<![CDATA[EL PAÍS]]>https://english.elpais.comWed, 13 May 2026 14:13:35 +0000en1hourly1<![CDATA[The war against Iran reinforces US hegemony in oil and gas]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-05-08/the-war-against-iran-reinforces-us-hegemony-in-oil-and-gas.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-05-08/the-war-against-iran-reinforces-us-hegemony-in-oil-and-gas.htmlFri, 08 May 2026 07:41:09 +0000The double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is a landmark event with countless repercussions. For oil and gas importing countries, especially the poorest ones, it means suffering. It also means hardship for Persian Gulf exporters, accustomed to abundance, who are now seeing their sales channels cut off. And it means a windfall for fossil fuel powers outside the region, who are able to sell—and at much higher prices—everything they extract from the ground. One name stands out: the United States, which in little more than a decade has gone from significant energy dependence to a hegemony now reinforced by the war—its own war—against Iran.

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]]>Jon Shapley<![CDATA[Trucks, trains and pipelines: Gulf countries desperately seek new routes to sell their oil]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-05-07/trucks-trains-and-pipelines-gulf-countries-desperately-seek-new-routes-to-sell-their-oil.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-05-07/trucks-trains-and-pipelines-gulf-countries-desperately-seek-new-routes-to-sell-their-oil.htmlThu, 07 May 2026 08:57:00 +0000The countries of the Middle East had not faced such a critical economic situation in decades. Some of them, never. The double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has plunged their oil and gas exports to multi-year lows, slashing their revenues, forcing them to seek external aid—from the same country, the United States, which, along with Israel, has once again turned the region into a tinderbox—and to desperately search for alternatives to sell their fossil fuel production. Without these exports, they can barely hold out for many more weeks without the financial damage worsening.

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]]>Tom Hanley<![CDATA[Strait of Hormuz fills up with loaded tankers without a clear destination]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-05-05/strait-of-hormuz-fills-up-with-loaded-tankers-without-a-clear-destination.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-05-05/strait-of-hormuz-fills-up-with-loaded-tankers-without-a-clear-destination.htmlTue, 05 May 2026 10:41:23 +0000The energy world has been transformed over the past two months. The crude oil market has gone from a substantial surplus that forced the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to curb its own output to prevent prices from plummeting, to a critical situation: overnight, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, almost a fifth of global production has vanished. Nearly half of that amount has been offset, both by increased shipments through the few pipelines connecting the Persian Gulf countries to the outside world and by the still-nascent production increases at fossil fuel giants outside the region. But the shortfall remains enormous.

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]]>Associated Press / LaPresse<![CDATA[UAE’s exit deals a death blow to OPEC]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-30/uaes-exit-deals-a-death-blow-to-opec.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-30/uaes-exit-deals-a-death-blow-to-opec.htmlThu, 30 Apr 2026 10:00:54 +0000For over six decades, the world has regarded the beautiful and peaceful city of Vienna with a certain apprehension. Austria, a country far removed from the fossil fuel imagery, is nonetheless the seat of power in the world’s largest commodities market. There, a stone’s throw from its imposing neo-Gothic City Hall, the energy ministers of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet month after month to decide how much production to withhold from the market in order to keep prices high, effectively steering a marketplace that resembles a modern bazaar more than a free market.

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]]>Louisa Gouliamaki<![CDATA[Why no one can afford for the Strait of Hormuz to still be closed by the summer]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-28/why-no-one-can-afford-for-the-strait-of-hormuz-to-still-be-closed-by-the-summer.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-28/why-no-one-can-afford-for-the-strait-of-hormuz-to-still-be-closed-by-the-summer.htmlTue, 28 Apr 2026 09:31:36 +0000One of Japan’s major television networks broadcast the arrival of a tanker full of oil from the United States last weekend. These images, which at any other time would be considered anecdotal in a country that receives many such vessels every week, have become front-page news. Without crude oil from the Persian Gulf, which is subject to a double blockade—by Tehran and Washington—Japan’s refineries are beginning to run dry.

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]]>JIM LO SCALZO<![CDATA[Gulf states send an SOS to Trump as economic shock deepens]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-27/gulf-states-send-an-sos-to-trump-as-economic-shock-deepens.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-27/gulf-states-send-an-sos-to-trump-as-economic-shock-deepens.htmlMon, 27 Apr 2026 17:49:29 +0000The list of hostages in the war waged by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu in Iran is extensive. Thousands of miles away, two continents — Asia and Europe — are experiencing a price surge not seen since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Just around the corner, half a dozen Persian Gulf countries that have suffered the brunt of the attacks — the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia — are seeing their oil and gas exports severely restricted by the double blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. It is an economic blow of biblical proportions, already prompting the first calls for help to the United States, the historic ally of this cluster of petrostates and, at the same time, the trigger of a crisis with unpredictable reach and consequences.

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]]>Amr Alfiky<![CDATA[Donald Trump’s double blockade of Hormuz: A high-stakes gamble with many limitations]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-15/donald-trumps-double-blockade-of-hormuz-a-high-stakes-gamble-with-many-limitations.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2026-04-15/donald-trumps-double-blockade-of-hormuz-a-high-stakes-gamble-with-many-limitations.htmlWed, 15 Apr 2026 08:34:44 +0000Does it make sense to block a strait that has already been blocked for six weeks? That seemingly contradictory question takes on a very different hue in the ever-complicated mind of U.S. President Donald Trump, who on Monday carried out the threat he had voiced just hours earlier. A new gambit that has baffled analysts and investors. The Strait of Hormuz would have — indeed, according to the Pentagon, already has — a double lock: that of Tehran, aware that it is its greatest defence against U.S. and Israeli aggression; and that of Washington, for now a strategy as vague as it is potentially destabilising. A bold move that is difficult to put into practice.

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]]>Vahid Salemi<![CDATA[Europe and Asia fear that Trump’s Hormuz blockade will deepen the oil and gas shortage]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-13/europe-and-asia-fear-that-trumps-hormuz-blockade-will-deepen-the-oil-and-gas-shortage.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2026-04-13/europe-and-asia-fear-that-trumps-hormuz-blockade-will-deepen-the-oil-and-gas-shortage.htmlMon, 13 Apr 2026 10:39:44 +0000The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran held the great promise of the long-awaited reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the most critical maritime shipping route for global energy flows. That hope, in recent hours, has gone from vague to increasingly distant. Since Wednesday, when the truce began—with all the caveats one might add: bombs have continued to fall in various parts of the Middle East in recent days, especially in Lebanon—the volume of cargo ships has fallen even below the average of the days immediately preceding the agreement, with only a trace flow of tankers and LNG carriers. With the blockade announced this Sunday by the White House, things could get even worse: even fewer ships will pass. Or, perhaps, none at all.

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]]>HOTLI SIMANJUNTAK<![CDATA[What Trump can’t stop: Renewable energy is growing and setting world records ]]>https://english.elpais.com/climate/2026-01-31/what-trump-cant-stop-renewable-energy-is-growing-and-setting-world-records.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/climate/2026-01-31/what-trump-cant-stop-renewable-energy-is-growing-and-setting-world-records.htmlSun, 01 Feb 2026 04:00:00 +0000In his disjointed speech at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, Donald Trump once again lashed out against renewable forms of energy, the European Union and its Green Deal, which aims to transform the energy and mobility system to break dependence on fossil fuels, the main cause of climate change. Trump, like the European far-right, dismissed the accord, calling it a “Green New Scam.” But the truth is that, despite his attacks, renewables continued to grow in 2025 and set records, while fossil fuel consumption for electricity generation stagnated.

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]]>CFOTO<![CDATA[The BBC is no exception: Far-right forces are targeting European public broadcasters]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-09/the-bbc-is-no-exception-far-right-forces-are-targeting-european-public-broadcasters.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-12-09/the-bbc-is-no-exception-far-right-forces-are-targeting-european-public-broadcasters.htmlTue, 09 Dec 2025 16:31:32 +0000The far right has a long list of targets. Immigrants. Taxes. The left in general. Those who advocate solidarity or the values upon which an increasingly blurred international order rests. And public media corporations have now become a top target.

