world

In the World Cup final Palestine also faced Israel. And Palestine ended up winning 1 to 0

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On the grass MetLife Stadium The players of the Spanish and Argentine teams were running, but there were those who lived yesterday the World Cup final like a fight between two different protagonists, with geopolitical resonances. On the one hand, a Spain that has become one of the great defenders international (certainly the most media-friendly) of Palestine. On the other, an Argentina led by a ruler who presume of being “the most Zionist president in the world” and that before the party he had received public support of the Israeli prime minister. That tension that transcends what is strictly sports was clearly experienced on Sunday on the networks… and also the Middle East, especially in Jerusalem. Football and more. If there is an event capable of emptying streets and beaches in the middle of July and bringing together millions of people around a screen is a World Cup final. This virality helps to understand that the tournament often transcends the sporting sphere to fully penetrate the economic, political and symbolic sphere. It happened yesterday. And it’s quite understandable. If we add to the magnetism of the World Cup the geopolitical contextthat the party was disputed in the US and that the protagonists of the final were Spain and Argentina, led by governments that have shown clear support respectively for Palestine and Israel, the extra-sports seasoning of the match was guaranteed. It was sport. And it was political. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in his office with the Ambassador of Argentina to Israel, Rabbi Shimon Axel Wahnish, and wished great success to the Argentine national team in the World Cup final taking place tomorrow. Ambassador Wahnish presented the Prime Minister with… pic.twitter.com/2x3pYAxA9b — Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 18, 2026 Cross tweets. The demonstration of to what extent this was the case came via Xwhere Israel and Palestine made it clear which team they supported. The first message came on Saturday from the official account of the Israeli Prime Minister. In it were published several photographs of Benjamin Netanyahu with the Argentine ambassador Shimon Axel Wahnish in which the Israeli leader holds the albiceleste shirt. And in case the image was not clear in itself, it was accompanied by a message publicly sent by Netanyahu to President Javier Milei: “We support Argentina in many ways, including tomorrow.” That tweet already circulated on Saturday, on the eve of the game, but it has done so again in the last few hours after the official account of the State of Palestine recovered it to include it in a new post. In it it basically does two things: it shares the poster created by the RFEF to announce Spain’s victory and is accompanied by the Palestinian flag, the Spanish flag and two hearts. All this (remember) along with Netanyahu’s original message supporting Argentina. 🇵🇸 ❤️💛🇪🇸 https://t.co/sVxBtRwMxu pic.twitter.com/NIFjEh884l — State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) July 19, 2026 Network thing, right? Not quite. It is true that the exchange of messages via elDiario, The Sixth wave EFE agency They have published chronicles that show how Sunday’s final was experienced intensely in places like Gaza or Ramallah, in the West Bank, where fans could be seen celebrating Ferran Torres’ goal or even wearing La Roja t-shirts and Spanish flags. Similar scenes can also be followed on networks, as in a shared video on IG by Ya7ya_sager. In Ramallah the party gathered thousands of people to follow the party, including Spanish diplomatic staff. It wasn’t just about love of football or a question of affinity towards one team or another. The symbolic background is deeper. Two areas, two hobbies. Maria Trapaderne, from the EFE agency, tells a chronicle how Jerusalem remained divided in the match being played at the MetLfife in New Jersey. The Western zone turned to Argentina. The East, with a majority Palestinian population, mobilized with the Red. The chronicler tells how at the New Gate of the Old City you could see terraces full of people with the Red shirt and red flags. “The eastern side supports Spain because Spain has actively supported Palestine, while Argentina has supported Israel and fostered brotherhood between both countries,” summarizes Guada young Palestinian who followed the game. @millennium Among the ruins of Gaza, the population celebrated Spain’s victory against Argentina, giving it the victory of this 2026 World Cup, waving flags of both peoples in the streets. Gazans support Spain as a sign of gratitude for the humanitarian and political support of that nation, which was the first in Europe to formally recognize the Palestinian State. Gaza Palestine Spain World Celebration ♬ original sound – MILLENNIUM – MILLENNIUM @.gaza_al_irada_fc 🇵🇸❤️ From Gaza to Spain… Congratulations to the Spanish National Team on your well-deserved achievement! Football unites hearts beyond borders. We play with hope, resilience, and respect—and today we celebrate your success. Wishing you even more victories ahead. Congratulations, Spain! 🇪🇸⚽ #Spain #Spain #Football #Respect #FromGaza ♬ الصوت الأصلي – gaza_al_irada_fc Why this polarization? To understand it, you need to dust off the newspaper archive. Both the recent and the oldest. Argentina and the Palestinian people have important linkswhich include both migration ties and the decision of Buenos Aires to recognize Palestine as a State in 2010. However, the current president of the South American country, Javier Milei, has stood out for his closeness to the Israeli Executive headed by Netanyahu. At the beginning of 2024, shortly after his election, the Argentine leader traveled to Israelwhere he could be seen crying in front of the Wailing Wall, and he himself has proclaimed himself “the most Zionist president in the world.” Not even Messi has been freed of controversies related to the propaganda Israeli. Reviewing figures. The link between both territories can be measured in figures. In 2005 the newspaper The Nation public that around 244,000 Jews lived in the Capital and Greater Buenos Aires and in the country as a whole they numbered around 300,000, making them the largest Jewish community in all of Latin America. In addition to … Read more

