worst

2026 will be a historic year for smartphones. The worst year in history, specifically

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The smartphone market is touched. That of technology, in general, with the brands themselves warning months ago about what was coming and encouraging us to anticipate technological purchases in the coming years as soon as possible. The rise of artificial intelligence and the Big Tech fever for building data centers has broken the consumer market with increasingly expensive computers, inaccessible components and the disappearance of the “cheap mobile”. Because 2026 is not being a good year to buy technology to the point that there is already talk of the worst year in history for smartphones. Disaster in sight. We already knew that 2026 was going to be bad, but now the analyst firm Counterpoint Research has revised their forecasts to point out something interesting: it will be worse than we expected. If in February they pointed to a drop in the year-on-year volume of smartphone shipments this year of 12.4%, they have now revised those forecasts to go a little further: up to 13.9%. This implies that this year some 1,080 million mobile phones will be shipped, which seems like a lot, but it represents 174 million fewer devices than in 2025. The translation is that it will be the lowest annual volume since 2013, when everything was field, experimentation and the newest smartphones continued to coexist with strange proposals and ‘dumb phones’. No options. The reason is the persistence of the component crisis, mainly storage and RAM memory. The acceleration of Big Tech to build more AI infrastructure is causing himcomponent production lines For the consumer sector (in which mobile phones are found) it does not have components or has to buy them much more expensively. This, evidently, causes the sales price of the device to increase. The impact is there because the memory represented 20% of the manufacturing invoice for an entry mobile. Now that percentage rises to 40% or more and, although everything increases in price or does not improve as it should from one generation to the next to cushion the impact, manufacturers really do not have many more options. The calculations are there and they make the new mobile phones less attractive. In the entry range – increments of 30 dollars per unit. In the mid range – from 60 to 80 dollars per unit. In the premium – 100 and 150 dollars per unit. Strategy. These manufacturers have two options on the table. Or they don’t launch new devices this year, something that some industry giants have already targetedensuring that the situation will cause some companies to fall by the wayside because their business depends directly on the devices… or they launch new models, but without better specifications and more expensive. It is estimated that smartphone prices worldwide increased by 14% during the first quarter of this year, with a shortage hitting the entry and mid-range segment harder than that of more premium mobile phones. The reason is that in the mid-range the margins are tighter and in the premium it is other components that raise the bill (cameras or screens, for example), in addition to having wider margins. In figures. It is affordable mobile phones that are bearing the brunt, with a 46% drop in shipments in this first quarter due to the reduction in the supply of LPDDR4 memory. In fact, Samsung is one of the largest on the market and already pointed out weeks ago that they were going to abandon the LPDDR4 to focus on the LPDDR5 which is better, but also more expensive. An example with first and last names is Galaxy A57a mobile that exemplifies this price increase in the mid-range because one GB of RAM is already worth twice as much as three months ago. To contextualize this, let’s go with some figures: Apple (premium segment) – stable shipments. Samsung (all segments, but strong presence in premium) – 4% drop. Xiaomi (all segments, but more in the mid-range) – 20% drop. Honor (all segments, but more in the mid-range) – 28% drop. Transsion (especially entry range) – 32% drop. No recovery on the horizon. The good news? Really, there is no good news. Coaunterresearch Point is just one source, but a forecast Parallel to IDC, which also contemplates this drop in shipments of 13.9%, points to an additional 1.1% of 1.1%. It is in 2028 when the situation is expected to begin to improve, but without returning to the state we had just two years ago. It will be a slow recovery and the market will suffer more in those areas where there is a greater concentration of mobile phones that move around 200 euros. It is, as we said months ago, the disappearance of the cheap mobile in favor of a more resilient high-end and premium because of what we commented about sales margins. But hey, in the end, it is a situation that we are seeing in all consumer devices. Apple is discontinuing options for its Macs with certain memory combinations, the Steam Deck just went up 300 euros suddenly, The Raspberry Pi has increased tremendously and it is not known when they will come out Steam MachinePS6 or Xbox Project Helix because no one wants to compromise. The only thing we know about the new Xbox is what its new CEO said: It will be expensive due to the component crisis. In Xataka | Samsung is doing so well that its workers threatened to strike if it didn’t distribute benefits. And they have won