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]]>TOLGA AKMEN<![CDATA[Giuliano da Empoli: ‘The key to Trump’s success is moving fast and spectacularly, even when he contradicts himself’]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-27/giuliano-da-empoli-the-key-to-trumps-success-is-moving-fast-and-spectacularly-even-when-he-contradicts-himself.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-27/giuliano-da-empoli-the-key-to-trumps-success-is-moving-fast-and-spectacularly-even-when-he-contradicts-himself.htmlThu, 27 Nov 2025 17:10:14 +0000It is the perfect collusion. The standard-bearers of authoritarian, national-populist politics and the top executives of the major tech companies walking hand in hand to free themselves from anything that challenges or opposes them. This is, in essence, the core idea of Italian thinker and essayist Giuliano da Empoli in these dark times, when all the stars seem aligned against liberal democracy and large swaths of the population — including the younger generations — are leaning toward reactionary ideas.

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]]>Pablo Monge<![CDATA[How housing became the key to winning elections in the West]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2025-11-13/how-housing-became-the-key-to-winning-elections-in-the-west.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2025-11-13/how-housing-became-the-key-to-winning-elections-in-the-west.htmlThu, 13 Nov 2025 11:01:28 +0000Zohran Mamdani has just become mayor of New York City with a powerful central message: facilitating access to affordable housing, a pipe dream these days. His main promise is to freeze the rent in in rent-stabilized apartments, in a city where $2,000-a-month leases (€1,800) have been a thing of the past for years—today they average around $3,000—and where the high cost of living affects even families with salaries that would be eye-watering in virtually any other part of the West.

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]]>Piroschka Van De Wouw<![CDATA[Race for icebreakers heats up amid Arctic power struggle]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-01/race-for-icebreakers-heats-up-amid-arctic-power-struggle.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-11-01/race-for-icebreakers-heats-up-amid-arctic-power-struggle.htmlSat, 01 Nov 2025 04:40:00 +0000The Arctic has long ceased to be a remote, inhospitable and virtually inaccessible region. In fact, it has become quite tangible for ordinary mortals.

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]]>Dmitri Lovetsky<![CDATA[Trump’s sanctions on Russian oil companies disrupt Putin’s plans to prolong Ukraine war]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-10-24/trumps-sanctions-on-russian-oil-companies-disrupts-putins-plans-to-prolong-ukraine-war.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-10-24/trumps-sanctions-on-russian-oil-companies-disrupts-putins-plans-to-prolong-ukraine-war.htmlFri, 24 Oct 2025 19:41:13 +0000He still has room to maneuver, but that space is getting smaller and smaller. The latest, and somewhat surprising, round of U.S. sanctions were levied against Rosneft and Lukoil, two giants of Russia’s still-powerful fossil fuel industry, narrowing possibilities for a Vladimir Putin still convinced he can keep his war in Ukraine going. On Thursday, the Russian president warned Donald Trump that the move would cost the United States dearly. The Kremlin is making no secret of its irritation, after having hoped to distance the current U.S. administration from the Ukrainian cause. This most recent step sent the country in exactly the opposite direction. Putin remained firm, however, commenting that, “no self-respecting country and self-respecting people make any decisions under pressure.”

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]]>Yoruk Isik<![CDATA[Finland fortifies itself against its Russian neighbor ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-10-12/finland-fortifies-itself-against-its-russian-neighbor.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-10-12/finland-fortifies-itself-against-its-russian-neighbor.htmlSun, 12 Oct 2025 16:59:10 +0000From the bridge of the gigantic patrol boat Turva, Mikko Simola, the commander in charge of the Coast Guard that ensures the safety of the Gulf of Finland, points his finger — almost as a reflex — east, toward the only stretch of sea that, after crossing Helsinki and Tallinn, flows into the Russian city of Saint Petersburg.

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]]>Matias Honkamaa<![CDATA[Batteries bite into oil: Demand slows in China and drops in Norway]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-09-20/batteries-bite-into-oil-demand-slows-in-china-and-drops-in-norway.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-09-20/batteries-bite-into-oil-demand-slows-in-china-and-drops-in-norway.htmlSat, 20 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000There’s a predator — no small one — on the loose in the energy savanna. Batteries, in all their forms, are poised to deliver a severe bite to fossil fuel demand: coal and gas, because their intensive use for storing megawatt-hours will drastically reduce the operating hours of thermal power plants; and, even more sharply, oil, as vehicle electrification becomes widespread.

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]]>Focke Strangmann (picture alliance / Getty Images)<![CDATA[Spain and Portugal call for more power links to Europe after massive blackout ]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-09-06/spain-and-portugal-call-for-more-power-links-to-europe-after-massive-blackout.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-09-06/spain-and-portugal-call-for-more-power-links-to-europe-after-massive-blackout.htmlSat, 06 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000From a hill in Gatika, a village of 1,600 inhabitants about a half-hour drive from the Spanish city of Bilbao, the scars left on the land by the construction of the ill-fated Lemóniz nuclear power plant in the 1970s are clearly visible. High-voltage towers dot a green landscape sprinkled with small houses that live alongside the cables of a facility that was never put into operation.

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]]>FERNANDO DOMINGO-ALDAMA<![CDATA[Harsh punishment of India completes Trump’s tariffs on Washington’s major suppliers]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-08-28/harsh-punishment-of-india-completes-trumps-tariffs-on-washingtons-major-suppliers.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-08-28/harsh-punishment-of-india-completes-trumps-tariffs-on-washingtons-major-suppliers.htmlThu, 28 Aug 2025 13:27:53 +0000With all possible caveats — which are many in the case of a president as volatile as Donald Trump — the implementation of a levy of up to 50% on imports from India closes the U.S. tariff circle on its former trading partners, now relegated to the role of mere suppliers. Negotiations with several of them (with India itself, as well as China, Canada, and Mexico, the trio of nations that accounts for almost half of U.S. imports) remain ongoing, but all of them already have a base figure, a tariff floor on which to build — or, in most cases, deconstruct — their once-solid trade ties.

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]]>Francis Mascarenhas<![CDATA[Putin-fearing Europe returns: EU ramps up military service]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-08-28/putin-fearing-europe-returns-eu-ramps-up-military-service.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-08-28/putin-fearing-europe-returns-eu-ramps-up-military-service.htmlThu, 28 Aug 2025 09:42:00 +0000March 9, 2001, was a happy day for an entire generation of Spaniards, who would be freed from the burden of military service a few months later. Five years earlier, France had taken the plunge. Seven years before that, Belgium. And four years later, Italy would follow suit. The long shadow of Vladimir Putin and — above all — the Russian invasion of Ukraine, however, has changed everything. In this regard too, several countries, including Germany — the most populous and powerful nation in the European Union — have reversed course, reinstating military service for their young people.

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]]>James Brooks<![CDATA[Eurobonds 2.0: Why more and more economists are calling for Brussels to issue joint debt]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-08-09/eurobonds-20-why-more-and-more-economists-are-calling-for-brussels-to-issue-joint-debt.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-08-09/eurobonds-20-why-more-and-more-economists-are-calling-for-brussels-to-issue-joint-debt.htmlSat, 09 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000It’s only been four years, but it seems like an eternity. On June 15, 2021, the European Commission — for the first time — launched its €20 billion 10-year eurobond to raise funds. The symbolic value of this move was also enormous: it put an end to a debate that had been raging for years, surrounding joint debt issuance. Suddenly, the anti-eurobond attitude of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel was gone. Also left behind was the word “No,” which had previously marked countless statements from Berlin, Vienna and The Hague… the same European capitals that, for years, repeated the damaging and misguided dogma of “expansionary austerity.” This oxymoron among oxymorons was refuted time and again by the facts.

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]]>Szymon Bartosz (GETTY IMAGES)<![CDATA[Understanding secondary tariffs: Why few expect Trump to make good on his threat to Putin]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-07-16/understanding-secondary-tariffs-why-few-expect-trump-to-make-good-on-his-threat-to-putin.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-07-16/understanding-secondary-tariffs-why-few-expect-trump-to-make-good-on-his-threat-to-putin.htmlWed, 16 Jul 2025 07:39:18 +0000Donald Trump’s shift in stance on Ukraine has been a long time in the making. Much has changed since the humiliating scolding of Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the Oval Office in late February, when Trump even blamed him for the Russian invasion. In the meantime, the Republican has gradually shifted toward much more moderate positions — at times even resembling those of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden. Vladimir Putin has gone from being a friend with whom Trump never fully lost contact, even during his four years out of the White House, to someone who “talks a lot,” who is “killing a lot of people,” and with whom Trump now says he is “very unhappy.”

