Spanish

Saudi Arabia has insisted on connecting its two seas by train. And to achieve this it has been placed in the hands of a Spanish company

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Saudi Arabia has launched one of the most ambitious railway projects in the Middle East: the “Landbridge” or “Land Bridge”, a $7 billion high-speed network that will connect the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. The infrastructure will link Jeddah to Dammam via Riyadh, covering nearly 1,500 kilometers with the aim of completely transforming transport and commerce in the Arabian Peninsula. A strategic corridor for goods and passengers. The project will reduce travel time between Riyadh and Jeddah from around 12 hours by car to less than 4 hours by train. But the goal is for the project to go beyond just transporting passengers, as it is also designed to turn the kingdom into a key logistics hub in the region, connecting large industrial ports such as King Abdullah Port and Yanbu with urban centers and airports. According to Saudi authoritiesthe Landbridge could generate savings of $4.2 billion annually in transportation costs and create up to 200,000 jobs in related sectors. Vision 2030. This megaproject is a centerpiece of Vision 2030the strategic plan with which Saudi Arabia seeks to diversify its economy and reduce its dependence on oil. The Saudi Railways (SAR) company intends to expand the country’s railway network from the current 5,300 kilometers up to more than 8,000. As part of this modernization, SAR has ordered 15 new trains capable of reaching speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and even hydrogen-powered models. Spanish participation in the project. The Landbridge is being developed by the Saudi China Landbridge Consortium, a partnership between Saudi Arabia Railways and China Civil Engineering Construction Company, with local support from Al-Ayuni Contracting. Between the international companies involved The Spanish company Sener stands out, which was selected in December 2023 along with Hill International (USA) and Italferr (Italy) to provide project management services. Firms such as Systra, Thales, WSP and other specialized consulting firms also participate. A project with a long history and new Chinese momentum. Although the Landbridge It was initially announced in 2004 and paused in 2010, gained new momentum after the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2022, when both countries committed to accelerate its execution. Chinese investment in Saudi Arabia has grown significantly: in 2024, the stock of direct investment reached 8.2 billion dollarsup 29% from 2023. China has become the largest source of greenfield investment in the kingdom, with commitments worth $16.8 billion in energy, manufacturing and logistics. Railway enthusiasm. Only in the second quarter of 2025, more than 2.6 million passengers They used Saudi trains, according to Okaz media. After the completion of the Landbridge, Saudi Arabia will have made a qualitative leap in its railway network and logistics capacity, so it remains to be seen how the process ends up developing and if it really ends up being a ‘miracle of the desert’. Cover image | Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa), Railway Supply In Xataka | In 2018 it was a countryside on the outskirts of Chongqing. In 2025 it will be the largest train station in the world

