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The US and Mexico have just taken the step to treat them as such

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The digital economy, the energy transition and a good part of advanced industry depends on a set of materials whose importance is only perceived when they are scarce. Governments classify them as critical minerals precisely because of their essential role and the fragility of their supply chains. This change in perception, from industrial resource to strategic asset, is reordering commercial decisions and international alliances. The step taken now by the United States and Mexico is part of that deeper transformation in how the materials that support contemporary technology are managed. A clear objective. Both governments have announced the development of a bilateral Action Plan that will explore commercial and coordination tools aimed at mitigating risks in the supply of critical minerals. Beyond the technical content that has yet to be defined, the announcement itself indicates that the management of these raw materials has come to occupy an explicit place on the bilateral agenda between the two countries. The detail. The announced framework describes an intention for cooperation, but does not yet establish its operational content. Both the minerals that will be included and the trade mechanisms that could be applied remain to be specified. This lack of precision is relevant: usual lists of strategic materials, like lithium or copperare part of the industrial and energy context in which the plan is discussed, but we will have to wait to know what elements will end up making up the pact. Price floors. The proposal introduces an unusual instrument in the public debate: setting minimum values ​​for certain imports to respond to “global market distortions” and reduce vulnerabilities in the supply chain. The idea appears linked to the resilience of these chains and considerations of economic and national security in the argument that accompanies critical minerals. Of course, its eventual application would be subject to subsequent agreements and its fit into international trade frameworks. The agreement also emerges under the shadow of an unavoidable trade event: the review of the North American treaty shared by the United States, Mexico and Canada (T-MEC). The proximity of this process gives the plan additional meaning within the regional economic architecture. However, the information released about this bilateral initiative does not include mention of Canadian participation, a detail pointed out by Reuters that delimits the immediate scope of the ad. It is not a static list. The concept of critical mineral describes a condition more than a closed catalog. United States energy legislation links them to economic or national security, the vulnerability of their supply chains and their indispensable role in the manufacture of products, as explained by the USGS. But that classification changes over time as technology, demand or external dependence evolve. Therefore, rather than a fixed list of materials, what is really at stake is the capacity of each economy to secure resources considered strategic at each industrial stage. The board is moving. The bilateral agreement appears in parallel to a broader international deployment to reinforce supply chains considered strategic, with new frameworks and memoranda. But its reading does not end in that dimension. For Mexico, coordination opens a way to consolidate its role within the North American industry and attract projects linked to mining, processing or advanced manufacturing. The result is a two-way movement: an expanding global strategy and, at the same time, a redefinition of the place that Mexico can occupy in it. Images | Dominic Vanyi + Nano Banana In Xataka | Greenland has 1.5 million tons of rare earths. The problem is that there are no roads to get to them.

Latin America is the next step

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If you have ever been traveling and, upon arriving at your destination, you have wanted to book an excursion in Spanish, a skip-the-line entry or a transfer without complications, it is quite possible that you have come across Civitatis. The company, based in Spain and founded in 2008, has made a name for itself as an online platform for booking activities, guided tours and destination experiences designed for Spanish-speaking audiences. Now he wants to play another game: look beyond Europe and grow strongly in Latin America. Look beyond Europe. After years consolidating its presence in Europe, Civitatis is preparing for a change of scale in its international expansion, with Latin America as a priority. The company frames it as a strategic step and also as a positioning adjustment: in an informative meeting prior to Fiturits CEO, Andrew Spitzerdefended that the focus is not only on growth, but on truly integrating into the market. The goal, at least in his story, is for this growth to stop being peripheral and become central. three levers. From there, the plan is based on three pillars. The first has to do with the United States: the company highlights the proximity to that market and the weight of the Spanish-speaking population as an opportunity for organic growth. The second is Brazil, where the company plans to grow by 30% in 2026, an objective that involves expanding the catalog also in Portuguese to better adapt to the country. And the third is more structural: in Latin America the wholesale channel, supported by distribution agreements with travel agencies, has more weight than in Europe, where direct sales to the end customer predominate. Operating muscle. According to the data provided by the company, Civitatis already works with three regional centers in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, which function as a base to coordinate its activity on the continent. Together, these hubs concentrate 70 employees out of a total workforce of 360, according to the figures shared at the meeting prior to Fitur. The reading is clear: it is not just about selling in the region, but about building structure and teams on the ground to sustain growth. The app as an inflection. The other major axis of the plan for 2026 does not have to do with the map, but with the product. The company is preparing the launch of a new mobile application with which it aims to stop behaving as a purely transactional platform and become a travel companion. Europa Press adds that the app would be designed to centralize reservations, itineraries and complementary services under a space called My Trips, with access even offline. The idea of ​​relying on artificial intelligence to promote greater personalization also appears in that roadmap. What exactly is Civitatis?. It is not a traditional tour operator, but a platform that connects travelers and local tour operators, acting as Online reservation channel for activities and visits at destination. Their proposal consists of bringing together this dispersed offer, presenting it in a digital catalog and managing the reservation from the same place, so that the user does not have to go supplier by supplier. This intermediation position also marks its limits and its opportunities: expansion does not depend only on opening the market, but on building a local catalog and making it accessible with the same product logic. Grow cautiously. The expansion into Latin America and the launch of the new application also have a business reading: Civitatis maintains that its roadmap is based on sustainable profitability. It should be noted that the company does not currently have an IPO among its priorities, despite being in the full acceleration phase. And El País places as a key piece the investment of Vitruvian Partners, with 100 million euros in 2022 and another 50 million in a second operation two years later. From here, the game consists of combining global ambition with measured growth, without losing the ability to adapt to each local market. Images | Laurentiu Morariu | Civitatis In Xataka | The “European Bizum” is on the verge of becoming a reality and there are two clear losers: Visa and Mastercard