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]]>Yoruk Isik<![CDATA[Russia on the edge of economic collapse after 40 months of war]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-07-07/russia-on-the-edge-of-economic-collapse-after-40-months-of-war.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-07-07/russia-on-the-edge-of-economic-collapse-after-40-months-of-war.htmlMon, 07 Jul 2025 14:49:59 +0000Forty months is a long time in a war. Even more so for an economy already burdened by dangerous dependencies on a fossil-fuel-based world that, with luck, will be consigned to the history books within a few decades. Nearly three and a half years after Vladimir Putin gave the order to invade Ukraine — thus burning all bridges with the West — Russia is now trapped in a maze with no easy way out: sluggish growth and soaring prices, with annual increases in the double digits.

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]]>Donat Sorokin / Zuma Press / ContactoPhoto<![CDATA[Why closing the Strait of Hormuz would be an atomic bomb for the oil market]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-06-23/why-closing-the-strait-of-hormuz-would-be-an-atomic-bomb-for-the-oil-market.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-06-23/why-closing-the-strait-of-hormuz-would-be-an-atomic-bomb-for-the-oil-market.htmlMon, 23 Jun 2025 09:21:11 +0000“Historic” is an adjective that has been worn out by use and abuse. There are, however, moments when it fits like a glove. This is one of them: Iran’s unilateral closure of the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S. offensive on its nuclear facilities would be the equivalent of dropping an atomic bomb on the oil market. We would, in short, enter uncharted territory: never has a commercial artery of this magnitude, through which a quarter of the world’s crude oil passes, and essential for the normal functioning of the largest commodities market on the planet, been closed.

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]]>Germán Vogel<![CDATA[Israel damages economies of its Western allies with attacks on Iranian energy sector]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-06-19/israel-damages-economies-of-its-western-allies-with-attacks-on-iranian-energy-sector.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-06-19/israel-damages-economies-of-its-western-allies-with-attacks-on-iranian-energy-sector.htmlThu, 19 Jun 2025 11:20:44 +0000Having opened the spigot of all-out war against Iran, Benjamin Netanyahu’s government took a further step last weekend. It crossed one of the last remaining red lines: direct attacks on energy infrastructure, such as fuel depots and natural gas processing facilities. This move not only jeopardizes Tehran’s export base, which is heavily dependent on fossil fuels; it also threatens to exacerbate the upward spiral in prices, thus hitting most of Israel’s traditional partners in the West. Europe depends almost entirely on oil and gas imports, and its economy is tremendously sensitive to their costs. And the United States, despite having become a major crude oil producer in recent years, needs cheap gasoline to ensure private consumption does not suffer.

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]]>Vahid Salemi<![CDATA[Dani Rodrik: ‘Trump’s ban on foreign students is catastrophic; the US must prepare for a very bleak future’]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-06-07/dani-rodrik-trumps-ban-on-foreign-students-is-catastrophic-the-us-must-prepare-for-a-very-bleak-future.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-06-07/dani-rodrik-trumps-ban-on-foreign-students-is-catastrophic-the-us-must-prepare-for-a-very-bleak-future.htmlSat, 07 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000It’s not easy to have an idea or an economic concept named after you. Think of Keynesian, Ricardian, or Malthusian theories. The — much debated — Laffer Curve or the Phillips Curve. Nash equilibrium. And then there is Rodrik’s trilemma, named after the Harvard professor, regular contender — every October — for the Nobel Prize, author of the unforgettable The Globalization Paradox and, ultimately, one of the great economists of our time.

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]]>Pablo Monge<![CDATA[The five seconds that plunged Spain into darkness]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-05-01/the-five-seconds-that-plunged-spain-into-darkness.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2025-05-01/the-five-seconds-that-plunged-spain-into-darkness.htmlThu, 01 May 2025 13:26:15 +0000The incident is a fact, and a major one at that: an entire afternoon without electricity in Europe’s fourth-largest economy. But the “black box” is still missing. Technicians at Red Eléctrica de España (REE), the grid operator, are working against the clock to figure out what led to the worst-case scenario: a system completely devoid of energy, a nightmare situation that several generations of engineers had only encountered in simulations.

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]]>Nacho Doce<![CDATA[EU launches plan to secure supplies of 17 strategic raw materials]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-03-25/eu-launches-plan-to-secure-supplies-of-17-strategic-raw-materials.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-03-25/eu-launches-plan-to-secure-supplies-of-17-strategic-raw-materials.htmlTue, 25 Mar 2025 11:05:15 +0000The European Commission is finalizing the presentation of its first strategic projects to boost the mining of critical materials in the EU. In a volatile geopolitical environment, Europe’s monumental dependence on countries like China for essential raw materials poses a high risk that Brussels wants to control. The EU executive is thus seeking to increase long-term autonomy in the extraction and processing of essential minerals for sectors such as the automotive industry, renewable energy, and defense. In the short and medium term, it hopes to build up reserves to withstand requirements.

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]]>CHINA STRINGER NETWORK<![CDATA[Submarine cables: The weakest link in Europe’s strategic infrastructure]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-03-11/submarine-cables-the-weakest-link-in-europes-strategic-infrastructure.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-03-11/submarine-cables-the-weakest-link-in-europes-strategic-infrastructure.htmlTue, 11 Mar 2025 10:18:25 +0000Together with the extremely complex cyber universe, they are the great Achilles heel of European critical infrastructures. Underwater interconnections, whether energy (gas and electricity) or data, have been revealed in the last three years — since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — as one of the weakest flanks of the community ecosystem. Five major incidents, all subject to ongoing investigations, have set off alarm bells and called into question the security of this tangle of hundreds of pipes, the importance of which has grown exponentially in recent decades. Until 24 February 2022, when the war in Ukraine began, the continent’s seabed was believed to be impregnable.

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]]><![CDATA[Keys to the minerals deal: Ukraine has critical metals, but not as many rare earths as Trump thinks]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2025-02-27/keys-to-the-minerals-deal-ukraine-has-critical-metals-but-not-as-many-rare-earths-as-trump-thinks.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2025-02-27/keys-to-the-minerals-deal-ukraine-has-critical-metals-but-not-as-many-rare-earths-as-trump-thinks.htmlThu, 27 Feb 2025 16:00:01 +0000Like almost everything surrounding Donald Trump’s second administration, the agreement with Ukraine for the exploitation of the vast deposits of critical minerals in the European country is highly atypical. Firstly, because it is not a typical war reparation: Washington has not participated directly in the conflict, but has only provided economic and military support for Kyiv’s defense against the Russian aggressor. Secondly, because although Ukraine possesses significant mineral resources — some of them important for an energy transition that Trump himself rejects — there are serious doubts about its real potential in the field of rare earths. This is exactly where Trump has been focusing his attention for months.

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]]>Shannon Stapleton<![CDATA[Rising LNG imports and strained reserves: The fallout from Ukraine’s decision to cut Russian gas flows to Europe]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-01-02/rising-lng-imports-and-strained-reserves-the-fallout-from-ukraines-decision-to-cut-russian-gas-flows-to-europe.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2025-01-02/rising-lng-imports-and-strained-reserves-the-fallout-from-ukraines-decision-to-cut-russian-gas-flows-to-europe.htmlThu, 02 Jan 2025 17:12:51 +0000It’s been an open secret for a couple of weeks, ever since Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal ruled out any new agreement with Gazprom to keep Russian gas flowing to the European Union. His position was confirmed on Wednesday, January 1, when the contract expired and the gas pipeline running through Ukraine from east to west was completely shut down — possibly for good. This pipeline, the oldest of its kind with a history of five decades, holds significant symbolic value.

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]]>Vladislav Culiomza<![CDATA[A disaster foretold: Three years of aging Russian tankers navigating the globe]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-12-17/a-disaster-foretold-three-years-of-aging-russian-tankers-navigating-the-globe.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-12-17/a-disaster-foretold-three-years-of-aging-russian-tankers-navigating-the-globe.htmlTue, 17 Dec 2024 18:49:55 +0000It was only a matter of time. One day after two old oil tankers sank in the Black Sea on Sunday, spilling a significant amount of the fuel they were carrying, that was the prevailing sentiment on Monday among industry insiders. Russia has responded to sanctions on its crude by deploying an aging fleet of ships — some flying Russia’s flag, some not — in an effort to keep its oil exports flowing on the global market. This strategy — which has proven economically beneficial for Russia — has also posed an environmental risk for nearly three years. The first major incident occurred in the Kerch Strait, though the full consequences are still unfolding.