science explains why it is the worst possible idea

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Chances are, if you’re faced with a jellyfish sting right on the beach, someone in your group of friends will quickly suggest an eschatological solution: piss on the sting. This advice is, without a doubt, one of the most widespread home remedies in popular culture and on internet forums. Much of the blame lies with one of the most successful comedies in the history of television. In 1997, the series Friends aired the episode titled “the one with the jellyfish.” In an unforgettable scene, Monica is stung by a jellyfish and Joey quickly suggests that someone pee on her leg, claiming that he saw it on a Discovery Channel documentary and that ammonia would numb the pain. Faced with Joey’s “stage fright,” it is Chandler who finally performs the unpleasant task, leaving the trio deeply traumatized by the experience. The anecdote made millions laugh, but it also burned a supposed medical cure into the collective imagination. Fact or fiction on the seashore? Despite its television fame, science is blunt: Urinating on a jellyfish sting is an absolute myth and doesn’t work. Far from alleviating the bather’s suffering, this bodily fluid can drastically worsen the situation and increase the victim’s pain level. Various scientific studies and medical specialists completely rule out this practice. In fact, the prestigious publication Scientific American He already took care of denying this false remedy in 2007, warning of its dangers. The anatomy of a mistake. To understand why Joey’s advice is so dangerous, you first have to understand how does this animal attack. Jellyfish have thousands of specialized cells in their tentacles called cnidocytes or nematocysts. These structures work like tiny harpoons loaded with venom that, upon sensing a mechanical stimulus (such as the touch of a leg) or a chemical change, are fired in fractions of a second, injecting their toxins. The logic behind the myth is based on the fact that urine It contains compounds such as ammonia and urea, which could theoretically neutralize pain. However, human urine is composed mostly of water, so the amounts of ammonia are ridiculous and insufficient to stop stinging cells. Because it’s not a good idea. Urine is a freshwater-based liquid, and that sudden change in salinity causes the “harpoons” still attached to the skin to activate, injecting even more poison into the bloodstream. Additionally, the force and speed of the urine stream acts as a physical stimulant that agitates the residual tentacles. As jellyfish biologist Lisa Gershwin explainsthe poison is neutralized with acids, but the acidity of human urine is variable; If the pH is alkaline, it will cause 100% of the stinging cells to fire, turning this remedy into a dangerous “urinary roulette”. So what should we do? If urine is discarded, how should we act in the sand? Experts and medical institutions recommend following this first aid protocol: Wash with salt water: The area should be rinsed immediately with sea water or saline solution. Fresh water should never be used, as the change in osmotic pressure will burst the remaining stinging cells. Removing the tentacles: Remove visible remains using fine tweezers or the edge of a plastic credit card. It should never be rubbed with bare hands or rubbed with a towel or sand. Apply temperature: To relieve pain, it is very effective to immerse the area in hot water for about 20 minutes. You can also apply cold using ice, but always wrapped in a towel or plastic, never directly on the skin. Use of vinegar (with caution): The acetic acid in vinegar helps neutralize the tentacles of certain species, such as the dreaded sea wasp (Cubozoa) or the compass jellyfish. However, it is totally contraindicated in bites from the Portuguese man-of-war (Physalia physalis), as it will make the reaction worse. Immediate medical attention: If things get complicated and symptoms appear beyond simple stinging, such as difficulty breathing, pressure in the chest, nausea, vomiting or muscle cramps, then you should seek medical help or go to the emergency room as soon as possible. The idea was a joke that looked good on screen. Pop culture is a wonderful tool for entertainment, but shows like Friends They should not be used as clinical survival manuals. When faced with a jellyfish sting, science asks us to forget beach myths, stay calm and trust in sea water, tweezers and heat. As Dr. Elias Hyams humorously summarizesa urologist at Brown University, warning about the ineffectiveness of this false home remedy: “It is always better to urinate in a bathroom than on a friend on the beach.” Image | Photo by Laura Nyhuis on Unsplash Xataka | The silent condemnation of “visual snow”: 3% of the world’s population sees the world with interference

models point to worst El Niño in 140 years and one of the key reports is published on Thursday