Europe wants to manufacture 20% of the world’s semiconductors by 2030. It has just taken the first step

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43,000 million euros. That is the figure that the European Commission set to achieve something that is currently out of reach: technological sovereignty regarding semiconductors. With the ‘Chips Act‘, Europe seeks to position itself as a power in a semiconductor production segment dominated by Asia with Taiwan at the head. Now, and after years of dreaming, Europe inaugurates the first installation: the FAMES Pilot Line. The objective is not conservative. By 2030, the Old Continent wants produce 20% of integrated circuits of the world. We have an ace up our sleeve called ASMLthe global spearhead in terms of manufacturing of advanced photolithography equipment refers. The Dutch are the ones who produce the machines that buy foundries like TSMC o Intel to manufacture the most advanced chips on the market. But there is a problem: we have the machine that makes the chips, but we don’t have someone to make chips. That is what the project wants to change, and with FAMESthe European Union Chip Law lays the first brick to be more relevant. It’s not going to be easy at all. FAMES, the spearhead of Europe’s Chips Law Unlike a private company, FAMES is something much more European: a collaboration between countries and institutions. It represents a new example of public-private collaboration like the one we are seeing in parallel in the european space race. And the pilot program is located at the CEA-Leti facilities in the French town of Grenoble. With an initiative of 830 million euros contributed by both the European Commission and the participating states, FAMES brings together 11 organizations belonging to eight countries and, after two years of preparation, has presented favorable technical results to begin developing advanced semiconductor technologies. The organizations and countries of the FAMES Consortium FAMES, with 830 million in financing, is the first of the five pilot lines that will be inaugurated under this Chips Law initiative, and the CEA-Leti plant has been expanded with about 2,000 new square meters destined to clean room. It is an extremely clean area isolated from the outside, with strictly controlled temperature and humidity conditions and optimal conditions for manufacturing semiconductors. CEA-Leti already had 12,000 square meters of clean room, so the expansion under the Chips Law is considerable. And the big question: what will they do in this pilot program? Well, something known as Fully Depleted Silicon-on-Insulator, or FD-SOI. This is a manufacturing process in which a thin insulating layer (less than 10 nanometers) is placed under the transistors so that the chips operate at lower voltages. And the goal is to create 10 and 7 nanometer processors. FD-SOI Thus, they consume between 30 and 40% less energy without losing performance, making them more efficient. That efficiency and delivery of energy to the chips is something that everyone is trying to improve, from an Intel that already has its most cutting-edge technologies ready in this sense to a TSMC that is preparing its response by the end of 2026. That Europe is developing its solution now seems demoralizing, but it must be taken into account that, for decades, the technology of the Old Continent has depended on external manufacturing, so advancing this manufacturing process at this time is not bad news. But well, in the end, FAMES represents the first platform in which some advanced technologies for the manufacture of semiconductors will begin to mature and, together with the rest of the pilot lines, the objective is to transfer these advances and knowledge to the industry and, obviously, to a final product. We will see if the 2030 goal is reached, but Europe itself is not very optimistic about the matter. Europe thinks that Europe will fail in its objective At the beginning of last year, we already said that the European Court of Auditors itself believed that the European Chip Law would be a failurepointing out unlikely which would be if they achieved the goal of building 20% ​​of the planet’s semiconductors by 2030. And… they are not misguided. Europe is seeking its technological independence while inviting entities like TSMC to its soil, but the two main technological centers are also moving. The United States is attracting talent to its territory, with TSMC buying more land to open a megafactory and Intel as a banner in the American foundry. China is not standing idly by and, following a Western veto, its semiconductor industry has made unthinkable advances with old ASML machines while companies like SMIC either Huawei develop your own solutions to create advanced chips and be able to shield itself from American technology. And beyond countries, private companies such as Intel itself, TSMC, Samsung, GlobalFoundries or Texas Instruments are also moving, installing new cutting-edge plants both inside and outside the United States, a country that is determined to invest what is necessary to achieve leadership. In the end, getting 20% ​​of the world’s chips is a tremendously ambitious goal and Europe is very far away in this industrybut you have to start somewhere and FAMES represents that first stone on the path of the European semiconductor initiative. Images | Intel (edited), FAMES In Xataka | We already know what the chips that will arrive until 2039 will be like. The machine that will allow them to be manufactured is close