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]]>TATIANA MEEL<![CDATA[Cold without wind: German ‘dunkelflaute’ brings electricity prices to crisis levels and depletes gas reserves]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-12-12/cold-without-wind-german-dunkelflaute-brings-electricity-prices-to-crisis-levels-and-depletes-gas-reserves.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2024-12-12/cold-without-wind-german-dunkelflaute-brings-electricity-prices-to-crisis-levels-and-depletes-gas-reserves.htmlThu, 12 Dec 2024 16:26:53 +0000Dunkelflaute is a cursed word in the German electricity sector. The combination, typical of cold anticyclones, of low temperatures (which increase demand) and the almost total absence of wind (which hinders wind generation) configures one of the worst possible scenarios for the price of electricity: it forces the burning of more gas in combined cycle plants, which are much more expensive, and that substantially increases the bill. This dreaded cocktail, which is currently hitting Central Europe, is leading the price of electricity in Europe’s largest economy to levels not seen since the energy crisis.

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]]>picture alliance<![CDATA[Trump’s threats extinguish hopes of revitalizing free trade]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-11-27/trumps-threats-extinguish-hopes-of-revitalizing-free-trade.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-11-27/trumps-threats-extinguish-hopes-of-revitalizing-free-trade.htmlWed, 27 Nov 2024 10:08:00 +0000Donald Trump can be accused of many things, but not of being unclear. “To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff,” he declared during his campaign, faithful to his usual grandiloquence. He then proposed a universal fee of between 10% and 20% on all products coming into the United States from any corner of the world, without distinction. And that is only the beginning of the protectionist proposals by the president-elect: on top of that he wants to add ad hoc tariffs for specific products or countries of origin, with China foremost in mind but also with the European Union, Canada and Mexico in the crosshairs.

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]]>Nathan Howard<![CDATA[Forbidden luxury enters Russia from the south]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-11-03/forbidden-luxury-enters-russia-from-the-south.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2024-11-03/forbidden-luxury-enters-russia-from-the-south.htmlSun, 03 Nov 2024 04:00:00 +0000It is not just oil, airplanes or dual-use (civilian and military) products. The successive packages of sanctions against Russia approved by the EU, the United States, and the United Kingdom also contained — and contain — important restrictions on the sale of luxury Western products, so much to the taste of the Russian elites: high-end cars, watches, and jewelry. Products that should not have been entering the Eurasian giant since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine. That is the theory; the reality, however, runs along other paths: almost three years later, the wealthiest still lack nothing.

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]]>Alena Zharava<![CDATA[Cuba’s obsolete electricity infrastructure is keeping the country in the dark]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2024-10-21/cubas-obsolete-electricity-infrastructure-is-keeping-the-country-in-the-dark.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2024-10-21/cubas-obsolete-electricity-infrastructure-is-keeping-the-country-in-the-dark.htmlMon, 21 Oct 2024 13:05:15 +0000The long blackout suffered on October 18 in Cuba is yet another shadowy episode in the history of one of the most deteriorated and stressed electricity systems in Latin America. Decades of under-investment and an almost total dependence on largely imported fossil fuel have made it one of the most fragile in the region. This is despite having the ideal conditions for solar and wind power, which are completely changing the energy paradigm in rich countries and in many emerging ones as well.

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]]>Norlys Perez<![CDATA[The shadow of Hormuz: Why oil prices are finally reacting to Middle East crisis]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-10-03/the-shadow-of-hormuz-why-oil-prices-are-finally-reacting-to-middle-east-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-10-03/the-shadow-of-hormuz-why-oil-prices-are-finally-reacting-to-middle-east-crisis.htmlThu, 03 Oct 2024 11:00:03 +0000Oil is no longer insulated from the volatile situation in the Middle East. After weeks of stagnation, with crude prices at their lowest point in almost three years, Iran’s involvement in the conflict has rekindled fears that regional tensions could trigger Israeli strikes on Iranian oil facilities or provoke Tehran to attack Saudi oil fields or refineries, as happened in September 2019. The most alarming scenario would be the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage for one-fifth of the world’s crude oil. A blockade of this 21-mile stretch between Iran and Oman would significantly disrupt oil prices.

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]]>ATTA KENARE<![CDATA[Europe jumps on the train]]>https://english.elpais.com/climate/2024-09-01/europe-jumps-on-the-train.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/climate/2024-09-01/europe-jumps-on-the-train.htmlSun, 01 Sep 2024 04:05:00 +0000Rébecca Hagège, a 33-year-old from Paris, made a decision some time ago: she would cut down on her air and automobile journeys as much as possible — only making them when it was unavoidable — in order to reduce her carbon footprint. Faithful to her bicycle for her daily commute, the train has become her best ally for travelling further afield, across her own country and, more recently, across the rest of Europe as well. Or at least as far as the infrastructure will allow: on one of her last getaways, a few months ago, her preferred train ran aground in Madrid, and with no viable alternative to continue her route to Lisbon, she was forced — much to her regret — to opt for the bus.

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]]>Samuel Aranda<![CDATA[The lightbulb of the 21st century: The battery revolution illuminates a new era ]]>https://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-08-25/the-lightbulb-of-the-21st-century-the-battery-revolution-illuminates-a-new-era.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/technology/2024-08-25/the-lightbulb-of-the-21st-century-the-battery-revolution-illuminates-a-new-era.htmlSun, 25 Aug 2024 04:05:00 +0000Thomas Alva Edison took all the credit in 1879, but the invention originated a long time before that. Seventy years earlier, Humphry Davy, originally from Cornwall in the United Kingdom, had managed to fix a thin strip of carbon between the two poles of a battery. Thus was born the first lightbulb: an invention that would allow humans to live at night, while exponentially multiplying the uses of electricity.

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]]>Zhu Haipeng (VCG/Getty Images)<![CDATA[Joseph Stiglitz: ‘We still have time to save capitalism from itself, but if Trump wins, it will be harder’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-06-30/joseph-stiglitz-we-still-have-time-to-save-capitalism-from-itself-but-if-trump-wins-it-will-be-harder.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-06-30/joseph-stiglitz-we-still-have-time-to-save-capitalism-from-itself-but-if-trump-wins-it-will-be-harder.htmlSun, 30 Jun 2024 04:05:00 +0000Joseph Stiglitz, 81, is among the great heterodox voices of recent decades. A 2001 Nobel Prize winner in economic sciences, he is one of the economists whose voice is most present in the public arena. He self-describes as a progressive who is in favor of a capitalism that he believes must be reformed. Stiglitz chaired the White House Council of Economic Advisors during Bill Clinton’s first term and was chief economist and vice president of the World Bank. And he’s still at it, with his books, which challenge the impacts of neoliberalism’s four decades; and in his talks, like the one he recently gave in Madrid, hosted by the IESE Business School and the Naturgy Foundation. Afterwards he granted EL PAÍS a 40-minute interview.

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]]>Pablo Monge<![CDATA[Branko Milanovic, the political economist of global inequality]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-06-11/branko-milanovic-the-political-economist-of-global-inequality.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-06-11/branko-milanovic-the-political-economist-of-global-inequality.htmlTue, 11 Jun 2024 17:49:07 +0000It is the most famous elephant in history. It was just over a decade ago, shortly before Christmas 2013, when two World Bank economists—Branko Milanovic and Christoph Lakner—published a paper with an illuminating title: Global Income Distribution: from the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession. They demonstrated, in short, how globalization has benefited the wealthiest individuals and the incipient middle classes of the emerging bloc, while harming the working classes of Europe and the United States, hit by the closure of factories that were packing their bags for Asia. Everything, absolutely everything, was illustrated in a single graphic that resembled the silhouette of a pachyderm, from tail to trunk. It would become, shortly thereafter, one of the most cited studies in recent decades.

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]]>Luis Grañena<![CDATA[Global South pays more to service its debt than it receives in development aid]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-05-27/global-south-pays-more-to-service-its-debt-than-it-receives-in-development-aid.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-05-27/global-south-pays-more-to-service-its-debt-than-it-receives-in-development-aid.htmlMon, 27 May 2024 15:36:55 +0000Crises, like successes, are seen through different eyes depending on who the passive subject is. And this is one of those silent shocks, a blind spot in the wide angle of the world economy. Far from the headlines, rising interest rates are taking their toll on emerging and developing countries: the Global South paid more on its debt last year in principal and interest repayments than it received in development aid and new loans. Inflows to this group of nations fell to their lowest level since the global financial crisis, according to figures from the NGO ONE Campaign. A warning sign that should give the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank (ECB) pause for thought.