Spain became accustomed to losing in the 20th century. In the 21st century, Spain FC is the best team in the world

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Spain is the best team in the World of the 21st century. I know it’s difficult to assimilate. For a country that has built its history on the story of Tassotti elbowof the Cardeñosa rulingfrom those sung by Arched and Zubizarreta or of Gamal Al-Ghandour heistbeing the best is something that almost catches one off guard. But turning the story around, becoming the best is not a matter of luck. Spain is not the best by chance. The best. When we closed our eyes, Spain had in its record an almost forgotten Euro Cup won in 1964 with a goal from Marcelino in the final minutes. When we open them and close the blink, Spain has become one of the most important teams in history: two World Cups, four European Championships and only one lost final between both tournaments since 1964. In the 18 years that separate the 2008 Euro Cup and the 2026 World Cup, barely a blink in the history of football, our country has won two World Cups and four European Championships. That is, he has risen to the top of the podium in five of these 10 events. He has also been champion of a UEFA Nations League and runner-up on two other occasions. Beyond selection. Dominance in Euro Cups and World Cups goes far beyond national team competitions. In the last 25 years, Spain has added 11 Champions League and three runner-up finishes (Valencia’s in 2001 and Atlético de Madrid’s two against Real Madrid). When a Spanish team has reached the final so far in the 21st century, it has always won, except in the case of Valencia. In the Europa LeagueSpain has won 12 titles and two runners-up (Espanyol and Athletic Club de Bilbao played against Sevilla and Atlético de Madrid in those years). Again, if a Spanish team reaches the final, the Spanish team wins. In the Conference LeagueOf the five editions played, Spanish teams have added two runners-up finishes (Real Betis and Rayo Vallecano). In the European Super Cups (winner of the Champions League against the winner of the Europa League), Spain has 14 titles and nine runners-up (only Sevilla on three occasions and Villareal on one occasion have lost against foreign teams). There have been five finals between Spanish teams, three of them in consecutive years. Because? Analyzing Pedro Porro’s goal against France in the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup, the team’s second, Tierry Henry, former French soccer player for Arsenal and FC Barcelona, argued that this was the result of a way of playing that Spain has instilled in its players since they were children. A way of playing that has been installed in the DNA of most of the youth teams in our country. Spain has been dominating the European youth categories for years. The under-19 team has achieved 10 Europeans so far in the 21st century and two runners-up finishes. The European under-21 (it is played every two years unlike the previous one) has brought us three championships and two runners-up. At the Olympic Games, Spain was a finalist in 2020 (played in 2021) and won the 2024 ones. Of that last team, four players won the absolute World Cup yesterday and another five were present in the silver medal in Tokyo in 2021. Fermín López (champion in Paris in 2024) would surely have been added to them, not on the list due to an injury in the final stretch of the season. With an average of 26.7 years, Spain is the sixth youngest team in the World Cup. The goal. On October 13, 2007, Spain began to write its recent legendto. That day against Denmark, Sergio Ramos (then right back) completed a play built for more than a minute by chaining 28 passes. Many consider that this was the germ of the new Spanish football philosophy. Until then, Spain had built his story about “the Fury” and testosterone. Luis Aragonés found a new formula. He built a team around the ball with players who could not compete physically but surpassed their rivals in technique, positioning and knowledge of the game. The first Spain was structured around the backbone of FC Barcelona, ​​which already played the best association football in the world. In 2009 and 2011 he won the Champions League. Xavi, Iniesta, Pujol, Piqué and, later, Villa, consolidated a backbone that won Euro-Champions-World Cup-Champions-Euro Cup in five years. The association. Luis Aragonés’ greatest merit was believing in the idea and surrounding these players with similar associative profiles but who contributed their own style. To Silva, Jesús Navas, Fernando Torres, Spain became favorite 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012 and he complied. But the merit was supporting the idea among the youngest players and getting the idea of ​​the game to penetrate the teams and their quarries. This has allowed Spain to win its last championship with its biggest star, Lamine Yamal, playing a discreet role and without large clearly differentiating individuals in world football. The secret is that Spain has managed to make its team play like a football club. It has maintained a base that it has been able to adapt (such as the commitment to wingers in the 2024 Euro Cup) to the circumstances of each moment in the last two years but that has taken flight throughout this championship, returning to its roots, managing itself around the ball. Fresh air. Spain’s victory also brings fresh air to a world football that has turned to physicality and individualism. Few teams have known how to play like a football club and only in the most conservative approaches have teams really worked on the same concept. However, all the favorites have given ground to individualities in the World Cup with the most names in history. Faced with an event where the four French attackers, Erling Haaland, Lionel Messi, Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, have shone, Spain has been able to build a block without big names of its own and without huge World stars but … Read more

Spain has just won its second World Cup. It’s the perfect time to ask your boss for a raise.