It is the key step in the “rebirth” of a company on the tightrope

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The United States is immersed in the war for technological independence. They aim to be sovereign and produce most of the key components of their technology, but they remain so dependent on the rare earth from china like from Taiwan for advanced chips. At the same time, the strongest Taiwanese company, is planting its flag on North American lands with TSMC. In this scenario, Intel has become the great hope of the American foundry. And they just announced that their Intel 18A plan is ready for action. Self-imposed goal. Intel has been going through the deepest crisis in its history for years. Unlike NVIDIA, Qualcomm or AMD, which design chips but are manufactured by others –TSMC mostly-, Intel designs and manufactures semiconductors (although it also outsources part of its production). It is, as it is known in the industry, a foundry, and after being devastated in the mid-2000s, they have seen how his rivals ate his toast. Both in semiconductor production and in their design and in the market. For this reason, in 2021 they set a goal: to develop five nodes in four years. This strategy, baptized as 5N4Ywas a move to restore the company’s position at the forefront of semiconductor manufacturing. In between, they have acquired ASML’s latest generation machines, they have positioned themselves as the local foundry for the US to achieve technological sovereignty… and they have needed an unprecedented injection of money from the US government. Intel 18A. But well, the plans seem to be coming out and, if in September 2024 Ben Sell, vice president of technology development at Intel, commented that Large-scale production of node 18A would begin in 2025now it is the company that has declared that they are ready to start mass manufacturing products based on that technology. The result is two processors with a very different approach. Panther Lake – It is the architecture of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3the first System on Chip from the American company created with this photolithography. They are chips created in a smaller size, which allows for greater density (30% according to Intel) and 15% greater performance per watt. It is focused on mobile devices and integrates both CPU and GPU. Clearwater Forest – It is the other current leg of Intel 18A, a processor for data centers hyperscale, cloud computing and AI training. It will be the heart of the Xeon 6+ processors and shares those characteristics of higher density, more performance and lower consumption. Technological avant-garde. Things seem to be starting to go well at Intel and the interesting thing is not that they are already preparing for large-scale manufacturing of these processors, but rather the technologies which, for the first time in a long time, will allow Intel to be at the forefront in its sector. RibbonFET – It is Intel’s first new architecture in more than a decade and is what allows improved performance per watt compared to the previous node used by Intel. It is an improvement over the Classic FinFETs. PowerVia – It is the true revolution: it is an architecture that separates the power supply from the processor lines to deliver it through the rear. Power flow is improved and delivery is optimized, allowing better power flow that increases the processor clock frequency while consuming less power. American foundry. This last technology is a pioneer in the sector and, in fact, it is expected that its main competitor, TSMC, will not have a response until the end of 2026 and Samsung its GAA in 2027. And that is precisely what is positioning Intel as a good option for the big technology whales. Because there is no point in having technology if you don’t attract attention, and here Intel has an advantage. Fab 52, the Intel plant in Arizona where these new chips are manufactured On the one hand, and obviously, technology. But on the other hand, and just as important, being an American manufacturing in the United States, with what this implies when it comes to get government favors. I know point that NVIDIA and Apple are in conversations with Intel to have a certain range of their GPUs and SoCs manufactured by them instead of TSMC. Because that commercial success is the last frontier and attracting whales is what will mark Intel’s destiny in a war that is no longer just about having the best technology, but also about where you manufacture it. Images | Intel In Xataka | The world’s technology industry practically depends on a single road: the one that leads to the Spruce Prine mine

