Spain

How a decision in France and a connection in southern Spain caused the blackout

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Huenaja, a small Granada town of just 1,100 inhabitants and with more than 700 megawatts installed of solar energy, It was the zero zone of the blackout of April 28. In seven seconds, everything It was plunged into a total collapse. Now the expert committee of the European Network of Transmission Systems Operators (Entso-E) has identified Two questions. The investigation. For more than six weeks, this European agency has worked to find the causes of the blackout, apart from the Electricity of Spain and its Portuguese homologous, Ren. According to the reporthalf an hour before collapse, two episodes of power and frequency oscillations were recorded in the European continental network. The Iberian Peninsula, connected to the continent mainly through lines with France, began to lose synchronism. A new detail. The ETSO-E has pointed out that at 12:16 and 12:22, there was a change in interconnection with France: a system with dynamic control (hiking of direct current) was passed to a fixed export mode of 1,000 MW to the Gallic country. According to the experts consulted, this decision left the Spanish system without support for synchronous power, which reduced its margin of action before oscillations. As a piece of dominoes. Almost in parallel, Ree made an internal connection of lines in southern Spain, which, According to Entso-ewould have caused surge located in areas such as Huenaja (Granada), Valdecaballeros (Badajoz) and Don Rodrigo (Seville). Several electrical plants then activated their automatic protections, disconnecting to avoid damage. This further aggravated the tension in the network, triggering a chain reaction: generation falls, frequency loss and total disconnection of the Iberian system of the rest of Europe. Was any system activated? System defense plans, automatic mechanisms designed to stop these processes, were activated, according to has confirmed The report. However, they were not able to contain the fall due to the speed and intensity of the event. At 12:18:47, the interconnection lines between Spain and France were disconnected by protection against the loss of synchronism. At that moment, the peninsula was isolated and collapsed completely. A major debate. This crisis has uncovered a great conflict at the technical and political level, while responsibilities They pass like a hot potato. The debate is intensified around the backup systems and the penetration of renewable energy. On the one hand, nuclear plants They were criticized For disconnecting, but three were in scheduled stop, and the others operated normally until the system collapsed, activating protection protocols. On the other hand, the lack of inertia of the system has been stated again. Not synchronous renewable energies, such as solar and wind, They do not contribute inertia to the electrical systemwhich makes it difficult to stop sudden frequency falls. However, blaming renewables would be to simplify excessively. However, the technical report is clear: it was not exclusive fault of renewables, but a systemic failure, aggravated by operational decisions and structural limitations such as low international interconnection. An interconnection problem. The blackout has evidence They have demanded France that is committed to concrete deadlines and binding actions to advance in electrical interconnection corridors. What comes now. The Entso-E expert panel continues their research and have created A web page for this. Now they will meet on June 23 and will be delivered to the European Commission. Meanwhile, the event leaves an awkward lesson: in an increasingly renewable and decentralized electrical system, technical coordination, The operational resilience and cross -border planning They are more crucial than ever. Image | Unspash Xataka | Spain and Portugal are tired of promises: they ask France to leave the electric alley

Someone has calculated which EU countries lose more money due to the falsification of wines and spirits. Bad news, Spain