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All the meteorological agencies in the world are looking at the same building on the east coast of the United States. On Thursday, May 14, before markets open, in College Park, Maryland, a room full of oceanographers and meteorologists will discuss a four-page pdf. In that pdf it will be written the future of the planet. It sounds epic, but it’s more prosaic than it seems. It will not be written clearly, sharply, or with absolute certainty: but it will be. What’s in that PDF? NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) publishes the second Thursday of each month your ENSO Diagnostic Discussion. It is the most important report from the global El Niño monitoring systems and, from what the models are saying, the probability of a “very strong” El Niño is going to exceed 25% (and growing). But if it’s monthly… why is this specific report important? Because the index the agency uses to monitor and predict ENSO has changed. Until this year, NOAA I used ONI: an index to measure the sea surface temperature anomaly, but which does not discount the average anomaly produced by climate change. What is expected is that the predictions under the new index (I’ll call it RONI) is significantly less than under normal conditions. If the magnitudes shoot up despite the correction, things will look worse. This report is important because it is the first that will capture the “acceleration” of El Niño at full capacity. What would this entail? Each new NOAA report translates into a cascade of decisions in agricultural, energy, fishing and fire policies. He last major El Niño (2023-24) coincided with 2023 would be the second warmest year on record and 2024 the warmest ever: a strong 2026-27 El Niño could push 2027 to another global record and the impacts are not well measured. It is true that between March and May the reliability of ENSO forecasts drops sharply (because the equatorial Pacific anomalies go through their transition phase); but, in the absence of the June report, this is the best clue we have. What can we expect? We already know that there is a 61% chance that El Niño will be with us between May and July 2026. A 25% chance that it is “very strong.” The important thing to keep in mind is what that means. 61% measures the probability that the equatorial Pacific crosses the threshold of what we understand as El Niño. But, unfortunately, it does not measure how much it will rain in Cádiz, nor what will happen to the crops in Misiones, nor how many hurricanes the Yucatán will see. It is worth remembering that, during the warm phase (that is, during El Niño), the absence of strong trade winds that cool the surface of the equatorial Pacific causes the temperature of that area of ​​the ocean to skyrocket. It is this, through different atmospheric teleconnectionswhich disrupts all the weather systems in the world. What we are not clear about is exactly how. The effects are varied and change depending on the region (“drier conditions than normal in certain parts of the world; while in others it causes more precipitation. Some countries have to deal with major droughts and others with torrential rains”, says AEMET); but when we talk about temperatures there is no doubt: El Niño is synonymous with heat. Everything else remains to be written. Image | Xataka In Xataka | “It is so extreme that it is difficult to believe”: El Niño forecasts depict an event of unprecedented intensity.

Two neobanks without offices are putting Spanish banks in trouble. And the worst for the IBEX is yet to come

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Revolut accumulates 6 million customers in Spain. Trade Republic has doubled its own in ten months. When Revolut grants mortgages, we will talk about a war that escalates. Why is it important. It is not common for actors outside the system to appear in a sector as large and historic as banking (without a network of branches or lobby nor the level of advertising of the large ones) and achieve a scale comparable to that of medium-sized entities, in a very short time. They have also done so by attracting younger clients with a greater propensity to operate: exactly the profile that generates the most commissions and that is most difficult for traditional banks to recover. The context. Spain has been a seemingly impenetrable financial market for years: highly banked, highly concentrated after the 2008 crisis and dominated by four or five entities that control the majority of the retail business. The digital commitment of big banks (Imagin from CaixaBank or Openbank from Santander) is working well, but the essence of the matter has not changed: they are subsidiary brands that do not threaten the core business of their parent companies. Revolut and Trade Republic, on the other hand, are independent entities with no internal conflict to resolve. In figures: More than 6 million Revolut customers in Spain at the end of 2025, with a penetration of 13% of the population, close to ING and ahead of Banco Sabadell. 3,990 million euros in total Revolut deposits in Spain according to the Bank of Spainwith a growth of 74% in 2025. 2 million Trade Republic clients in Spain, doubled in just ten months, with a projection of reach 3 million before the end of 2026. Spain is already Revolut’s second largest market in the EU, and the third globally, only behind the United Kingdom and France. The two sides of the same phenomenon. Revolut and Trade Republic attack different but complementary flanks. Revolut is going after the everyday bank: checking account, card, currency exchange, savings, personal loans, soon business credit… and considerable success when it comes to positioning itself as a card for travel or online purchases. Trade Republic goes for savings and retail investing: ETFs, stocks, cryptocurrencies and a 2.75% APR interest-bearing account with no balance limit. Together they cover practically the entire banking customer value chain retail. What used to require two or three banking relationships now fits into two applications. Between the lines. The most revealing data about Trade Republic is the speed at which they are growing: one million new users in less than a year, a rate that exceeds that which the entity itself registered in Germany during its initial expansion. It is a sign that in Spain there is a latent demand for alternatives that traditional banking has never fully satisfied, especially among the group of savers under forty years of age. The average age of the Trade Republic customer is around 35 years old. They are exactly the clients that IBEX banks need for their next decade. Yes, but. Growing customers is not the same as capturing their money. Revolut has 13% penetration in Spain but barely 0.25% of the system’s total deposits, according to a Citi analysis collected by The World. Only 1% of payrolls reach Revolut. Most of its users use it as a secondary bank: for trips, for specific payments or to park some savings with better remuneration than their usual bank. Trade Republic has not yet published its deposit figures in Spain. Traditional banking has been using this argument as a shield for some time: having many clients with a low average balance is not a business model, it is an acquisition model. The real test will come with the credit. The decisive moment. The big unknown (and the biggest threat to conventional banking) is the mortgage. Revolut has confirmed that it plans to launch it in Spain between 2026 and 2027. The model you have announced is completely digital, without negotiation: an offer. Take it or leave it. Ignacio Zunzunegui, Revolut’s growth director for southern Europe, said this in an interview with The World: “You could press a button and start being much more aggressive with credit.” If that works, Revolut stops being “your other bank” and becomes the first, as happened to ING in the first decade of the century. The mortgage is the product that anchors a client for decades, the one that generates the deepest relationship and the greatest income over time. It is the last moat that protects traditional banking. Meanwhile, its CEO has confirmed that Revolut will not go public before 2028: a company with almost 2,000 million euros of profit that prefers to remain unlisted publicly while it consolidates markets. Featured image | Sophie DupauTrade Republic In Xataka | Revolut wants more than your savings: it’s going after Spanish millionaires