more and more Spanish artists look to the Catholic

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We cannot fully analyze the religious implications of an album that hasn’t been released yet. But we can put an unanswerable question on the table: aesthetically, and quite possibly also thematically, Rosalía has taken a turn towards Catholic iconography. It is an element to which she is not at all alien from previous works, but ‘Lux’ seems to have a deeper impact on it. Let’s see what it can mean and, above all, why it is not so much a whim of the artist or a marketing maneuver as swimming in a current that is very favorable at the moment: the modern and youthful vindication of the majority faith in Spain. Rosalía the pious. Little by little, Rosalía is slipping elements of Catholic iconography into this new album beyond the enigmatic title, also with a clear spiritual component. We have seen it biting a rosary in the presence of an orchestra that was playing, perhaps, his famous score ‘Berhghain’. On the cover of the album she appears with a kind of white elastic habit, like that of the Cistercians or the Dominicans, but with her arms under the cloth (something that does not point to a straitjacket, as has been said, but to the tendency of the 19th century veiled sculptures). That’s it, although fans are already finding parallels in the most diverse places. Well, almost everything: in the CD cookie we can find a reference to the philosopher and activist Simone Weilthe quote “Love is not comfort, it is light.” Weil’s spiritual aspect constitutes the core of his existential thought, characterized by a ceaseless search for truth, universal compassion and union with the divine outside of religious dogmas. For her, work, suffering and attention constituted forms of prayer and knowledge of God. But that’s not all. At the moment, Rosalía is being accused of using religion as an advertising tool, but the truth is that Catholic iconography has always made small appearances in the visual section of her creations. His debut ‘Los Angeles’aside from the title, was full of references to religious rituals surrounding death. ‘The evil will‘ It was a thematic work that abounded in liturgical references, and had on the cover the image of Rosalía characterized as a Catholic Virgin. There are constant references to religion in choruses, psalms or prayers in the lyrics, versions of classics of sacred poetry such as the ‘Although it’s night‘ based on Saint John of the Cross and visual nods such as the famous Nazarene on a scooter from the video clip of ‘Badly‘. And observers like the journalist Carlos Primo have seen more: for example, his collaboration with Bernat Vivancos for his appearance at the Goya ceremony covering Los Chunguitos with a choir. Vivancos has not only directed the liturgical choir of the Escolanía de Montserrat, but also released an album, ‘Blanc’, with sacred content. ​ It’s not the first. Whether it is an aesthetic or marketing maneuver or comes from a genuine personal feeling (of course, in the first interviews is giving everything in terms of spiritual dedication), it is not the first (as Noel Ceballos said, every pop artist is destined for a Catholic Era). There are those who even look back to the eighties and to Madonna, who with her ‘Like a Prayer’ stirred up Catholics from half the worldalthough the religious themes in his album came from both a personal conviction and a calculated turn in his career to move away from a frivolous image. Lady Gaga also carried out a similar transformation in recent yearsalthough here it was more due to experimentation with the religious aesthetics. There is criticism. Some of the most visceral criticism it is receiving in this regard comes from content creators with progressive ideology. like skinnybangbangwhich relate nun habits to a conservative wave that has also reached pop artists. This is a turn that had already been noted when Rosalía left behind the overproduction of kilometric eyelashes and shrimp nails and hugged the nuncoreaesthetic neopuritanism and the voluntary celibacyas he has stated in recent interviews. A turn that journalists like Noemí López Trujillo They have been read more as an approach to mainstream schools of thought that criticize artists like Sabrina Carpenter for being excessively brazen and promiscuous. This is the youth of the Pope. That is to say, Rosalía is part of a current trend of interest in the Catholic faith as a narrative and symbolic background. It is not so much a devotional return as an artistic and emotional approach to the religious experience, used to explore identities, family wounds or searches for meaning. The most striking and media examples of this trend are Los Javis and Alauda Ruiz de Azúa (apart from the creators who already make openly propagandistic creation, such as hakuna and Effetaand whose almost massive interest among a large sector of young Spaniards we have already talked about), but they are not the only ones. To fame for being Catholic. Since ‘The Call’ in 2017, Los Javis incorporates Catholic symbolism passed through a pop filter (nuns, divine apparitions, prayers, songs) into many of their works. In ‘the messiah‘They explored it from a darker turn, but still without losing the spirituality, which is also seen as a therapeutic relief for those seeking to be comforted. ​On the other hand, Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, with ‘Los Domingos’ (recent Concha de Oro in San Sebastián) proposes an unusual story in Spanish cinema: that of a teenager who wants to be a cloistered nun. Far from ironizing faith, the director portrays the religious vocation from a respectful perspective, allowing characters with faith to speak on their own terms, with an austere and contemplative tone. They are not the only ones. Multiple Spanish artists have entered into the theme of the Catholic faith and its impact on Spanish society, absolutely inescapable after forty years of dictatorship and imposition. Among the young people who, just as they are rediscovering the bulls rediscover Catholic icons, we could highlight Pilar Palomero (in … Read more

The garbage rate has become the big hot potato of Spanish politics. In reality there is little unexpected