Europe seeks sovereignty in rare earths: the first step to achieve it is a megamine in Sweden

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In world geopolitics, having oil, gas or rare earths (let us remember that They are neither earth nor are they rare) is the equivalent of starting a game of mus with several kings in hand. And if we talk about rare earths, this map of the world’s (known) reservesIt shows that China has the best possible hand. Finding rare earths in your territory is very good, then you have to know how to extract them and create an industry around them. This is neither easy nor quick nor cheap. The good news is that the European Union could cover 18% of its lanthanide needs. The not so good thing is that first he has to launch a megaproject: the Per Geijer supermine, in Kiruna (Sweden). Per Geijer has never been just any mine. In fact, it is the underground iron mine largest in the world (the underground surname is important in that the Brazilian Carajás Complex produces more but in the open pit and the Australian Hamersley Ranges has a larger deposit) and also the most ambitious and complex metal mining project that the European Union has faced in decades. The mine is operated by the state through the public company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB). That it has rare earths makes it special, but how they are present is also particular: it is not a pure lanthanide mine, but a high-grade iron deposit with significant concentrations of phosphorus and rare earth oxides. How much? Early 2026 LKAB estimates 2.2 million tons of rare earth oxides, more than double what I thought about 2023. Mine in Kiruna. LKAB Why is it important. As noted in the intro, because China processes about 90% of the world’s rare earths and taking into account the mine’s estimates, if these rare earths could be extracted for use, the European Union could cover 18% of its needs. according to LKAB estimates. Own resources instead of having to buy them, which leads to dependencies on third parties, market fluctuations and diplomacy. In mining, the time between discovery and the first ton of commercial around between 15 and 20 years old. But the European Union has considered it as a strategic project, so it is on the “fast track” thanks to the Critical Raw Materials Law (CRMA). In Xataka The rare earth war has reached Spain. And it is in Ciudad Real where mining and ecology are in conflict under the microscope. The presence of these oxides in a high-grade iron mine like Per Geijer hides a couple of aces up its sleeve: processing synergy and phosphorus, another strategic element (but less so). And the cost of extracting rare earths is more profitable when there is already an operation to extract iron. On the other hand, these lanthanides are trapped in apatite, which is essentially calcium phosphate. Through magnetic separations for iron and chemicals, two high-value products emerge: one is the rare earth concentrate and the other is phosphoric acid, essential for fertilizers. {“videoId”:”x8wlh9q”,”autoplay”:true,”title”:”United States vs. China: The CHIPS WAR”, “tag”:”webedia-prod”, “duration”:”1611″} The northern triangle. Although the site is located in Kiruna, the project is actually an industrial ecosystem made up of three points: Kiruna for extraction, Malmberget for concentration and Luleå is in charge of separation. Thus, the Kiruna deposit provides the mineral from a new deposit of iron, phosphorus and rare earths discovered next to the current mine, about 700 meters away. Malmberget provides the volume of rare earths from the already operational iron mine from apatite waste and also from what will be extracted. Finally, Luleå provides chemical technology with a processing center in charge of separating the rare earths from the rest using hydrometallurgical technology. The schedule until it is operational. Although the normal thing would be to have to wait almost 20 years, we have already seen that the EU has stepped on the accelerator. Tunnels are currently being built to connect the current Kiruna iron mine with the new deposit. In 2026, Malmberget plans to have permits to open a new plant to treat apatite, and the Luleå plant is expected to be operational by the end of this year. However, for the large-scale commercial plant to be commercialized, estimates point to the 2030s due to the series of permits and environmental evaluations that must be successfully passed. It won’t be easy. Despite the importance of rare earths in the EU plans and the apparent profitability of the process, the megaproject faces several challenges beyond the technical and the inherent waste generated. Without going any further, the city of Kiruna itself is sinking and its citizens have to move, literally, building by building, to allow mining expansion, as picks up CNBC. Furthermore, there is conflict with the indigenous Sami peoplesince the site is located on reindeer grazing routes. In Xataka | Spain has a plan to become a rare earth powerhouse and stop depending on China: you will recycle In Xataka | Europe wants to be competitive in the rare earths market. Its enemies are old acquaintances: China and Europe itself Cover | LKAB (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Europe seeks sovereignty in rare earths: the first step to achieve it is a megamine in Sweden was originally published in Xataka by Eva R. de Luis .

