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Tourism has turned Norway into the latest theme park. And the business of hunting the northern lights in a risky sport

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It happened a few years ago in Icelandwhen the authorities saw forced to close temporarily access to a natural canyon after thousands of visitors hiked it off marked trails, damaging vegetation and eroding the terrain in a matter of weeks. What had been an almost unknown corner for years suddenly became in a viral phenomenonleaving an unexpected impression: a remote landscape transformed into an overflowing place in a very short time. Now it’s your turn to Norway. From quiet city to saturated destination. What was for years a peaceful northern town has transformed into a global phenomenon: Tromsø has gone from a medium-sized university town to receive massive waves of visitors attracted by this new hype in the form of northern lights. The growth, driven largely by social media, has local capacity overwhelmed to the point that, in high season, tourists far exceed to residents. We are talking about collapsed streets, strained services and constant pressure on infrastructure that reflect how tourism has turned the environment into something very different from what it was. The rise of a business without control. The problem arises because, at the same time, it has emerged a parallel industry of unregulated guides that operate outside the law, taking advantage of the low barrier to entry and high demand. With a car, a mobile phone and access to aurora tracking apps, these operators offer improvised routes that compete with legal services, eroding both the local economy and the quality of the experience. In fact, they counted in the New York Times that the authorities estimate that a significant part of these activities escapes official control, generating income that does not revert to the community and multiplying the problems. Mass tourism turned into operational chaos. The result is a scenario where the search for auroras has become unpredictablewith convoys of vehicles traveling on roads, constant route changes and a general feeling of disorder. Specialized police teams patrol the city and its accesses looking for these activities illegal, but clandestine operators adapt quickly, sharing information and using tactics to avoid controls. This constant game between surveillance and evasion has turned the activity into something much more complex than a simple tourist excursion. Failed experiences and feeling of being scammed. As a result, for many visitors, the promise of a unique experience is has translated into frustrationdeceptions or unexpected situations, with stories of tours that are not completed, guides who disappear and keep the money or even police interventions in the middle of the tour. The contrast between the idyllic image of the destination and the reality experienced by some tourists has begun to leave its mark in reputation of the place. What should be a memorable natural experience sometimes becomes a chaotic and unreliable process. A destination converted into an extreme theme park. All of this has led to a deeper transformation: one where the northern lights are no longer just a natural phenomenon, but the center of an intensive industry which works almost like an outdoor theme park. The pressure to capture that perfect moment has turned the activity into a constant race against time, weather and competition, raising the risk and tension with each outing. Thus, what was once pure contemplation now comes closer and closer to an experience extreme where improvisation and business weigh as much as nature itself. The impact on those who live from the phenomenon. They remembered in the Times that for legal and experienced operators, the situation has changed radically, facing unfair competition that reduces prices and deteriorates standards. What should be a season of celebration has turned into a struggle to maintain viability of the business in a saturated environment. Another one, as already it happened in iceland and its volcanoes or more recently on Everesta change that reflects a broader reality: when tourism grows out of control, even the most spectacular destinations can end up trapped in your own success. Image | PXHere In Xataka | Touristification has made Mercadona find itself with a rival in Barcelona: 24-hour supermarkets In Xataka | There is something worse than Everest turning into a mountain literally full of shit: scam rescues

It turned out so well that he doubled and expanded it

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Tourism equals overcrowding in Venice. It is nothing new and, in fact, the enclave has been a pioneer in some regulations that have sought to put a stop to the hordes to reconcile the lives of the locals and ensure that its ecosystem does not end up swallowed up as a victim of its own success. Its geography simply does not allow for more, and that is why they have imposed caps on large groups with fines to whomever passes, or even They have tracked phones. They also imposed a pioneer tollan entrance fee that went so well that the days doubled. Now also the price. The experiment is consolidated in 2025. As we said, Venice is a pioneer in the imposition of an entry fee for single day visitorsand the success has been such for the administration that They decided to double the rate in 2025, raising it from 5 to 10 euros for those who enter without an accommodation reservation. Furthermore, and as we explained in the past, The measure was applied on 54 days of the year, almost double the 29 days selected in 2024. The dates included a continuous block from April 18 to May 4, followed by every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until the end of July. The charge will remain between the hours of 8:30 am and 4:00 pm, and those who reserve at least four days in advance will be able to pay only 5 euros. And it will be updated in 2026. Yes, because the system extends to 60 daysnot 54. Now it practically covers every weekend and several long weekends between April and July. Of course, the double rate is maintained: 5 euros if you reserve at least 4 days in advance, or 10 if you reserve later. Furthermore, the official schedule checkpoint remains from 08:30 to 16:00, the mandatory QR system is now much more consolidated and controls are more frequent, and fines can still reach between 50 and 300 euros if you do not have the QR or do not pay. Extra ball: the exemption is maintained for those who sleep in hotels or apartments within the municipality of Venice, although they must still register online. Impact on tourism rate. In 2024, almost half a million tourists (485,062) paid the entrance fee, that is, generated 2.4 million euros in income to the public coffers (The cost of the system or the destination of the funds raised have not been revealed). Registration data indicates that, after Italians, the main tourists were Americans, Germans and French. In addition, the measure achieved a slight reduction in the number of visitors coming from the Veneto region, although the authorities have not provided figures. We also remember that despite this rate increase, access remains free for those who spend the night in the city, although You must register online at cda.ve.it to obtain your exemption. Travelers who only transit through Piazzale Roma, Tronchetto or Stazione Marittima are also exempt, as well as those who visit the outer islands of the lagoon (Lido, Murano and Burano) without passing through the center. The future in Venice. It’s the big question. The authorities admit that the tax alone is not enough to manage mass tourism, but they do consider that The system created lays the foundation for future regulations stricter. Venice, which receives tourists from 194 countriesremains one of the destinations most affected by tourist overexploitation, which has led to the implementation of increasingly restrictive measures in an effort to protect its fragile urban ecosystem and preserve its historical character. A more than difficult equation. Image | Hervé Simon In Xataka | Venice spent 5 billion euros on flood barriers. Five years later they are already “unsustainable” In Xataka | The citizens of Venice staged a small rebellion over Jeff Bezos’s wedding. Now it will be held at another point *An earlier version of this article was published in February 2025