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They call him the rubbish and, whether you like it more or less, what is undeniable is that the word sums up well the surprise that thousands of Spanish households have encountered when reviewing their accounts: suddenly their town councils have started charging them sums more than considerable for garbage collection or have skyrocketed their rates (in some cases going from 67 to 126 euros), which even it is already felt in the CPI. In reality there is little unexpected, if you take into account that it is something that can be seen coming (at least) from 2022. What there is behind it is debate… and doubts. What has happened? That Spain has seen how garbage became a huge political hot potato. And rightly so, if we take into account that thousands of homes spread throughout the country have found that the bill their city council passes them to finance waste collection has been shot. In some cities a new rate. The rise has been so forceful that it is already reflected clearly in the IPC and in some municipalities has provoked heated protests. The best example was left on Monday Cangas (Pontevedra), where a thousand residents gathered in front of the City Hall to protest against what has already been called (there and in the rest of the country) rubbish. The neighborhood anger escalated to such a level in the municipality that the councilors had no choice but to leave escorted by the police. But why is the rate more expensive? By the BOE. To understand it you have to go back to Law 7/2022 . Among other issues, the rule establishes that the town councils of Spain must provide themselves with “a tax or property benefit of a non-tax public nature, specific, differentiated and non-deficit that allows the implementation of a payment system per generation and that reflects the real cost, direct or indirect, of the collection, transport and treatment operations.” The wording is somewhat confusing, but at least it leaves two ideas clear. First, municipalities have to charge a specific bill focused on garbage. Second, the ‘polluter pays’ maxim must prevail, with a rate that covers “the real, direct and indirect cost” of the collection service. It is not a minor nuance if we take into account that in many municipalities the service was deficient and it was compensated via taxes. The Commonwealth of O Morrazo, for example (the one that suffered Monday’s protests) handles a report that reveals that its service suffered a deficit of about two million of euros. Why is it news now? Because the Law 7/2022 included another indication: it gave the town councils a maximum of three years to comply with this requirement, a period that ended at beginning of april. Since then, the municipalities with more than 5,000 inhabitants They are obliged to conform to the norm. Some, like Barcelona, they have been for years preparing the ground to soften the blow; but others have waited until almost the end. The majority of councils have in fact chosen to drag their feet and some have not yet adjusted, as is the case in Malaga either Balearics. Where the change has been noticeable is in Madrid. There the impact has been especially notable because in 2015 the then mayor (Ana Botella) decided “eliminate” the garbage rate for the sake of “less fiscal pressure on the citizen’s pocket.” After years with the amount included within the IBIresidents of the capital have encountered a Waste Management Fee that, according to the calculations published by the Consistory itself in October, will have an average cost of 141 euros for homes and 310 for commercial properties. Does it affect the pockets that much? The best way to answer that question is to use the INE. Its latest calculations on the CPI, corresponding to the month of September, show a year-on-year increase of 30.3% in garbage collection, the largest (by far) in a historical series dating back to 2008. The data far exceeds the general index (3%) and has in fact influenced its upward trend. It is an important nuance because, although the deadline set in the 2022 law has already ended, its guidelines have not been applied in all cities of the country. When that happens, it is not unreasonable to think that that 30.3% will be even higher. Why so much controversy? If he rubbish has raised such a political stir, it is not only because of the cost it entails for residents and businesses. The debate has revolved around more formal but equally important questions: Who is ultimately responsible for the increases? Is it the city councils with the formulas they apply when calculating it, is it the Government for promoting the 2022 standard or is it Brussels, through the community directives that cites the law itself? Some town councils, such as Alcobendashas already released statements to inform its neighbors that the new “mandatory” garbage receipts apply. The truth is that months before the deadline set by law expired, in October, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP) already demanded the Government to review a law that, in his opinion, is “complicated to understand and apply” and ignores municipal autonomy. Specifically, they asked the Sánchez Government for “a much clearer and more concise regulation that avoids the discretion of each local entity” and at the same time guarantees the objectives set by Brussels. Is that important? Yes. And for several reasons. The first because one of the topics that is raising the most debate about the rubbish They are the differences between cities and the risks that this implies. “It can be applied depending on the address, the number of people residing in the home, the cadastral value… There are many possibilities and without a guide we can end up with more than 8,000 different garbage rates, which will surely generate resources and even different criteria in the courts until the Supreme Court unifies doctrine,” explained already last December ABC the Association … Read more

In the midst of the battle between Ryanair and Aena, there is a Spanish airport that is suffering more than any other: Valladolid

