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The world is preparing to harvest 36% fewer pistachios. This is great news for Spanish farmers

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2025 is not being an easy year for the pistachio. TO the effects of the Iran war, the closure of Hormuz and the swings The price of the fruit now adds a more than likely puncture in the global harvest. This is what at least the main producer organization, the INC, expects, which foresees a drop of 36% in the amount of fruit harvested worldwide. Although it’s not strange that crops rise and fall, conditioned by the climate or the cycles of the trees, the sector’s estimate is interesting for another reason: it confirms that Spain is reinforcing assumption. And everything indicates that it will gain ground this campaign. What has happened? That the International Nuts and Dehydrated Fruits Council (INC) has recognized that the 2026/2027 campaign does not look particularly good for pistachio. At least if we talk about production. Although the sector expects an increase in the cultivation of walnuts, hazelnuts or raisins, in the case of pistachios it anticipates a ‘puncture’ of 36% on a global scale. Translated into tons, that means that production would go from 1.1 million harvested during the 2025/2026 campaign to 701,050 t in the 2026/2027 campaign. Country Campaign 2025/2026 (tons) Campaign 2026/2027 (tons) USA 722,670 350,000 Türkiye 114,600 156,400 Iran 225,000 130,000 Syria 13,350 35,000 Spain 9,500 11,500 Greece 6,500 8,500 Australia 3,000 5,500 Afghanistan 2,600 2,700 Italy 4,700 1,000 China 320 450 World production 1,101,740 701,050 What is the reason? Although a drop of 36% may seem alarming, the data should be handled with caution. Pistachio cultivation is conditioned by the vecería, which means that there are campaigns in which the trees are loaded with fruit and others in which the harvests are much scarcer. It is one of the handicaps with which the sector plays. Hence there are voices, like that of Juan Gallegofrom Ibero Pistacho, who ensure that a drop of 36% “is within the norm.” Nor is it strange that part of the harvests are saved from one year to the next precisely to compensate for the ‘puncture’ of the years highly marked by the harvest. Does only that factor influence? No. The INC data, advanced by the EFE agency, allow us to focus more and observe the great differences that exist between producing countries, each conditioned by its own challenges. For example, in California, the world capital For pistachio, a 52% drop in the harvest is expected due to flowering problems. The ‘photo’ is not good in Iran either, which is suffering the consequences of the high temperatures of the previous campaign and expects its production to be reduced by another 42%. And what happens in Spain? Here the panorama is somewhat different. Although our production is light years away Compared to the US or Türkiye, the INC estimates that in Spain the 2026/2027 campaign will close with 21% more fruit harvested. In practice, this would mean going from 9,500 tons in the 2025/2026 financial year to 11,500 in the 2026/2027 campaign. The data is interesting because it not only consolidates Spain as the fifth world producer, it also allows it to dream of closing the gap on the podium. The forecast of the INC shows a decline in crops in the US and Iran, the first and third producers on a global scale. And although a priori Türkiye (the second supplier) will see its harvest increase by 36%, it remains to be seen if the strong storm that suffered in May has damaged the trees and will reduce the harvest. How is that possible? That the Spanish crop grows while it declines in other countries with large pistachio plantations, such as the US, Türkiye or Iran, is actually little surprising. Spanish farmers They have been increasing for years the number of hectares dedicated to this crop, especially in Castile-La Manchawhich concentrates a large part of the national production and 77% of the surface. The growth of the harvest in Spain during the next campaign (2026/2027) is only a reflection of that bet. The data from the Ministry of Agriculture show that the planted area in Spain has skyrocketed in recent years to exceed 85,800 hectares in the 2024/2025 campaign and that production has grown by more than 70% in just a few years. Looking ahead to the 2026/2027 season, the INC expects a harvest of 11,500 tons. Not all sources agree on this information (in the sector there are those raises it to 16,000 t), but in any case the background photo is always the same: Spanish production is increasing. What to expect now? The million dollar question. For now, and beyond the short-term fall in harvests due to the rainy season, both the US and Iran they hope to increase its production thanks to the increase in plantations. Specifically, California hopes to boost its average capacity by 40% in the coming campaigns and Iran and Türkiye are already considering approaching 300,000 tons in the medium term. Regarding the price of the fruit and whether or not prices will be altered by the 36% drop in production, there are different opinions in the sector. The Italian analysis company Areté warns of a market with “strong tensions on supply and prices” given that the demand for pistachios has been growing for years. Others, like Gallego, acknowledge that “there may be a small increase in cents,” but clarifies: “All of us who are in this sector are interested in the product remaining stable and being consumed.” Not only the generosity of the crops comes into play. The price is also affected by other factorssuch as instability in Iran, the closure of Hormuz or the influence of war on the cost of inputs such as fuel. Images | Brenan Greene (Unsplash), Brad Spry (Flickr) and USDA In Xataka | Fruit seems like the perfect summer dinner. The problem is that it is not as good an idea as it seems.