China turned off the oil tap when the conflict with Iran broke out. Now he reopens it to rescue a thirsty Asia

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When the Strait of Hormuz was practically sealed after the outbreak of the well-known Third Gulf War, the world held its breath. In the midst of widespread panic over the strangulation of one of the planet’s most vital energy arteries, the first major tectonic movement came from Beijing. The Asian giant opted for the crudest pragmatism: it ordered its large refineries to immediately and opaquely stop gasoline and diesel exports to shield its own tanks. China isolated itself to survive. However, in just a few weeks, the board has taken an unexpected turn. With an Asia that looks into the abyss of the shortage, Beijing has decided to reopen the valve, going from being a protectionist actor to establishing itself as the great energy lifeline of the region. Asia’s savior: China. The shockwaves of war have left the Indo-Pacific region shivering. Asia has become “ground zero” of the crisis. In Australia, the panic has emptied the gas stationsforcing the government to cut emergency taxes; India has had to sacrifice tax revenue to freeze prices due to shortages; Japan has refused to share its strategic reserves with its neighbors; and Vietnam airlines They have had to cancel en masse their flights due to the lack and extra cost of aviation fuel. In the midst of this desperation, China has made its move. As anticipated BloombergBeijing has given the green light to its state refineries to export 500,000 tons of fuels (gasoline, diesel and kerosene) over the next month. According to sources cited by oil pricecompanies such as Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) already have shipments ready on ships that will be destined, as a rescue, to severely punished neighboring nations such as Vietnam and Laos. The energetic rice bowl. That China can afford to export fuel while the rest of the continent applies rationing measures is not a miracle, it is the result of a silent strategy. China took advantage of previous years to buy heavily sanctioned and cheap crude oil (Russian, Venezuelan and Iranian), managing to accumulate colossal reserves of almost 1.4 billion barrels. According to researcher Henry Tugendhatthis gives Beijing a cushion of about 104 days of domestic demand, in addition to having a “floating warehouse” of Iranian oil tankers anchored off its coasts waiting to be unloaded. Returning to “Game of Thrones.” But Beijing’s move goes far beyond helping its neighbors; It is a direct geopolitical challenge. As detailed South China Morning Post (SCMP)China has for the first time activated its so-called “Blockade Rules” of 2021. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce has issued an official order prohibiting domestic companies from complying with the sanctions recently imposed by the United States. Washington had sanctioned five refineries Chinese independent companies (known as “teapots”), including Hengli Petrochemical, accusing them of financing the Iranian military by purchasing its oil. By ordering the contempt of these sanctions because they are considered a “improper extraterritorial application”Beijing demonstrates that it not only has physical control of the crude oil, but that it is willing to engage in a legal and financial confrontation with the United States to protect its supply lines. Tightrope diplomacy. The short-term scenario will be played in the offices. As explained The New York TimesChina is playing both sides in this conflict. On the one hand, he acts as a peaceful mediator, pushing Iran to negotiate to de-escalate tension, having been key in the fragile temporary ceasefires. However, on the other hand, US intelligence agencies suspect that Chinese companies continue to export dual-use material and even military technology to Tehran. All of this is meticulously calculated ahead of the imminent May 14 summit in Beijing between Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump. According to the analysts consulted through the New York environmentthe fact that the US is bogged down in the Middle East and rapidly spending its military resources, gives China a position of tremendous strength to negotiate over tariffs, trade and the US naval blockade. lenergy as the definitive weapon of the 21st century. The Strait of Hormuz crisis has functioned as a stress test for energy globalization. The sanctions drawn up in Washington attempt to financially suffocate the actors in the conflict, but the tyranny of physical infrastructure imposes its own rules. China has shown that the energy wars in this decade are not only decided with naval deployments, but with warehouses full of strategic reserves, independence in refining capacity and overwhelming dominance in the manufacturing of renewable energy. By reopening its export tap, Beijing sends a clear message to the world: while the West hyperventilates over the price of a barrel, China is the one who has the ability to decide who is left in the dark in Asia. Image | Photo by Bundo Kim on Unsplash Xataka | China is one of the largest refining powers on the planet. And he has decided something: to keep all the gasoline he produces

