Year

In the year 958, King Sancho I of León was so fat that his court forced him to do something unprecedented: the first miracle diet.

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His reign was fleeting, troubled and controversial, but Sancho I of León It well deserves to go down in the books of national history. And it deserves it for two compelling reasons, never better said. The first is that if he was removed from the throne in 958, it was not because of a game of palace conspiracies and disputes between nobles. Or those weren’t the only reasons, at least. The trigger was his exorbitant bellya belly so prominent that it earned him the nickname ‘El Gordo’ and made his subjects doubt whether he was the most suitable person for the throne. The second is that he can boast of having completed perhaps the most successful (and earliest) “miracle diet” in Spain. We explain ourselves. When I was a child, in the 940s, there was little reason to think that Sancho could one day become a relevant character in the kingdom of León. His status as the third male child of Ramiro II relegated him to a secondary position, behind his Vermudo brothers (died 944) and Ordoño. And if the crib had not favored him, his health was not buoyant either: he was not a young man given to long rides or exercising. Theirs were rather the comforts of the palace, especially those that were served in fountains, well watered with oil. From Ramiro ‘the Great’ to Sancho ‘the Fat’ Miniature representing King Sancho I of León. At the table, Infante Sancho did not hold back. They say that it was given to anthological feastswith seven meals a day, sometimes consisting of 17 dishes, among which there was no shortage of stews with game meat. Perhaps history exaggerates and has deformed his figure, but it has left us at least one piece of information to give us an idea of ​​how plump Sancho was and to what extent he developed morbid obesity: it is said that, already in his adult stage, he came to weigh 240 kilos. If his father had been nicknamed Ramiro ‘the Great’ —or ‘the Devil’, as his enemies referred to him—and his predecessor Alfonso “the Monk”Sancho was given a much less epic and much more descriptive nickname: ‘el Crassus’. Or directly ‘El Gordo’. However, it was one thing to be fond of lavish banquets and quite another to renounce the throne and settle for the delegated government of the county of Castile, a responsibility that had been assigned to him in 944. Once his father died and his older brother became Ordoño IIISancho organized a rebellion between 954 and 955 to expel him from power. The trick came to fruition. His attempt to overthrow him by force was a resounding failure, but in a surprising turn opportune for Sancho’s interests, Ordoño III died not long after, thus granting him the accession in 956 to the crown of a kingdom that was facing delicate moments due to internal tensions and Muslim incursions. His belly didn’t help either. It was bad to weigh 240 kilos, but worse to combine such weight with that of a crown that required being willing to be embedded in armor. As Professor Margarita Torres recalls in an article of the Royal Academy of History (RAH), in the 10th century a king was expected to will combine certain qualities: good judgment, balance, firmness… and the skills of a war leader. It would have been very difficult for Sancho I to appear on a horse on the battlefield, as well as fighting while brandishing a sword or even something as crucial for the crown as providing offspring. Such a condition undermined his image among the kingdom’s aristocracy, who ended up losing respect for him. Add to that the memory of Sancho’s failed coup against his brother Ordoño III and the decisions he made once seated on the throne, which led him, for example, to distance himself from his uncle, the influential Count Fernán Gonzálezand a perfect cocktail will emerge for the fall from grace of a novice monarch. Helping the king lose weight Just two years after being crowned in Compostela, ‘el Crassus’ lost his precious scepter, which passed in 958—by siege—to the infante Ordoño Alfonso. Sancho managed to save his skin and took refuge where he knew he would be safe: in Navarra, with his grandmother, Queen Todoan old woman more than 70 years. The story of Sancho I could have ended then. Fortunately, her maternal grandmother was a woman of means and decided to ask for help from the person who would have the least qualms about plotting against a Christian monarch: Abd al-Rahman IIIthe caliph of Córdoba, an interesting ally both for his position and his resources. At his service he had a renowned doctor, the Jewish scholar Hasday ibn Shapruta skilled, polyglot, cultured man who could help the king overcome his overweight. In exchange for the alliance with Abd al-Rahmanto which the Navarrese joined, the supporters of Sancho I agreed to hand over fortresses on the border. It was not a bad payment for a move that not long later, in April 959, would allow him to return triumphant to the capital of his kingdom while Ordoño IValias ‘el Malo’, was forced to flee and end up in Córdoba. The second and definitive stage of the reign of Sancho I began, which would last until his death in 966. The surprising thing is that—if we believe tradition—the Sancho who returned exultantly to León had little to do with the one who had fled some time ago to take refuge in his maternal grandmother’s castle. In fact, the nickname ‘Crassus’ had become too much for him. The reason? The strict “bikini operation” to which Shaprut had subjected him before his return to the throne, in Córdoba. The remedy was so effective that it is said that Sancho lost more than 100kg in a matter of a few weeks. Before embarking on following the diet of the wise Jew, it is better that you take note, however, of what you will need, … Read more