You don’t need to buy ‘Flight Simulator’ to explore the world. Google Earth has just put it at our fingertips

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I have long been a fan of ‘Microsoft Flight Simulator‘. That is why I followed with special interest his arrival in PS5: I wanted to try it beyond the PC, not only because of the possibility of piloting an aircraft, but because of something that has always attracted me to the game: exploring landscapes, looking for frames and using the photo mode almost as a small tool to explore the world from the screen. And that fascination makes sense precisely because Microsoft has worked for years to make ‘Flight Simulator’ much more than an airplane game. The company speaks in ‘Flight Simulator 2024‘ of its most detailed recreation of planet Earth to date, with improved elevation maps, more than 500 cities recreated with 3D models based on irregular triangular networks and more than 100,000 square kilometers of rural photogrammetry. The novelty is that now there is a much lighter way to get closer to that experience without going through a full game or installing anything on your computer. Google Earth announced last Friday that his flight simulator It is now available for all users. Fly without installing anything, directly from the browser Google Earth is not trying to sell us a full-fledged flight simulator, and that works in its favor. On their help pageGoogle describes the feature as experimental, available only in Earth on the web, and geared toward a casual exploration experience. He also warns that the flight physics is simplified, so if what we are looking for is a simulation in its most demanding sense, this is certainly not it. But it may be interesting to try it, draw our own conclusions and discover another way of exploring the world in images. If you want to start trying it, the path is quite simple. You just have to open Google Earth on the webenter Explore the Earthdisplay the Tools menu and click on Flight Simulator. The option appears within the menu itself. In a matter of seconds you go from the traditional map to a flight view, with the interface ready to start moving over the terrain. Once inside, the management also focuses on the immediate. Google allows you to control the plane with the keyboard: Page up to accelerate, Page down to reduce thrust, the up and down arrows to change the altitude and the side arrows to tilt the aircraft. You can also turn mouse control on or off by clicking inside the simulation. And if things go wrong, which can go wrong pretty quickly at first, the option to start over after impact appears. The most attractive part is that Google Earth dynamically loads 3D buildings and high-resolution images while you fly. This allows us to turn a very simple function into a quite interesting visual experience, especially if we choose recognizable areas and we change the basemap to Satellite when necessary. However, Google also warns that flying at extreme speeds or with a slow connection can cause temporary delays in loading. There are, in addition, known problems in some areas of the field, so it is best to assume it for what it is: a light and still experimental function. Then there is the other option, of course: taking a real plane. In specific searches on services such as Skyscanner we have seen flights from Spain for less than 40 euros, always depending on route, date and availability. Looking at an image from the browser is not the same as looking out the window and seeing how the landscape changes under the clouds. But that is precisely why it makes sense to bring it here: we are talking about different experiences, different ways of moving, looking and playing with the idea of ​​traveling. The interesting thing about Google Earth is taking a tool that many of us have used for years to explore the planet and adding a simple playful layer to it, free and accessible from the browser. It doesn’t always take a complex simulation to spark that curiosity. Sometimes a small, well-placed function is enough to make us look at the map again and want to get lost for a while. Images | Screenshots In Xataka | After marathons and combats, humanoid robots already have their next challenge: climbing Everest

Spain debuts in the World Cup with a match against Cape Verde. There is a remote town in Galicia where life is like a derby