The first step to achieve this is a megamine in Sweden

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In world geopolitics, having oil, gas or rare earths (let us remember that They are neither earth nor are they rare) is the equivalent of starting a game of mus with several kings in hand. And if we talk about rare earths, this map of the world’s (known) reserves It shows that China has the best possible hand. Finding rare earths in your territory is very good, then you have to know how to extract them and create an industry around them. This is neither easy nor quick nor cheap. The good news is that the European Union could cover 18% of its lanthanide needs. The not so good thing is that first he has to launch a megaproject: the Per Geijer supermine, in Kiruna (Sweden). Per Geijer has never been just any mine. In fact, it is the underground iron mine largest in the world (the underground surname is important in that the Brazilian Carajás Complex produces more but in the open pit and the Australian Hamersley Ranges has a larger deposit) and also the most ambitious and complex metal mining project that the European Union has faced in decades. The mine is operated by the state through the public company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara Aktiebolag (LKAB). That it has rare earths makes it special, but how they are present is also particular: it is not a pure lanthanide mine, but a high-grade iron deposit with significant concentrations of phosphorus and rare earth oxides. How much? Early 2026 LKAB estimates 2.2 million tons of rare earth oxides, more than double what I thought about 2023. Mine in Kiruna. LKAB Why is it important. As noted in the intro, because China processes about 90% of the world’s rare earths and taking into account the mine’s estimates, if these rare earths could be extracted for use, the European Union could cover 18% of its needs. according to LKAB estimates. Own resources instead of having to buy them, which leads to dependencies on third parties, market fluctuations and diplomacy. In mining, the time between discovery and the first ton of commercial around between 15 and 20 years old. But the European Union has considered it as a strategic project, so it is on the “fast track” thanks to the Critical Raw Materials Law (CRMA). under the microscope. The presence of these oxides in a high-grade iron mine like Per Geijer hides a couple of aces up its sleeve: processing synergy and phosphorus, another strategic element (but less so). And the cost of extracting rare earths is more profitable when there is already an operation to extract iron. On the other hand, these lanthanides are trapped in apatite, which is essentially calcium phosphate. Through magnetic separations for iron and chemicals, two high-value products emerge: one is the rare earth concentrate and the other is phosphoric acid, essential for fertilizers. The northern triangle. Although the site is located in Kiruna, the project is actually an industrial ecosystem made up of three points: Kiruna for extraction, Malmberget for concentration and Luleå is in charge of separation. Thus, the Kiruna deposit provides the mineral from a new deposit of iron, phosphorus and rare earths discovered next to the current mine, about 700 meters away. Malmberget provides the volume of rare earths from the already operational iron mine from apatite waste and also from what will be extracted. Finally, Luleå provides chemical technology with a processing center in charge of separating the rare earths from the rest using hydrometallurgical technology. The schedule until it is operational. Although the normal thing would be to have to wait almost 20 years, we have already seen that the EU has stepped on the accelerator. Tunnels are currently being built to connect the current Kiruna iron mine with the new deposit. In 2026, Malmberget plans to have permits to open a new plant to treat apatite, and the Luleå plant is expected to be operational by the end of this year. However, for the large-scale commercial plant to be commercialized, estimates point to the 2030s due to the series of permits and environmental evaluations that must be successfully passed. It won’t be easy. Despite the importance of rare earths in the EU plans and the apparent profitability of the process, the megaproject faces several challenges beyond the technical and the inherent waste generated. Without going any further, the city of Kiruna itself is sinking and its citizens have to move, literally, building by building, to allow mining expansion, as picks up CNBC. Furthermore, there is conflict with the indigenous Sami peoplesince the site is located on reindeer grazing routes. In Xataka | Spain has a plan to become a rare earth powerhouse and stop depending on China: you will recycle In Xataka | Europe wants to be competitive in the rare earths market. Its enemies are old acquaintances: China and Europe itself Cover | LKAB