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]]>Eric Lafforgue/Art in All of Us<![CDATA[Johan Norberg: ‘Some time ago, they told me that I was far-right, and now, from the right, they tell me that I am a woke capitalist’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-04-21/johan-norberg-some-time-ago-they-told-me-that-i-was-far-right-and-now-from-the-right-they-tell-me-that-i-am-a-woke-capitalist.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/culture/2024-04-21/johan-norberg-some-time-ago-they-told-me-that-i-was-far-right-and-now-from-the-right-they-tell-me-that-i-am-a-woke-capitalist.htmlSun, 21 Apr 2024 17:33:51 +0000Johan Norberg, 50, is first and foremost an optimist who has the arguments to back it up. A staunch defender of classical liberalism and globalization, a historian who was an anarchist in his youth, in some ways the Swede follows in the footsteps of psychologist Steven Pinker with the basic argument that we live in the best of all possible worlds. Norberg believes that the pursuit of profit, which for many is what drives the system, is “vulgar.” He is interested in something more “beautiful”: creating a better world.

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]]>Samuel Sánchez<![CDATA[OPEC cuts in oil production challenge central banks]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-03-29/opec-cuts-in-oil-production-challenge-central-banks.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-03-29/opec-cuts-in-oil-production-challenge-central-banks.htmlFri, 29 Mar 2024 13:09:21 +0000The two biggest central banks — the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Federal Reserve — are set to lower interest rates in June after a few delays. However, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is complicating matters with production cuts, driving oil prices higher than they should be given the current supply and demand. Recent Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil facilities have also affected the global oil market.

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]]>Dado Ruvic<![CDATA[Isabella Weber: ‘It’s time to cut rates’]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-03-12/isabella-weber-its-time-to-cut-rates.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-03-12/isabella-weber-its-time-to-cut-rates.htmlTue, 12 Mar 2024 15:30:52 +0000She is perhaps the greatest emerging voice in the always fertile — and often neglected — field of economic heterodoxy. Isabella Weber was one of the first to blame much of the inflationary escalation of recent years on corporate margins, and today is calling on central banks to immediately lower rates. The Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and research associate at Harvard’s Fairbank Center spoke to EL PAÍS by video call.

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]]>HERIBERT CORN<![CDATA[The US uses cheap gas to win the industrial battle]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-02-26/the-us-uses-cheap-gas-to-win-the-industrial-battle.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-02-26/the-us-uses-cheap-gas-to-win-the-industrial-battle.htmlMon, 26 Feb 2024 13:52:38 +0000With gas from Texas, Pennsylvania, and Louisiana, the United States not only has a powerful money-making machine: it also has a tool to convince emerging industries to settle in the country. Its vast underground reserves and the powerful fracking revolution have turned the North American giant into the world’s largest producer and exporter of gas, which is essential in heat-intensive manufacturing processes. And this is leading dozens of big names in the secondary sector — especially in high-skilled and technology-intensive sectors — to knock on the country’s door.

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]]>ANGUS MORDANT<![CDATA[US government guarantees EU’s gas supply: ‘We have more than adequate capacity to cover their needs’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-02-14/us-government-guarantees-eus-gas-supply-we-have-more-than-adequate-capacity-to-cover-their-needs.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-02-14/us-government-guarantees-eus-gas-supply-we-have-more-than-adequate-capacity-to-cover-their-needs.htmlWed, 14 Feb 2024 14:48:46 +0000Joe Biden’s administration dropped an information bomb at the end of January. Although not unexpected, the pause on expansion plans for liquefied natural gas (LNG, which is transported via ship) terminals sowed fear among the main buyers of this fuel, particularly the 27 members of the European Union (EU). More than ever — given the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war — these nations depend on American fossil fuel production.

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]]>Álvaro García<![CDATA[Data centers, AI and cryptocurrencies will double electricity demand by 2026]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-25/data-centers-ai-and-cryptocurrencies-will-double-electricity-demand-by-2026.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-25/data-centers-ai-and-cryptocurrencies-will-double-electricity-demand-by-2026.htmlThu, 25 Jan 2024 15:02:58 +0000Two major transformations are going down parallel paths: digitalization and renewables. Data centers, artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrencies will double their electricity consumption by 2026, according to the latest forecasts from the International Energy Agency (IEA). By next year, the organization also expects that renewable energy generation will surpass that of coal, the most polluting fuel and one of the main causes of global climate change. This would make it the largest global source of electricity.

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]]><![CDATA[Christian Scherer, CCO of Airbus: ‘More than making a profit from Boeing’s troubles, we have to draw lessons’ ]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-20/christian-scherer-cco-of-airbus-more-than-making-a-profit-from-boeings-troubles-we-have-to-draw-lessons.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-20/christian-scherer-cco-of-airbus-more-than-making-a-profit-from-boeings-troubles-we-have-to-draw-lessons.htmlSat, 20 Jan 2024 09:45:00 +0000After a lifetime at Airbus, German-born Christian Scherer, 61, has been the head of the commercial division of the largest aeronautical manufacturer in the world for the past couple of weeks.

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]]>Samuel Sánchez<![CDATA[Increased supply and weak demand flood the oil market]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-19/increased-supply-and-weak-demand-flood-the-oil-market.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-19/increased-supply-and-weak-demand-flood-the-oil-market.htmlFri, 19 Jan 2024 22:36:19 +0000The signs of market flooding are piling up. While still increasing, global oil demand is slowing down: according to the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) latest projections, this year’s increase will be 1.2 million barrels per day, half of what it was in 2023 (2.3 million). A combination of factors are behind this slowdown: moderate economic growth, greater efficiency in consumption and an increasingly notable boom in electric vehicles — and battery-powered mobility in general — which is beginning to take the most polluting cars and motorcycles off the road.

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]]>Bruno Domingos<![CDATA[US and Europe heading towards the coveted ‘soft landing’ with resilient economies]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-06/us-and-europe-heading-towards-the-coveted-soft-landing-with-resilient-economies.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2024-01-06/us-and-europe-heading-towards-the-coveted-soft-landing-with-resilient-economies.htmlSat, 06 Jan 2024 15:35:21 +0000In the years following the historic 2008 financial crisis, the IMF, the OECD and other major international organizations became overly optimistic. Year after year, reality tested growth forecasts that repeatedly proved to be too bullish. This trend has seen a reversal recently. The energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dampened European growth, starting with Germany, but it didn’t cripple the bloc as feared. But caution is always warranted in the forecasting business, as the economy is an ever-evolving story — the last few years have proven that anything is possible. Macroeconomic indicators show remarkable resilience despite the steepest interest rate hikes in four decades.

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]]>MIKE SEGAR<![CDATA[Iranian intervention to determine impact of Middle East crisis on energy prices]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-30/iranian-intervention-to-determine-impact-of-middle-east-crisis-on-energy-prices.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-10-30/iranian-intervention-to-determine-impact-of-middle-east-crisis-on-energy-prices.htmlMon, 30 Oct 2023 16:29:24 +0000The 1973 oil crisis, much like the 2008 financial crash, was more than just a generational shock. Instead, it was one of those collective traumas of which even those who did not experience it know the consequences all too well. The two simultaneous wars — Russia and Ukraine; Israel and Hamas — have now reawakened the ghosts that were believed to be buried. The ever-cautious International Energy Agency (IEA), perhaps somewhat hastily, has recently distanced itself from the oil embargo that forever shifted the energy landscape and left the scars for all to see.

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]]><![CDATA[Bosch tests fuel cells in the Czech Republic]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-10-10/bosch-tests-fuel-cells-in-the-czech-republic.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-10-10/bosch-tests-fuel-cells-in-the-czech-republic.htmlTue, 10 Oct 2023 19:00:18 +0000Bosch’s plant at České Budějovice, one of the German company’s largest research and development centers in Europe, perfectly encapsulates the changing times in the auto industry. Built three decades ago, the plant took advantage of the lower labor costs of what, at that time, was Czechoslovakia. For years, the factory has been a powerful center for the production of components for automobile companies: thousands upon thousands of brake pedals and exhaust pipes of vehicles manufactured by German automotive giants left the factory year after year. Today, with the car sector undergoing unprecedented change and with the shelving of diesel and gasoline just around the corner, the Czech plant is fighting for its own reconversion, and that of the whole group, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of automobile components.