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At this point in the film it is very difficult to predict what will happen in the remainder of the term, if the peace agreement between Washington and Tehran will come to fruition or how the war in Ukraine will be settled. What is easy to predict is that this afternoon, starting at 6:00 p.m., a large part of Spain will be glued to the TV to follow La Roja’s World Cup debut against Cape Verde. There is, however, a small town in Galicia where this match will be experienced with special intensity: Burela. There, in fact, it is proposed almost like a derby. In a place in Lugo… It may not be the most famous nor the most populous municipality in Galicia, but Burela is exceptional in many ways. To begin with, it is a relatively young town. Although its history may trace back centuriesuntil the mid-1990s was part of the Cervo town hall. But above all, if something defines Burela, it is its multiculturalism. According to the Galician Institute of Statistics (IGE), almost 20% of its population was born abroad, in countries in America, Asia, the rest of Europe or Africa, which has a large representation with various nationalities. A “Galician-style” Cape Verde. Among this range of homelands there is one that stands out for its weight, history and mark on Burelense society: Cape Verde. The Country precise That in the census of foreigners there are almost 500, but if we take into account their descendants the figure is closer to a thousand people. Not bad for a population that does not reach 10,000 residents. For reference, in 2022 the INE had registered In Spain as a whole, 2,600 people of Cape Verdean nationality, of which almost 600 resided in Galicia. In net terms, it is the second largest community, only surpassed for Madrid. Some media they need that Burela is the municipality in Spain with the highest concentration of population with roots in Cape Verde, at least if we take into account its weight in the local census. This fact is explained by a very simple reason: the flow of Cape Verdean immigrants began there several decades ago. In fact, there are families living in Burela who are already the fourth generation. “They were among the first”. The link between Burela and the African archipelago is best understood by reviewing the story by Manuel Mendes Pereira, athlete and one of the many residents of Burela with family roots in Cape Verde. “My father, originally from Porto Mosquito, on the island of Santiago, came in 1978 to work in the construction of Alumina. He came through a brother of his who was already here. He liked the sea and ended up involved in fishing,” relates to Sport. “My mother arrived later, in 1989. They were one of the first. He always told me that Burela was practically nothing compared to what it is today.” Is it a unique case? No. Villablino, in the Laciana region of León, also maintains a strong bond with emigration of Cape Verdean origin. In the case of the Mariña of Lugo, the connection is explained by the industry and especially the fishing sector. In Villablino, the link, which can be traced back decades and decades agopart of the mining activity. This relationship extends to Bierzo, where in the 90s the Embassy had registered about 3,000 citizens from Cape Verde. Community members are called “capebertians”. And FIFA arrived. The World Cup has served to give new prominence to those ties woven in Burela or Bierzo, in which today they will experience with special intensity the Atlanta match in which will be measured you love selections The event will be special for both of them, who are making their debut in the World Cup and aspire for this tournament to occupy a prominent place in their chronicles. The Red comes as a favorite and dreams of adding a second star to its shield, the African team aspires to leave a mark in his first World Cup. “We are going a bit with a divided heart, but this time perhaps I am going more with Cape Verde,” admits Manuel Mendes. He won’t be the only one. In the Bierzo region there will be fans in a similar situation. Whatever happens, party. Although not even Burela is free of the signs of racism, what the Galician municipality aspires to today is to enjoy a day of party and celebration. Whatever happens, whether there are goals or not, whether one team or the other wins, one thing is certain: in the town of Mariña in Lugo there will be parties, music and dancing. The match will coincide with Cape to Cape Festivalpromoted by the Lugo Provincial Council and the City Council, among other organizers, and which will feature music by DJs and various groups, including Batuko Tabankaa set created ago more than two decades and formed by women of Cape Verdean origin. Images | Municipality of Burela 1, 2 and FIFA In Xataka | For the first time, Curaçao will play in a soccer World Cup. And only one of their players was born in Curaçao

How to create a calendar with your teams’ matches from the 2026 World Cup and add them to Google Calendar with artificial intelligence

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Let’s tell you how to create a calendar with matches of your favorite teams from the 2026 World Cup using artificial intelligencesomething quite simple to do. Because here it gets interesting, because later we will tell you how to add them to your Google Calendar so you don’t miss them. This is something that we are going to be able to do both in Gemini as in Claudeand it’s pretty simple. You can do it only with the matches of your country’s team, or directly with those of all the teams you are interested in following. Create a World Cup calendar with AI The first thing you have to do is ask Claude or Gemini to generate a calendar with the games played by the teams you want. You can request it with a prompt that looks like this: I want you to make me a calendar with the 2026 World Cup matches played by the teams of Spain, Argentina and Mexico. Obviously, you can modify the prompt to add the selections you want, or keep just one. This will generate a group stage schedule which is already underway, because it is not yet known which teams are going to qualify. Once you have the calendar created, now you have to tell the AI ​​to add it to your Google Calendar. You can use a prompt like this: Now save the games to my Google Calendar account Now comes the important part. Gemini and Claude have connectors to access your Google account, and will ask you to configure them to be able to do so and add the matches. ChatGPT does not have these connectors, and cannot do so. In Xataka Basics | How to prevent AI from always being right by default and thus make Claude, Gemini and ChatGPT have fewer hallucinations

Haiti wanted an epic jersey for their return to the World Cup. He has managed to piss off FIFA and make everyone talk about Poland