The burial of the A-5 is one step closer to ceasing to be a nightmare

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The tunnel works that aim to transform the Paseo de Extremadura into the Paseo Verde del Suroeste in Madrid continue their course, with their last objective achieved: that of connecting the two excavation sections. Little by little, progress gives us a glimpse of the end of a work that is marking the day to day of thousands of neighbors during the last year. And if not tell it to our colleague Javier Pastor, who has been suffering from constant interruptions network as a consequence. Advance. Last Friday, the gap between two tunnel excavation fronts was completed, an operation that consists of connecting two separately drilled galleries to provide continuity to the underground layout. Thanks to this technical procedure, 700 linear meters of the tunnel are linked. According to reported Madrid City Council, to date 1.9 kilometers of the 5.1 planned have been excavated in both directions and 81.7% of the covering slab has been placed. This same process will be repeated in the coming weeks in the rest of the sections until the infrastructure is completed. The deadlines. The delegate of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council, Borja Carabante, counted to El Mundo that “the tunnel hole will be completed in April.” According to Carabante, from that moment on, paving work, installation of extractors, emergency exits and other technical infrastructure requirements will remain pending. The opening of the subway to traffic is scheduled for the end of 2026, so the initial deadlines are maintained despite the meteorological and logistical complications of the last year. Surface improvements. Just like they count From Diario de Madrid, since last Thursday, traffic entering or leaving the M-30 tunnel along Avenida de Portugal once again circulates in a straight line along 500 meters of the A-5, between kilometer points 3+250 and 3+750. Having completed the work on the covering slabs around the Amusement Park, it has been possible to recover the original layout without the detour. In addition, according to the media, a connecting branch of about 60 meters is being built between Avenida de Portugal and the A-5 to prevent traffic from being diverted onto Calle de Dante. The dark side. A year after construction began, residents are still dealing with significant disruptions. According to collect El País, the problems range from the deafening noise of machinery to water and electricity outages, to the deterioration of air quality due to dust from drilling. The president of the Batán neighborhood association, Arturo Sáez, resume The situation is seen in the middle as a “perfect storm”: the closure of the underpasses in August forced the activation of traffic lights and circular buses, while traffic to the Amusement Park and the Zoo collapses the neighborhood on weekends. Added to this are recurring internet outages due to damage to the fiber optics, the last of which has affected Movistar and O2 customers in areas such as Aluche, Campamento and Pozuelo. The ultimate goal. The work aims to transform the Paseo de Extremadura into the Paseo Verde del Suroeste, a 3.2 kilometer pedestrian axis that will connect neighborhoods in the Latina district (Lucero, Aluche, Las Águilas) with Campamento and Casa de Campo, separated since 1968 by the A5, on which some 80,000 vehicles circulate daily. The idea is that the coverage will reduce surface traffic by 90%, promising to reduce polluting emissions. It will also incorporate a 3.5 kilometer bi-directional cycle path, 33 new pedestrian connections compared to the current 16 and wider sidewalks. The project, with an investment of 408 million euros, seeks to continue the pedestrianized boulevard from Avenida de Portugal to Avenida del Padre Piquer. What remains to be done. The most complex challenge of the summer will be to execute the connection with the Portugal Avenue tunnel, which will force new traffic cuts similar to those of the last summer period. Borja Carabante assured that “the most difficult thing has already happened,” but acknowledged that diverting services such as gas, water, telephone or electricity continues to be a complicated task due to the age of the plans. The work maintains its pace with more than 600 workers and 400 machines operating simultaneously. Cover image | Madrid Diary In Xataka | The deepest tunnel on the planet will join two points separated by 1,000 km: the margin of error is only five centimeters

Public transport faces 2026 with extended aid and the approved Single Pass: there is still one step ahead

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Public transport enters 2026 with two decisions already made and an important nuance still pending to be resolved. The Council of Ministers has approved the extension of current aid throughout next year and has given the green light to the Single Passa new flat rate that will begin operating in January and that seeks to simplify access to state-run trains and buses. The announcement consolidates a policy that the Government has been implementing since 2018, but also leaves the final procedure pending. The key date is January 1, but not for the arrival of a new system, but for the continuity of the current one. From that day on, the bonuses remain in force. The Single Pass, which does introduce a different model, will have a later start and will not be available until the second half of January. The entire plan has planned financing of more than 1,371 million euros by 2026. Extension with changes. Although the aid is extended, the scheme does not remain intact. The main novelty for 2026 is in the way of financing them in regional and local transport: the Ministry of Transport will cover the 20% general bonus for the rest of the subscriptions without conditioning that contribution on the competent administrations adding another 20%. {“videoId”:”x8d81cm”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Free Renfe passes”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”30″} In practice, users will find in 2026 a scheme very similar to the current one, with nuances depending on the territory and the operator. State-owned buses will maintain free child tickets and the main subsidized passes, including reinforced discounts for young people. Renfe: continuity and new incentives. Bonuses on Renfe services will continue to be one of the central pieces of the system in 2026. Commuter passes with reduced rates, free children’s tickets and discounts on Media Distancia and Avant are maintained, in line with what has been applied until now, while new features are introduced for recurring travelers. The Ministry emphasizes that these measures have had a notable impact on the use of the railway: more than 14 million tickets sold since their implementation and an estimated saving of around 1.5 billion euros for travelers. Pass Via enters the scene. Renfe will introduce some changes in 2026 aimed at recurring travelers. The main novelty is the new quarterly “Pase Vía” subscription for Avant services, which will apply progressive discounts (from 45% to 72%) depending on the number of trips made and will allow you to pay for each ticket without an initial outlay. Added to this is the Cronos Cercanías system, which will offer a 40% discount from the fifth trip when access is made by paying with the bank card directly at the turnstiles. The new Single Pass. The new state flat rate adds to the mosaic of existing aid with a different logic. The Single Pass will allow unlimited travel for 30 days on Renfe Cercanías, Rodalies and Media Distancia and on state-owned interregional buses for 60 euros, or 30 euros in the case of those under 26 years of age. It will be available from the second half of January and will require prior user registration. In Xataka The single public transport ticket promises to change the mobility of our country for 60 euros. We have many doubts Although the measures have already been approved by the Council of Ministers, the institutional path is not completely closed. The extension of the aid is articulated through a royal decree-law, a figure that allows its immediate entry into force but that requires subsequent validation by Congress within the constitutional period. On this occasion, the text is processed independently and is not included in a broader decree, a decision that would facilitate its parliamentary validation. Images | RENFE | Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility In Xataka | There will be no insurance or registration for electric scooters on January 2, 2026: the DGT has confirmed it (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Public transport faces 2026 with extended aid and the approved Single Pass: there is still one step ahead was originally published in Xataka by Javier Marquez .