Someone has looked at the temperatures under the Pacific and found a terrible forecast for next year

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On September 1, 1513, on the verge of despair, Vasco Núñez de Balboa left Santa María de la Antigua in search of “a new sea rich in gold”. It took weeks and he lost dozens of men, but on the 29th of that same month he was the first known European to reach the shores of the South Sea. We still called him that. Seven years later, Magellan (emerging from that enormous and labyrinthine hell of canals, hurricane winds and storms that we call Tierra del Fuego) He called it Pacific and the name stuck. But there is nothing peaceful about it. That huge chunk of water concentrates most of the planet’s seismic and volcanic activity, generates the most violent typhoons, and is home to some of the most severe extratropical storms that exist. And I haven’t talked about El Niño yet. What about El Niño? We have been talking about the 2027 ENSO event for the past few days. We have always done it with quite a worrying tone and the truth is that, the more we know, the less exaggerated it seems to me: there are meteorologists who already describe the subsurface heat of the equatorial Pacific as “possibly the blob of warm anomalies ever recorded since we know how to measure these things“. And, as I say, it is not an informative “outburst”: the heat that is moving eastward beneath the tropical Pacific is (in volume and intensity) comparable to or greater than that which preceded the great Children of 1997-98 and 2015-16. What’s more, that heat is moving across a planet that is already 1.4 degrees above the pre-industrial level. Why are we getting nervous? This, I think, is the central question. First of all because what is invisible matters more than what we can see. In fact, “what we can see” (what we can measure on the surface of the ocean) is simply a trailer for what we are going to see in the coming months. It is true that the mechanisms that allow coupling between the ocean and the atmosphere are always mysterious and the uncertainty is great. However, as we move out of spring (the time that most “confuses” the models) the quality of our data increases. The problem is that, these new data, They only corroborate (little by little) our first intuitions. Of course, caution is necessary. Both ECMWF and NOAA they ask for caution and yes, it is important to be cautious. In one month, the scenario of having a Child before summer has suddenly become very likely and this growth in probabilities has left us all out of the loop. The public conversation, as a consequence, is getting out of control. But in reality, we are in completely uncharted territory. The problem with being unprecedented is that we grope in the dark. If we move forward. Today, there is only one clear idea: as in the 19th century, what happens will depend on the decisions we make. Image | Alex Boreham In Xataka | There are more and more extreme weather events. In return, they are leaving fewer victims than ever

The sector already invoices 80,000 million a year, but OpenAI and Anthropic take 89% of the income