Evangelism has been leading a revolution in Madrid for years. Now he has turned the Metropolitan into a huge church

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evangelism build muscle in Madrid. The weekend tens of thousands of people gathered at the Riyadh Air Metropolitan stadium to participate in The Change 2026a Christian event that had its first edition in August 2023 at the Benfica da Luz stadium (Lisbon) and revolves around gospel, prayer and evangelization. The event is important not only for its content or participants, which includes the footballer Daniel Alves. It is above all because it connects with other manifestations recent and multitudinous Christianity. What matters, but even more so when and where. What is The Change 2026? A Christian macro event held this weekend in Madrid. Its highlight came on Saturday, when a massive event was organized at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano stadium (Atletico’s field) which, according to organizers’ calculations, was attended by more than 35,000 people. In the website from The Change details that the first event of these characteristics took place in 2023, in Lisbon, and has already attracted thousands of people. At its genesis is the Rodrigues Pereira Association, an organization promoted by the preacher of the same name. Tickets to the event were freealthough they required prior registration and the organization accepted donations. Why is it important? Its attendance data is interesting in itself, but if there is a reason that explains the curiosity that The Change has aroused (and the comments that it has generated in networks) is that it connects with other much broader trends. The main one, the celebration of massive religious events in Madrid. We had the best example beginning of 2026when the city hosted two events almost simultaneously that had thousands of attendees. He January 10 Vistalegre served as the setting for a concert by Kahuna Group Music, a Catholic group that brought together thousands of people. On the same dates, the Movistar Arena hosted the prayer meeting Callswhich had Alpha España among its organizers and had the evangelical group Hillsong as the opening act. They were not two isolated cases. In April some 85,000 people They participated again in the fourth edition of the Festival of the Resurrection, organized by the Catholic Association of Propagandists and which once again featured Hakuna. Catholics and/or evangelists? It is not a minor issue. The Change vindicate that their event “is not the fruit of a single organization”, but “the heartbeat of a united church, with the same feeling.” The Catholic Church, however, has distanced itself from the event held this Saturday at the Metropolitan. In fact, on March 12, the Archdiocese of Madrid sent a statement brief and firm in which he made it clear that it had nothing to do with The Change. “This initiative is being promoted in our diocese by people outside it, in collaboration with a priest and an association led by a Portuguese evangelical pastor,” pointed out the Madrid Catholic Church, which clarified in passing that it was only informed of the event “when it had already been called.” “Consequently, the Archdiocese of Madrid does not consider itself linked to this event and regrets the call for activities of this nature in its jurisdiction without the necessary coordination with diocesan pastoral care.” Is it an important detail? Yes. Because it connects with a broader phenomenon that transcends the event held this weekend at the Metropolitano. Beyond the rise of Christianity (a trend that studies do not always support: some suggest a growing interest in the spiritual, rather than in orthodoxy), The Change or Llamados show a change in the way of expressing faith. A shift that also pivots towards a form of collective prayer and celebration centered on pop music, rock, big screens and collective prayers, manifestations far from the liturgy of more traditional Catholicism. Is it something new? No. The change comes from years back and it has not been without debate. The Online School of Apologetics has published, for example a list of “twelve reasons why it is not good to listen to Protestant music” and in 2011 the website Religion in Freedom he was wondering Whether Catholics should take note of the evangelists’ use of music. All this, between the controversy by Hillsong. In recent days, voices uncomfortable with the Metropolitan event have also emerged. One of the clearest is Universitarios Católicos (almost 132,000 followers on X), which took advantage of the weekend event to remember the rise of evangelism in the Community of Madrid. “One of the consequences of mass immigration: the loss of our Catholic identity,” concludes. Religion in Freedom assures that, although on Saturday people linked to the Catholic Church or Charismatic Renewal of Madrid could be seen in the stadium, the vast majority of attendees were not linked to the Church of Rome. Specifically, the media estimates that if in the event held in 2023 in Lisbon Catholics represented 25% of the public, in the case of Madrid they were 10%. What was seen in The Change? The event revolved around gospel, corporate prayer and preaching. Among the participants, names stood out such as Rodrigues Pereira or Dani Alves, former footballer for FC Barcelona and the Brazilian national team sentenced to four and a half years in prison (sentence later revoked by the Superior Court of Justice) for a violation. From that same thing, from his experience in prison, Alves spoke before the thousands of people gathered at the Metropolitano. “I was in prison for 14 months, but there Christ set me free. I have lost everything, but by losing everything I found Jesus.” Is it just religion? No. It’s culture. And demographics. Events like Saturday’s may grab headlines, but they are rooted in a much more important… and silent reality: over the last few years, evangelism has been expanding throughout Madrid, coinciding with the increase in Latin American migration. The Observatory of Religious Pluralism in Spain recorded a few months ago 834 places dedicated to evangelical worship in the region, which made it the minority confession with the greatest presence, ahead of Muslims. The phenomenon, very visible in the polygons where new … Read more