projections have just put on the table the worst El Niño in 140 years

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It often feels like we are erasing the meaning of the word ‘historical’ by using it so much. And yet, here I am: about to say that seasonal prediction models show an “unprecedented” convergence in the same direction: an extremely strong El Niño before the end of 2026. If what the models say is confirmed, we could be facing the most powerful El Niño in at least 140 years. So yes, ‘historic’ is the appropriate word. But, first of all, let’s review what ENSO is. They are the acronym in English of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and they refer to a cyclical (although very irregular) climate phenomenon that has great effects on the global climate. Huge, in fact. If we exclude the stations, it is the most important source of annual climate variability from all over the planet. During the warm phase (that is, during El Niño), the absence of strong trade winds that cool the surface of the equatorial Pacific causes the temperature of that area of ​​the ocean to skyrocket. It is this, through different atmospheric teleconnectionswhich disrupts all the weather systems in the world. The effects are varied and change depending on the region (“drier conditions than normal in certain parts of the world; while in others it causes more precipitation. Some countries have to deal with major droughts and others with torrential rains”, says AEMET); but when we talk about temperatures there is no doubt: El Niño is synonymous with heat. Although, of course, that is in a normal ENSO. If we talk about the strongest ENSO event in a century and a half, everything skyrockets. The most likely conclusions tell us about a wild redistribution of heat globally, a more than likely temperature record for 2027 and a string of profound alterations in rainfall and hurricane patterns. And why do we think it will be like this? Fundamentally, because the convergence of the different models is a very strong indication. Not only is it that more than half of the probabilistic scenarios of the European model they project anomalies greater than +2.5 degrees in the equatorial Pacific, is that Zeke Hausfather (adding 433 members from 11 models) reaches the same conclusions. And what exactly is the news? Obviously, the news is not that El Niño is coming. We have already talked about that: The news is the strength (aggressiveness, even) with which it now appears in our projections. Or not even that. Because no one is very clear what an event of this type means in a climate context like the current one (it would arrive after three years above the 1.5 of the Paris Agreement). And that is a problem. “Problem”? It is also the most appropriate word. We must not forget that the super El Niño of 97-98, one of the strongest ENSOs in recent years, caused numerous consequences that lasted for years: the estimates say which caused damage to global economic growth of around 5.7 trillion dollars. If this event is greater than the one in ’97, the question is whether the improvements we have made since then are enough to contain the blow or not. The answer, I’m afraid, we will have in a few months. Image | Xataka In Xataka | “It is so extreme that it is difficult to believe”: El Niño forecasts depict an event of unprecedented intensity.