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Toward more than half a century that Haiti was not participating in the World Cup and yet, ironies of history, in the country (and the sports press of the rest of the planet) they are not talking about their players or their chances of success today in their debut match against Scotland. What is being talked about is his t-shirt. About its meaning, its colors, what exactly its designers wanted to capture in it and whether FIFA has acted well by demanding Haiti to change it. To understand it you have to go back to the 19th century. What has happened? We don’t know how Haiti will fare its world premiere today against Scotland (the match is played at 9:00 p.m. ET in Boston), what we do know is that, no matter what happens, their participation in the FIFA Cup is already football history. First because it did 52 years that the Caribbean nation did not qualify for the tournament. In fact, he had only achieved it once. in 1974when he participated (with little success) in the World Cup in West Germany. The second reason is that, even before the ball began to bounce on Thursday at the Azteca stadium, Haiti was already one of the teams with the most headlines in the World Cup. And the reason is surprising: his uniform. Or rather, a detail in the lower right corner of his shirt that FIFA did not like. What is the shirt like? We could see the shirt of the Haitian team a few days agoduring the friendly match that played on Friday the 5th against Peru. The design has also been shown in the profiles of the Haitian Football Federation (FHF) or even in the official website of FIFA. Also in publications of Saeta, the clothing brand Colombian sports that took on the challenge to shape the uniform and that at the end of 2025 he was already thinking about the design and its details. On March 28, the company finally published a post on his Instagram account in which the three Haitian team shirts could be seen: one blue (home), another white (visitor) and a third red. A nod to the colors of the country’s flag and two concepts: the sea and passion. Otherwise, the design was very simple: red collar and sleeve ends with a white stripe, the FHF shield at chest level, the Saeta brand… and a kind of very faint illustration, made up of shadowed silhouettes, at the level of the right hip. What does that flag mean? The image in question shows a group of men with a clearly highlighted silhouette in the foreground holding a flag. The key is… What colors does that banner look like? If we look at the t-shirts with a white or red background, it seems that the flag shows a blue stripe on a red stripe, the colors of Haiti. If we look at the shirt with a blue background, the bluish part of the flag however fades so much that it appears white. That last was the option the team used in your game on friday 5 against Peru and automatically led some to see a nod from the Caribbean nation to Poland. Is it really like that? A tweet from the 9th that ended up going viral points in that direction and many other international media (generalists and sports) have jumped on the bandwagon by publishing that, indeed, the Haitian shirt includes a deliberate tribute to Poland. Others believe that if the flag appears white and red (an effect that occurs in the home kit, but not in the others) it is the result of a factory error. In recent days they have circulated on networks voices who insisted on one and another version: intended tribute either optical illusion. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Poland, for the sake of what? If the doubts had been pointed towards the flag of the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, the United States, Japan or any other nation on the planet, they would probably have been cleared up soon, but not with Poland. The reason is very simple: with history books in hand, Haiti has reason to be grateful to the Poles. To understand it we have to go back to the beginning of the 19th century, more specifically to the Battle of Vertieres (1803), in which the Haitian revolutionaries defeated Napoleon’s troops, ended colonial rule and cleared the way for Haiti to achieve its independence. In that episode the Poles played an unexpected role. What role? Its role was explained in 2003 by Dr. Zdzislaw Wesolowski in a speech pronounced in the USA: in 1802 5,000 Poles from a legion attached to the French army were transferred to the Caribbean to quell the uprising in the colony of Saint-Dominguethe current Haiti and Dominican Republic. It is assumed that many fought on the side of France for Napoleon’s promise to restore freedom to his Poland. Shortly after arriving in the Caribbean, however, the Poles began to disobey the command and joined the rebels. At the end of 1803, in Verières, allies were already fighting with Jean-Jacques Dessalineswho proclaimed the independence of Haiti shortly after, in January 1804. What do we know about the happy shirt? When he started thinking about the design, in December 2025, Saeta explained that he was “collecting ideas, cultural references and identity elements” to “create an authentic and representative garment.” He wanted to “reflect the history, energy and resilience of the town.” With that starting point, it is supposed that the silhouettes located on the right hip refer to the Ballata de Viertières and the Haitian Revolution. One of his iconic moments actually came when Dessalines tore the white stripe off a French tricolor flag to create the banner of the first republic free black, an episode that was celebrated every May 18. What has FIFA said? Whether it represents one thing or another, whether its effect is more or less intended, … Read more

Where electricity comes from in each country in the world, told on an essential map