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Everyone wants to get a piece of the AI ​​pie, but the reality is that the pie today belongs to two companies: OpenAI and Anthropic. This confirms it an analysis from The Information in which the income of the 34 most relevant companies in the market today has been analyzed. The accounts are beginning to be striking, but so is the reality of this new technological duopoly. The sector doubles income as a whole. According to the data collected by this means, these 34 companies have an annualized income of 80,000 million dollars, about 6,600 million dollars per month. That represents 112% more than six months ago, which means that these companies have grown more than double in that period of time. The most relevant fact is not in fact that. But in reality Anthropic and OpenAI are the ones thatthey win. That figure would be promising if it weren’t for the other major conclusion of the study: 89% of that income goes to just two companies: Anthropic and OpenAI. The other 32 share “the crumbs”, because almost 9 out of every 10 dollars in income goes to the accounts of these two new technological giants. This is generative AI. The analysis published by The Information includes the 34 main companies in the generative AI sector. Therefore, hyperscalers (Amazon, Microsoft, Google) or other large technology companies that participate in other areas of the industry. The report is therefore especially striking when it comes to verifying how much these companies are earning, and the reality is clear: they have grown very, very quickly. But (I). We have two big buts. The first: although both Anthropic and OpenAI are growing significantly in revenue, it must be taken into account that not all of them are for these companies. Anthropic has to give up some of that revenue to both Amazon and Google because they resell their services. OpenAI must also share 20% of its revenue with Microsoft until 2030, which means that this year it will have to pay about $6 billion. Companies have turned to AI, and the big winners are both OpenAI and Anthropic, which has accelerated exceptionally in 2026. Source: VisualCapitalist. But (II). The second but is even more important, and is that of a reality that continues to be overwhelming: these companies continue to spend much more money than they earn. OpenAI itself has estimated an expense of 600 billion dollars in computing capacity until 2030, and only in 2026 are their losses expected to triple to 14 billion dollars. It doesn’t matter if you win a lot: you keep losing even more. With Anthropic there is no recent spending estimate data, but the company itself has a projection of a cash flow of $17 billion in 2028. That is not the same as profits but it is a clear indication of when it expects to stop losing money. The important thing here is that this is an estimate. It could be fulfilled, but it could also not be fulfilled. The little ones grow. Three of the best-known AI startups have crossed the barrier of 500 million annual revenues since December and they now join Cursor, which achieved it last summer. These are Perplexity, ElevenLabs and Cognition, which demonstrate that they are already capturing part of a market that does not stop growing… and spending. But the big ones don’t stop distancing themselves. Although all of these startups already have an important dimension, Anthropic and OpenAI are at another level. Both have grown exceptionally and in recent times we have seen the takeover from Anthropic to OpenAI, which already has managed to achieve in market valuation. The creators of Claude were valued at 380 billion in February, but the success of Claude Code and his models in business environments has caused its price to skyrocket. The company plans to raise tens of billions of dollars this summer to reach a valuation of nearly a billion dollars. Stock market IPOs in sight. Both OpenAI and Anthropic are preparing their respective IPOs, and in both cases they hope to lift each about 60 billion dollars from investors to become companies right off the bat with market capitalizations that could be around a trillion dollars. It is an extraordinary figure, especially considering that at this time only 13 companies around the world they exceed that figure. In Xataka | Google and Amazon Just Invested Billions in Anthropic: It’s the Biggest Clue About Who’s Winning in AI

Europe throws away 16 billion a year in electronic waste. Spain has just turned on the first oven in Europe to recover them

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Those cell phones, computers and small devices that are gathering dust in a drawer and ending up in a landfill contain valuable minerals such as copper, silver and platinum inside, which also end up there. Every year in the Spanish state almost 930,000 tons of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are thrown away, which makes Spain the sixth state on the continent in generation of this type of waste. according to data from the UN E-waste Monitor by 2024. Of these, less than half is documented and recycled waste. In a context in which rare earths and critical minerals are a strategic resource of which Europe wants to achieve sovereignty, Spain has taken a step forward with a CSIC pilot plant pioneer in the old continent: a furnace capable of melting that electronic waste to extract valuable metals from it. The pioneer oven. A few days ago the National Center for Metallurgical Research of the CSIC inaugurated in Madrid the first European pilot plant capable of recovering critical metals from electronic waste using a submerged lance furnace, which exceeds 1,200 °C to melt electronic waste. The milestone was formalized with the first experimental casting of metals obtained directly from electronic waste and obtained materials such as copper, gold, silver and platinum in a clean and efficient way. In conventional furnaces, the heat comes from the outside, but in this case a metal lance is introduced that injects oxygen and fuel directly into the molten bath, which generates intense turbulence that mixes and homogenizes the material, accelerates chemical reactions and improves energy efficiency. Why is it important. Because every year Europe generates millions of tons of electronic waste containing copper, gold, silver, platinum and strategic minerals necessary for the energy transition and digitalization. A part of them is not recovered: it is lost or used outside the continent. The facility in question is an advance in advanced pyrometallurgy and the management of waste from electrical and electronic equipment that shows that it is possible to treat this waste in Europe, thus preventing the associated economic value from leaving the continent, which allows the raw materials to be reincorporated into the European production chain itself. In addition, it connects directly with the Critical Raw Materials Law of the European Union, which fixed that at least 25% of the critical raw materials consumed by the EU by 2030 must come from recycling. The EU is currently heavily dependent on imports of critical raw materials, often from a single supplier, which poses a serious geopolitical risk in the form of dependence on strategic sectors such as renewable energy, digitalisation and defence. Context. The generation of WEEE is out of control and breaking records. According to the UN international waste observatoryin 2022 the world generated 62 million tons, 82% more than in 2010, but less than in 2030, when the estimated figure is 82 million tons. Europe takes the cake: in 2022 it was the region with the highest volume of WEEE per inhabitant with 17.6 kg per person, of which only 7.3 kg were recovered. But that garbage is money: the UN E-Waste quantifies the economic value of those 62 million tons at 91 billion dollars a year. If of this global total of WEEE, 13 million tons of garbage per year They belong to Europe. Calculated proportionally, it would be equivalent to losing about 19,000 million dollars annually due to poorly managing these materials (about 16,340 million euros at the exchange rate). While we search for deposits and accelerate their exploitation in a sector dominated by China, we have a deposit pending to be exploited: the “urban” mine with WEEE recycling. The situation regarding WEEE in Europe in 2022. UN E-Waste 2024 How it works. He submerged lance furnace is based on the ISASMELT processso that the raw materials only need to be pre-mixed, there is no need for fine grinding or drying, which simplifies the feeding with materials as heterogeneous as WEEE. The separation of materials is based on the difference in densities: once the waste is melted, copper and precious metals such as gold or silver tend to sink to the bottom of the reactor due to their greater density, while the slag (which is non-metallic) floats on the surface, which makes extraction simple. The project has been possible thanks to a public-private collaboration between CENIM-CSIC and two companies, the European copper smelting giant Atlantic Copper and the metallurgical company Glencore Technology. Yes, but. The CENIM facility is a pilot plant, not an industrial plant, and this leap in pyrometallurgy is not exactly small: engineering issues must be resolved such as the management of the gases emitted in the process or the useful life of the furnace’s refractory materials, among others. And this project may find its political framework in the Critical Raw Materials Act, but this It’s more of a statement of intent. than anything else: it does not have a roadmap nor has it made available new funds to accelerate these initiatives. However, the biggest problem is not in the oven, but in recycling or the absence of this: 46% of WEEE and the critical materials it contains are lost before reaching any recycling facility, simply because collection is poor. There is little point in developing highly efficient recovery technology if electronic waste ends up mixed with organic waste in the brown container. Or if it is exported outside of Europe. The real bottleneck remains collection. In Xataka | Mortadelo and Filemón work for the CSIC: TIA agents explain the history of science to us with their comics In Xataka | The CSIC wants to create quantum solar energy capable of self-regulating its temperature. His inspiration: painting Cover | yasin hemmati and Nathan Cima