two decades later, his worst nightmare is underselling it

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Just open anyone’s closet Millennial to find them, whether worn, scribbled or with the sole on the verge of collapse. The Converse Chuck Taylor All Star have been much more than a shoe: they were our—this editor includes—unconditional companion that survived all our aesthetic phasesfrom the fever skater in the style of Avril Lavigne until it becomes the essential everyday basic for going to the office. However, in recent years we have observed that this situation is no longer the case. Although fashion magazines try to convince us that they are back, we know that both the street and, now, the income statement tell a completely different story. The symbol of our “rebellious” youth is sinking. The financial free fall. The numbers don’t lie, and the market verdict is being relentless. According to a report by Bloombergthe Converse brand is currently in free fall, with its revenue heading dramatically toward its lowest level in 15 years. The magnitude of the disaster breaks down a financial drain: the brand has had three disastrous quarterswith consecutive drops in income of 27% in the first quarter, 30% in the second and a brutal collapse of 35% in the third quarter, remaining at a meager 264 million dollars due to the general weakness in all global territories. A huge contrast with its matrix. In October 2024, Elliott Hill took over as CEO of Nike and, from that moment on, the sports giant has shown signs of improvement, especially in the United States and in the wholesale market. However, Converse’s problems have intensified. In the November quarter, the Boston-based brand accounted for less than 3% of Nike’s $12.4 billion in total revenue, becoming the biggest drag on the company’s resurgence. But how could it happen? That is, how has such an iconic sneaker lost public favor in this way? (It is also true that the Millennials We are a bit egocentric. The answer lies in a mixture of immobility and lack of technical vision. Laurent Vasilescu, analyst at BNP Paribas cited by Bloombergis blunt about this: “Converse has lost ground over the years because it has not provided innovations. There was an excessive dependence on the Chuck Taylor model.” The brand rested on the laurels of its classic design. When they tried to modernize it—with the launch of the line chuck IIwhich incorporated Nike foam technology to make them more comfortable—the experiment turned out to be a resounding commercial failure. The market has changed drastically. As pointed out Seeking Alpha, Converse has come face to face with a consumer that now demands technical innovation, losing the battle to newer, performance-oriented brands such as On and Hoka. To this we must add the historical irony that Converse was not always a street shoe; In the 50s and 60s, it dominated more than 60% of the basketball market, shoeing legends and starring in the 80s. the iconic rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird with his Weapon model. Paradoxically, it was Nike itself that ended its hegemony on the fields by signing Michael Jordan. After losing its sporting throne, Converse was relegated to casual fashion, a terrain that is now also crumbling. Are we facing the end of an era? Faced with this crisis, Nike’s initial response in Oregon has been to take out the scissors. According to Bloombergthe company reduced Converse’s workforce, restructured its organization and took a severe 44% cut in marketing expenses during the fiscal second quarter. Despite this, Elliott Hill declared to Bloomberg TV in Milan: “I have heard the rumors (…) But we are committed to the Converse brand.” The rescue plan involves a desperate attempt to recover the lost glory on the trading floor. In fact, Converse has once again opted for professional basketballlaunching $130 sneakers in collaboration with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP, in September. A little hope. So if the resuscitation attempt fails, it already exists a pretty clear option: Authentic Brands Group (ABG). This brand management giant, led by Jamie Salter, has a long history of buying struggling historic companies to squeeze sales through licensing and operating agreements. They already did it with Reebok (purchased from Adidas in 2022 for 2.5 billion, managing to increase their retail sales by 50%), and they also control Champion, Guess and Forever 21. According to BloombergABG has expressed a long-standing interest in acquiring Converse if Nike finally decides to hang up the “For Sale” sign. The reality of the street. There is a fascinating fracture between what the fashion industry dictates and what consumers actually buy. On the one hand, fashion headlines have been since last year announcing a “quiet return” of Converse, applauding like celebrities like Alexa Chung or Charli XCX wear the classics again high-tops in campaigns or fashion weeks. They speak of an abandonment of quiet luxury in favor of nostalgia. However, the overwhelming financial data of Bloomberg show that this supposed rebirth It’s an Instagram mirage. The generation millennialwhich massively adopted this shoe in 2008, has changed its priorities to an ergonomic model, support and comfort. The Converse look very good in the photos of street stylebut they are no longer profitable on a day-to-day basis. We have gotten older. Nike bought Converse in 2003 for $305 million, rescuing it from a painful bankruptcy filing. Today, more than two decades later, history threatens to repeat itself. Whether it achieves a sales miracle thanks to the NBA MVP or ends up being devoured by Authentic Brands Group’s mass licensing model, one thing is clear: Converse’s golden era is over. For the millennial generation, seeing their iconic sneaker fight for its survival is a relentless reminder of the passage of time. Converse will continue to exist, probably in the back of our closet or as a product of licensed nostalgia, but the incontestable symbol of our cultural dominance is fading forever. Image | PickPik Xataka | We went out for a 20-kilometer run with a bag of liquid cream in our backpack: now we have our own butter