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Spain is Wine landsparkling, beers, ciderliquors … and falsifications. This is revealed at least The last balance of the EU Intellectual Property Office (Euipo), which has launched a notice to navigators: fraudulent copies are hitting the alcohol industry, subtracting billions of euros in sales, destroying thousands of jobs and depriving public coffers of large income via taxes. And the one who is spending it worse is Spain. Here the wineries and companies that lose more money are located. The bottle, the most affected. When we talk about falsifications, the mind usually goes to luxury articlesgarments, wallets and bags of large brands, watches or exclusive jewels. The shadow of pirate copies is however elongated and extends to many other merchandise, including food. Moreover, the Euipo assures that in 2020 the falsifications of food were among the most common found at the EU borders. And by “food” not only refers to Iberian sausages. In the list there are also cookies, pasta, potatoes or sweets. If there is a sector that is suffering alarmingly the mazazo of the copies is nevertheless that of wine and spirits. “It was one of the most affected during the 2013-2017 period”, Clarifies the organism Before sliding a couple of figures. “It is estimated that 2,289 million euros were lost in sales and almost 5,700 jobs were destroyed a year in the EU due to falsifications in this sector.” In tax only 2,068 million euros vanished. Spain, in the focus. The sector does not happen as evil throughout the EU. Euipo estimates for example that the Portuguese industry falsified some 33 million of euros in sales and just over 200 jobs every year. In Austria, illicit copies subtract the winemakers and other professionals in the sector near 28 million of euros and in Greece that invoice amounts to 49 million. The blow is more severe in Germany, with losses of 279 million of euros, Italy (302 millionor France, where that hole amounts to 316 million of euros. They are high figures, but not as much as those suffered by Spain, one of the world’s great wine powers with Italy or France. He warns Euipo clearly, which launches a warning: “Spain is the first EU country in direct economic loss in this sector, with 380 million in sales not made by falsifications.” The Spanish sector is also one of the ones that loses the most for that cause: more than 1,100 positions per year, a fact that only exceeds France. Old problem, new challenges. The falsifications of wines and spirits are no novelty, but the authorities continue to encounter new challenges. The EUIPO notes that the rise of online trade “has opened new roads” for the sale of copies and makes customers “increasingly difficult” when distinguishing between an authentic and a falsified article, a problem that does not only affect the industry of alcoholic beverages. “Criminal networks manipulate labels, containers and even alter the manufacturing processes, focusing on value products,” duck The organism. In the specific case of alcohol, what experts do perceive is that counterfeiters are resorting to “sophisticated methods” to mock controls, which includes from the reuse of original bottles to the impression of false labels. Two countries: China and Türkiye. Community authorities have not only detected the most punished nations (at an economic and employment level) for falsifications. The report From Euipo does something else: pointing out the countries of origin that are most frequently related to food and drink falsifications. And there are two that stand out if we focus on the pirate copies that were seized between 2019 and 2020 on the EU borders: China and Türkiye. As a conclusion, the text slides another equally important idea. Falses are not a problem just because of the damage they cause to the sector or their ability to destroy employment. The Euipo adds another more important handicap: public health. “Recent reports alert about the risks of these consumer health products,” warns Before remembering that food and drink has been detected with “dangerous substances”, such as methanol, mercury or pesticides. Images | Kelsey Chance (UNSPLASH) and Zachariah Hagy (UNSPLASH) In Xataka | If the question is what is the future of wine, more and more Bordeaux wineries are clear: the without alcohol

Frankish calls are so problematic in Spain that even national banks have moved token. ING has been the first

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Spain has a problem with fraudulent so -called. From those that They get through companies like indeed to offer us alleged jobs to incessant calls for commercial purposes. Such is the focus that is put in Spain with spam and scam, that the Government has had to move cardforcing these to have to be done with prefix numbers 900 and 800, prohibiting conventional 600 and 700. If this measure will be sufficient or not to determine the time. At the moment, the situation is at the point that even Spanish banking has begun to move card. Who calls me? Is the name of The tool that has launched ING Direct in Spain. To use it, you have to access its application (it is focused for customers of it and not as an open service), and enter the corresponding aid section – who calls me, the phone number we believe suspicious. Ing will match whether or not the number corresponds to one of its agents, showing you at the time if it should be reported by fraud attempt or if you can save that number as an official contact. It is important to note that this security measure only serves the numbers that ING has registered. Other SCAM attempts cannot be detected from here. It is not the first attempt. Monzoa British digital bank implemented a different measure, but also focused on fraudulent so -called. If during a call we acceded to the bank’s app, it showed us a message indicating that it was not they who were calling us. A quite effective way to avoid making any transaction if someone gets through an agent. For the bad luck of the Spaniards, There is no Spanish bank who is doing something similar. Why is government measures not enough. The measures materialized by the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Function are an important first step, but not a universal solution. No one prevents scammers and unregistered companies for calling for fraudulent purposes from conventional numbers, through Sim Swapping o Use of disposable Sim cards. According to the Ministry, since the Government took the initiative to end the so -called fraudulent, 14 million fraudulent calls have been blocked in Spain, since operators have the obligation to block numbers that do not correspond to any user or service. What is being done. Google has been betting on anti spam functions for years and anti -arud in your phone app. This, automatically block the calls thatprior analysis by AI, may have indications of fraud. He does the same with messages, warning us when the sender is suspicious. On the side of iOS, the wwdc 25 was the great moment for iOS 26 Begin to try to compete until now basic on Android. One of them is that of incoming calls from unknown numbers (anyone, there is no analysis of fraudulent behaviors). From this version, the user can choose that they all leakes so that the interlocutor is obliged to explain who he is and why he calls. It is killing gunflowsbut an aggressive and powerful filter. It is not the only open front. Fraudulent calls are not the only method of popular attack. SMS are another entrance door to scams And, although Google’s app blocks some, They are still a deception of the most common. There are no magical solutions. Spam and SCAM have it more difficult than ever, but the rear doors are inevitable. As we always recommend in Xataka, the sender, URL to which he directs the message, and never give personal data by phone, should be proven more than once. Image | ING In Xataka | Spain pays less than ever in cash and yet there are more and more tickets circulating. We have a suspect