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Villanubla airport has lost 60.7% of its passengers so far in 2025, accumulating only 59,689 travelers between January and September. The figure contrasts greatly with the rest of the airports in Castilla y León, which are growing at double digits, and makes the Valladolid airport the great victim of the fight between the Irish airline and Aena. The trigger of the crisis. Ryanair left Valladolid on March 28 after accuse Aena of applying “excessive rates”. The Irish airline, which had been the main operator of the airport, confirmed in September that I wouldn’t return either during the winter season. Without their presence, the airport has been practically disconnected: in September it transported only 6,037 passengers, 58.5% less than the same month in 2024. A solo drama. While Villanubla collapses, the other three airports in the community they rise strongly. León increases its passengers by 18.6% to 56,925, Salamanca grows by 17.5% to 21,736 and even Burgos, with only 2,413 travelers, achieves a modest increase of 1.4%. The Valladolid airport, which depended largely on the influx of Ryanair, has seen how the fight between this airline and the airport manager has taken a toll on its usual traffic, unlike the rest of the provinces in the community. What’s behind. The conflict between Ryanair and Aena has been going on for years. The Irish company has been around for a long time eliminating seats in many regional airports as a lever to negotiate discounts on airport taxes. Aena, for its part, has maintained a firm position in its pricing policy, also aware that giving in to pressure from Ryanair would set a precedent that would not suit the rest of the airlines. Valladolid has been caught in the middle of this battle. The cascading impact. The 60.7% drop in passengers not only affects the airport, but also hits the entire provincial economy. Fewer travelers means fewer connections for local businesses, less tourism and a greater perception of isolation. The 4,647 operations registered until September represent a 14.1% less than in 2024which means that other airlines have not covered the gap left by Ryanair as has happened at other airports. The only escape route. He return of Vueling This same month of October could mark a turning point, especially taking into account the seven months of operational drought at the airport. However, it remains to be seen if its offer of routes and frequencies will be enough to reverse the collapse. Cover image | Lucas da Costa e Silva In Xataka | Using the WiFi on the train in Spain is the worst. The question is why there is so much difference compared to the rest of Europe

MercurySteam was the ambassador of Spanish video games. Until a sales failure turned the offices into hell