Your refrigerator has a compartment designed for eggs in the door. It’s the worst possible place to keep them.

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Almost all refrigerators on the market, when purchased, come with an accessory designed specifically for this purpose: an egg cup that goes on the shelves of the appliance door. This has become the place that many of us look at at first to catch the eggs, but the truth is that it is the worst refrigerator place to save the eggs. The thermal trap. The reason lies not in the fragility of the food, but in a microscopic enemy that surrounds us and can be potentially dangerous: the Salmonella. Here the main problem with the refrigerator door is that it is the area most exposed to thermal changes, since every time we open the refrigerator to get milk, water or simply to think about what to eat, the temperature on the door shelves fluctuates drastically. Here are the regulatory bodies of the United States They are quite clear pointing out that these constant rises and falls in temperature are the ideal breeding ground for bacterial growth. Furthermore, as pointed out by the South Korean Ministry of Food, the door is prone to generate condensation, creating a humid environment that facilitates the proliferation of pathogens in the shell that end up in the food when we break the eggs in the same bowl where we beat them (something also not recommended). The ideal temperature. To keep salmonella at bay, the temperature must be stable and below 4°C – 10°C, since under these conditions, the growth of the bacteria is suppressed by more than 99%. But this on the refrigerator shelves is something that is not always achieved. What the studies say. Here the science is quite clear with different studies that have pointed to the survival of strains such as Salmonella Typhimurium and the Salmonella Enteritidis in very specific conditions. A 2021 study demonstrated that at room temperature the bacterial load increases alarmingly in both the white and the yolk. On the contrary, keeping them at 5ºC limits their multiplication and reduces virulence. But if we come more to the present, a study launched in 2024 found that, under alternating temperature conditions, that is, in cycles of 25 ºC to 5 ºC, similar to taking food in and out of the refrigerator, salmonella manages to migrate to the yolk in 64% of cases. How to preserve them. Taking all this into account, the big question is: what should we do when we get home from the supermarket? In this case, the health authorities point to two strategies, the first being to put them directly on the interior shelves, preferably on the lower or middle ones. In this way, the temperature remains stable below 4ºC, and especially if it is at the bottom of the refrigerator. Do not throw away the cardboard. Although we usually take eggs out of their boxes to put them in plastic egg cups for convenience, the truth is that it is a mistake. That is why the second conservation strategy is to keep them in the original packaging, since the cardboard not only protects them from possible knocks, but also acts as a crucial barrier against moisture loss, prevents the shell from absorbing odors from other foods and protects the egg’s natural cuticular barrier. Images | Onur Burak Akın Katie Bernotsky In Xataka | The internet has become obsessed with drinking hot water in the morning. Science is clear about what it does (and what it doesn’t)