Today you have one of the most interesting and ignored movies of the year on Prime Video

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Nine Oscar nominations, more than $179 million at the global box office, and one of the most extravagant marketing campaigns Hollywood has given in years (an orange blimp flying over entire cities, Timothée Chalamet perched on the Las Vegas sphere). Still,’Marty Supreme‘She left the last Oscars, where she started as one of the favorites, empty-handed. And (also) still, it is in Prime Videostanding out as one of the most interesting films of the moment. There are films that reach streaming with that aura of a second chance, of being able to achieve on platforms what was not achieved with its premiere (despite the notorious box office for a production of these characteristics, the greatest success in the United States in the history of its production company, the venerated A24). It was nominated for nine Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Timothée Chalamet, and went home with nothing, following the path of other illustrious recent nods such as ‘The Banshee of Inisherin’ or ‘The Moon Killers’. ‘Marty Supreme’ is directed by Josh Safdie and written with Ronald Bronstein, a creative duo who already collaborated on titles such as ‘Diamonds in the Rough’ and ‘Good Time’. The film moves away from the traditional biopic to become an action-adventure comedy in the spirit of ‘Catch Me If You Can’ or ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. The central character, Marty Mauser, is a fictionalized version of the real player Marty Reisman, a young man who discovers his passion for table tennis in the city’s clandestine clubsand whose very personal style of play leads him to become a famous champion who accumulates 22 major titles and represents the United States in world competitions. But the important thing here is not the zero Oscars, but the values ​​of the film: it is a delight how Safdie manipulates genres to mix them, how he builds the rhythm of his sequences, and above all, Chalamet’s performance is impressive in what may be the best work of his career. So it’s not about confirming whether the Oscars were right or wrong, but rather about recovering a film that deserves all the attention we can give it. In Xataka | Today the latest from a master of horror arrives on Disney+, a survival show that was about to end up in a drawer

Murcia has been paying the first “shadow toll” in Spain for 27 years. This year will end it