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To stop climate change, it is essential to “clean” electricity, that is, decarbonize it to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. The reason is clear: the electricity sector is to blame for approximately a third of global emissions, according to IEA data for 2025. What this world map does is shed light on the origin of the light that reaches us when we press the plug because knowing where the electricity comes from in each country is the first step to knowing what needs to be changed and how long it takes to achieve it. This map of Our World in Data sample for each state what is the main source of electrical energy for the period 2024/25. Behind this data visualization initiative is the University of Oxford and for its preparation uses information from Global Electricity Review Ember. There are 215 countries in their database, although for this representation they use 91 states that represent 93% of global electricity demand. Viewing and understanding the map is simple: one color for each dominant technology: orange is gas, gray is coal, blue is water, purple is nuclear, yellow is solar. In addition, it offers the percentage of that dominant technology to know how much this source represents in the state total. This point is important because a state can be colored orange because gas accounts for 40% of the total even though it has 35% renewables in total. It is a map of the present, not of how we want it to be or where the trend is going. The first thing we see on the map is that andCoal remains the largest single source of electricity generation in the world, a ranking that has been leading for more than half a century and that in this visualization represents 35% of the global generation. Of course, it is the lowest percentage since the founding of the IEA in 1974. One of the reasons why the global electricity sector continues to have so much weight in emissions is precisely because of the leadership of coal. Another reason is gas. In fact, in 2024 fossil fuels still generated almost 60% of the world’s electricity. Broadly speaking, the map shows how gas is hegemonic in rich countries in the northern hemisphere while coal dominates in Asia. In South America and parts of Africa, hydroelectricity is historically what makes the difference. However, Europe is a true rainbow, the result of decades of political strategies and investments. In fact, the big green shoot for the decarbonization of electricity goes through renewable energieswhich in 2025 surpassed coal for the first time in history: solar, wind, hydroelectric and others together produced more than a third of the world’s electricity. The good news is that almost all of the increase in electricity demand in 2024 was covered by clean sources. But there is one that shines with its own light: solar energy, which in 2024 surpassed wind power for the first time globally. Two states that are true powerhouses in solar generation are Spain with 22% and Chile with 25%. What is the main source of electricity for the countries of the world. Our World in Data What the map doesn’t say Our World in data map has small print: While it is true that renewables have grown, so have coal and gas. Thus, in 2024, developing Asian countries they consumed 80% of all the coal used for electricity in the world, when in 2000 it accounted for 40%. And there is a problem that the map leaves out: there are hundreds of millions of people who They do not have access to electricity. More specifically, 730 million in 2024. Of all of them, Africa concentrates 80%. These countries will have to build their network from scratch and the million-dollar question will be whether they will have the financing to do it with renewables or will they rely on the classic fossils, which are cheaper and more readily available. Another important fact that this world map omits is where does the fuel come from. That is, a country colored orange may depend on a neighbor with whom it has a strained relationship. Without going any further, in 2021 45% of imported gas by the EU came from Russia. When war broke out between Ukraine and Russia, that dependency made electricity more expensive overnight. Europe reacted, but at what price: now imported LNG it is more expensive. It is not the only one: Southeast Asia too suffers from energy dependence of the coal that matters. In Xataka | How much electricity each country on the map produces with renewable energy, displayed on a graph In Xataka | The most fascinating map you will see today: the entire electrical infrastructure of the planet, in an interactive infographic Cover | Our World in data

It seemed impossible to surpass Qatar as the worst organizer in the history of the World Cups. The US is getting it