how to organize the giveaway step by step in the app

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It’s almost Christmas, so we’re going to tell you how to make a invisible friend giveaway on WhatsApp in case you haven’t done so yet. Today, WhatsApp has enough tools to allow you to do everything, from organizing it to executing it. For this, we are going to start by telling you the previous organizational steps to have everything prepared. And then, to do the draw itself we will resort to Meta AIthe artificial intelligence integrated into WhatsApp itself. Thus, you will not need to use any external tool at any time. The only thing you should keep in mind if you do this is that Whoever organizes the draw will know all the resultsmeaning it will have to be an innocent hand that is not going to reveal them ahead of time. Step 1: Create a group and set the rules The first step is to create a group for participants on WhatsApp, although you can also do it in any other app. In this group you will not do the draw, but it will simply be to start organizing everything, and establish rules among everyone to set up the giveaway. One option is take surveys in the WhatsApp group to define the following characteristics: Budget: This is the most important part. For it to be a balanced invisible friend and everyone spends the same, a minimum and maximum spending margin must be agreed upon so that no one goes too far or falls too short. The normal amount is fifteen to twenty euros, but it depends on each group or family, so the optimal thing is to decide it with a survey. Deadlines: Another of the most important part, deciding the deadline to make the gifts. This way, everyone will be able to take the date into account, although it won’t hurt to remember it from time to time. Exceptions: If couples are going to participate in the invisible friend, it is important to decide if they can give each other gifts, and also establish any other type of exception that you see necessary. Other standards: Any other rules that you want to apply to the game are important to establish before carrying out the draw. Once you have them all, you can write a message with a summary of everything and pin it in the group, so that it always appears at the top and is easy to locate. Step 2: Create a chat with you for details Since we are telling you how to organize the entire giveaway through WhatsApp, then the next step is to use the app to take notes. For that, you can send a message to yourselfand so in these messages you can write down everything, such as the people who participate, who has already bought the gifts or to whom you sent the result of the draw. You can also write down the copy of the draw and the pairings, or the people who have not yet sent the gift and then edit and delete it as they do so. In short, write all the details related to the invisible friendto have it in a visible place within WhatsApp. Step 3: Run the draw Now, go to the main screen of WhatsApp and open Meta AI by clicking on its icon with the blue circle. It will appear in the same list of conversations you have. If you want, you can also do it with other artificial intelligences such as ChatGPT, Copilot either Gemini. The important thing here is to write a prompt specifying that you are going to do an invisible friend giveawayso that the AI ​​already knows what the procedure is. Once inside, you have to write the names of the participantsas well as any possible exceptions. You can use a prompt like this: I want to organize an invisible friend giveaway. These are the people who participate: Loki, Freya, Herminio, Faustina, Clemencio, Cayetana. Loki cannot touch Freya and Freya cannot touch Loki. Furthermore, Faustina and Clemencio cannot touch each other either. Taking these exceptions into account, organize the invisible friend raffle. As you have seen, in the prompt we have first put the names and then the exceptions, indicating who cannot give gifts to each other. This you have to personalize it with the data of your invisible friend and with everything you have organized and agreed upon together. You also have the option of using one of the pages and apps to do the invisible friend raffle like the ones we told you in this article. Here, in each of them there may be different systems, but you will always have to write the names and possible exceptions. Step 4: Send the results Once you have this, write to each person to tell who it is your turn to give. Don’t say this in the group To keep it a secret, simply write individual messages telling everyone who to give the gift to. Here, it is also recommended mention important details of the draw to remind the person. You can use the message to remember both the gift budget and the deadline. It is also important that you ask each person to reply to your message when they have the gift purchased. This way, you can write down who bought it in that message with yourself that we told you before, and you can insist on those who are taking too long to confirm the purchase. In Xataka Basics | The best prompts to save hours of work and do your tasks with ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot or other artificial intelligence