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If you have been thinking for a while about going to your boss’s office to ask him a salary increasewe have good news: that time is today. At least if your boss is a soccer fan and a supporter of the Spanish National Team. We don’t say it, it says it a study prepared by US economists who have found a clear relationship between the happiness caused by the successes of a person’s team and their predisposition to be more generous or risky when it comes to spending. After all, sport may be passionate (Of course football is.), but passions often creep into business as well. Why do you decide what you decide? It sounds strange, I know; But that is the question that a group of US economists asked themselves a few years ago, including Judd Kesslerfrom the University of Pennsylvania, or Andrew McClellanfrom the University of Chicago. To be more precise, the team attempted to clarify the relationship between a person’s mood and their financial decisions. “While angry people are advised to ‘think it over’ before making angry decisions, they are rarely advised to consider how incidental happiness influences their behaviors or giving,” slide. What does it have to do with sport? A lot. If something knows Spain today is that a sporting success can bring hundreds of thousands of people to ecstasy and raise the general mood of a country. Having your team achieve a victory triggers your dopamine levels and that is something that Kessler and his colleagues knew well, so in 2013 they went to a bar on the Upper Esat Side, New York, with a group of American football fans and, once there, they started watching games. And that for what? To do science… although in an unconventional way. What the economists did was put their ‘Indoas pigs? two live NFL games. In the first, held in December 2013, the Dallas Cowboys they faced Philadelphia Eagles. In the second, in January 2014, the New Orleans Saints and Philadelphia Eagles. During the commercial breaks, the economists gave them questionnaires to assess how the game affected them on an emotional level (basically whether they felt more or less happy) and then a series of questions related to their greater or lesser willingness to make donations, purchase items or place bets. It was not a simple theoretical exercise. At stake were real dollars with which researchers compensated experimental subjects for their time. What did they discover? More or less what common sense dictates: when the person interviewed was ecstatic because things were going well for their team, they showed considerably fewer qualms about donating or spending money. It may seem obvious, but researchers claimit is one thing to have an intuition based on experience and another to have a study with academic parameters that demonstrates it. And taking into account that we are talking about something as serious as the factors that influence economic decisions, that is not a minor nuance. “We have observed that what happens in the game influences the subjects’ incidental happiness, and that changes give rise to predictable variations in their decisions,” they explain researchers, who claim to have developed a system that incorporates mood into economic models. As a reference, the matches altered the emotional state of 81% of the subjects. Did they go further? Yes. The study results were published first in June 2020 and a few months ago at Cambridge University Press. In their paper, Kessler and his colleagues confirm that “changes in incidental happiness significantly affect” most economic decision-making (two of the four included in the questionnaire) and that the happiest people are those who donate the most to NGOs, spend on consumer goods and take greater risks. “We observed variations in the economic decisions that the participants made throughout the game. 30 of the 64 participants (47%) change the amount they decide to donate; 36 of the 64 participants (56%) change the maximum amount they are willing to pay for a consumer good, and exactly the same number, 36 of the 64 participants (56%), change the maximum amount they are willing to pay for a lottery,” points out the article of 2020. Is the relationship so clear? The economists are clear. “We observed that when subjects’ mood improves, when they report feeling happier, they donate more to charities and may be more willing to pay more for a good, be less risk-averse and more confident,” Kessler points out and colleagues: “A person who is in a good mood can be modeled as equivalent to a person who feels richer.” Images | Wikipedia, Vitaly Gariev (Unsplash) and EmbedSocial (Unsplash) In Xataka | We believed that there is only one Erling Haaland. Until Peru got imaginative when baptizing its babies

The countries with the most billionaires in the world, gathered in a graph with a surprising winner