Microsoft just turned an $11 billion startup into a Word feature. It’s more than a legal Copilot

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Brad Smith is more than the vice chairman of the board and president of Microsoft: Smith is also a lawyer and as he himself tellsat the beginning of his career he asked his company for a computer because he firmly believed that computing could change the way lawyers work. In fact, his Wikipedia biography gives more detail: it was the requirement that the Washington, DC law firm Covington & Burling set to join. Said and done: in 1986 he was the first person in the firm to have one, which ran the legendary Word 1.0 processor. Seen in perspective it sounds like marketing, but a tremendous omen: Microsoft just announced Legal Agent for Wordan AI agent designed for legal work. What’s new from Microsoft is not a legal Copilot. Legal Agent is an agent designed to understand and operate within a legal document as a lawyer would: it analyzes risks, compares clauses against the organization’s internal rules, has tracking for the changes it generates, differentiates previous reviews of new proposals and detects potentially problematic provisions. Everything happens within the .docx itself, without leaving Word. What distinguishes it technically is its architecture. The agent does not ask the LLM to generate each edit directly, but instead combines that semantic understanding layer with a deterministic layer that applies the changes in a controlled way. This allows you to insert clauses, delete paragraphs, or add comments while preserving the original formatting of the document, including tables, lists, and change history. The result is a more reliable and predictable system than a chatbot, with fewer hallucinations and with the consistency that legal work demands. Brad Smith’s tweet includes a video that lasts almost a minute and a half where it can be seen in action: Tap to go to the post Why is it important. The key is not so much the technology, which already existed, but rather the distribution: Word is the program par excellence for drafting, reviewing and negotiating contracts around the world. Integrating there means being in the right place at the right time, without friction: it eliminates the need for another service, creating an account and logging in, the learning curve, the workflow between two different apps, data migrations and security. All in one, all easy. The definitive boost is the price. While subscribing to specialty products like Harvey they hover the 1,000 – 1,200 dollars per lawyer per base month, according to market estimates collected by Sacrathe Legal Agent arrives integrated into theCopilot Enterprise subscription of 30 dollars a month that surely many spiteful people already pay per se. The difference in magnitude and the product placement anticipate a voracious entry into this market niche. Context. A troubled river, fishermen’s profit: Microsoft did not start from scratch for this project. At the beginning of the year contract to more than 18 engineers from Robin AI, the legal AI startup that collapsed after failing to close its $50 million round. Probably if Robin AI had not fallen, Microsoft would not have been able to create such a product so quickly. We were talking about other specialized products but the name on the horizon was one: Harveythe sector’s benchmark. Founded by Winston Weinberg and former Google DeepMind Gabe Pereyraoperates with more than 100,000 law professionals in more than 1,300 organizations and is valued at 11 billion dollars. Your latest financing round It was 200 millionclosed in March 2026 and co-led by GIC and Sequoia. It is true that its proposal goes beyond the review of contracts: it has more than 25,000 personalized agents operating on its platform with deep integrations into the document management systems used by large law firms, such as iManage and NetDocuments. Bottom line: It’s not a $30 a month feature. Yes, but. In any case, for now the product is still in early access, only in Word for Windows, with configuration restrictions and some complaints from those who have already tried it. Furthermore, it remains to be seen whether lawyers will trust into a mainstream tool for highly complex cases where a minimal error can be costly. The battle of price and distribution is won, confidence and technical depth is another story. Saying that Microsoft is going to kill Harvey it’s an exaggeration: The Legal Agent is more focused on volume work, that more mundane work of routine reviews, standard contracts, NDAs… that takes legal professionals hours every day. Harvey is strong in more complex and/or high-risk tasks: a multinational with a serious litigation advised by an elite law firm is hardly going to entrust the matter to an agent included in an Office subscription. What the Robin AI story does make clear is that having a good product and customers does not guarantee survival: the group of organizations willing to pay is smaller than the investment rounds anticipated. In Xataka | The relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI is no longer exclusive. It took someone 48 hours to fish in a troubled river: Amazon In Xataka | The results of the technology companies are very clear: the business of AI is not AI, it is renting its infrastructure Cover | Brad Smith on Twitter