Telefónica wants to be the leader of telecommunications in Spain. The fastest way to get it is to buy Vodafone

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We listen to it almost 20 years ago: Telefónica is interested in buying Vodafone. A rumor that acquires more and more strength and to which a last minute news points: Telefónica has hired Az Capital servicesa movement that paves the way to one of the most important possible acquisitions in its history. Why is it important. Az Capital is a Spanish independent investment bank, with a high degree of specialization in mergers and business acquisitions. That telephone hires its services is not something trivial: it is a not very silent statement that The horizon is basting For a complex operation. This public movement is not a direct translation on the purchase of Vodafone. It is a rumor not yet confirmed that it acquires strength after the movement and that continues to draw the one that looks like the inevitable destiny of a path that Telefónica has been willing to travel: that of mergers. Vodafone’s complex situation. Despite being the third Spanish operator, Vodafone Spain’s financial situation is critical. The company It has been dragging falls in income for more than four yearsand Zegona’s possession It was translated into almost 1,200 layoffs in Spain. 2024 started with THE GOVERNMENT GIVING GREEN LIGHT to the purchase of the Spanish subsidiary of Vodafone by the British Fund Zegona, a purchase that closed for an amount of 5,000 million euros after being able to get THE BRUSTELAS CONTAMB and the approval of the CNMC. Downward customers. It is no secret, Vodafone is losing mobile lines After the rise of operators as Digi. It is the one that falls the most in the annual accumulated, and the fusion of emerging as one of the few possible scenarios to restructure an increasingly fragmented and competed Spanish market. THE DOORS TO THE FUSION. The new Murtra Telefónica wants to be a leader in the European telecommunications market, and has not hidden when raising national and cross -border mergers to Europe. Vodafone and Digi are two of their potential objectives, without fixing the look in OMVs with less position in the Spanish telecommunications market. Murtra’s statements About his interest in local mergers came to shoot Zegona’s actions in 18% more than two weeks. A market reaction that makes clear the interest of investors to a possible acquisition. The telephone scenario + Vodafone. An acquisition of Vodafone by Telefónica would result in the main objective of the giant led by Murtra: The dominant market share operator. In combined, both would exceed 45% of the market. The acquisition would be subject to small print. Spain and Vodafone have a joint share of more than 80% in the B2B business, a dominant position that neither the CNMC nor Brussels would see with good eyes. I would touch the monopoly. Summer of 2026. The main Spanish unions give the operation by closedwaiting for an absorption of 3,000 workers by telephone. The most popular date is summer of 2026, something that neither Telefónica nor Vodafone wanted to answer. The new Murtra Telefónica progress, but don’t take off. Is going up in income and increasing margin, but Operators like Digi manage to capture all eyes And they aspire to conquer a Spanish Top 3 that, until now, seemed inaccessible to anyone beyond Massage, Telefónica and Vodafone. The merger is a perfect plan as a retaining wall in this advance, and its only possible way to compete the throne with a massage that exceeds 40% market share. Image | Telefónica, Vodafone In Xataka | Digi premieres rates with incredibly cheap unlimited data: so you can hire them from 6 euros