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Guess, guess: Where do the majority of the world’s billionaires live today? Answer the first thing that comes to mind and without cheating. Probably most of us would say that the United States and the reality is that this was true until very recently, but the map of wealth has changed: China has just snatched the throne and already has 1,110 Chinese billionaires compared to 1,100 Americans, according to the latest Hurun Global list. The most striking thing is not so much this surprise, but the speed at which it has happened: a decade ago, three of those four Chinese billionaires were not even on the list, which gives an idea of ​​the industrial, technological and business panorama of the Asian giant. Of course, the “land of opportunity” thing seems to have changed zip codes. The Hurun Global Rich List 2026 is an annual ranking prepared in China that has been measuring the fortune of the world’s billionaires for 15 years. It is not as popular as Forbes, but it is also one of the great references for quantifying billionaires. Both estimate net worth in dollars based on shares in listed companies, real estate and other assets, but each has its own methodologies, so there may be divergences between the two. The list is not very intuitive to visualize, so Visual Capitalist, through its Voronoi data platform, has prepared this graph that reflects how many billionaires (in dollars) live in each country in the world in 2026. We have already discovered gold and silver, but there is another curious fact: China and the United States alone concentrate more than half of the global billionaire population. To the surprise of few, wealth is concentrated. Beyond statistical curiosity, there are two reasons why it is interesting to know where the rich are concentrated: according to Oxfambillionaires are 4,000 times more likely to reach political office than the average person. Simply put: wealth is concentrated and it also tends to concentrate power. On the other hand, global billionaire wealth grew more than 16% in 2025, three times more than the average of the last five years, according to Oxfam. The rich are getting richer. The countries with the most billionaires in the world After China and the United States, India is at a certain distance but far away from the rest of the European squad, with 308 people. And the old continent already appears, with Germany (171), the United Kingdom (150), Switzerland (114), Russia (105), among others. According to Hurun, China added 287 billionaires compared to the previous year, compared to 130 in the United States and 24 in India, which explains why the list has changed so much. Spain appears in 20th place with 34 billionaires, behind countries of comparable or smaller economic size such as Sweden or Turkey and an abysmal distance from Switzerland, which has 114 and a trick to achieve it despite its small size that it shares with Monaco: favorable taxation. Where billionaires live in 2026. Visual Capitalist Where do these new billionaires come from? Although we already know that Most rich people are born and not made and the Hurun list confirms this, with 144 fourth-generation fortunes, this rise of the new rich has specific origins such as the market or technology. But technology is a very broad sector and the phenomenon that concentrates it is a boom that we have been finding in the soup for some time: artificial intelligence. Thus, there are 114 billionaires who owe their fortune to AI companies, of which 46 are newcomers to the list. Furthermore, there are countries and countries: despite representing 79% of the world’s population, Southern countries only own 31% of global wealth. In wealth there is also migration, but quite concentrated in one country: the United States. Of this 14% of “luxury” migrants there are famous cases such as those of the South African Elon Musk or the Taiwanese Jensen Huang. It is important to remember that a ranking of the number of billionaires is not the same as how rich a state is or the average well-being of the population. On the other hand, the country of residence can sometimes be somewhat ambiguous: some billionaires have dual tax residence or assets distributed internationally and both the geographic allocation criteria and the estimation of their assets may differ from Hurun compared to other sources. In Xataka | Tell me where you are from and I will tell you if the rich in your country were self-made or inherited wealth In Xataka | Where the ultra-rich are growing the most: the graph that proves that Europe is playing something else

Argentina 6 – Peru 0: the story of the alleged biggest fixing of the World Cups between dictatorships and missing persons