Sylvester Stallone and the phrase that turned a scene into the most dangerous of his career: “Hit me for real”

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For years, in action cinema there was a kind of unwritten rule: the more real a scene seemed, the better it worked on screen, even if that meant taking unusual risks. That limit was unexpectedly tested when, in the middle of filming Rocky IVa seemingly minor decision ended up forcing Sylvester Stallone to leave the set and be transferred urgently to the hospital. “Hit me for real.” Rarely has a phrase said on set had consequences that were as real as they were dangerous, but that is exactly what happened during Rocky IV. Sylvester Stallone, obsessed with making the final fight convey absolute authenticity, made a decision that would mark the filming: he asked his partner to leave the choreography aside and really hit during part of the fight. That order, which had to be translated into dramatic intensity on screen, ended up becoming a physical experiment that crossed a dangerous line between interpretation and reality. He almost doesn’t count it. The result did not take long to arrive. Dolph Lundgren, much larger, stronger and with training in martial arts, executed what was asked of him without restraint. In the middle of that unscripted combat, a direct blow to the chest hit with such force that it compressed Stallone’s heart against his ribcage, causing an injury that doctors compared “to a traffic accident“. The most disturbing thing was that the actor did not notice anything at the moment of impact, but hours later his body began to collapse, dizzy and with symptoms that showed that something was very wrong. From filming to the emergency room. That same night, the situation became critical. Stallone’s blood pressure shot up to extreme levels and his heart began to swell, forcing to transfer him urgently by plane from Canada to a hospital in California. The actor entered directly in the ICUwhere he spent several days surrounded by health personnel, in a surreal scene due to the way it occurred. Stallone himself I would admit with the time that he was very close to dying that day, in an episode that turned a simple creative decision into an extreme experience. ANDThe plane that he did not want to cut. The most surprising thing is that the blow responsible for that entire critical situation was not eliminated of the final assembly. On the contrary, Stallone, faithful to his obsession with the authenticity of the saga he had created, decided to keep in the film the exact moment that took him to the hospital, turning the moment into a key piece of the intensity conveyed by the fight. Paradoxically, a scene that seems spectacular due to its realism and brutality is precisely because, for a few seconds, it stopped being fiction. Return to the ring later. Far from abandoning, Stallone returned to filming after leaving the hospital to finish the production, thus closing a production marked by physical excess and the search for truthfulness at any price. That decision reinforced the myth of Rocky IV as one of the most extreme installments in the saga, but it also left an uncomfortable lesson about the risks of pushing realism too far. Authenticity turned into danger. If you also want, the case of Rocky IV It’s not just a filming anecdote, but a clear example to what extent the film industry has historically played with the limits of security in search of greater impact on screen. What happened that day sums up an idea that is difficult to ignore: sometimes, in the attempt to make a story seem real, there is a risk that it stops being so altogether. Image | United Artists In Xataka | In 1953 Hollywood filmed a blockbuster in front of US nuclear tests. It was the most radioactive movie in history, literally In Xataka | The day a man dared to go further than anyone else: a real fight with Bruce Lee where there were no limits

The bet of “Everything on subscriptions” has not turned out as Microsoft expected