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]]>Libor Sváček<![CDATA[Novo Nordisk’s meteoric rise: The fight against obesity wins over investors]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-09-26/novo-nordisks-meteoric-rise-the-fight-against-obesity-wins-over-investors.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-09-26/novo-nordisks-meteoric-rise-the-fight-against-obesity-wins-over-investors.htmlTue, 26 Sep 2023 10:44:46 +0000Ozempic and Wegovy. Two drug names virtually unknown to the general public — except for doctors, patients and a handful of seasoned financial experts who follow the sector on the sidelines — are the stars of a 180-degree turn in the direction of a company (Novo Nordisk) and the economic sustainability of a country (Denmark) just when economic storm clouds are brewing in a Europe that is beginning to feel the effects of rising interest rates. The Copenhagen-based pharmaceutical company has become the most valuable company in Europe, after surpassing the French luxury giant LVMH and sneaking into the top 20 largest companies in the world. The Scandinavian country, for its part, has avoided a looming recession, in large part, to these two anti-obesity drugs made in Denmark.

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]]>Carsten Snejbjerg (BLOOMBERG)<![CDATA[Two anti-obesity drugs delay the recession in Denmark]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-09-13/two-anti-obesity-drugs-delay-the-recession-in-denmark.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-09-13/two-anti-obesity-drugs-delay-the-recession-in-denmark.htmlWed, 13 Sep 2023 11:05:37 +0000Two anti-obesity drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy, have conjured the ghost of a recession in Denmark. The first is typically used for diabetes treatment, but its use against obesity has grown exponentially in recent months. The second is specifically targeted for weight loss. In the second quarter of the year, the Danish economy grew 0.3% compared to the three prior months, and its GDP expanded 1.7% in the first half of 2023. Without the sale of these drugs, the Danish economy, one of the most prosperous in the European Union, would have contracted 0.3% between January and June, in what would have been the first recession since the pandemic.

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]]>SIMPLE ONLINE PHARMACY<![CDATA[The West is reluctant to revise cap on Russian oil, despite sharp rise in prices ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-09-07/the-west-is-reluctant-to-revise-cap-on-russian-oil-despite-sharp-rise-in-prices.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-09-07/the-west-is-reluctant-to-revise-cap-on-russian-oil-despite-sharp-rise-in-prices.htmlThu, 07 Sep 2023 22:17:04 +0000Ukraine’s allies are shelving — at least temporarily — any plans to revise the price ceiling that has been imposed on Russia’s massive oil sales. This information, revealed by the Reuters news agency, implies that the West is completely oblivious to the recent changes in the energy market. After the recent spike in prices, most of the crude oil sold by the Eurasian country is already clearly being priced above the limit that was imposed on Moscow: $60 a barrel.

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]]>AKHTAR SOOMRO<![CDATA[Historian Peter Frankopan: ‘We are predisposed to looking for drama. That’s why we watch Netflix, not documentaries’]]>https://english.elpais.com/society/2023-07-14/historian-peter-frankopan-we-are-predisposed-to-looking-for-drama-thats-why-we-watch-netflix-not-documentaries.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/society/2023-07-14/historian-peter-frankopan-we-are-predisposed-to-looking-for-drama-thats-why-we-watch-netflix-not-documentaries.htmlFri, 14 Jul 2023 22:10:00 +0000There’s no better time to sit down and chat with a historian than the present. In an age of endless turbulence around the world, Peter Frankopan, 52, Professor of Global History at Oxford University, invites us to take a fresh look at our world. He is the author of the successful book The Silk Roads: A New History of the World (2014) and the more recent The New Silk Roads: The Present and Future of the World ( 2018), in which he replaced the usual Eurocentric view of history with an Asian perspective. In addition to collaborating with several Ivy League universities, he and his wife run a handful of boutique hotels in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Brighton. He spoke with EL PAÍS before participating in a forum on the climate emergency organized by EDP in Madrid.

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]]>Samuel Sánchez<![CDATA[From oil to wind: this is how the North Sea has transformed into Europe’s energy hub ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-08/from-oil-to-wind-this-is-how-the-north-sea-has-transformed-into-europes-energy-hub.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-08/from-oil-to-wind-this-is-how-the-north-sea-has-transformed-into-europes-energy-hub.htmlSat, 08 Jul 2023 22:18:00 +0000Oil is dead: long live wind power!

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]]>Anadolu Agency<![CDATA[Green Denmark turns yellow due to drought]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-10/green-denmark-turns-yellow-due-to-drought.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-07-10/green-denmark-turns-yellow-due-to-drought.htmlMon, 10 Jul 2023 14:46:24 +0000In late June, the train ride between Copenhagen and Esbjerg was a very different experience from what the Danes are used to in early summer. The evergreen fields of the islands of Sjælland and Fyn and the Jutland peninsula were worryingly yellow after one of the driest springs in recent years — a far cry from the traditional, perpetually bucolic landscape of one of Europe’s wettest countries. Climate change is also being felt at these latitudes, where ever drier summers are predicted: it is as if the traveler had inadvertently moved a few hundred (or thousands) of kilometers to the south.

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]]>Bo Amstrup<![CDATA[Spain doubles crude purchases from Latin America to fill the Russian void]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-06-07/spain-doubles-crude-purchases-from-latin-america-to-fill-the-russian-void.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-06-07/spain-doubles-crude-purchases-from-latin-america-to-fill-the-russian-void.htmlWed, 07 Jun 2023 01:42:46 +0000Spain already has a new supplier of crude oil: Latin America. In the first four months of the year, oil imports from the west shore of the Atlantic covered almost half of national needs. The increase is especially strong in the case of Central and South American countries, where imports grew by 115% in the first four months of the year, according to data published this Monday by Spain’s Corporation of Strategic Reserves of Petroleum Products (CORES).

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]]><![CDATA[The nine hours in which Spain made the 100% renewable dream a reality]]>https://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-05-19/the-nine-hours-in-which-spain-made-the-100-renewable-dream-a-reality.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spain/2023-05-19/the-nine-hours-in-which-spain-made-the-100-renewable-dream-a-reality.htmlFri, 19 May 2023 15:57:55 +0000The Spanish power grid on Tuesday tasted an appetizer of the renewable energy banquet that is expected to flourish in the coming years. For nine hours, between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m., the generation of green electricity was more than enough to cover 100% of Spanish peninsular demand, a milestone that had already been reached on previous occasions, but not for such a prolonged period. The achievement — which was backed up by figures sent to EL PAÍS by the state electricity provider Red Eléctrica de España (REE) — took place, moreover, on a typical weekday, when the consumption pattern is higher, and not on a holiday or at the weekend, when demand falls sharply.

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]]><![CDATA[Robert F. Engle, Nobel Prize in Economics: ‘This mini financial crisis will not end in a big crisis’]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-05-16/robert-engle-nobel-prize-in-economics-this-mini-financial-crisis-will-not-end-in-a-big-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-05-16/robert-engle-nobel-prize-in-economics-this-mini-financial-crisis-will-not-end-in-a-big-crisis.htmlTue, 16 May 2023 16:10:45 +0000Robert F. Engle, 80, was recently in Madrid to talk about climate finance, but he also answered questions about current economic events, including the sharp rise in interest rates to curb inflation and the recent financial crisis in the United States. The winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics traveled to Spain to be a keynote speaker at a conference organized by Comillas Pontifical University. Engle, who had a packed agenda with events at various educational centers as well as the Bank of Spain, talked to EL PAÍS after speaking at the ICADE business school, where he put forward an idea that is as provocative as it is real: “Putin is a climate activist: he has accelerated decarbonization.”

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]]><![CDATA[Germany and Finland: Two sides of the nuclear power coin in Europe ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-19/germany-and-finland-two-sides-of-the-nuclear-power-coin-in-europe.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-19/germany-and-finland-two-sides-of-the-nuclear-power-coin-in-europe.htmlWed, 19 Apr 2023 16:14:41 +0000As chance would have it, the shutdown of the Germany’s remaining nuclear reactors coincided exactly with the opening of a new one in Finland, the second in over 15 years in the European Union (EU). Both countries are highly vulnerable to the vagaries of Russian energy sources, but represent two opposing European visions of the always controversial nuclear energy.

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]]><![CDATA[Renewable energy boom in Chile takes a toll on electrical grid ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-19/the-boom-of-renewables-in-chile-has-taken-a-toll-on-the-electrical-grid.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-19/the-boom-of-renewables-in-chile-has-taken-a-toll-on-the-electrical-grid.htmlWed, 19 Apr 2023 02:18:42 +0000The renewable explosion offers a thousand and one environmental and economic possibilities, from long-awaited decarbonization, to a huge volume of cheap electricity that will change the paradigm of entire industries and countries. However, the new renewable reality – which is beginning to be compared in magnitude to the Industrial Revolution – also requires action on several fronts, so that the process of change is not stalled or slowed.