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In the context of a dictatorship that made opponents disappear daily, the 1978 World Cup was held in Argentina, an embarrassing chapter in the history book of football. “I knew what was happening to those who governed, but I could not imagine that cruelty towards the disappeared,” he said. would justify years later César Luis Menotti, Argentine coach from 1974 to 1982. While the Videla regime used the championship as propaganda Facing the outside world, the Albiceleste team, immersed in the competition and oblivious to the country’s political climate, was overcoming rounds supported by an enthusiastic public. In the decisive match against Peru, Argentina needed four goals to reach the final. He scored six and the controversy that that result raised is still alive today. Since the dawn of the World Cup, Argentina had pursued its organization. Finally, at the FIFA Congress on July 6, 1966, the South American country was chosen as the host country for the 1978 edition. At that same meeting, it was agreed that West Germany would host the 1974 World Cup and Spain would host the 1982 World Cup. Argentina had 12 years ahead of it to properly prepare the event. However, two years before the World Cup was held, events were going to take an unexpected turn. Football to whiten infamy On March 24, 1976, Jorge Rafael Videla carried out a coup d’état that overthrew the democratic government of María Estela Martínez de Perón, popularly known as Isabelita. Videla assumed the head of state at the head of a Military Junta, initiating the cynically called National Reorganization Process, which included a systematic plan to remove anyone suspected of dissidence from circulation. Videla swearing in as president of Argentina in 1974. (Eduardo Di Baia/AP) At first, the blow put the celebration of the championship in check. Belgium and Holland offered themselves as alternative venues, but the time margin was limited and FIFA estimated the show had to go on. Like Hitler at the 1936 Olympic Games or Mussolini in the 1934 World CupVidela used the World Cup for propaganda purposes. The tournament was an instrument to convey to the world the image of an open, advanced and plural Argentina, of a thriving football and political nation. No expense was spared for this: it is estimated that the organization of the tournament ultimately cost ten times what was budgeted, although no accounts were ever rendered. However, the situation in the country was far from the happy Arcadia that the military intended to portray. Kidnappings, torture and murders They were common in the development of relentless repression directed at all those suspected of not being sympathetic to the regime. It is estimated that up to 30,000 citizens He made the Military Junta disappear during those years. On June 1, 1978, a speech by Videla inaugurated the championship: “Within the framework of friendship between man and people, and under the sign of peace, he officially declared this eleventh (sic) World Football Championship 78 officially inaugurated.” At the same time that the ball was rolling in the opening match between West Germany and Poland, The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo metlike every Thursday at 3:30 p.m., to cry out for their missing children. While the Argentine people celebrated Kempes’ goals, thousands of people were silently retaliated against. The screams from the River Monumental Stadium reached the Navy’s Higher School of Mechanics, converted into a detention and torture centerwhich was a few blocks from the stadium. There are many detainees They faced a contradiction: His fan heart longed for the victory of his team, but reason dictated that victory would serve to consolidate the dictatorship. Finalists after beating Peru In terms of football alone, the Argentine team passed the first phase without problems and reached the last game of the second tied on points with Brazilwith Kempes becoming progressively more toned as the tournament progressed. According to the strange format of that World Cup, the winners of the two groups of the second phase went directly to the final, without semi-finals. The Netherlands won in group A, reaching the final for the second consecutive World Cup, despite the enigmatic absence of Johan Cruyff. In group B, Brazil and Argentina played everything on one card in the last match, but the locals played with the advantage of playing their match three hours later, and thus knowing the result of Brazil (FIFA had not yet unified the schedules of the first phase, a measure taken after the El Molinón pact). Brazil did its job and won 3-1 against Poland, a result that forced Menotti’s team to win by a margin of four goals against Peru. The Peruvians had had a formidable first phase, achieving first place in their group ahead of the Netherlands, but they had deflated in the second group and reached the last game without anything at stake. The Argentines dominated the match from the beginning, and at half-time they were already winning 2-0. After the restart, the Albiceleste team came out in a rush and 5 minutes into the second half they had already achieved their goal (4-0) against a Peru that seemed knocked out. Two more goals still fell and, midway through the second half, the scoreboard already showed the final 6-0. Objective achieved: Argentina was in the final of his World Cup. The shadow of a fix From the first moment, Argentina’s massive victory against Peru was surrounded by a halo of suspicionwith different and complementary versions, and crossed accusations between some protagonists. The passivity of the Peruvian defense during some goals raised suspicions, as did the signing of Peruvian defender Rodulfo Manzo for the Argentine team Vélez Sarsfield at the end of the World Cup. The first to raise the hare was Ramón Quiroga, the goalkeeper who defended the Peruvian goal that afternoon at the Gigante Stadium in Arroyito. In an interview with the newspaper La Nación in 1998, Quiroga, Argentine by birth but naturalized Peruvian, revealed his misgivings about the referee (“I think he … Read more

How to watch Spain – Argentina: date and time of the 2026 World Cup final, and where you can watch it on any device

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Let’s explain to you How and where you can watch Spain’s match against Argentina. This is the grand final of the 2026 World Cup, in which our team has the option of getting the second star, the second World Cup in its history. But in front of them they will have an Argentina with Messi in a state of grace. Let’s make the article simple. First we are going to tell you the date and time to which this match is played. And then, we will tell you what your options are to be able to watch it from any device. Date and time of Spain – Argentina Spain’s match against Argentina will take place tomorrow, Sunday, July 19. Both teams will face each other at the New York New Jersey Stadium, a field where the New York Giants and the New York Jets of the NFL American football usually play. The grand final will be played at 9:00 p.m. in Spanish peninsular time8pm in the Canary Islands. And with this match we will know which of the two teams finally takes the world cup home. Where to watch Spain – Argentina As we have explained to you when we told you where you can watch the 2026 World Cupas it is a match for the Spanish National Team, you will be able watch it for free live through La1. This will allow you to see it both on DTT and on mobile phones or browsers through RTVE Play. Obviously, the party It will also be issued in the payment options that you could have to watch all the World Cup matches. It will be broadcast on DAZN and you will be able to watch it on any device if you have it contracted. You can also see it on the DAZN Mundial channel, available on both Movistar Plus and Orange TV. In Xataka Basics | Apps for football results: the best 14 applications to receive notifications and see match statistics

Apple ousts Nvidia and becomes the most valuable company in the world for a few hours. The secret is in the spending of AI