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It was 1997 when Murcia approved the Law 4/1997, of July 24, on Construction and Operation of Infrastructures of the Region of Murcia. It might seem like a regulation more related to the infrastructures of the autonomous community, but far from it. Two years later, taking advantage of this text, the Murcia Government gave approval to the construction of the Aunor Highway (the RM-15 highway), granting the concession to a company owned by Sacyr and OHL. In October 2001, the toll road was already in operation. But on this toll highway there are no barriers or personnel to collect the corresponding amount. But yes, the people of Murcia pay for it. It is what is known as a “shadow toll” road. And in 2026 it will end. Goodbye to the first “shadow toll” in Spain Just like explains Sacyr on its websitethis Murcian highway is considered the first shadow toll highway in Spain. A formula unprecedented until then in our country. Operation is simple. The concessionaire company builds and maintains the road for the stipulated period of time. During the years that it is active, the control means certify the number of vehicles that pass on the road but the driver does not stop to pay at any time. At the end of the period stipulated in the contract (in this case, each year), the Government to which the highway belongs pay a variable amountdepending on the number of cars that have circulated through it. That is to say, the cost of traveling on the road does not only affect the driver’s pocket, it is all citizens with their taxes who pay the concessionaire company the amount corresponding to the number of vehicles that circulate on it. In this case, the concession for the RM-15 was 25 years. Therefore, next September the concession period will end and the Government of Murcia will have the opportunity to extend or terminate it and, in that case, take charge of the maintenance and operation of the road itself or contracting the services to a third party. This last option will be the one that comes out ahead, they explain in the local media as The truth. The Government of the Region of Murcia has put out to tender a contract for the maintenance of this road, along with other conservation actions and operations on other roads in the Mula Sector. The amount is 20 million euros and 20 companies have participated in the competition. With the end of this shadow toll, an annual payment of between 10 and 13 million euros per year ends, according to the media. In total, it is estimated that once the contract is finalized, between 305 and 312 million euros will have been paid to the concessionaire company. In its day, the highway was seen as a relief for the residents of the Northwest and Río Mula regions. He explained The truth that the road allowed greater access to the towns in these areas but, above all, it was a much safer alternative than the previous national highway, which crossed municipalities and made it “the most dangerous road in the Region of Murcia.” Photo | Google Maps In Xataka | If the question is how to get rid of tolls, the European Union has a clear answer: being an electric truck

We have been vaccinating our dogs and cats every year all our lives. Science is seeing that it is not the most correct

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When you have a pet in your care, visits to the veterinarian are mandatory almost every year to receive a check-up and also a vaccination reminder to be completely calm about its health. However, there are some voices that already suggest that we are overvaccinating too much in our country, since applying vaccines year after year is not only unnecessarybut it can pose a risk to the animal. A new paradigm. To understand the problem, we must look at the guides of the World Association of Small Animal Veterinarians (WSAVA) and the Latin American Committee on Vaccinology in Companion Animals (COLAVAC-Iberia). Both institutions have updated their guidelines with a clear message wanting to abandon systematic vaccination schedules and opt for personalized medicine. Two groups. Now the guidelines are to differentiate vaccines into two large groups, the first of which is the “essentials” which are those of distemper, adenovirus and parvovirus in dogs, and panleukopenia, herpesvirus and calicivirus in cats. On the other hand, there would be non-essential ones, which would correspond to leptospirosis. Here, science suggests that essential vaccines generate much longer immunity than we thought, making animals have defenses against these pathogens for a long time. For example, after vaccination in puppies and their first booster, the animals maintain levels of protective antibodies for at least three years, and in many cases it can last up to 9 or 14 years. This means that if we vaccinate every year we are literally ‘pouring’ immunity where there is already a good amount of it. A legal labyrinth. If science seems to have it so clear… What is happening in Spain? Here, most of the autonomous communities only provide that the rabies vaccine is mandatory, making vaccination against parvovirus or distemper only recommended because they logically cause fatal diseases. If we focus on numbers, a recent study Regarding the national protocols, a devastating fact stood out: only 28.6% of the vaccines available for dogs and 42.9% for cats are “adequate” according to WSAVA standards. And the reason is that the industry markets combined vaccines; That is, to give the dog the annual leptospirosis vaccine, the veterinarian uses the viral one that includes parvovirus and distemper, forming overvaccination. A personal solution. To avoid needlessly pricking the animals, what is proposed is that, instead of blindly setting a reminder, a blood test is performed to determine the amount of protective antibodies in the blood. In this case, if the animal has adequate levels, it is not vaccinated that year, and if not, it should be vaccinated. The problem is that this is more expensive than directly giving the vaccine, so the most convenient, fastest and cheapest option is chosen. More personal. The conclusion here is that experts point out that a booster should be applied to essential vaccines every three years, preserving the rabies vaccine, which is the only one legally required and whose deadlines comply with local legislation. Images | freepic.diller on Magnific In Xataka | We have been using our pets to relieve our anxiety. And now the stress is on them