Spain and Portugal demand connection to a Europe that still isolates them

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From the blackout of April 28 that affected the entire Iberian Peninsulatechnical and political meetings have occurred to analyze what happened and seek solutions. Until now, the facts are still not clarified and there is no firm commitment, but the latter seems to change. An Iberian call. Spain and Portugal have sent a petition to France to commit to concrete deadlines and binding actions to advance electrical interconnection corridors. In the letter signed by ministers Sara Aagesen and Maria Da Graça Carvalho, seeks to end a situation that qualify as a systemic vulnerability for European energy security, according to has had EuropePress access. A very concrete problem. Although progress has been made in renewable energies, the Iberian Peninsula remains An “Energy Island”with a level of interconnection of just 3%. The problem that has a Iberian Peninsula is the impossibility of sharing energy with Europe when it is left over or when it is missing. This weakens the resilience of the system, makes prices more expensive for reinforcement systems, and forces more polluting sources in moments of shortage. A political gap. While one day after the incident, France claimed to be “better protected than Spain” against generalized blackouts, evidenced the clear distance in terms of shared responsibility According to EFE. At this point a structural problem of the European Union was evidenced, that is, attempts are made to boost projects with European framework for joint network, but national decisions are allowed that slow down or block strategic projects. The clearest example is that France has excluded from its 2025-2035 Electrical Development Plan Two key projects For the Iberian Peninsula, the Aragon -Pyrineos Interconnections and Navarra – Los Landas, as both ministers and has collected Montelnews. It is deeper. Spain has shown that it can reach 100% renewable generation peaks. In some moments, supply exceeds domestic demand. But when he can’t export that surplus neither Storing it efficiently, becomes a problem. The most recent example: The negative prices of lightwhich reflect a saturated system that cannot take advantage of all the clean energy it produces. This phenomenon not only represents a market distortion, but also a wasted opportunity. If there were sufficient interconnections, Spain could become a European energy hub, exporting clean energy to countries more dependent on gas or coal. I could also boost your rEindustrialization, attracting electrointensive industries thanks to cheaper and sustainable electricity. But without a truly integrated European network, the peninsula is trapped in a paradox: it produces a lot of clean energy that cannot use well. The investigation is still ongoing. Not only in Spain and Portugal They are investigating the reasonsthe European Network of Electricity Transmission Systems Operators (ENTSO-E) continues to investigate the blackout. His experts are analyzing what failed in the cross -border coordination and why the defense mechanisms did not avoid the cascade of the system. The conclusions of this report will be key to understanding what happened and strengthening the pressure on France and the EU to accelerate the interconnections. Time is a valuable resource. Spain and Portugal not only demand energy justice, but European coherence. Interconnections cannot continue to be postponed promises. The blackout of April 28 was a warning, and the answer cannot be immobility. If the European Union wants a true union of energy, it must begin by ensuring that no Member State remains an energy island in 2025. Image | Pxhere Xataka | A month after the blackout in Spain, we continue to drag the same problem that led us to him: electric networks

China is stopping money and is starting to charge it. They are not good news for Spain

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The golden age of Chinese financing is over. Beijing no longer gives money to build ports and railroads, now it is demanding payment of what it lent at the time. Why is it important. China has lent more than 800,000 million dollars to 150 countries since 2013 With its initiative of the ‘Silk route‘. Today, 60% of that portfolio is in the hands of technical bankruptcy or on the edge of the financial collapse. The facts. The money that countries must return to China every year already exceed the “new” money that China lends. It is the end of the expansive model of the last decade: the country is going from being a generous lender to becoming a relentless creditor. The strategy. China has divided its debtors into two categories, and each group applies a radically different treatment: Large countries with huge debts (80% of the portfolio): They receive bailouts, bridge loans and special facilities. Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Argentina, Angola … Small countries with minor debts (Remaining 20%): Only payment extensions. Zero money new. Zambia, Ghana, Mongolia, Tayikistan, Republic of Congo … Of course, the treatment that the first group receives has nothing to do with generosity but with self -preservation. China is rescuing those who, to break, could make their state banks sink. The rest are abandoned to their fate. The context. The crisis began soon. Specifically in 2015, two years after starting this strategy, when the prices of some raw materials collapsed. Covid accelerated the problems, as well as the war in Ukraine. The rise in interest rates at a global level It was the lace. The money trail. China is replicating the Western Banks Manual of the 1980s and nineties, when Wall Street and the City massively lent petrodollars after the oil crises of the seventies. When the eighties debt crisis arrived, they went from financing development to demand structural adjustment programs. The same banks that had pushed indebtedness became the toughest creditors. China is in that transition: of “Strategic Development Partner” to creditor which prioritizes their banking balances on the stability of debtor countries. It is the market, friend. Deepen. For Spain, the change has three impact vectors: The big construction and Spanish engineering (ACS, Actiona, Sacyr) lose access to megaprojects financed by Chinese banks, especially in Infrastructure in Africa and Asia. Direct Chinese investment in Spain will be more selective: less strategic purchases and more demand for immediate profitability in sectors such as energy and technology. Financial instability in African and Latin American countries where Spanish companies (Telefónica, Iberdrola, Repsol) operate increases political and exchange risk, complicating its operations in markets that depended on Chinese financial oxygen. In summary. China has completed its emerging power metamorphosis to established power, and its financial policy reflects it. The Silk Route was the last great expansive project of a country that sought global influence buying loyalty with cheap money. Now that it has that influence, it acts like any mature creditor: charging. It is the end of an era and the beginning of a more predictable global financial order, but also more ruthless. In Xataka | China wants to dominate world trade and has a plan in progress: bring the sea to its interior cities Outstanding image | F Erickin in Unspash