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Two years ago the surprise came and Nvidia overtook Apple becoming the most valuable company in the world for the first time. Since then the title has changed hands on several occasions, although Nvidia has retained it practically uninterrupted since mid-2025: good times are going on for Jensen Huang’s team, with stratospheric benefits thanks to the AI ​​race in which he is one of the great beneficiaries. But last night, in just a few hours, a company that is not going through its best moment: sue OpenAI for theft of trade secrets, immersed in full transition of its CEOwith a talent drain and lagging behind in AIonce again emerged as the most valuable company on the planet despite all of the above. Surpass from Apple to Nvidia. Although fleeting, this reorganization of the ranking of the technological giants constitutes a warning to sailors about the expectations placed on AI. what has happened. During the Friday session and how AOL collectsApple was valued at $4.88 billion, above Nvidia’s $4.86 billion, which fell 3.5%. It was a hit and miss: at closing, Nvidia’s capitalization reached 4.92 billion, thus barely surpassing Apple’s 4.89 billion. Fleeting but significant: Apple returned to the throne for the first time since April 2025. Why is it important. Beyond the stock market anecdote, this turmoil reflects a change in the narrative about who truly benefits from the AI ​​boom. One of the large and immediate direct beneficiaries is Nvidia and its leadership reflects this. Toni Meadows, Chief Investment Officer at BRI Wealth Management, declares for Reuters that Apple is less dependent on capital spending intensity and is better positioned to monetize AI through services, the closed ecosystem and hardware upgrades. Nvidia rises with certain fluctuations because it is directly exposed, but Apple is better positioned to reap its rewards with less risk. Context. Nvidia has just broken historical records: in October it became the first company in the world to exceed a valuation of $5 trillion: it looked down on the rest of the magnificent seven. The reason? Chips for AI. Apple, on the other hand, has earned the label of lagging behind: it does not invest in its own models and is laying all its eggs in Google basket. However, in 2026 there is an increase of 20% so far this year. In detail. The catalyst for this movement has been Siri: last month Apple got its act together and renewed its assistant with the new Siri AI. It arrived late to the party, but it starts from a privileged position compared to some rivals and new startups: the personal data that each iPhone and the ecosystem houses. Of course, you have to discover how to take advantage of that information without compromising the privacy of users. The future. What happens from now on will depend on whether Apple manages to turn the promise of monetization into tangible results. Or what is the same: if the new and late Siri manages to stand up to Gemini in the Android ecosystem or compete in features with ChatGPT. For Nvidia, the future involves demonstrating that the colossal spending on AI infrastructure by its clients (hyperscalers such as Microsoft, Google or Amazon) continues to translate into large orders for chips, and that the bubble of an investment that, for the moment, does not offer a sufficient return does not burst. The next quarterly results will be the best thermometer to verify if this rotation of investors towards those who monetize AI with less risk is consolidated. In Xataka | Apple sues OpenAI for stealing trade secrets: “Lol, I have access”, the message of the engineer who uncovered the scandal In Xataka | The European Commission, on Siri AI: “The decision not to launch it in Europe is Apple’s and Apple’s alone” Cover | Applesphere

misconfigured routers all over the world

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The router is usually left out of our attention: we install it, check that there is a connection and let it continue working for months or years. However, that small piece of equipment that connects a home or office with the Internet can also become a useful piece for those seeking to hide their operations. The problem is not in what we see, but in what can happen in the background when the configuration is weak or the firmware becomes outdated. And there begins a story that no longer only affects security specialists. The hiding place was in the router. That possibility ceased to be an abstract warning on July 13, 2026. CISA, the United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, warned that Actors from Center 16 of the FSB, the Russian security service, continue to exploit vulnerable or misconfigured network devices in different countries. According to the notice, this activity has already allowed networks in several critical infrastructure sectors to be compromised. The warning was issued jointly with organizations in Australia, Denmark, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. A borrowed identity. The goal is not to stay on the router, but to use it as an intermediary for other operations. When traffic passes through a device installed in a home or small office, the connection may appear to be that of any legitimate user. It is what is known as residential proxy– A domestic connection used as an intermediary to hide where the attacker is actually acting from. For an organization’s defenses, distinguishing at first glance between a normal connection and malicious activity is much more difficult. Tracking begins on the Internet. To find new devices, attackers scan IP address ranges looking for routers with SNMP agents assets, a protocol used to query and manage computers connected to a network. The risk appears when that service is exposed and accepts common credentials or those that were configured at the factory. In that scenario, the team may respond to someone who should not have access. The first step is, therefore, to locate which ones are still advertising on the Internet with a weak configuration. From objective to tool. Finding an exposed router is not enough to control it. According to CISA, the actors send malicious traffic with spoofed source IP addresses and leverage the misconfigured SNMP agent to execute malware on the device. They also do so from networks made up of other already compromised routers, so that the system feeds itself. The process has three phases: first they find the equipment, then they exploit its configuration and, finally, they incorporate it into the network from which they will continue searching for new targets. The attack comes from another house Once incorporated into this network, the router begins to act as an exit node, that is, as the last visible point before the traffic reaches the target. To the person receiving the connection, the activity does not appear to come from systems linked to the FSB, but rather from a legitimate-looking IP address. This coverage can reduce the chances of automatic blocking and complicates the work of those trying to reconstruct the route to those responsible for the operation. A chase that never ends: The usefulness of this network of intermediaries is better understood when we look at its possible destinations. CISA points to communications networks, defense, energy, financial services and public organizations, all sectors where an apparently legitimate connection can facilitate probes or subsequent attacks. The phenomenon, furthermore, did not begin with this warning: Russian and Chinese actors have been fighting and reusing compromised routers for years. Although governments and companies have managed to disinfect devices and dismantle botnets, their operators usually rebuild them by incorporating new equipment. Close the door. CISA recommends disabling SNMP 1 and 2, versions that do not encrypt passwords or incorporate current protections, and using SNMP 3 only when necessary. If we do not use this protocol to manage the network, the safest option is to turn it off completely. The agency also advises disabling Cisco Smart Install, replacing weak credentials, installing firmware updates, and limiting other unnecessary network protocols. The router can go unnoticed for years, but that does not mean that we should leave it running without maintenance. Images | Xataka with Nano Banana In Xataka | Jordi Nebot, CEO of PaynoPain: “Accommodations are uploaded with stolen or AI photographs and an eye-catching price”