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For years, they were a key reference in the history of video games in Spain. MercurySteam achieved something unusual: programming high-budget games from such beloved classic franchises as ‘Castlevania’ and Metroid from its country of origin. Its international expansion ambitions shone from the studio’s first steps, but have been overshadowed in recent years by complaints from former studio employees who denounce a suffocating work environment and a policy of crunches to meet deadlines. We review the history of MercurySteam from its glorious first steps to the latest revelations about its work dynamics, and that says our colleague Blissy in 3DJuegos. Twenty-something years of ambition. MercurySteam was born in 2002 in San Sebastián de los Reyes, formed by several former members of Rebel Act Studios, creators of an absolutely foundational game in the history of Spanish soft music: ‘Blade: The Edge of Darkness‘, precursor of the soulslike very advanced technology for its time. Determined to demonstrate that our country could compete in the international video game league, they started with a couple of modest but notable titles: ‘American McGee presents: Scrapland’ and ‘Clive Barker’s Jericho’. The Castlevania phenomenon. The real turning point for MercurySteam came with ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’ in 2010, a 3D reformulation of the classic Konami franchise that was born as a stand-alone game and was later adapted to fit into the legendary vampire slayer saga. It was produced with the help of Hideo Kojima and for months its affiliation to the saga was hidden so as not to damage sales of other installments in development. After considerable commercial and sales success, the studio completed the trilogy with ‘Mirror of Fate’ (2013) and ‘Lords of Shadow 2’ (2014), establishing itself as a triple-A developer. A parenthesis. After Castlevania, the studio went through a transition phase. In 2017 they released the ambitious ‘Raiders of the Broken Planet’ (later renamed ‘Spacelords’), a shooter cooperative free-to-play with which they entered the model games as a service. The result was a more discreet success than their previous works, and MercurySteam had to consider a new twist in their plans. This would arrive with a twist similar to that of ‘Castlevania’: revitalize a classic franchise. In 2015 it was learned that MercurySteam had been working on a ‘Metroid’ prototype for Wii U and 3DS. It was not a job in vain: it ended up crystallizing in ‘Metroid: Samus Returns’ (2017) for 3DS, a very well-received remake of the classic ‘Metroid II’. This collaboration with Nintendo progressed into a completely original game, the brilliant ‘Metroid Dread‘ (2021), one of the best games in the Switch catalog, and which marked the long-awaited return of the saga to the 2D perspective after almost two decades. Since then, there have been changes in the studio: the Nordisk Games group acquired 40% of the studiowhich allowed the team to continue growing and tackle new projects. And they have even released a new video game this year, ‘Blades of Fire‘, a third-person RPG that was received with indifference by critics and did not meet sales expectations. It was this puncture that started, since January 2025, a series of measures that have turned MercurySteam, according to former employees interviewed by 3DJuegos, into an example of bad professional practices. In fact, the crisis started somewhat earlier: Already in 2020 MercurySteam had problems. Culture contrary to teleworking, offices with conditioning problems (for example, with very little lighting), poor internal communication, chaotic production and uncredited developers. Everything got radically worse in January 2025, when the company implemented the DIJ (Irregular Distribution of the Day) in some departments, allowing one hour of extra work per day (9 hours, maximum 45 per week), justified by “production needs.” In May, the month of the game’s release, several departments saw their working hours increased to 10 hours a day in total, a change that was managed in a highly criticized manner by employees. Among other problems, communication was always verbal, never in writing; Human Resources presented these hours as mandatory; there was constant appeal to the emotional and the “team spirit”; Teleworking and vacations were banned; and names were taken of those who rejected the measures. On May 8, two workers are fired just before the end of their trial period, one for refusing to work overtime (due to his partner’s risky pregnancy) and another for asking for written explanations. It would only be the beginning: after the failure of ‘Blades of Fire’, fires 18 workers in three days. One of them, a worker on mental health leave who suffered harassment from her boss while on leave, is fired when she returns. Although he thought about suing, he ended up withdrawing the lawsuit out of fear after threats from the company. In September, MercurySteam begins a phase of control and censorship of its employees, where all non-work communication channels are eliminated, “random audits” are announced, rest areas are eliminated, common spaces are reduced, and clocking turnstiles are installed in the kitchen. An entire policy of terror that continues until September 29, when makes the complaint public describing all these facts. Apart from a suspicious maneuver (an anonymous statement, supposedly from workers, but none of those interviewed by 3DJuegos know where it comes from), MercurySteam has implemented the 9 hours of the DIJ intermittently and tries to wash its image with job offers that They paint a much more positive atmosphere. But the worst thing is that there is a “sad and overwhelming” atmosphere in the company because, as one of the witnesses says, “the best thing Mercury had was the atmosphere… they are destroying the only good thing about the company.” A sad parenthesis for a company that was a leader in the sector and is going through a major image crisis due to something as essential as not knowing how to manage a crisis. In Xataka | There are authentic Spanish guerrilla studios programming games for NES: ‘Malasombra’ is the latest example

ZonaGemelos generates the darkest content on the Spanish internet. They had to cancel their own ‘Big Brother’ in nine hours