We are discovering how the brain “hacks” us to make us hungry. And it is a key step in the race towards losing weight.

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Right now, treatments to lose weight are the order of the day, with a clear protagonist like Ozempic. The problem is that beyond the aesthetic effects that are achieved, there are many doubts about both the side effects as well as all the effects it has on the body. But little by little science you understand much better how they achieve their effectwhich seems like a real miracle for many. What we knew. In general, these treatments They are ‘copies’ of GLP-1 which is a hormone that we produce normally in our body and makes us have the feeling of satiety. The moment we increase it exogenously we have a greater feeling of satiety that allows patients to lose weight (although with a risk of bouncing when treatment is stopped). But beyond this effect, the action it could have directly on the brain was something that had only been explored in animals. Now, a new study published in Nature has crossed this frontier thanks to Casey Halpern’s team, which has taken advantage of a “unique opportunity” to observe, for the first time in humans, the impact of Mounjaro (tirzepatide) directly into the reward center of the brain. Why it is important. The discovery of how the brain can ‘hack’ our body to eat much less opens many doors for us in the field of pharmacology to be able to continue working on definitive treatment. against obesitybecause we are seeing that it is something in high demand by many people who find it necessary to have this help (although it is not a miracle) to be able to reduce their weight. And we even see how in the United States purchasing is becoming more and more accessible. And we say that it is a miracle, because Ozempic or Mounjaro does part of the work, but we must not leave aside the change in eating habits to adjust the diet and be able to maintain it after stopping the treatment. The problem is that there are people who after stopping the treatment continue eating normally, and logically they see that there was no miracle involved. How it was done. The study focused on a 60-year-old woman with treatment-resistant obesity and type 2 diabetes. This patient was already taking Mounjaro for diabetes, and coincidentally, she was participating in another trial to treat dysregulated eating. This coincidence allowed the researchers to do something unprecedented: use the electrodes, already implanted in its nucleus accumbens (NAc)for hear brain activity while the drug took effect. And this brain nucleus is really important as it is the center of pleasure in humans and reward, that is, it is the point that can be modulated to restrict food consumption. The sign of craving. Those cravings we have for eating a little chocolate, a greasy pizza or a hamburger are something we all have because it is what gives us pleasure. In this case it was seen that the signal changed over the months, specifically the delta-theta frequency band. In the first months of treatments with Mounjaro, the patient had no desire for food in that sense of craving. Something that corresponded to a null signal in this nucleus, so it could be said that the medication was silencing this ‘noise’ that is generated in the pleasure center. The problem is that in the fifth to seventh months, despite being on the maximum dose of medication, the patient again had severe concern about food. And here again the signal in the nucleus had spiked to match that of those people who had no treatment. An advantage for the future. The most important finding here is that the change in the brain preceded the behavior. That is, before having a relapse this signal was increasing as if it were a warning signal. That is, a future where a sensor can detect this brain signature and alert the patient or doctor that the effectiveness of the drug is decreasing, before that the person will feel the cravings again in an uncontrolled way. Much ahead. This is a study with a single person, and it has many limitations and its conclusions logically cannot condition the clinical activity of the use of these medications. What it is useful for (and a lot) is to understand that the brain has a lot to do with this weight loss as if it were a real button to control eating habits. Perhaps silencing this brain nucleus in a very specific and sustained way may be the ‘holy grail’ that weight loss science seeks to control these cravings that can ruin a diet imposed by specialists. Although there is still a lot to investigate and it is only a first door for other medications that can complement Ozempic or Mounjaro, which has given great results. Images | Shawn Day Victoria Shes In Xataka | This is the great hope of the competition to replace Ozempic. Your weapon: banish needles with a pill

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