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Can a democratic country offer a starker image than an authoritarian one when organizing a sporting event? The United States seems to be searching for the limits. With the connivance of FIFA, of course, which in recent years has awarded its most media and important sporting event to Russia and Qatar and which will repeat in this series of controversial awards with Saudi Arabia. And it has found in the United States a country that has stepped on the accelerator to catch up with what we consider authoritarian regimes. It is true that the World Cup has been used as a weapon of sportwashing since long before we knew what this meant. This has always implied a certain opening of the most reactionary policies during the time the event lasted to offer a friendlier image to the outside world. That is why it is even more surprising that the United States has barely made concessions in its way of doing politics. The competition hasn’t started yet and we already have a referee who has had to return home, public searches of players as if they were terrorists. A team that has tried to be expelled. And the constant threat towards its own citizens. Welcome to the 2026 Soccer World Cup. The World Cup in Canada, Mexico… and the United States. Hold my cubata, Qatar Standing on the shoulders and cheered by thousands of people in a packed stadium. The images of Omar Artan received as a national hero They surprise. They are surprising because Omar Artan is a referee. And I don’t think a referee has ever received such a welcome back to his country. The reason: being rejected by the United States. And Artan, a Somali, will not referee in the 2026 World Cup because one of the host countries He has not let him cross the border. The United States prohibits entry to citizens of Somalia. And he has made no exception with Omar Artan, who was going to be the first referee from his country to officiate a World Cup match and one in which, according to The CountryFIFA’s director of refereeing, the Italian Pierluigi Collina, had high hopes. The reason for the rejection?: “Concerns in the background check.” There are no more details. There are no more reasons. With those words the United States Customs and Border Protection Service (CBP) has settled the matter. Although it has been known that FIFA has tried to mediate in the matter, the organization has only issued a weak statement in which it points out that they do not have any type of influence on the migration policies of the host countries. The Artan case is the latest in a list of controversial decisions that continues to grow. In March, Donald Trump tried to intimidate the Iranian team football team, assuring that their safety could not be guaranteed if they went to the United States. Iran’s first two games are being played in Los Angeles and the third in Seattle, and the United States has toyed with the idea of ​​banning players from entering, citing national security risks. In April it was put on the table that it was Italy, out of the World Cup for the third consecutive time, which Iranian will take over but it was rejected by FIFA. In May, Donald Trump assured that he would allow the Iranian team to enter in statements in which he assured that Gianni Infantinopresident of FIFA who has been very close to the president of the United States until now, would have given him carte blanche to accept or not the Middle Eastern team. Finally, Iran will play in the United States. Yes, but his players will have to concentrate in Mexico, 15 members of the delegation have been rejected and Their fans will not be able to go to the stadium. Click on the image to go to the original tweet Click on the image to go to the original tweet Obviously, Iran is the most striking case but by no means the only one. According to BBCmore than 25% of the countries participating in the World Cup have border restrictions with the hosts. This has led to intense searches of the Uzbekistan and Senegal teams in which metal detectors, dogs and controls on the airport runway itself have been used before giving them the go-ahead. From the official account of the Senegalese team on X They assure that this procedure was carried out on the airport runway to speed up airport control procedures. However, the country’s own soccer federation indicated a few months ago that They would not send fans to the United States on an official trip because the applications had been rejected. Entering the United States is increasingly complicated for a greater number of travelers. Since 2016 to the Spanish It is not possible for us to travel to the United States without a visa if we have previously visited Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia and Yemen since 2011. And from 2023 the same thing happens with Cuba if we have passed through the island in the last five years. These types of measures are those that on other occasions have been omitted in favor of give some sense of normality in sporting events that take place in authoritarian countries. In Spain we know well how the whitening of authoritarian regimes through sport works, How to bring the Spanish Super Cup to Saudi Arabia and even defend the regime and equate it with Spain, like Xavi Hernández did as coach of FC Barcelona in 2023. FIFA will take the 2034 World Cup to Saudi Arabia, with the approval of FIFA, which created an adhoc competition for the country to win the award and overlooked any risk of attacks on human rights to the point that the candidacy has been the best score in history in a selective process. Some human rights which they also seem to want to omit with the United … Read more

Mexico has turned the opening of the World Cup into its greatest showcase. A wave of protests threatens to turn him against him