The price of negative light is a problem. It is also the biggest opportunity to reindustrialize Spain in decades

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See the wholesale price of light to zero euros or even negative has ceased to be an anecdote for become a daily phenomenon In Spain. Symptom that renewables dominate the energy mix, is a growing obstacle to the profitability of electricity, but is still cheap energy. And as such, it is the best opportunity to reindustrialize Spain in a long time. Why it happens. “Zero or negative prices are a symptom of abundance of renewable resources to generate electricity,” analyst Pedro Cantuel, who works in Ignis’s energy management, explains to Xataka. In the central hours of the day, when photovoltaic production is massive, renewables flood the network with a practically null marginal cost, which collapses prices in the wholesale market. The time to reindustrialize. The abundance of cheap energy puts Spain in a competitive advantage position against its European neighbors. If Spain can offer clean energy to a very low cost, it becomes a magnet for industries that devour electricity, such as data centers, metallurgy or new green chemical industry. “In the European context, I think this can happen, since Spain could offer more competitive electricity than some of its neighbors,” explains Sergio Fernández Munguía, engineer of the renewable sector and author of Windletter. “In a global context, industrial electricity in Spain is still expensive because the invoice includes many other items beyond the cost of electricity.” Who has to adapt to who. The industrial model of the twentieth century was based on a premise: the energy was available 24/7 at a more or less stable cost. The renewables have broken this scheme: their production is intermittent. The traditional solution is to store that energy with batteries or pumping centrals, but the high cost of these facilities has dragged their deployment. Fernando Rodríguez, an industrial engineer of the energy sector, believes that the true revolution is not only to attract the usual industries, but to create those of tomorrow. The solution, according to Rodríguez, is that the industry adapts to energy until there is economic storage, and not vice versa: “The industry of the future will have to work with greater inventories, as was the case before the imposition of the imposition of the Just in time“ Flexible and modular manufacturing. The idea is to design industrial processes that can operate in full load when energy is almost free and reduce its activity or stop when it is expensive, without losing efficiency. It is already happening in adaptable industries such as recycling, large -scale 3D printing or desalination, which can program their consumption peaks for maximum solar generation hours. Concrete cases? In the United States, the Alcoa Warrick aluminum giant already adjusts its production to the available renewable generation. In Germany, the School of Engineers of Munich and Linde have designed an ammonia plant that works both 100% and 10% of its capacity, adapting to the production of Hydrogen Grandolytic. The industry will be where renewables are. Rodríguez believes that an industrial relocation will be necessary, and gives as an example the failure of the German “electric highways, a project to carry wind energy from the north to the industrial south that will end up costing more than 140,000 million euros. “Industrial companies must relocate near the new centers of gravity of electric production,” he explains. In Spain, this means taking factories to areas with more sun and wind, creating development poles in places that until now were not industrial foci. If energy is free, who will build the central? The cheap energy avalanche has an inevitable counterpart that puts the entire system at risk. If prices are zero, producers’ income are also. “Negative or zero prices discourage new investments,” confirms Sergio Fernández. “Especially in photovoltaic, those who are making numbers for new plants will see that their expected income in the market is lower than a few years ago and, therefore, also their profitability.” A nipe castle. This problem not only affects future renewable plants, but also the support that guarantees that we have light when there is no sun or wind: combined gas cycles. “As the price of the wholesale market falls,” says Fernando Rodríguez, “the growing opportunity cost will leave investments to generation, transport, distribution and marketing without investors and without financing.” The long -term danger is evident: a total break in the investment that leads us to an obsolete and unable to meet future demand. Without a robust system, there is no possible competitive economy. To take advantage of the industrial opportunity, Spain has to strengthen its nipe castle, and it is not enough to touch the prices artificially. The attack plan. The first bottleneck is the electricity bill. Although energy in the wholesale market is cheap, the invoice is still expensive. For Pedro Cantuel, the solution goes through a “drastic reduction in the final invoice eliminating taxes, bringing system charges to the general state budgets and reduce regulated costs.” The second problem is oversupply. How is demand increased? Cantuel proposes to “encourage electrification to replace the consumption of winter gas with electricity.” And at an industrial level, support great consumers “with the same mechanisms that our German or French competitors have, facilitating the connection of new demand to the network. Spain before its historical opportunity. A turning point that can allow the country to reindustrialize sustainably and become an energy power in Europe. But time runs, and it is essential to “create a national long -term plan that provides stability and certainty to the sector,” claims Cantuel, who defines as a priority “set clear rules for storage and new vectors, such as hydrogen.” The relationship between electric and the government is enquisted by the 7% tax on the generation. Consumers complain that the distribution toll “far exceeds real network costs.” Defining the rules of a competitive New Spain requires a country plan that puts all interested parties to row in the same direction. Without an ambitious and coordinated plan, today’s abundance could become the precariousness of tomorrow. In Xataka | The light price is … Read more