968 euros of savings per year for tenants

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In July 2019, almost on the brink of the pandemic, Paris decided to use a measure that the new law French housing: limit climbing of their rents. The idea was very simple. For a few years a pilot program would be applied to prevent the law of the most from prevailing in the market. strong wealthy Almost seven years later and with the future of the initiative surrounded by doubts, France already knows how the experiment has gone: it calculates that rent control has allowed Paris to reduce its rents 5%with a average savings of €85 per month. The experience is interesting for France… and for Spain, which has also opted for control formulas income. Back to rent. Spain is not the only European country that in recent years have tried to regulate (to a greater or lesser extent, with more or less successful) residential rental prices. In 2019, relying on a new law of the real estate sector (ELAN), Paris requested to launch an experimental program to apply certain limits to the escalation of rents. Price control came into force in July of that same year and the idea was that it would be applied for five years, a period during which work would be done with the reference values from the Rental Observatory of the Paris Metropolitan Area (OLAP). To calculate them, aspects such as the location of the homes, their age, whether they are rented with or without furniture or how many rooms they have were taken into account. The measure was extended to both contracts signed from 2019 onwards and those renewed. And how has it been? That is the question that Atelier Parisien d’Urbanisme wants to solve (APUR), an urban agency that a few years ago began to evaluate the effects of price controls in the French capital. His first conclusions came two years ago. Now he has updated them with a new report that reveals a couple of interesting data. The main one is that in six years (between 2019 and 2025) the measure has achieved contain rents by 5%which is equivalent to an annual saving of hundreds of euros for tenants. “The econometric analysis shows that, during the period from July 2019 to June 2025, Parisian rents were, on average, 5% lower than they would have been without the regulation,” notes APUR in your report. “For this period, the average monthly rent observed was 1,519 euros. Without the regulation, it would have reached 1,600, which represents an average saving of 81 euros per month (968 per year) for tenants in Paris.” Another key data: 1,019 euros. He new report APUR uses data from 2025, which allows us to have a more up-to-date ‘photo’ of the impact of the measure. For example, its technicians calculate that in the last year analyzed (July 2024-June 2025) the average income was around 1,632 euros85 euros less than what Paris tenants would be paying if almost seven years ago the city had not opted for price caps. Per year that translates into about 1,019 euros more in the tenants’ pockets. The Parisian agency has detected another curious fact. The moderating effect of prices seems to be felt especially in smaller homes. If on average rents have been contained by 5%, in the case of smaller accommodation (less than 18 m2) the reduction is around 12.4%. The effect softens as the surface area of ​​the home increases, until it is “no longer significant” in the largest ones. It’s no surprise. The ALUR and ELAN laws, from which the Parisian measure draws, made it a priority to moderate the rents of smaller homes. Does it affect the offer? one of the criticism What those who oppose regulation often argue is that, by controlling rents, owners are discouraged from putting their homes on the market. That is to say, the measure may serve to contain the rise in prices, but it does so at the cost of suffocating supply and reducing the available apartments. After studying the sector, APUR technicians have concluded that this is not true. “No lasting deterioration in the supply of rental housing can be attributed to the rent control system,” collect the report. In fact the clearer oscillations The number of apartments announced is not explained by regulation, but by factors outside the market, such as the pandemic or the 2024 Olympic Games. Is everything positive? No. The study also reveals that, although the program has been in force for almost seven years, its scope is still limited and there is a considerable part of the market that manages to avoid price controls. “With 48.6% of ads exceeding the regulatory threshold in the last period analyzed (July 2024-June 2025), the untapped potential remains considerable,” slide APUR. What’s more, those responsible estimate that if all landlords complied with the regulations, the moderating effect on prices would not be 5%, but almost double, around 10%. Beyond France. APUR’s analysis is important for France, where Paris (and the rest of 70 municipalities who have opted for rent control) risks the measure ending next novemberbut also for other EU countries that have considered regulating their markets. In Spain, without going any further, the Government promoted a system of ‘stressed market areas’ which allows restrictions to be applied to rent increases. Although it is estimated that the measure already reaches more than nine million of tenants, does not extend to the entire country. The law states that it is the autonomous communities that must request the declaration of a ‘tensioned zone’, something that Catalonia has donebut what regions such as Madrid either Balearics. Images | Alexander Kagan (Unsplash) and John Towner (Unsplash) In Xataka | A silent phenomenon is brewing in Madrid: people who go to live in Valladolid and return to work by train

