After seeing humanoid robots running and winning the Beijing Half Marathon this weekend, anything is possible. Humanoid robots are no longer that broom handle with legs that stumbles and trips spectacularly, but they already have enough coordination to be running for 50 minutes faster than a person. The applications of the invention, military, labor, social, are so great that we must resort to the classic “the future is already here”. As I said, robots surpassed people, which is no longer news if we think that machines have been surpassing us in computing power for a long time. Therefore, the news is once again a geopolitical warning: the Chinese race in robotics is also going very fast. And us with Trump, the Strait of Hormuz and Rodalies.The progressive festival that Sánchez brought to Barcelona this weekend had a curious epilogue: The President of Brazil, Lula de Silva, went to pray for a while in the main nave of the Sagrada Família, where he gifted himself “a moment of peace, prayer and reflection in a place that inspires unity and hope”. This moment is very well, considering that politics does not grant any respite. Example: while Sánchez was gathering the left-wing parties in Barcelona, who was Feijóo meeting with? With the Venezuelan Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado. This morning, Machado was the guest at an informative breakfast in Madrid. And who introduced her to the audience? Felipe González, who runs in the opposite direction to Pedro Sánchez in everything.Finally, in more predictable territory, the Government and ERC are presenting today the Consortium for Investments in Catalonia, which will be the body responsible for monitoring the compliance of State investments in Catalonia. The investment consortium was one of the agreements included in Salvador Illa's investiture pact. This consortium must monitor the number and destination of investments, but also their execution, to prevent the amounts that Spanish governments, whether from PP or PSOE, allocate in budgets from being an approximate reference: less than half of the planned investments are executed. If you think about it coldly, how are we to see ourselves: creating an organism to ensure that the government complies with the budgets, that is, with the law. Hopefully it works, but allow me to express all my skepticism, based on real facts: governments make agreements, but senior officials, or unions, or a PP-VOX majority, will come along afterwards and decide.Good morning.

The image of a sad toy horse has gone viral as a metaphor, especially among young people, for the mood with which many Chinese citizens are facing the arrival of the Lunar New Year. The Year of the Fire Horse will begin on February 17th. The economic slowdownThe real estate crisis and rising unemployment are impacting public sentiment, and the government remains focused on stimulating domestic consumption. The Chinese New Year festivities, also known as the Spring Festival, are the main holiday period of the year and a time when consumption traditionally skyrockets, driven by family gatherings, travel, entertainment, and gift-giving. This year, the government has adopted a whole host of measures to ensure that these holidays, very similar to our Christmas, further boost spending and reinforce consumer confidence.

China has imposed definitive tariffs of between 4.9% and 19.8% on pork imports from the European Union. The measure is a response to European tariffs on Chinese electric cars. Beijing has shown restraint and left the door open to future agreements with the EU, as in September it threatened provisional tariffs of up to 62.4% on European pork imports. The decision will particularly affect Spain, which is the main European exporter of pork to the Asian giant. The new tariffs take effect immediately this Wednesday, December 17, with the intention that they remain in force for a period of five years. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced the new tariffs through a brief statement on its website. With this, Beijing has concluded its investigation. antidumping which began in 2024 accusing the European pork sector of unfair competition.

In China, you find well-endowed universities with a hierarchical structure and motivated students, but you won't find debates. Joan Cortada works in the Spanish department at one of these universities in Beijing. The Beijing Institute of Technology, where he teaches and also lives, is a modern campus in the south of the Chinese capital. The facilities are enviable, although it's surprising to find some tanks and military equipment on display along the campus's main avenues; the university has a section dedicated to the development of military technology.