the largest purchase in its history in one of the worst moments

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It has taken a while, but finally Renfe has given the green light to the purchase of new AVE for use in Spain. The Board of Directors of the operator has made it officialin what has been the largest purchase of high-speed rolling stock in its history. Below all the details. What has happened. The Minister of Transport, Óscar Puente, announced this Wednesday in the Congress of Deputies that Renfe has approved the tender to acquire 30 new high-speed trains for an amount of 1,362 million euros. The operation, which according to El País It exceeds in size the purchase of 30 Talgo Avril units made between 2015 and 2016, and also includes an extension clause that would allow the order to be increased to 40 trains, with a total investment that would be close to 1,777 million. Why is it coming now? The tender was scheduled for February, but the Adamuz accident in January, in which 46 people lost their lives, forced Renfe to postpone the decision. That accident, in which an Alvia was involved on the Madrid-Seville line, fired alarms about network status and the age of part of the fleet. And the crisis of accumulated incidents in the Spanish railway system has accelerated the need to renew the train fleet. In detail. The new convoys will be designed to travel at 350 km/h, although reaching that speed will require prior infrastructure works. Adif plans to begin the renovation of the Madrid-Barcelona line this year, where the change of sleepers will allow the current limit of 300 km/h to be exceeded. Each train must have a minimum capacity of 450 seats in two classes, and include accessible spaces for people with reduced mobility, bicycle areas and restaurant services. Technically, the trains will operate in standard UIC gauge (1,435 mm) and must be equipped with the ERTMS/ETCS and ASFA signaling systems. The deadlines. The contract demands that the first five trains will be available within 40 months of signing, and that the entire fleet will be delivered within 78 months. The agreed supply rate is one new train approximately every 45 days. The contract has a total duration of six years and also includes the corresponding spare parts. Who can win the contract. The main candidates are Siemens, with its Velaro Novo model, and Hitachi Rail, with the ETR 1000 (the same train that Iryo operates and that was involved in the Adamuz accident, although the investigation points to a failure in the infrastructure as a probable cause). Also have been visited by Minister Puente and the president of Renfe, Álvaro Fernández Heredia, the facilities of the Chinese firm CRRC and the Spanish plants of Talgo, CAF and Alstom. And now what. The arrival of these trains comes with the intention of providing a response to demand growth of the AVE during the next decade. And for this there are several challenges ahead: that the infrastructure is ready to take advantage of the 350 km/h and ensure that delivery times are met. On the other hand, the operator needs regain traveler trustand this purchase seems one of the first steps to make it possible. It remains to be seen who gets the contract. Cover image | Wikipedia In Xataka | Two floors, 200 meters long and one objective: to modernize the most used and chaotic Cercanías line in Spain

the toxic hell of Tehran after the bombing of the worst fuel in the world

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The water in emergency reserves is no longer transparent; It has turned a thick black. The city’s once passable streets are covered in a slippery, dark layer. “Night became morning and morning, with all the smoke, became night again,” said one astonished resident. These are not scenes from a dystopian movie, but the reality that describe The New York Times after the bombings on the oil infrastructure in Iran. The attacks have left Tehran residents facing a rain laden with oil and toxins that stains cars, roofs and hanging clothes. Faced with this unprecedented situation, the Iranian authorities and the Red Crescent have been forced to ask the more than 9 million inhabitants of the capital to lock themselves in their homes, with severe warnings for children, the elderly and pregnant women. What falls from the sky is no longer just water; It’s poison. A fog that reaches space. The constant military bombings against multiple fuel facilities in and around Tehran, such as the Shahran and Aqdasieh depots, have left a black scar. As detailed GuardianDays after the impacts, satellite images showed that the facilities were still burning, sending columns of dense smoke into the atmosphere. But the problem is aggravated by the type of fuel that burns. An exhaustive analysis of The New York Times reveals that the clouds They are extraordinarily toxic because Iran burns and stores large quantities of “mazut.” This is a very low quality residual fuel, the “bottom of the barrel” that remains after refining the oil, and which contains very high levels of sulfur. Although much of the world prohibits its use, Iran depends on it due to its aging refineries and international sanctions. And it started to rain black. When the facilities were blown up, smoke laden with soot, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen compounds rose to the skies. Why did it rain black? Akshay Deoras, scientist at the University of Reading consulted by Guardianand the magazine Nature They explain it with a clear metaphor: the raindrops acted like “sponges or magnets”, absorbing all the pollutants and oil suspended in the air before collapsing on the city. Furthermore, Tehran is a victim of its own geography. As the magazine explains NaturelThe city is surrounded by the Alborz mountains. This generates a phenomenon known as “thermal inversion,” where a layer of warm air traps cold, contaminated air near the ground, functioning as a lid that prevents toxicity from dispersing. The invisible enemy. The citizens they expressed thatAlmost instantly, they began to suffer headaches, eye and skin irritation, and severe breathing difficulties. The Iranian Red Crescent issued urgent alerts warning that the mixture of humidity and sulfur dioxide was generating acid rain, capable of causing chemical burns on the skin. However, the medical community’s real fear is long-term. This is the “invisible enemy” that Professor Armin Sorooshian talks about in The Conversation. Not only do explosions release petroleum smoke, but the ammunition itself contains heavy metals such as lead and mercury. Exposure to fine particles (PM2.5) that penetrate deep into the lungs brings with it a devastating legacy. As John Balmes, professor emeritus at the University of California, warns, in The New York Times: “Can you imagine a fire in an oil depot in Manhattan? That’s what we’re talking about.” Experts predict a future increase in cardiovascular disease, cognitive damage, DNA alterations and various types of cancer due to the carcinogens present, such as benzene. The threat also filters into what the population drinks and eats. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) have warned that spilled oil and toxic rain are contaminating groundwater, public canals and farmland, poisoning the food chain in a country already suffering from a severe drought. Beyond: ecocide. The magnitude of the disaster brings legal loopholes and massive collateral damage to the table. Iran has called the attacks “ecocide,” a term that makes sense when analyzing international law. The legal limbo that allows this horror. It may seem paradoxical, but bombing a fuel tank is not technically a chemical attack. Expert Alexandra R. Harrington explained it in detail in The Conversation: Although the Geneva Conventions prohibit destroying civil infrastructure, they do not specifically shield gasoline tanks or industrial products. Added to this is that international treaties on chemical weapons only punish the use of weapons manufactured expressly for this purpose. The result? A huge legal loophole that allows a refinery to explode and an entire city to be poisoned without having fired a single factory-made toxic missile. A black sea in the Gulf. The disaster is not only in the sky of Tehran. If we look towards the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the war has turned the water into another ground zero after direct hits against oil tankers and desalination plants. Oil spills are already spreading across the sea, putting local fishing communities on the ropes and drowning coral reefs. Species that were already on the verge of extinction, like dugongsthey are now swimming in a death trap. The smoke that crossed half the world. The gigantic column of black smoke that was born in the Iranian deposits has not remained stagnant there. The currents have been dragged eastwarddrawing a dark line over Afghanistan and China until it sneaks into Russian airspace. The big fear now is that if all that accumulated soot falls on the high mountain ranges, it will act as a magnet for the sun and drastically accelerate the melting of the glaciers. The hidden climate bill. There is collateral damage that is hardly talked about and that Deutsche Welle has put on the table: The military machinery is an insatiable devourer of fossil fuels. Bombings and troop movements are injecting millions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in record time. The most frustrating thing about this situation is that the current climate agreements have a “fine print” that exempts countries from accounting for emissions derived from war in their official balance sheets. An indelible toxic legacy. Historically, … Read more