The brutal crisis of ViñaRock in one year is explained in an empty venue

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The ViñaRock audience debacle is no longer a secret: the clear highlight of the edition, the Sex Pistols (or the group that today bears that name, without the band’s classic vocalist, Johnny Rotten, at the helm), played in front of around 100,000 people. A year earlier, the same event had brought together 240,000 attendees. ViñaRock is the main victim of the crisis unleashed by the financing of several Spanish festivals by Israeli investment funds. The vindication, part of its DNA. ViñaRock was born in Villarrobledo in 1996 with a very specific profile: combative rock, affordable prices and alternative spirit. This differentiated it from other macro events and also favored the approach of the public and bands with very explicit political positions leaning to the left. It did not take long for it to grow until it became one of the main festivals in Spain under the motto ‘Neither God, nor country, nor king’, becoming the largest of its kind. In 2025 it brought together 240,000 people and generated 22 million euros economic impact in the region. The numbers of 2026. The public number of attendees was 100,000 in three days, less than half that in 2025. The organization presented it as a relative successalthough the economic impact falls: of the 22 million generated in 2025, around 11 million will remain. To compensate for the lower external influx, the festival allowed access by the residents of Villarrobledo through its registration program, a formula that for years reserve tickets at starting price for residents of the municipality before the general sale. In the 2026 edition, this preferential access had more weight than ever, and the result was something that in networks It has been closer to the classic image of a patron saint festival, more than a classic rock festival. How it started. In May 2025. El Salto published an investigationrevealing that Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR), an American venture capital fund, had acquired in 2024 the promoter Superstruct Entertainment for around 1,400 million euros. Superstruct manages nearly 80 festivals around the world and, in Spain, it has more than twenty events under its umbrella, such as Sónar, Arenal Sound, FIB, Resurrection Fest, O Son do Camiño, Monegros Desert Festival or ViñaRock. The crisis came when it became known that KKR maintains positions in Israeli cybersecurity companiesis the main investor of the German media group Axel Springer (which has real estate activity in occupied Palestinian territoriessomething contrary to international law) and its president for the Middle East moved in May 2025 to the Civil-Military Coordination Center run by US army officials in Israel. For many regular bands on the circuit, it was a very difficult issue to ignore. Cancellations begin. The rap-metal group Sons of Aguirre & Scila was among the first to formalize the boycott: in a statement announced that he would not participate in any festival in the KKR orbit again until the owners changed. They were soon joined by Fermín Muguruza, Los de Marras, Sinkope, No Konforme, Residente, Judeline and Samantha Hudson, among others. The ViñaRock tried to do damage controlreaffirming their artistic independence, condemning the situation in Palestine and announcing legal action against what they considered a smear campaign. New poster. In February 2026 It was made public that the festival had been acquired by Orange Alive, and an attempt was made to rebuild the 2026 edition practically from scratch. It didn’t help much, because that same month it was made public that They were still linked to Superconstruct. The poster featured groups such as the Sex Pistols with Frank Carter, Turbonegro, Skindred, Celtas Cortos, Medina Azahara, Kiko Veneno and Barón Rojo. The tickets started at 39.99 euros, notably lower than previous editions, and the videos on social networks left images of the events for posterity. half empty stages. He’s not the only one. The ViñaRock crisis is far from being the only one: the concentration of festivals in the hands of large financial groups is a consolidated trend in the live entertainment industry. Other festivals in the Superstruct orbit may face similar reactions from the public and groups, although Resurrection Fest, similar in nature to ViñaRock, broke attendance record shortly after the controversy broke out. Quite possibly, ViñaRock has been affected by both the boycott and the little time it had to restructure its lineup after the defections. Header | Vinarock In Xataka | If your favorite band has left Spotify, don’t be surprised: they are boycotting their CEO’s warring investments