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Welcome the inauguration A World Cup is always a guarantee of something: visibility. There are few ‘showcases’ comparable to being the city in which the ball of a FIFA tournament begins to roll, something that will happen tonight (peninsular time) in Mexico City. What is not so clear is what the rest of the planet will see through that showcase: the Government hopes to offer a great sports festival, but there is seven protests summoned that threaten to spoil the day and leave a very different image. The World Cup ball is not the only one that rolls. And the day came. If you like sports (and if you don’t, too) it is likely that you had March 11 marked in red on your calendar. Barring an unforeseen catastrophe, this afternoon, at 9:00 p.m. peninsular time, the teams of Mexico and South Africa will play the opening match of the 2026 Soccer World Cup. They will do so in the Azteca stadium from Mexico City, after an opening ceremony in which several artists will participate and which will experience its climax when Shakira and Burna Boy perform the song of the World Cup, ‘Dai dai’. More than football. The normal thing on a day like today is that the host country of the World Cup dedicates itself to talking basically about football. Mexico knows it well, which has experience in the matter: this will be the third time in which it hosts the World Cup tournament, something it already did in 1970 and 1986. Today, however, the Mexican authorities (especially those in CDMX) are awaiting something else: half a dozen calls of protests that will start from different points of the city towards the vicinity of the stadium where athletes, authorities and fans will meet. What protests? The diary The Universal speaks of at least seven calls confirmed and organized by groups of transporters, health workers, peasant associations and pensioners who basically want to take advantage of two things: the media attention generated by the World Cup and the Government’s interest in avoiding any conflict that tarnishes the FIFA tournament. There are two mobilized groups that stand out above the rest due to the exposure they have achieved in recent weeks. The first are the ‘seeking mothers’that they cry out for justice for your missing relatives. The second, the teachersorganized in the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) and who have been demanding labor improvements for some time. Although the Executive has tried until the last moment reach an agreement with them to deactivate today’s protests, both parties (Education and CNTE) remain very distant. Claudia Sheibaum’s team does has been luckier with the farmers, who also threatened to mobilize. @lajornadaonline Hours before the soccer festival begins, the pain of the families of missing people is manifested in Mexico City. Collectives of searching mothers walk towards the Mexico City stadium, but the capital police prevented them from passing through Tlalpan. ♬ original sound – lajornadaonline – lajornadaonline “They want to provoke us”. The conflict does not catch the Government by surprise. The CNTE it takes months showing its discomfort and its relationship with the Sheinbaum Government has been strained in recent weeks, which has even led some of its members to break into the headquarters of the Ministry of Public Education. The most critical episode occurred a few days agowhen a teacher lost an eye after being hit by a rubber bullet while participating in a march. Incidents like this are the ones that now, a few hours before the start of the World Cup, the Government wants to avoid at all costs. “There are groups that want to provoke us, and they are not necessarily teachers. In other words, what they are looking for is repression, I say it clearly. What they are looking for is that before the opening of the World Cup the international note is: ‘The Government of Mexico represses teachers’. That is what they are looking for, but they are not going to have it,” Sheinbaum assured on Monday. The scenario is not simple. Both the president and the Government of CDMX assure that will respect the right to protest, but at the same time they are taking measures to shield the Azteca and prevent the protests from altering the World Cup agenda. “National Security Facility”. The Secretary of Government of CDM, César Cravioto, it was very clear about it on Tuesday: the capital’s stadium, he warned, “is already a national security facility.” Hence, access controls and protection have been reinforced. “They will have to understand that in less than 48 hours the World Cup will open here, in the stadium, and we have to protect it.” Cravioto insisted also that fans are “guaranteed” access to the Azteca, although he asked them to arrive “early” to avoid “complications.” ABC assures that there are professionals (journalists, stadium workers, sponsors…) who are already considering heading to the area at seven in the morning, six hours before the opening match starts. The focus is not only on the Azteca. The Secretariat of Citizen Security has also deployed a special device on the perimeter of the Mexico City International Airport to anticipate the arrival of CNTE protesters. Of laws and pensions. In the background is the clash between the Executive and the teachers represented by the CNTE, who on May 1, Labor Day, presented a document with their requests to the Government. In general lines propose eliminating the ISSSTE law of 2007, changes in educational reforms, recovering a solidarity pension system for teachers and a salary improvement. For now, and despite the eight-hour meeting held in extremison the eve of the World Cup, there has been no agreement with the Government, which maintains that the change in pensions would skyrocket its cost. The teachers’ protests will match today with those of the ‘seeking mothers’, who have been demanding that the Executive not forget the tens of thousands of people with unknown whereabouts that Mexico accumulates. Before, the group has … Read more

The world was tired of depending on TSMC to manufacture all its chips. This is what is causing Intel’s great resurrection

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Who has seen you and who sees you, Intel. The legendary semiconductor firm seems to be leaving behind its painful journey through the desert, and the latest news points to a true resurrection. The signature has achieved a spectacular contract to manufacture three million Google TPUs, and Nvidia is also studying the possibility of use Intel 18A node for future multi-die GPU designs. This is spectacular news for the company. Promising future, at last. The agreement with Google’s cloud division is a huge boost for the chip manufacturing business (foundry) from Intel. This deal will see Intel produce millions of AI chips at its advanced 3-nanometer node. With it, the firm achieves a decisive step to compete with TSMC, which until now was the absolute reference for those who wanted to access advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes. There is another crucial geopolitical factor here: part of these chips will be produced in the US, which helps in the objective of not depending so much on Asian countries for this process. Flirting with Nvidia. But Nvidia also seems to be interested in Intel’s 18A photolithographic process. The company led by Jensen Huang is considering the use of this node for its future multi-die architectures for its GPUs. Nvidia has managed to become TSMC’s main customer, but this manufacturer cannot satisfy Nvidia’s demand, so this company is looking for plans B, and Intel is serving it one on a plate. The signature by the way, already bought 4% of Intel in September 2025, so it is the first interested in Intel doing well. The PowerVia revolution. There are two big technical arguments that are apparently convincing Google and Nvidia. The first, the transistors RibbonFET. The second, even more important, PowerVia technology. This system is a qualitative leap because it physically separates the power and signal lines from the transistors, which avoids bottlenecks and improves both performance and efficiency of the CPUs that use this technology. Chip sovereignty. This decision by Google and Nvidia’s plan respond in part to the pressures that the US government is doing—and boosting with its CHIPS Act— to recover technological sovereignty and avoid dependence on foreign countries. Both companies know that 90% of the planet’s advanced chips depend on that island called Taiwan, and taking advantage of Intel’s renewed capacity is a great opportunity for kill two birds with one stone. They reduce their dependence on TSMC, and comply with the demands of the US government. War makes strange allies. The current situation is unique, because it is causing companies that competed fiercely in the field of hardware (Intel and Nvidia) to now be forced to collaborate out of pure necessity. Intel needs clients of this type to demonstrate to investors that its division foundry can operate independently of its consumer processor or server division. And Google and Nvidia in turn need Intel to break manufacturing monopoly of semiconductors that TSMC had. Intel finally resurrects. The big winner of these agreements is Intel, which has gone through a really compromising stage but has for a year has not stopped growing. We can see it in its valuation on the stock market. A year ago its shares were trading at $20.68, and now they are trading at $107.04 and with these agreements that value may continue to improve. Good for Intel. Image | Intel In Xataka | Bill Gates has X-rayed Intel. And his diagnosis is overwhelmingly accurate.