how the Asian giant is becoming the new world champion of foie gras

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“France is the country of foie gras. It is a hallmark of French gastronomy. An American or Asian tourist visiting Paris will want to see the Eiffel Tower, the Elysées and eat foie gras.” The phrase It is from Fabien Chevalier, president of CIFOG, the French association of the industry dedicated to preparing the famous delicacy based on the liver of ducks and geese. And although what he says is true, Chevalier is also aware of something: French producers have faced a formidable rival 7,000 kilometers away, in the Chinese farms of Shandong and Anhui. After all, foie gras may be associated with France, but some estimate that China has already become its second main producer. Chinese foie gras? Exact. And there are more and more. Estimates of China’s production capacity do not always coincide, but the trend they show does: the Asian giant is producing more and more foie gras, a business it has launched into so decisively that it already stands out as one of its heavyweights. In fact, is closing distances with France. The figures are clear. a few days ago The Wall Street Journal cited a report from the state-owned company China International Capital that suggests that domestic producers produce 11,000 tons a year, roughly 45% of global supply. The same headline cites a company that produces about 3,000 tons. Is there more data? Yes. And they point in a similar direction. During an interview recently with RFI, Chevalier, who in addition to being president of the French employers’ association is responsible for the company Lafitteestimated that in 2024 12,000 tons of foie gras would leave Chinese farms. And he believes that the balance was even greater in 2025, unlike what happens in France, whose production fell 3%. “Knowing that French production was around 15,000 t in 2025, Chinese production is quite significant,” acknowledges Chevalier. After consulting half a dozen analysts, Reuters calculate that Chinese production could reach 14,000 tons last year, seven times more than just a decade ago. How is that possible? For a sum of factors. One of them is that the Chinese foie gras industry not only has the support of ranchers and businessmen. The State has also gotten involved to give it a boost. Reuters speaks of “generous subsidies” that, in the specific case of a goose farm located in eastern China, cover more than 50% of infrastructure and vaccines. In addition to a new potential market, Beijing has seen foie gras as a lifeline for rural areas affected by the exodus to the cities, which explains that the Government have decided to support it through loans. Is it the same foie gras? That is another of the keys that explain why the Chinese sector is growing so quickly. Chevalier explains that Chinese farms are betting “mainly” on geese, something that, he admits, fascinates him. “It is much more difficult to make foie gras from geese than from ducks.” Whether for that reason or others, everything indicates that China has found a way to make its production as profitable as possible. If in France, where they work mainly with ducks, producers manage 500 g livers (or 700 if they opt for geese), in China those numbers skyrocket. There a liver can reach two kilos. Is there that much difference? Reuters interviewed the manager of a farm in eastern China who claims that the pieces coming out of his pens weigh at least a kilo. In fact, he showed journalists a specimen weighing about 2.9 kg. “Europeans can no longer raise a large number of geese because it is very hard work,” boasts the businessman, Li Fengshan, who explains that the ten days before the slaughter of the birds his employees work tirelessly, sleeping very little, to feed the geese with six meals a day. The way birds are fattened to produce foie gras (ducks or geese) has generated a strong controversy in recent years and has given rise to accusations of animal crueltya controversy to which they are not foreign the Gallic farms. Where does that foie gras go? Especially to the domestic market. At least for now the production of Chinese foie gras seems oriented basically to its own national market, although in the sector there are those who already expect that the weight of exports will grow in the future. Whether I achieve it or not, the reality is that in 2025 less than 5% of Chinese production was directed to external consumers. It is not a surprising percentage if one takes into account the legislative restrictions, which begin in the Chinese customs themselves, and that there are local producers who are betting on products such as foie gras ice cream and with different flavors or shapes in an attempt to gain share in their own market. The price plays in its favor: The Wall Street Journal interviewed recently a distributor in Macau that worked with European product that sold for $28 per pound, now deals with Chinese suppliers who sell it for $17. Is it a unique case? No. This is not the first time that China has demonstrated its ability to gain a foothold in new sectors, even those in which European producers are well established. It has already happened in the wine sectorbut also with others such as the trade of truffles or caviar. “For decades, among Western consumers, the ‘Made in China’ label was associated with cheap, low-quality and simple products,” remember Even Payby Trivium China. “In the last decade we have seen a lot of brands made in China with quality products at a lower price.” Images | Martin Baron (Unsplash), Arthur Wang (Unsplash) and GOETZ Jean-Pierre (Unsplash) In Xataka | One more day, Peru has woken up to a disturbing sight in its seas: thousands of Chinese ships devastating its fishing grounds