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Extreme content has always existed on the Internet, but until recently it was part of the exclusive redoubt of the network’s sewer: deep webforums in which you had to register to enter, P2P circuits closed to the general public. Social networks, however, are increasingly expanding their themes in more aggressive directions. The lack of moderation and the avalanche of content has created monsters like ‘The House of Twins’, a reality show inspired by ‘Big Brother‘ which was canceled nine hours after its premiere. But who are you? Daniel and Carlos Ramos are brothers and content creators under the label ZoneTwins. They have become known for debate videos that revolve around controversy, morbidity, arguments and sometimes live violence between the guests of their program. Their accounts have hundreds of thousands of followers (just over 300,000 on YouTube, almost 400,000 on TikTok) and their style is reminiscent of entertainment programs from the beginning of the century like ‘Crónicas Marcianas’, and also dating shows like ‘First Dates’ or challenge shows, but in a more extreme way. Among its regulars are Paco Porras or Simon Perezand also include betting and gambling content (in casinos like LocoWin, with high-risk bets). What is ‘The House of Twins’? A reality show for networks which premiered on October 12 on Kick (the twins are banned from Twitch) and YouTube and was canceled in the early hours of the next day, due to violent incidents and serious confrontations between the seven participants, especially between two women who are regulars in the ZonaGemelos debates: la Falete and Triana Marrash. The latter had its fifteen minutes of fame on a national scale thanks to ‘Tardear’ and an alleged disappearance that turned out to be a setup to gain followers. What happened? Three contest participants voluntarily left the program before its cancellation, given the direction the program was taking, with the participants becoming increasingly drunk. Among other things, constant fights could be seen, attempts to quilting with three people involved, inappropriate comments on sensitive topics such as the war in Ukraine and destruction of the house and furniture. The organizers, when announcing the closure, spoke of “a second edition with some basic rules of coexistence and a few hours to sleep.” Some figures. In its first hours, the program was followed by more than a million live viewers, which makes it clear that we are not exactly facing a niche product. The hashtag #LaCasaDeLosGemelos became a trending topic on X and YouTube ended up cutting the broadcast due to the questionable content. Of course, as happens in reality shows, it soon began to generate lots of derivative content from other creators commenting on what happened in the house. extreme youtube. The type programs reality streaming like The House of Twins raise moral and ethical questions that have been object of study: emotional manipulation, exploitation of participants, loss of privacy, psychological and social effects on those who participate and consume this type of entertainment… Producers usually edit and manipulate recorded material to provoke conflicts and extreme reactions that keep the public’s attention. This strategy generates economic benefits, but results in the emotional exploitation of the contestants, who may suffer anxiety and psychological deterioration. Other key moral dilemma revolves around the actual consent of the participants. In many productions, contestants sign contracts that allow them to be constantly filmed, without effective control over their image once broadcast: participants are recorded in moments of emotional and physical vulnerability, such as arguments or personal crises. And if these issues are considerable in realities traditional, its impact is multiplied on the internet, where algorithms amplify emotionally conflictive content to maximize public interaction. In Xataka | Now I regret what I uploaded about myself to the internet when I was a teenager

As Europe fights Russia’s hybrid war, a Spanish invention simplifies how to take down its drones in seconds