We believed spring was here to stay. We were wrong and in the worst way

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And that mistake has a name and surname: Therese. It is number 19 of the season and, with its mere existence, it already means an absolute record since we started naming storms. But it’s not going to stay like that. The high-impact storm will suddenly break into Spain and it will be noticed. In a matter of 48 or 72 hours, temperatures will drop up to 8 degrees in the interior of the peninsula while the Canary Islands suffers the most intense storm in more than a decade. And, right after, the polar cold. But let’s start with the storm. Therese formed as a cold low west of the peninsula on Tuesday the 17th and was named by the Portuguese meteorological agency. Its effects will vary a little depending on the area of ​​the country we look at. In peninsular Spain, the thermal decrease started yesterday in the southwestern half and, little by little, it will move to the northwest. If the falls so far are about 3 degrees, will increase up to 6 degrees in the Pyrenees, the interior of the Valencian Community and the Basque Country. That is, for now, it will only be a little cold. The Canary Islands, on the other hand, have some very complicated days. AEMET has already issued the warnings and it is expected that Sunday the 22nd will be very adverse. More than 300 liters in La Palma and Tenerife, wind gusts above 90 km and snow on Teide. And after? Then we will suffer a polar irruption at the gates of Holy Week. Or, at least, that’s what the main meteorological models say: that an anticyclonic ridge will rise towards the north from the Atlantic and will send us a mass of polar air. We expect precipitation in Galicia and the Cantabrian Sea, frost in the northern mountains and cold. quite cold. Not much: Spain has not recorded a single cold day record for four years. But enough to turn many Easter plans upside down. A different spring that looks a lot like a new normal. Be that as it may, the news it is again the extremely twisted polar jet: the same phenomenon that (with the help of some other factor) has been giving us rain for all these months and that, now, returns again. Image | ECMWF In Xataka | The snowiest ski resort in Europe right now is not in the Alps or the Pyrenees: it is in Granada

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