Russia thought kyiv would fall within days. Four years later, the war in Ukraine has just “passed” the First World War

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In 1914, millions of Europeans they were convinced that the war would end before Christmas. In fact, the expression “home by Christmas” became popular between soldiers and civilians who believed that the conflict would be rather brief. It ended up lasting more than four years and transforming Europe forever. More than a century later, the Ukrainian war has already grown longer. From days to historical milestone. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Kremlin expected a swift campaign that would culminate in the fall of kyiv within days. More than four years later, the reality is exactly the opposite: the war has reached the 1,569 days duration and has already officially surpassed to the First World War. What began as an operation designed to quickly overthrow the Ukrainian government has transformed into one of the longest and most consequential conflicts in recent European history, to the point that many Ukrainians they contemplate with concern another historical threshold even more distant: the duration of the Second World War. The inevitable comparison with 1914. The historians warn that comparisons with world wars have obvious limits due to the differences in scale, number of countries involved and volume of casualties. However, they consider that the war in Ukraine shares enough features with the First World War to become its closest parallel in more than a century. Both began lightning offensives aimed at achieving a decisive victory within a few weeks. Both the German advance to Paris in 1914 like the Russian push towards kyiv in 2022 came close to achieving their initial objectives before being stopped and forced to retreat. The return of trench warfare. After the failure of the initial offensives, both conflicts drifted towards long static fronts where artillery dominated the battlefield. The images from the trenches of eastern Ukraine quickly evoked scenes from France and Belgium during the Great War. Soldiers barely separated a few hundred meterscontinuous bombardments and small infantry assaults became the daily routine. The firepower forced combatants to bury themselves underground to survive, reproducing a pattern that seemed to belong definitively to the past. Drones change the rules. The main difference between both wars came from the air. The drones profoundly transformed the battlefield and ended up making even traditional trenches vulnerable. Permanent surveillance from the sky and the ability to attack with precision forced the replacement of long defensive lines by small scattered sheltersdifficult to detect and more resistant to attacks. In many areas, any open-air movement can be located and attacked in a matter of minutes, turning large areas of the front into veritable death zones controlled by unmanned systems. Tanks, bunkers and dispersal. Technological evolution has also reduced the prominence of some weapons that for decades symbolized modern warfare. Tanks, feared during the early stages of the invasion, have become on easy targets for drones and they appear less and less near the line of contact. Meanwhile, soldiers invest enormous efforts in building shelters each time more sophisticated and profound. Some bunkers incorporate specific designs to absorb explosions and increase the chances of survival, reflecting the extent to which physical protection is once again a vital issue in an attritional conflict. Destruction reminiscent of the last century. Although the casualty figures They are very inferior Like those of the First World War, the visual devastation is eerily familiar. Destroyed forests, towns reduced to ruins and fields covered in craters constantly appear in images captured by reconnaissance drones. Various military analysts hold that the lethality of the Ukrainian front is close to that of the great battles of a century ago, not because of the absolute number of deaths but because of the constant danger faced by those fighting on the front lines. Stagnation and the search for a way out. The slow pace of progress illustrates the nature of the conflict. In some recent operations, Russian forces have progressed at a pace even slower than that recorded in some of the most stagnant battles of the First World War. With negotiations practically paralyzed, neither side has yet found a formula to break the balance. Ukraine tries to weaken Russian economic capacity through attacks against energy infrastructures and oil companies while flooding the front with thousands of attack drones, seeking to impose unsustainable costs on the adversary. The final paradox is that a war that began with the promise of quick victory increasingly looks like to the Great War: a prolonged struggle of attrition, marked by technology and with no clear end in sight. Image | Ministry of Defense of Ukraine In Xataka | The drone war has left a clear lesson for Ukraine: you can’t leave home without a 100-year-old machine gun In Xataka | In case there was not enough “gasoline” in 2026, the attack by a Russian drone has crossed a red line: that of Chernobyl

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