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Europe attends a wave of drone raids that have violated its airspace, closed airports and exposed the fragility of its defenses. Faced with this hybrid and growing threat, the European Union study get up an “anti-drone wall”: a technological network of radars, sensors and neutralization systems designed to shield the continental sky against an invisible, cheap and increasingly closer enemy. In fact, Spain has several developments underway that it is about to test. The awakening of Spain. The advancement of drones in modern conflicts has completely transformed the nature of warand Spain is preparing to face it with an ambitious military modernization plan. The Armed Forces will celebrate from October 20 to 24 the Atlas 25 exercise in Huelva, the largest joint meeting of Land, Air and Navy for defense and attack with drones. There, Spanish observation, interception and electronic warfare systems will be tested, with the participation of the Defense Operations Command and INTA. It is not just a tactical maneuver: it is a awakening demonstration technology of the national industry, in which companies such as Indra, Arquimea, TRC and Escribano seek to position themselves at the core of European defense against an enemy that already dominates the sky with cheap and lethal swarms. Atlas 25: the great showcase. The exercise will serve as a testing ground for solutions ranging from offensive drones like the Q-Slam 40 of Archimeacapable of operating without GPS, to inhibition and defense systems developed by Indra and Escribano. But it will also be an industrial showcase in which Spain will show its capacity for technological integration and public-private cooperation. The war in Ukraine has shown that every platform is vulnerable to surveillance and air attack, and that survival depends on the speed with which new electronic warfare tools are developed. Following the recent incursions of Russian drones into European airspace, the need for this “anti-drone wall” has become a priority. The Atlas 25Therefore, it is not only a military exercise, but a political and strategic gesture that places Spain at the forefront of that continental response. Nexor Nexor full integration. The Army has chosen the Nexor systemdeveloped by TRC, as the cornerstone of its new electronic warfare strategy. We are talking about a new platform modular command and control which centralizes the information from all deployed sensors in a single interface. In recent maneuvers in Ciudad Real carried out by the 31st Electronic Warfare Regiment, Nexor (militarily named like Cerberus) has demonstrated its ability to detect, intercept and inhibit hostile drones or enemy communications, even in crowded electronic environments. He integrated system artificial intelligence and machine learning, and its open architecture allows the incorporation of new sensors or updates without redoing its structure. On a front where every second counts, Nexor promises to reduce the gap between detection and responseoffering the soldier a unified and simplified view of the environment to overthrow drones in fractions of a second. Nexor National product. In other words, with this system that is being tested, Spain takes a step towards technological sovereignty by processing and storing its own data, without depending on foreign codes or transferring sensitive information to allied or competing powers. The collaboration between TRC and the Army has led to a 100% national tool that reinforces the country’s strategic autonomy and anticipates the type of war in which so much waves like data They are as (or more) decisive than missiles. Strategic investment. The Ministry of Defense promotes a program of 646 million euros intended to reinforce the electronic warfare of the Army, awarded to Indra under the protection of article 346 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which allows certain contracts to be excluded from common regulations for reasons of national security. 60% of the investment will be allocated to light capabilities, with 16 mobile systems equipped with Vamtac vehicles and interoperable sensors. The forecast is that Indra will rely on specialized companies as CRTwhich has worked with the Army to adapt the solutions to their real needs. The objective seems clear: to create a Spanish, scalable and sovereign system, which combines industrial experience with the technological agility that the battlefield demands today. Spain and the new border. There is no doubt, the lessons from ukraine have exposed both the vulnerability of armies against drones and the urgency to adapt to a war where control of the spectrum is as important as that of the land or the air. Atlas 25 comes at a time when Europe is seeking shield your skies in the face of the Russian hybrid threat and in which Spain emerges as a unexpectedly prepared actor. If you also want, the national industry has gone from being a secondary supplier to becoming a tactical innovation laboratorywhere the integration between technology, intelligence and digital sovereignty set the course. If the future of warfare is a fight between algorithms, sensors and autonomous machines, the nation seems willing to not to be left behind. And Atlas 25 will ultimately be the litmus test of that commitment. Image | CRT In Xataka | Europe has found the antidote to Russian drones. So demand for a 100-year-old gun has skyrocketed In Xataka | Europe has decided to take action against Moscow’s hybrid war. So Germany has started hunting for Russian drones

Voltage problems have returned to the Spanish electrical system and the big question is what have we been doing these last six months

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The ghost of big blackout has returned to the fray: the Spanish electrical system has voltage problems. Serious problems, indeed. So serious that Red Eléctrica has had to ask for permission to take action on the matter. It goes without saying, but uncertainty spread like wildfire. Six months after the great blackout, Spain is living a little déjà vu. Are there reasons to be alert? What has happened? Electrical Network just notified to the CNMC which, for a couple of weeks, has observed sudden variations in voltage in the peninsular system. As he explained, this could compromise the security of supply and urgent measures would need to be taken to solve it. That includes temporarily modifying various operating procedures to stabilize the system while underlying problems are found. What do these modifications consist of? The proposals go from allowing technical adjustments to be applied directly during daily programming to giving the operator more room to act quickly if it detects a risk of instability, even before the operating day begins. In addition, it adopts stricter control of the automatic instantaneous balance mechanism and tightens the reactive voltage control. In summary, what has been notified is an express adjustment of the country’s electrical operations to contain the ups and downs in voltage that have been recorded. And all of this, to be implemented in five days. The big question is “now?” Because as Javier Blas pointed out“for months, the Spanish electricity grid operator (and the government) have been putting off the country’s electrical problems” and now, suddenly, a whole series of urgent measures are required. Red Eléctrica’s response. Given the concern generated by the request, the operator had to leave in passing, clarifying that there has been “no talk of a risk of imminent or widespread blackout”, that the voltage variations “have not posed a supply risk because they have been within the admissible limits”. However, the truth is that no one is too calm. As Blas said“The urgent request adds up to an additional $1 billion cost for Spanish customers as the grid operator is operating the system in what it calls a “boosted mode” since April 29 (in effect, operating gas-fired power plants more intensely and reducing solar and wind power).” If under these conditions the entire series of measures that have been requested are needed, there is some underlying problem. Or, at least, that’s what it seems: that the symptoms of stress in the system are clear and it is not at all clear that a handful of temporary measures are the solution we need. Image | Anton Dmitriev In Xataka | Harvest wheat or kilowatts? The new account that many farmers in Spain make

