camera 50MP f/2.0 connectivity 5G Dual SIM NFC Wi-Fi 7 Bluetooth 6.0 GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BDS operating system ColorOS 16 others IP69 certification Ultrasonic fingerprint sensor price 1,699 euros The camera is not an addition, it is the starting point Where this intention is most noticeable is in the design language itself. OPPO explained to us that it has been inspired by the Hasselblad X2Dand that reference is not just an aesthetic wink, but in a very specific way of building the terminal. The camera module, with that Master Lens design on a hexagonal piece, dominates the rear and does not try to go unnoticed. On the contrary, what we see here is a deliberate decision: to take that protuberance as part of the product’s character and turn it into a way of telling us that the camera is not an add-on, but the center of everything. That idea is also transferred to the materials and the way the phone seeks to fit in the hand. We have seen two very different finishes. Tundra Umber is committed to ecological vegan leather, with dark tones and brown nuances, and it is the one that best expresses that search for a firmer grip and a feeling closer to that of a camera. Canyon Orange, on the other hand, offers a more striking proposal, with a matte finish and the use of aeronautical fiber to reinforce resistance. If we go down from the brand narrative to the terrain of the technical sheet, the Find X9 Ultra also wants to make it clear where it is placed. OPPO equips it with a 6.8-inch 144 Hz screen, a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 accompanied by a steam chamber to improve cooling and a 7,050 mAh carbon silicon battery. The company also ups the ante on charging, with 100 W wired SuperVOOC and 50 W wireless AirVOOC, and tops off the set with IP69 certification. It is a very serious technical basis for a phone that aspires to compete without complexes at the top. As we have been seeing from the beginning, the discourse of the Find X9 Ultra revolves again and again around photography. At this point, it is reasonable to look at the whole before going down to detail. And what the brand proposes is a rear system made up of four main cameras and a new True Color Camera, with which it aspires to cover everything from ultra-wide angle to long-distance optical zoom without giving up a clearly ambitious proposal. In this section there is one fact that immediately stands out: here we do not have a single 200 MP sensor, but two. The first occupies the 200 MP main camera, with 23 mm equivalent; The second appears in the 3x telephoto lens, also 200 MP and designed for portrait and distance. Added to this is a 50 MP ultra wide angle that reinforces the base of the set. And then there is the piece with which OPPO finishes stretching its proposal into unusual territory for a mobile phone. The Find X9 Ultra adds a 50 MP 10x optical telephoto lens, with a 230 mm equivalent focal length, and the brand also talks about optical quality up to 20xa figure that helps to understand how far he wants to push the scope of the set. Added to this block is a 300 mm teleconverter that reminds us of the strategy of Live with your X300 Ultra. Here’s an interesting fact: both Vivo and OPPO are part of the Chinese conglomerate BBK Electronics. The partnership with Hasselblad enters its fifth year and continues to take center stage in the product narrative, especially around Master Mode. There, one of the most striking messages they gave us was that there is no generative AI, “zero AI in Master Mode”, an idea designed for those looking for a more faithful image of what is in front of them. Added to this are options such as JPG Max and 16-bit RAW Max, clearly aimed at users who want more margin for work. The alliance with Hasselblad enters its fifth year and continues to occupy a central place in the product discourse. Although photography monopolizes almost all the focus, OPPO also wanted to extend this proposal in video and in the general user experience. The Find X9 Ultra promises 4K recording at 60 fps with Dolby Vision in all … Read more

It doesn’t cure anything and your business is diluted in Spain

by

The homeopathy has received a hard blow today from the Spanish health authorities, and more specifically the AEMPS itself, by pointing out in a devastating report that homeopathy has no effectiveness proven when it comes to treating different ailments, despite the fact that they promise something completely different. Something that can mean a great fall for a business that has invoiced millions of euros and all thanks to the scientific evidence that is increasingly clear regarding the null effects that these ‘treatments’ have. A lot of weight behind. The history of homeopathy in Spain has been written for years based on regulatory purges, but the latest Health analysis leaves no room for doubt. Based on 64 systematic reviews From scientific studies published since 2009, the national body has ruled that these products They provide no real benefitdifferent diseases such as, for example, depression, autoimmune diseases or even dermatological diseases. And as we see, it is not something new, since the scientific community has been warning for years that the supposed improvements reported by some patients with homeopathy are explained by three factors: the placebo effect, the evolution of the disease itself and the unreliability of the studies on which its operation was based. A tug of war. In fact, science tells us that, when clinical trials are carried out with great rigor and with the appropriate research methods, the difference between administering a homeopathic product and a simple sugar cube is statistically null. But the mental effect of taking a pill that promises an almost miraculous effect when it comes to curing an illness plays an important role in making us think that it really improves us. The real danger. A priori, taking a homeopathic product does not have too many dangers for the patient, since they do almost nothing in the body. But the problem is that the use of homeopathy encourages the abandonment or delay of medical treatments with proven evidence, such as, for example, an antidepressant in major depression. Failure to follow the most appropriate treatment has fatal consequences, especially if we are talking about serious diseases where time is a super important factor. Furthermore, the AEMPS and various medical reviews have documented very serious adverse effects due to this lack of real medical care, such as abortions or deaths. Although the most serious may be in the field of oncology, where the use of these alternative therapies such as seawater has been shown to directly increase the risk of mortality as patients reject conventional chemotherapy or radiotherapy. A free fall. Today, this market moves around 30 million euros annually in our country, representing 0.5% of total pharmaceutical sales. Here the great giant of the sector is Boiron, which controls 90% of the market and is seeing its empire falter, since, although its products are still present in thousands of pharmacies, sales they haven’t stopped fallinggoing from billing 20.6 million euros in 2016 to only 14.6 million in 2024. Recalls from the market. The purge in pharmacies has been relentless, since following EU directives that require efficiency tests to authorize medications, the AEMPS has already withdrawn 66 injectable products in 2019 and another 314 in 2024. But as of today the Ministry of Health has recalled more than 1,000 homeopathic products. The 976 that have managed to survive and remain registered have done so under a “simplified registry.” This is an ‘escape system’ in the law, since here they are considered harmless products, but they are strictly prohibited from including any therapeutic indication or promise of cure on their packaging. In this way, no homeopathic product can have the promise of curing a disease in Spain. In Xataka | Millions of Spaniards consume benzodiazepines to sleep at night. They don’t know it’s poisoned candy

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