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]]><![CDATA[EV sales will drive drop in global fuel consumption at the end of this decade]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-04-12/ev-sales-will-drive-drop-in-global-fuel-consumption-at-the-end-of-this-decade.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-04-12/ev-sales-will-drive-drop-in-global-fuel-consumption-at-the-end-of-this-decade.htmlWed, 12 Apr 2023 10:33:10 +0000The progressive advance of electric vehicles (EVs) on a global scale will begin to make a dent in the global consumption of gasoline and diesel before the end of this decade. According to a recent study by Bank of America, the global peak in demand for automobile fuel will take place between 2028 and 2030, forecasts that are in line with the latest projections from BloombergNEF and the International Energy Agency (IEA). The other source of reduction in fuel consumption, though in a lesser degree, has to do with the replacement of older cars with newer, more fuel-efficient ones.

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]]><![CDATA[From shadow fleets for crude oil sales to new Asian trade routes: How Russia is evading Western sanctions ]]>https://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-11/from-shadow-fleets-for-crude-oil-sales-to-new-asian-trade-routes-how-russia-is-evading-western-sanctions.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/international/2023-04-11/from-shadow-fleets-for-crude-oil-sales-to-new-asian-trade-routes-how-russia-is-evading-western-sanctions.htmlTue, 11 Apr 2023 11:36:58 +0000The best proof that Western sanctions on Russia are working is how the Kremlin is being forced to use its wits to try to avoid them.

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]]><![CDATA[The three wildest years in modern economic history]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-03-12/the-three-wildest-years-in-modern-economic-history.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-03-12/the-three-wildest-years-in-modern-economic-history.htmlSun, 12 Mar 2023 14:51:12 +0000Three years ago, the world was already holding its breath in the face of the rapid advance of the virus, but there was no foreshadowing that the economy was going to turn around like a sock in a matter of hours. That activity would be artificially hibernated. And that the planet, in short, would wait for months waiting for the end of the shutdown. The possibility of the greatest recession ever experienced in peacetime did not enter anyone’s head. Nor that peace was about to explode with the first war on European soil since the Balkans. That energy and commodities would hit record highs. That value chains would be stretched to unimaginable levels. And that globalization itself, unstoppable for decades, would be called into question.

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]]><![CDATA[US and European oil giants doubled their profits in 2022]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-02-09/us-and-european-oil-giants-doubled-their-profits-in-2022.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-02-09/us-and-european-oil-giants-doubled-their-profits-in-2022.htmlThu, 09 Feb 2023 09:42:35 +0000Fossil giants are cashing in on the global turbulence. The five largest Western oil companies – the US firms ExxonMobil and Chevron, the Anglo-Dutch Shell, the British BP and the French TotalEnergies – logged a combined net profit of more than $196 billion (€183 billion) in 2022. That is twice as much as in 2021, when prices had already begun to rise, and 50% more than their record earnings during the final stretch of the raw materials supercycle – a sustained period of expansion driven by strong growth. The year of the Ukraine war and the energy crisis was also the best year in history for the oil majors’ bottom line.

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]]>David Goldman<![CDATA[Despite China’s rise, the US solidifies its hold on the world’s biggest company rankings]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-01-03/despite-chinas-rise-the-us-solidifies-its-hold-on-the-worlds-biggest-company-rankings.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-01-03/despite-chinas-rise-the-us-solidifies-its-hold-on-the-worlds-biggest-company-rankings.htmlTue, 03 Jan 2023 01:39:41 +0000The United States is still unrivalled when it comes to big businesses. In 2022, only four of the 20 biggest public companies in the world by market capitalization were based elsewhere: Aramco, the Saudi oil giant is ranked second; Tencent, the Chinese telecommunications and technology company is ranked eleventh; Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC is ranked fourteenth; and French luxury conglomerate LVMH is ranked fifteenth, the only European company to make the top 20 list. Despite heated debate about China’s ability to challenge American economic hegemony, the US managed to solidify its hold on the biggest company rankings by adding yet another company to the top 20.

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]]>DAVID GRAY<![CDATA[How Elon Musk lost $130 billion in a year]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-01-02/how-elon-musk-lost-130-billion-in-a-year.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2023-01-02/how-elon-musk-lost-130-billion-in-a-year.htmlMon, 02 Jan 2023 13:57:55 +0000While 2021 was a good year for Elon Musk, the same cannot be said of 2022. Last year, the Tesla founder was named the richest person in the world. But 12 months later, more than $132 billion has been erased from his net worth, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The massive decline is due to Tesla’s falling share prices, which have shed two-thirds of their value over the past year. As a result of the slump, Musk – who has been surrounded by controversy since buying Twitter – is no longer the world’s richest person. He has been bumped down to No. 2 in the rankings, behind Frenchman Bernard Arnault, the top shareholder in the French luxury company LVMH (the owner of brands such as Dom Pérignon, Hennessy and Christian Dior).

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]]><![CDATA[How Europe’s windfall taxes target energy profits but leave out banking]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-07-14/how-europes-windfall-taxes-target-energy-profits-but-leave-out-banking.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-07-14/how-europes-windfall-taxes-target-energy-profits-but-leave-out-banking.htmlThu, 14 Jul 2022 16:04:26 +0000European tax systems are beginning to adapt to a new reality of extraordinarily high profits in the energy sector, though not to rising revenues in banking. Temporary taxes on oil, gas and electricity companies’ extraordinary profits have been announced in the United Kingdom and by several members of the European Union including Italy, Greece, Spain and Belgium.

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]]><![CDATA[Saudi oil company Aramco earns $39.5 billion in the first quarter of the year]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-05-16/saudi-oil-company-aramco-earns-395-billion-in-the-first-quarter-of-the-year.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-05-16/saudi-oil-company-aramco-earns-395-billion-in-the-first-quarter-of-the-year.htmlMon, 16 May 2022 15:12:08 +0000Soaring oil prices have led the Saudi oil giant Aramco to earn $39.5 billion (almost €38 billion) in the first quarter of the year, an 82% increase over the same period in 2021 and its best results since the company went public in 2019. The quarterly report came on the same week that Aramco overtook Apple as the world’s most valuable company.

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]]><![CDATA[Analysis | The implications of the US, UK veto on Russian oil imports]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-03-09/analysis-the-implications-of-the-us-uk-veto-on-russian-oil-imports.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-03-09/analysis-the-implications-of-the-us-uk-veto-on-russian-oil-imports.htmlWed, 09 Mar 2022 11:37:12 +0000It had been an open secret for some days, but the White House finally took the step on Tuesday. A week-and-a-half after leaving energy outside its initial sanctions package, the United States announced yesterday that it will stop importing Russian oil and gas as retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. And it won’t be the only one: hours later, the United Kingdom signed up to the initiative too, albeit in a more gradual manner, thus ramping up the pressure on the Russian economy, which is particularly dependent on fossil fuel exports. Here are the key points and the repercussions of the measure.

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]]><![CDATA[How the rising cost of living is deepening inequality in Spain ]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-01-21/how-the-rising-cost-of-living-is-deepening-inequality-in-spain.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-01-21/how-the-rising-cost-of-living-is-deepening-inequality-in-spain.htmlFri, 21 Jan 2022 12:54:56 +0000Victor Javier Cavia, 51, has been on the same salary for more than two years after the collective bargaining agreement that regulates his working conditions expired. What in previous years – when prices were still being contained – would have been a minor problem, is proving a major blow to his family’s finances. “I’ve always loved reading and I’ve had to cut back on books and newspapers,” he says. “I used to go to a lot more shows. Now even eating out at the weekend seems to have become an activity for millionaires.”

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]]><![CDATA[Spain rejects Brussels’ plan to classify nuclear power and natural gas as green energy]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-01-03/spain-rejects-brussels-plan-to-classify-nuclear-power-and-natural-gas-as-green-energy.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2022-01-03/spain-rejects-brussels-plan-to-classify-nuclear-power-and-natural-gas-as-green-energy.htmlMon, 03 Jan 2022 10:32:05 +0000Spain is rejecting the European Commission’s proposal to classify nuclear energy and natural gas-powered plants as green technology.