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Microsoft bought Activision for almost 70,000 million with a clear and undisguised idea: put the successive installments of ‘Call of Duty’ in Game Pass from day one. A strategy that, on paper, would boost the service’s subscribers and change the tides of the industry. Eighteen months later, perhaps the numbers have not turned out to be so favorable and the company is rectifying that strategy at full speed. The most curious thing? After some changes, users end up paying more for a service that offers less. Price changes. Six months ago, Game Pass Ultimate cost 17.99 euros per month and included from day 1 the latest ‘Call of Duty’ to date, ‘Black Ops 6’. In October 2025 Microsoft raised the price to 26.99 euros, 50% hitjust two weeks before the premiere of ‘Black Ops 7’. Now on April 21, 2026 announces which lowers it to 20.99, but without the future ‘Call of Duty’ on day one. PC Game Pass, in parallel, goes to 12.99 euros from the previous 14.99, although it is also above the 11.99 it cost before the last increase in price. Not so discount. Despite the apparent discount, the April subscriber pays three euros more than the subscriber in September of last year, but also renounces the main claim for the service. Future ‘Call of Duty’ will arrive on Ultimate and PC Game Pass “during the following holiday season, approximately one year after” their commercial release, while ‘Black Ops 6’ and ‘Black Ops 7’ remain in the catalog. Only half a year has passed after the total restructuring with the purchase of Activision… but with the rate somewhat more expensive than it was not too long ago. Why it didn’t work. The strategy made sense: if ‘Call of Duty’ is the most profitable franchise on the market, offering it on the first day within the subscription would make Game Pass an almost impossible proposition to refuse. The numbers did not match. A report last October estimated that Microsoft had missed out on $300 million in revenue by including ‘Black Ops 6’ on the service in 2024. That same report noted that 82% of the game’s full-price sales occurred on PlayStation 5. Things got worse with ‘Black Ops 7’. Due to its presence on Game Pass from day one, the game’s launch sales fell more than 60% in some marketsand in the United States it ended 2025 as the fifth best-selling title of the year, the lowest position for a franchise game in almost two decades. Subscription was cannibalizing sales without growing enough to make up for it. The accounts don’t work out. Perhaps Microsoft’s accounts collided with an indisputable reality: there is not enough Xbox to support the expenses of a blockbuster of the caliber of Call of Duty, mainly with subscriptions. In November 2025 Calculations placed Xbox Series X/S at 34.10 million units sold compared to 86.12 million for PS5. Of course, the difference grows quarter by quarter. Giving away a game on day one that still costs $69.99 on PlayStation meant giving up margin in the most profitable territory to monetize Call of Duty. What point are we at? Christopher Dring, editor of The Game Business, pointed that the decision has also been made due to an imminent launch: ‘Forza Horizon 6’ arrives on Xbox in May and is, right now, the third most desired game on Steam, with nearly 2.7 million people who have included it in their wishlists. It is a good asset, with its previous arrival on the console, to increase the subscriber base, and the price drop may interest more than one player with doubts. In Xataka | Game Pass is already an unsustainable investment: more than 2,000 euros for each generation of console and without anything owned

Ukraine has turned Russia into a fearsome air force

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In 1991, during the Gulf War, the United States discovered something uncomfortable: despite its total air superiority, it could not prevent Iraq from continuing to launch scud missiles from mobile platforms that appeared and disappeared in the desert. That frustration left a clear lesson For military strategists: in modern warfare, it is not enough to dominate the air, you must constantly adapt to an enemy that also learns. From questioned strength to real threat. During the first stages of the invasion of Ukraine, Russian aviation was perceived like a disappointment unable to achieve air superiority, which led many Western analysts to perhaps hastily underestimate it. However, with the passage of time, that vision has started to change disturbingly, especially in Europe, where aviation security experts have focused on something that is no longer an intuition: that the conflict has not weakened Russia, but rather the has forced to learn. Accumulated experience, system improvements and tactical adaptation have transformed a force that seemed limited into a much more dangerous and credible actor than it was before 2022. War as a laboratory. They remembered on Insider that, far from collapsing, Russian aviation has used Ukraine as a real training environment where pilots and crews have gained experience in high-intensity combat. Although it has lost aircraft, it has retained a large part of its qualified personnel and has compensated for those losses with sustained production of new aircraft, which has allowed it to maintain and even expand its fleet. This process has corrected one of its greatest historical weaknesses, the lack of flight hours, turning its pilots into more prepared fighters for complex scenarios. More reach, less risk. One of the most significant changes has been the evolution of his attack capacitywhich now increasingly relies on long-range weapons and systems that allow you to hit without directly exposing yourself. We are talking about advanced missiles, gliding bombs and remote attacks that have reduced the need to penetrate defended airspace, greatly complicating the enemy response. This way of fighting has not only proven to be effective in Ukraine, but also poses a worrying scenario. for future conflictswhere control of the air no longer depends solely on physically dominating it. Constant pressure from the air. They counted on ukrainian media that, in parallel, Russia has intensified its air campaign with massive and increasingly sophisticated use of drones and missiles, launching thousands of devices and perfecting saturation tactics to overwhelm defenses. Coordinated attacks, changes in flight patterns and the combination of different types of weapons have made it possible to maintain continuous pressure on infrastructure and the civilian population, generating not only material but also psychological wear. This strategy turns air into space permanent threatwhere the defense can never relax. A more complex threat. If you will, the result is a Russian air force that, although it still has structural limitations and does not match NATO in a direct confrontation, has become much scariest and most difficult to counteract. The combination of strengthened air defense, better coordination between systems and a more adaptive doctrine presents a scenario for its enemies in which achieving air superiority will be much more expensive and risky. In other words, a paradox has developed and is beginning to take hold, one where Ukraine has not only resisted Russian aviation, but, by forcing it to evolve, has contributed to turning it into a more sophisticated and persistent threat to the European military balance. Image | Alan Wilsonparfaits In Xataka | If fog was deadly in Ukraine’s winter, spring is offering Russia a key advantage: greenery In Xataka | Ukraine is close to what no one has achieved in a war: shooting down missiles for less than a million dollars

The world became obsessed with pistachios because of Dubai chocolate. Now the war has turned it into a trap