passing from any language to Spanish

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Let’s explain to you how to translate messages on WhatsAppso that if someone writes to you in another language you can translate their text into Spanish. This is a feature that has been available in competing messaging applications for a long time, and has finally arrived in Meta. Here, what you should know is that the option is not yet available to everyoneand that little by little it will reach us progressively. Therefore, you may not have it available right now but someone else you know does, although this is something that should change over time. Translate WhatsApp messages What you have to do is enter a chat and hold down a message you want to translate until you select it. Once you have it selected, press the options button with the three dots icon above, and click on the option Translate. In the case of iOS, just hold down the message to display the options, click Furtherand then in Translate. You will go to a translation options screen, where you can choose from which language do you want to translate the messageand to what language you want to translate it. You will have to download each language individually. When you have chosen it, click on Translate and that’s it. In the translation options, you can activate the option to translate all messages new ones that come to you in this chat. Thus, every time this person writes to you in the language you have chosen, they will translate it to the other one you have selected, and you will be able to have conversations calmly. In Xataka Basics | Scam of stealing your WhatsApp via video call and asking your contacts for Bizums: what it is and how to avoid it

Spanish agriculture is reaching its moment of truth

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Tíjola is in Alto Almanzora, 700 meters above sea level; right between the Filabres mountain range and the Estancia mountain range. 35 degrees in summer, minimums around zero in winter. Esparto grass, rosemary, thyme, mastic. Some scattered pine forest. Little water, very little. Its water balance is negative almost all year round and, if it were not for the historical overexploitation of the aquifer and the Tajo-Segura transfer, nothing would grow except some almond trees, a little cereal and a handful of scattered olive trees. That is why the idea of ​​hectares and hectares of olive trees under intensive irrigation is so strange. Rare, but not impossible. In fact, according to the Almeria Ecologist Coordinatoris what is being done. SAT Olisurwhich has been working for years in the use of water resources, is carrying out the implementation of 14 hectares of irrigation. Something that, beyond the controversy, is above all an example that the big question of the moment is: at what price will those olive trees be grown? What impacts will be hidden behind intensive production in vulnerable areas? The end of an era. For thousands of years, olive trees have grown in the Mediterranean basin. It is a dry crop, with moderate densities and very close to the ground. The problem is that, in recent years, it has stopped being profitable. The best example is Andalusia. In the south of Spain, “good harvests have been obtained with 400mm per year.” However, in 2023 there are Andalusian dryland areas “that have not received even 200mm.” It was a catastrophe: a catastrophe that threatens to be repeated year after year. For this reason, more and more producers want to switch to irrigation. Because “dry” means “watered with what falls” and “irrigation” is “having water assured.” And the olive grove is good business, if you can water it. “The difficult thing is to have water because the Guadalquivir basin is already in deficit, so new concessions are not given,” explained Diego Barrancor a few years ago. Hence the olive trees are “fleeing” the Guadalquivir. And they go where they can. To Almería, for example. The diffuse limits of agricultural extractivism. The case of SAT Olisur is complex because, even if it seems like a bad idea, it is a company that has been working in the area for almost 30 years; who tries to survive with very bad cards. But not all cases are like this. In recent years, We have seen how ghost companies are dedicated to lease land, drain its resources and move on to the next thing. Agrarian extractivism is the order of the day and the conflict it’s inevitable. The crazy idea of ​​installing irrigated olive trees in Almería is simply an anecdote of an immense problem. The problem is that, as Hannah Arendt said, it is never easy to know the difference between a refuge and a trap. Image | WineCountry Media In Xataka | Spain faces its greatest agricultural challenge of the century: converting 1,901,529 hectares of olive groves into irrigation before it is too late

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