Garlic is mired in a deep crisis in Spain. And that is bad news for a particular place: Cuenca

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Spain occupies An important place In the world macker of garlic, but that does not mean that the farmers of Castilla-La Mancha or Andalusia who are dedicated to growing it are easy. The garlic It crosses turbulence. The sector warns of the difficulties that are to combat pests, the effects of drought, the “excessive bureaucracy” or the lack of generational relief, among other stalking challenges. A complicated panorama that is seen with special attention from the province of Cuenca, where the Purple Garlic from Las Pedroñeras. After all, garlic is much more than a vegetable that fluctuates in the market: The sector claims which is a crop that helps to “pour” the emptied Spain. “In crisis”. He newly named President of the National Garlic Bureau, José Carlos Patiño, is clear: they do not run good times for his business. In An interview With eldiario.es the agriculture Manchego, the new visible face of the Aheros, warned that the sector “is suffering a” aggravated crisis, among other factors, by the water scarcitythe reduction of hectares of crop, the lack of generational relief and a bureaucracy that they consider “excessive.” It is nothing new. His predecessor, Julio Bacete I already used The same word to describe the situation that farmers dedicated to garlic culture face: “crisis.” A year ago, during A talk with Xatakahe admitted that the sector was going through “complicated moments”, a trend that is visible mainly in the loss of hectares dedicated to plantations. Why’s that? For a sum of factors. Although not all weigh the same. When explaining the situation, farmers usually point out above all loss of resources To fight pests. They ensure that their arsenal has been trimmed by regulations, which subtracts tools to protect crops … and their investments. “It’s not about talking badly about the 2030 Agenda or the Green Pact, but the reduction we carry in phytosanitary is affecting us a lot. There are diseases, pests, fungi that we cannot control,” warns Patiño. “We have a very large decrease. There is a lack of performance, simply in the seed itself. In nascence there are plots that have a decrease of 30% damage. In the end, that is kilos of garlic,” Comment the representative of the sector. He is not the only one who thinks like that. The president of the National Association of Garlic Producers and Marketers (ANPCA), Fernando Rubio, He shared recently A similar message with The confidential: “Pests begin to be resistant because we have very little variety of active matter that we can use.” Pest question … And something else. Although the shortage of resources to treat pests and fungi is usually one of the most cited handicaps by farmers is not the only one that explains the “crisis” that faces garlic. The guild indicates other serious ones, both structural and short -term: water shortage, specialized professionals and generational relief, “Excess bureaucracy”loss of hectares, the cost of land lease, low visibility in the domestic market or even the effect of imports and The tariffs by Donald Trump. The sector has been dealing with China’s competition for some time, Great world exporter of garlic and that stands out especially for its prices. With that backdrop, In the guild worries now what The tariff war and the imposition of levies to Chinese trade in the US ends up leading Asian farmers to redirect their merchandise towards other destinations, complicating exports to Spain. It is not the only conjunctural challenge with which the sector has dealt with, which in recent years has had to see them with The increase of The energy either Fertilizers. Hectares. The transformation of the sector can also be measured in figures. For example, that of the cultivated area. The data does not always coincide, but show a clear loss of soil: The report presented a year ago by the National Garlic Table to the Mixed Fruit and Vegetable Committee notes that it has passed from 29,826 hectares in 2021 to a provision of 21,000. Other sources They point out that it has dropped from 24,900 h in 2023 to something less than 23,000 In the 2024 season. The descent would be even more accent in Some regions. “Much investment”. “Putting one hectare of garlic carries a lot warns Patiño at eldiario.es. Less land does not always have less crops. Some data They point to the high weight of garlic Springvariety that stands out for its rhythm of production and performance, and a loss of land of purple garlic. As for prices, the manager wait Good values, above last year. The ministry indicates that the 100 kg of dry garlic are in 125 euros. Garlic (and something else). Not everyone lives the same turbulence that the vegetable is going through. After all, as He noticed recently Rubio, garlic plays a key role as a job generator in part of emptied Spain. “The cultivation is going to be lost to many villages of rural Spain, the reason for about 60 wages per hectare,” duck The President of ANPCA. In that context, there is a variety of culture to which Pay attention The sector: purple garlic. In a basin place … “In purple garlic it is a very serious problem. It is in danger and production can be left,” Patiño points out to The confidential. The reason is simple: to the rest of the challenges that the Ajero collective is going through, the purple variety adds the lack of visibility in the stores. Although the purple garlic of Las Pedroñeras It has one Protected Geographic Indicationthe sector regrets its lack of dissemination in a market in which the client values ​​the cost. Looking at the Canary Islands banana. “It does not happen with the banana, which differs much from the banana. Here the qualities are not compared to, but there is no culture to seek the garlic of the Pedroñeras in the super” s, Rubio reflects. To this lack of recognition is added the performance of the variety, less than that … Read more