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The last few years have been anything but quiet for the pistachio industry. First ‘Dubai chocolate’ fever Its demand skyrocketed, straining supply chains and skyrocketing prices. Now the Iran conflict has struck a blow to its market, causing an earthquake whose consequences are still difficult to predict. For now there are already analysts warning that the fruit is beginning to be priced at highs that have not been seen for almost a decade. The big question is… And now what? What has happened? That the pistachio market is showing signs that it does not remain immune to the Middle East conflict, something that is otherwise expected if we take into account that Iran is one of the large world producers of this dried fruit. The alarm signal was raised by Bloomberg, which on Monday warned that the conflict is already affecting the price of pistachios in the markets. Their analysis is based on measurements from Expana Markets, a British firm specialized in the agri-food sector, which assures that in March the pound of pistachios reached $4.57the highest value since May 2018. Is it important? Yes. The pistachio market is very broad, it moves billions and it is supplied from more suppliers than Iran, so Expana’s data should be taken as a clue. Even so, they are interesting for their context. The pistachio had already experienced a price increase in recent years, driven by its popularization in the the drinks and food in general and especially for the enormous success of Dubai chocolate, a sweet made with cocoa and pistachios. After TikTok was filled with viral videos about its tablets, the price of grain skyrocketed: Bloomberg estimates that between the end of 2023 and 2025, Expana’s reference value for the US rose 30%. Are there more indicators? Yes. In Spain we have the platform data Pistachio Prowhich shows the increase in prices that the different varieties of grain have experienced in recent years in the Lonja de Albacete. A few months ago, in fact, the website informed that the price of Kerman-type grain had reached a “historical record” in both conventional and organic grains. Globally, a year ago Financial Times I already warned that Dubai chocolate was straining global pistachio supplies, driving up prices. Does the war in Iran have that much influence now? Yes. And for several reasons. The main one is that Iran does not occupy just any place on the world pistachio map. Although his weight is nowhere near what it was a few decades ago, when he hoarded good part of global production, the Islamic Republic continues to be the second largest breadwinner on the planet, only behind the United States. USDA estimates in fact indicated that during the 2025/2026 season its production would be around 200,000 metric tons, 18% of world production. They are 80,000 tons more than the third country by volume, Türkiye, and 160,000 tons more than the contribution of the entire EU. Some analysts it’s been several weeks warning that Iranian crops may be affected by the impact of the war on energy and water supplies for irrigation, in addition to problems with infrastructure. This is without, of course, taking into account the blow that the conflict has dealt to maritime traffic and the entire logistics chain. Some voices even have slipped in which the Iranian pistachio industry has been directly punished by the bombings. Are there more factors? The answer is once again affirmative. The war has tightened the rope, but the reality is that the pistachio trade was not going through its best moment in Iran. The industry has not been immune to the sanctions and geopolitical tensions that preceded the attack launched by the US and Israel on February 28. Neither, remember Bloombergto the repression with which Tehran responded to the protests internal. Even the harvest would have been lower than expected. All these factors also impact the supply of the fruit. “Pistachios are undoubtedly sensitive to disruptions in the Middle East, given the region’s role as a producer, transit hub and destination,” warns Nick Moss of Expana Markets. Tehran is also a key supplier of pistachio to the gigantic Indian market, which has now seen its supply chains affected, like other nations. “The war has led shipping companies to cancel all new reservations from March 2 for shipments destined for the Middle East,” duck Gyana Ranjan Das, from Grown Point. Does it only affect Iran? At all. If the war in Ukraine in 2022 and that in Iran now demonstrated anything, it is that the effect of bombs and drones is still felt in the countries where the battles are fought, but the disruptions they generate extend to markets and economies around the world. Iranian farmers are not the only ones affected by the conflict. The Strait of Hormuz is key to global shipping oil and ureaso its blockage directly affects the supply (and therefore the costs) of two essential inputs for farmers: fuel and fertilizer. Although there are those who believe that US producers will be the big beneficiaries, in recent weeks media such as Associated Press (AP) or Los Angeles Times They have interviewed California farmers who acknowledge that they have also been harmed by the conflict. one of them assured have merchandise worth five million dollars blocked on ships, fruits that under normal conditions would have already arrived in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. An expectant market. Surely that is the adjective that best defines the current state of the world pistachio market. Expectant. And not only because the second largest producer on the planet is at the center of a conflict that is currently hanging on a very delicate truce. After years marked by increased demand, the sector faces a potential increase in costs, a rise in prices, a decrease in supply and a strangulation of trade. “Even for buyers who do not normally source directly or indirectly from Iran, these supply restrictions could lead to increased competition for stock available elsewhere,” … Read more

We have turned WhatsApp into an “emotional pacifier”. And science warns that it is making us more fragile