the surreal meeting of Juan Roig and Ana Botín with IShowSpeed ​​at the World Cup

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For less than a minute, the president of a bank with almost a hundred billion capitalization spoke like a salesperson from one of its branches. Next to him, the owner of the largest supermarket chain in Spain was waiting for his turn to introduce himself. He streamer The one they were addressing, and which broadcast the match live, is IShowSpeed, with 57 million followers on YouTube. And I had no idea who these gentlemen were. What happened. On the night of July 14, Spain beat France 2-0 and sealed its place in the final of the 2026 World Cup. Among the VIP audience, along with Timothée Chalamet, Javier Bardem and Usain Bolt, were Ana Botín, president of Banco Santander, and Juan Roig, president of Mercadona. They both went to greet Darren Watkins Jr., the streamer known as IShowSpeed, which broadcast the game live. The exchange began with introductions. “It’s like the Walmart of Spain,” they explain pointing to Roig in reference to Mercadona. Botín was not far behind: he defined his bank as “the JPMorgan of Europe.” A few seconds later the commercial offer arrived: “You have to open an account at Openbank”, and ended with a sales pitch which surely captivated Speed: “We pay you 4% for your savings.” The young man managed to tell Botín that he would have to give him “a good credit rating”, but he responded between surprise, curiosity and pure stupefaction. Who is Speed? At just 21 years old, Watkins Jr, or IShowSpeed, has accumulated more than 57 million subscribers on YouTube, and more than 150 million followers across all of his networks. He has been broadcasting live from the stands for weeks at the 2026 World Cup, after his favorite team, Portugal, was eliminated in the quarterfinals. On the night of July 14, the Spain-France match, its live broadcast from the AT&T Stadium reached nearly 58 million connected accounts. That’s why it was Roig and Botín who approached him, and not the other way around. No conventional advertising campaign would have put them in front of a comparable audience, much less that profile: young, digital and absent from traditional channels. Who are the other people? The older ones, we say. We know this very well, but it doesn’t hurt to remember it, because it is their insane fortunes that turn this talk in the box into a piece of Celtiberian memorabilia to take into account. Booty has a personal assets of 350 million euros (Santander has a market capitalization that has touched 100 billion euros this year). A considerable fortune, but far from the 8.8 billion that Forbes attributes to Roig in his latest list of the greatest Spanish fortunes. Rich folks. Throughout the conversation, Roig does not utter a single sentence in English. It is his companions who present it, who seek the comparison with Walmart and act as interpreters. It is a very particular and very Spanish folksiness, which leads Botín to compare Mercadona and Santander with giant American businesses. And it’s not because they lack size or importance, but they find a very simple way to make themselves understood with Speed. Recent rich. This folksiness comes from the fact that Spanish wealth is not the inheritance of several generations of nobles. Mercadona was already born in democracy, when Roig bought Mercadona from his father along with his brothers and his wife, when the chain had eight stores; today exceeds 1,700 and employs nearly 110,000 people; Botín presides over a bank founded by his family in which he maintains a relevant but purely management position. But the type of wealth they represent does fit with a broader and documented pattern of how the Spanish business class was formed: at the death of Franco, two hundred families controlled more than a third of the shares of the country’s large companies and banks, a network of power very close to the State. It is not the aristocracy that endures in the United Kingdom or the United States, the famous old money that goes back generations in the past. In Spain we have rich people from powerful but self-made families, which explains this attitude that leads a multimillionaire to calmly sell the advantageous conditions of an account in her bank: the money has been inherited, but not from generations, they are provincial families with power, and hence the attitude towards the young influencerwhich they see as another possibility to make money. Even with the rich, Spain is different. In Xataka | Mercadona is doing the opposite of other large companies: freezing Roig’s salary to reinvest it

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