A month after the blackout in Spain, we continue to drag the same problem that led us to him: electric networks

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The energy transition progresses strongly, but does so on a fragile base. According to the International Energy Agency, In your latest reportthis year 3.3 billion dollars in energy will be invested and only 12% will go to the networks. The imbalance is evident. And also worrying. A worrying imbalance. According to the IEAfor every dollar destined to produce electricity, just 40 cents are invested in transport networks. There are even more, the transformers can take up to four years to be available. To that is added a worrying increase. Since 2018, the prices of cables and transformers have doubled, making the expansion of infrastructure that support the system even more difficult and expensive. Is there a risk of blackout? The IEA has made it clear: “Entrepreneurship safety requires a rapid increase in networks.” A warning that resonates strongly on the Iberian Peninsula, which the report mentions as a case study after The April 2025 blackout. As for the blackout, and even without definitive official causes, everything indicates that it was not caused solely by the low inertia of the system, as initially suggested, but by a chain of chained technical failures. However, what this incident illustrates a structural problem: Investment in infrastructure and support technologies, such as MicroRedes either storage. Without a reinforced and prepared network to manage an increasingly complex electrical system, you can suffer interruptions. A bottleneck. There is even more, because a human capital challenge is added to investment problems. IEA has estimated that by 2030 there will be a deficit of 1.5 million workers qualified in electrical networks. This shortage affects key tasks such as the installation of transformers, digital systems or advanced control. In addition, planning and permits are slow processes. Networks require more than cables: they need intelligence, distributed control and resilience against failures. Are there solutions on the horizon? IEA has proposed Two clear lines: on the one hand, long -term network plans (minimum 10 years) such as those already applied India, Brazil or South Africa; And on the other, bet on digitalizationwhich already represents 25% of the global investment in electrical networks. The urgency of reinforcement. The final warning of the report does not leave interpretations: “Without action, the electrical networks will be the bottleneck of the energy transition” without a modern, robust and prepared network to manage variable clean energy, the green transition will not only be inefficient: it can become insecure. Renewable growth cannot be sustained on infrastructure of the twentieth century. So here a fairly clear question underlies: are we reinforcing our electrical networks with the same ambition with which we install renewables, or are we building on unstable terrain? Image | Miguel Á. Padriñán Xataka | In Elche a solar macroproject threatens a protected place. It is only the tip of the iceberg of a problem throughout Spain