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A message sent, a double check blue and, suddenly, silence. In that period of time, which can last minutes or days, the stomach shrinks. The immediate reaction for many is instinctive: unlock the screen of the smartphoneimmersing yourself in social media, sending looping messages seeking solace. We have turned our devices into an “emotional pacifier” to calm the anxiety of “not knowing.” In an era where hyperconnection promises us instant answers, science and psychology issue a clear warning: our inability to tolerate uncertainty is making us increasingly fragile. The brain in the face of chaos. To understand what happens to us, we have to look at our biology. As psychologist Regina López Riego explainsour brain is evolutionarily designed to look for patterns and make sense of everything around us. “This was key to our survival as a species: identifying threats and anticipating dangers,” he says. However, in today’s world, that need for certainty translates into constant suffering. The problem is that we live in a universe governed by entropy. From the team of Nalu Psychology remember thatbased on chaos theory and thermodynamics, systems tend toward disorder. “The future is uncertain and, one way or another, we deal with it as best we can,” they explain. When changes threaten, fear takes center stage, alerting us to possible danger. To mitigate that fear, we resort to a patch: control. However, it is a trap. The brain processes the symptoms of anxiety in the same way that it relates to uncertainty, releasing large amounts of norepinephrine that affect our nervous system. The more we try to tie down the future, the more discomfort we generate. The trap of overthinking. When the mind has no data, it invents it. The psychologist Marta Valle In his blog he explains that overthinking not as a lack of intelligence, but as a failed protection mechanism born of fear of error and low tolerance for uncertainty. It manifests itself in two ways: ruminating on the past or worrying in anticipation about the future. “You think that if you think about it enough, you will avoid a problem,” he details, but the end result is paralysis, insomnia and disconnection from the present. Experts from Harvard Mental Health Services (CAMHS) They have a name for this phenomenon: “toxic time travel.” Dr. Rue Wilson, a psychologist at this institution, describes how we try to feel in control by imagining different outcomes. “We get stuck ruminating, overwhelmed by ‘what ifs,’ and disconnected from the present, which is where we really have the most certainty.” Feed a bigger monster. This loop ends in what psychologist Laura Marín defines as generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)where concern is constant and fueled by overestimating the risks. Marín illustrates this with a clear example: two women, Alicia and Brenda, undergo a medical test. While Alicia asks whatever is necessary and continues with her daily life, Brenda compulsively searches for information on the Internet and needs her partner to continually reassure her. It is the so-called “reinsurance search”. Checking emails, postponing decisions or constantly asking for opinions are strategies that give false relief in the short term, but in the long run make us unable to tolerate the slightest doubt. The cell phone as an escape route. The need to escape from uncertainty has found in smartphones your best ally, but at a high cost for mental health. Rigorous research supports this claim. In a couple of published studies in the scientific journal Science Direct (led by Jon D. Elhai and colleagues in 2017), it was demonstrated through systematic reviews that the severity of depression and anxiety are strongly linked to problematic mobile phone use. One of the most revealing findings of Elhai’s research differentiates between “social” use of the phone (messaging, networks) and “process” use (consumption of news, entertainment, scroll passive). The study found that anxiety is much more related to process use than social use. That is, people with anxiety use the non-social functions of their devices as an avoidance mechanism (such as doomscrolling or addictive consumption of news) to avoid facing stress, this “use of process” being the direct bridge to mobile addiction. In fact, Dr. Leigh W. Jerome warns precisely about this habit. In the face of global chaos, doomscrolling It does not prepare us for the future, but “can cause headaches, muscle tension, high blood pressure, and difficulty sleeping.” Leon Garber, mental health counselor, adds a vital reflection on compulsive doubt avoidance: “Avoidance, in and of itself, is not negative (…) but imagine how many missed opportunities for growth or connection, over time, add up to a lost relationship.” Garber points out that even therapy has a limit if the patient is only seeking definitive answers. “We have to learn to live with uncertainty. Fundamentally, we have to learn to live,” he says. The trap of the hyperconnected world. The desire for certainties not only affects the individual, but shapes our society. An analysis published in The Conversation reminds us thatAccording to Maslow’s pyramid, security is a primary need. However, the obsession with eliminating all risks has a dark side. “There are desires that should not be fulfilled and that of radical security is a desire that can never and should never be satisfied,” the article underlines. Trying to control everything, whether through algorithms, surveillance cameras or the transfer of freedoms, strips us of our humanity and leads us to voluntary servitude. Instead of delegating control to technology to avoid panic, experts advocate a “pedagogy of responsibility”, appealing to the values ​​of Kant and Rousseau, where we assume that zero risk does not exist. How to inhabit the void. Since uncertainty is inevitable, the solution is not to find all the answers, but to change our relationship with the questions. According to institutions such as Harvard CAMHS and diverse psychology professionalsthere are four keys to navigate the uncontrollable: Focus on what you control: challenge the illusion of absolute certainty. If you lose your job, you can’t control when you’ll be hired, but you … Read more

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