In the year of the World Cup, the brand is betting everything on RGB MiniLED

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Hisense reaches 2026 playing a good part of its range on a single card: the RGB MiniLED. The Chinese brand has renewed everything your television catalog and has presented it to society exactly where it should be done in 2026: at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, the same year in which the entire world will be glued to a screen watching the World Cup. This movement is not coincidental. According to Omdia data provided by Hisensethe manufacturer ranks second in the world in total television sales and first in the 100-inch or larger segment between 2023 and 2025. From that position, the brand has designed a catalog that ranges from a 116-inch giant to the most affordable models with MiniLED, through two high-end series that are going to be a lot to talk about in 2026. 116 UX RGB MiniLED Evo UR9 UR8 panel RGB MiniLED Evo (4th subpixel cyan), VA, 4K UHD, 8-bit + FRC RGB MiniLED VA 4K UHD, 8 bits + FRC, 180 Hz and 16:9 RGB MiniLED VA 4K UHD, 8 bits + FRC, 180 Hz and 16:9 resolution 3,840 x 2,160 points 3,840 x 2,160 points 3,840 x 2,160 points size 116 inches 65″,75″,85″ 55″, 65″, 75″, backlight RGB MiniLED Evo, FALD up to 8,000 nits, 3,584 dimming zones RGB MiniLED FALD, up to 4,000 nits RGB MiniLED FALD, up to 3,000 nits hdr Dolby Vision 2, Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR and HLG Dolby Vision IQ, HDR10+, HDR and HLG processor Hi-View AI Engine RGB Hi-View AI Engine RGB Hi-View AI Engine RGB operating system VIDAA U9 VIDAA U9 VIDAA U9 sound 2 x 15 watts + 2 x 10 watts + 2 x 5 watts + 2 x 15 watts + 2x 10 watts Dolby Atmos, DTS 2 x 15 watts + 2 x 10 watts + 20 watts + 2 x 15 watts + 2x 10 watts Dolby Atmos, DTS 2 x 10 watts + 2 x 5 watts + 20 watts Dolby Atmos, DTS connectivity 3 x HDMI 2.1 3 x HDMI 2.1 4xHDMI 2.1 wireless connectivity Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 Wi-Fi 6 Bluetooth 5.0 price Not available Not available Not available FIFA, the World Cup and TCL in the background Hisense has renewed for the third time consecutively its official sponsorship with FIFA after the 2018 and 2022 editions, and in 2026 it goes further: it will be the official and exclusive supplier of RGB MiniLED TVs for VAR Video Operations Rooms throughout the tournament. Romy Gai, FIFA’s chief business officer, said the organization “partners with Hisense to welcome the best display technology to deliver an unprecedented World Cup experience for billions of fans around the world.” Hisense is not the only one bet on the king of sport as a sales driver by 2026, its competitor TCL has been official sponsor of the Spanish Soccer Team from 2023 and expanded that agreement in October 2025 to include new products and a renewed contract. The television market anticipates one of its best years in volume precisely due to the World Cup effect, and the big Chinese brands They are well positioned to take advantage of that momentum. The pie that manufacturers share in the Soccer World Cup is not small. It is estimated that the match played between France and Argentina in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar had a hearing of 1,420 million viewers and the tournament registered a average of 2.9 billion viewers from the different television signals. All glued to a television. That’s a lot of televisions. The 116UX and the fourth color that changes the image The most advanced model in the 2026 catalog is the 116UX, a 116-inch television that incorporates the RGB MiniLED Evo panel that Hisense already advanced at CES in Las Vegas. Its particularity compared to the conventional RGB MiniLED is the incorporation of a fourth cyan subpixel, an intermediate color between the blue and green that the three traditional colors cannot reproduce accurately enough on their own. Thanks to this fourth subpixel, the 116UX manages to expand the coverage of the BT.2020 color space, the standard used in professional film production. The change applied by Hisense has certain parallels with what LG has been doing for years in its WRGB OLED panelswhere a white subpixel is added to improve brightness. The difference is that in the case of the RGB MiniLED Evo the objective is not brightness (something that is necessary in OLED) but rather to expand the volume of color available, covering complex tones that were previously only approximated by combining the three RGB subpixels. The result is an image with greater fidelity in skies, vegetation and skin, exactly the elements that make a sports broadcast look more natural. With this new panel, the 116UX is positioned as the brand’s flagship for the domestic field of large-inch models with 116″ and 100″ diagonals. UR9 and UR8: the flagships in one size below 85 inchesHisense proposes two models within its high range: the UR9 and UR8. Both models are a technological showcase of what Hisense is capable of offering in its 2026 catalog, lowering RGB MiniLED technology to more accessible price ranges for users. Both mount RGB MiniLED panels (without the last name Evo and the fourth pixel, which is reserved for the UX), the Hi-View AI Engine RGB processor, and sizes of 65, 75 and 85 inches in the case of the UR9, and from 55 inches for the UR8. One of the arguments of the panels Hisense RGB MiniLED is the improvement in color representation and increased brightness. However, here is the main difference between the UR9 and UR8, depending on the brand, the UR9 can reach peaks that exceed 4,000 nits with 1,056 local dimming zones, while the UR8 would have its ceiling at 3,000 nits. Beyond that difference, both the UR9 and the UR8 share some elements that place them in a different category from the … Read more

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