His strategy in Europe and Spain speaks directly to governments

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As artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the digital world, so do those who seek to take advantage of it for malicious purposes. Europe, According to MicrosoftIt is low Increasing pressure of attacks Orchestrated by state actors and criminal gangs that no longer operate alone: ​​they rely on AI tools to improve their tactics. Given this new reality, the company has launched a cybersecurity program without cost to European governments, with a clear objective: reinforce the defenses of the continent. The radiography offered by the Redmond giant about the situation in the old continent is clear: the number of attacks does not cease to increase and its complexity as well. The most frequent threats come from groups linked to governments such as those of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, with objectives ranging from the theft of credentials and infiltration in corporate networks to the manipulation of public opinion through digital disinformation. Click to see the message in x According to the company, many of these actors have incorporated AI techniques to refine their campaigns: from automated vulnerabilities recognition to the creation of false content with Deepfakes. In parallel, criminal gangs also evolve. The appearance of platforms of ‘Ransomware as a service‘And forums with instructions to operate complex attacks has democratized access to dangerous tools, amplifying the risk throughout the continent. Microsoft’s proposal: a European cybersecurity program, free and based on AI In response, Microsoft has launched the European Security Programan initiative that offers without cost to all European governments, including the 27 EU member states, the countries in the process of adhesion, the United Kingdom, Monaco, the Vatican and the members of the EFTA. It is not clear how many countries have decided to join at the time of publishing this article, but the company states that the objective is to strengthen cyber -defense from three fronts: Share intelligence on threats based on AI with governments, adjusted to each country and, when possible, in real time. Increase investment in capacity and resilience, including training, technological development and support for NGOs. Expand alliances with police and operators to interrupt criminal networks and cyber attacks before they climb. According to official information, the initiative implies the delivery of personalized intelligence to each country, the expansion of access to the Cybercrime Threat Intelligence Program and frequent updates on foreign influence operations. Priority communication is also included on Vulnerabilities detected and technical orientation to mitigate them. Each participating government will have a direct interlocutor in Microsoft to expedite coordination. In addition, the company details that collaborates with Europol in its European Cybercrime Center in The Hague. Also, in the technological level, there are also concrete actions. Microsoft has launched a fund to protect strategic Open Source projects (such as Log4j) and develop advanced security tools with the British laboratory Lasr. The rise of agents of ia also worries outside Microsoft The use of artificial intelligence in the field of cybersecurity not only worries Microsoft. Several researchers and signatures in the sector, such as Trend Micro or Malwarebytes, warn of an emerging stage in which Autonomous ia agents They could become especially effective attack tools. Although today a wave of cyber attacks fully executed by agents have been detected, some laboratories have already begun to identify their first real incursions. Palisade Research team, for example, has built a honeypot specifically designed to detect AI agents activity. And they have achieved it: they have registered millions of access attempts and have confirmed the presence of at least two agents. Image: Microsoft It is not just attacks aimed at governments or infrastructure. According to a study published in Harvard Business Review By researchers from Harvard, MIT and the World Economic Forum, the generative AI is also transforming mass attacks like him Phishing. And it does it by reducing its cost more than 95 % and maintaining its success rate. Experts point out that language models such as GPT-4 They allow completely automating the phishing cycle, from the choice of objectives to the writing of convincing emails. In their experiments, 60 % of users fell into traps generated by AI, a percentage comparable to that of messages created by human experts. This perspective fits with the reading made by Microsoft about the role of AI in current threats, but also reveals that concern is shared by researchers, academics and actors in the sector who are developing specific detection systems to prevent these agents from going unnoticed. Europe is already taking action The launch of this program does not happen in a vacuum. The European Union has been strengthening its response from digital threats, with initiatives that seek to raise the level of protection both in public administrations and in the private sector. In turn, many countries are implementing their own plans to shield themselves. Spain, for example, has become one of the great objectives of cybercrime: it is the second most attacked country in the world, According to Secure & It. In this context, the government is promoting a millionaire investment To create a “digital shield” that reinforces the country’s defenses. We need to see what role the European Security Program of Microsoft will play within this panorama. At the moment, it is a voluntary, but ambitious initiative. Cover image | Lukas s + Freepik With Photoshop In Xataka | Goal has been spying on everything we did when navigating android mobiles. Neither the incognite mode nor erase cookies avoided it

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