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]]><![CDATA[Wind power becomes Spain’s leading energy source for 2021]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-12-14/wind-power-becomes-spains-leading-energy-source-for-2021.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-12-14/wind-power-becomes-spains-leading-energy-source-for-2021.htmlTue, 14 Dec 2021 08:08:16 +0000Even if the wind stops blowing in the next three weeks, wind power will end the year as the leading source of electricity in Spain. This will mean wind overtaking nuclear in the national energy matrix for the first time since 2013, the only year since records began in which wind turbines were the main source of power. That year was particularly good in terms of wind resources while nuclear was affected by the closure of the Garoña plant in Burgos. Since then, however, wind power has continued to grow as a percentage of total energy generated both in absolute and relative terms, a trend that looks to continue in the near future.

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]]><![CDATA[Spanish truck drivers announce three-day strike ahead of Christmas ]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-11-11/spanish-truck-drivers-announce-three-day-strike-ahead-of-christmas.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-11-11/spanish-truck-drivers-announce-three-day-strike-ahead-of-christmas.htmlThu, 11 Nov 2021 09:19:55 +0000Spain’s National Road Transportation Committee (CNTC) announced on Wednesday a three-day strike, between December 20 and 22, to protest what it calls the government’s failure to address a crisis in the sector. In a press release issued Wednesday evening, the CNTC – which represents freight truck drivers in Spain – accused the administration of “neglect,” arguing that “all reasonable channels of negotiation have been exhausted.” The strike was called following a meeting with Jaime Moreno, the managing director of Ground Transportation.

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]]><![CDATA[How the coronavirus pandemic has widened inequalities in Spain]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-11-05/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-widened-inequalities-in-spain.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-11-05/how-the-coronavirus-pandemic-has-widened-inequalities-in-spain.htmlFri, 05 Nov 2021 07:50:25 +0000Nadia’s rental contract expired six months ago, just when the fourth wave of the coronavirus was finally coming to an end. The apartment of this 42-year-old, located in the Nou Alcolecha neighborhood in Alicante, Valencia region, was originally social housing and owned by a bank. But it has since changed hands, and its current owner, an investment fund, is calling on her to leave. “We have nowhere to go,” she complains. Rents in any other area are €350 minimum, €100 more than she is paying now.

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]]><![CDATA[Spain to import more gas by sea – a difficult operation in the midst of a shipping crisis]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-11-02/spain-to-import-more-gas-by-sea-a-difficult-operation-in-the-midst-of-a-shipping-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-11-02/spain-to-import-more-gas-by-sea-a-difficult-operation-in-the-midst-of-a-shipping-crisis.htmlTue, 02 Nov 2021 13:13:00 +0000As of Monday, Spain has one less source of natural gas – a resource not only needed for industry and for heating systems, but also for combined-cycle power plants, which generate one third of all electricity in the country.

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]]><![CDATA[Why the closure of an Algerian gas pipeline is bad news for Spain ]]>https://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-10-28/why-the-closure-of-an-algerian-gas-pipeline-is-bad-news-for-spain.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/economy-and-business/2021-10-28/why-the-closure-of-an-algerian-gas-pipeline-is-bad-news-for-spain.htmlThu, 28 Oct 2021 09:38:34 +0000With the price of gas, oil and coal climbing steadily in the international markets, and winter right around the corner, Spanish authorities are rushing to find a solution to the imminent closure of the Maghreb-Europe Gas Pipeline (MGE), a major source of natural gas for the Iberian peninsula.

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]]><![CDATA[OECD warns of no return to pre-crisis economy for Spain before 2023]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-12-01/oecd-warns-of-no-return-to-pre-crisis-economy-for-spain-before-2023.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-12-01/oecd-warns-of-no-return-to-pre-crisis-economy-for-spain-before-2023.htmlTue, 01 Dec 2020 16:57:02 +0000The year 2021, and to a lesser extent 2022, will be times of recovery for the Spanish economy, but the bounce-back will not be nearly strong enough to make up for the steep decline caused by the coronavirus crisis.

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]]><![CDATA[World Bank chief: ‘This crisis must be seen as an economic depression; the question is how long it will last’]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-10-13/world-bank-chief-this-crisis-must-be-seen-as-an-economic-depression-the-question-is-how-long-it-will-last.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-10-13/world-bank-chief-this-crisis-must-be-seen-as-an-economic-depression-the-question-is-how-long-it-will-last.htmlTue, 13 Oct 2020 10:04:24 +0000Before even hearing the first question, World Bank President David Malpass, 64, speaks out to emphasize the “very worrisome” data about the increase in extreme poverty. It is his main concern right now, and the numbers back it up: the coronavirus pandemic will leave up to 150 million more people below that threshold, breaking more than two decades of uninterrupted decline on a global scale.

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]]><![CDATA[Bank of Spain eyes tax hikes to offset soaring debt from Covid-19 crisis]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-06-30/bank-of-spain-eyes-tax-hikes-to-offset-soaring-debt-from-covid-19-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-06-30/bank-of-spain-eyes-tax-hikes-to-offset-soaring-debt-from-covid-19-crisis.htmlTue, 30 Jun 2020 15:26:47 +0000The Bank of Spain on Tuesday recommended drafting a medium-term plan with adjustment measures to offset the high debt (“the highest in many decades”) that the coronavirus health crisis will be leaving behind.

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]]>Efe<![CDATA[Bank of Spain forecasts fall in GDP of up to 15.1% due to Covid-19 crisis]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-06-08/bank-of-spain-forecasts-fall-in-gdp-of-up-to-151-due-to-covid-19-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-06-08/bank-of-spain-forecasts-fall-in-gdp-of-up-to-151-due-to-covid-19-crisis.htmlMon, 08 Jun 2020 15:49:21 +0000The Bank of Spain is getting more specific about the impact that the coronavirus crisis is likely to have on the country’s economy.

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]]><![CDATA[IMF forecasts 8% economic contraction in Spain due to coronavirus crisis]]>https://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-04-14/imf-forecasts-8-economic-contraction-in-spain-due-to-coronavirus-crisis.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/spanish_news/2020-04-14/imf-forecasts-8-economic-contraction-in-spain-due-to-coronavirus-crisis.htmlTue, 14 Apr 2020 16:20:04 +0000The coronavirus pandemic has caused the Spanish economy to do a complete about-face. Despite the signs of a slowdown that were clear to see in the second half of 2019, Spain closed the year with solid growth of 2%, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was, until a few weeks ago, hopeful that the economy would follow the same rhythm in 2020, with an increase of 1.6%.

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]]>Rafa Alcaide<![CDATA[Martin Ravallion: “We have to get rid of the idea that wanting to reduce inequality makes you a communist”]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/08/09/inenglish/1565351153_600003.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2019/08/09/inenglish/1565351153_600003.htmlFri, 09 Aug 2019 14:13:28 +0000Speaking to Australian economist Martin Ravillion, 67, for an hour is like reading a macroeconomics book on inequality and the failures of the capitalist system in the 21st century.

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]]><![CDATA[US and Canada pressure Mexico to increase minimum wage]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/09/05/inenglish/1504603578_134605.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/09/05/inenglish/1504603578_134605.htmlTue, 05 Sep 2017 10:26:47 +0000María Eugenia Zamora, a 37-year-old single mother, lives in a one-room wooden shack in a shanty town on the outskirts of Mexico City. She and her 10-year-old son sleep on bunk beds, she has a tiny gas stove for cooking, no heating, and relies on an illegal connection for her electricity supply.

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]]>DANIEL VILLA<![CDATA[116-year-old Mexican woman deprived of pension for “being too old”]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/03/inenglish/1493813252_630017.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/05/03/inenglish/1493813252_630017.htmlWed, 03 May 2017 14:19:43 +0000It was the latest hurdle in a life filled with adversity. María Félix Nava was orphaned as a child, right before the Mexican Revolution of 1910-1920. Left to her own devices, for two years she roamed the area of Laguna Grande, in the central state of Zacatecas. She lived off what neighbors gave her. “I used to eat nopales [a type of cactus often called prickly pear in English] and quelites [edible herbs]; beans and corn were a luxury to me,” she explains over the phone.

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]]><![CDATA[Is Mexico’s avocado boom sustainable?]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/27/inenglish/1490612533_740839.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/27/inenglish/1490612533_740839.htmlMon, 27 Mar 2017 13:20:00 +0000This most Mexican of fruits is now the country’s second-biggest agricultural earner after the tomato, thanks to a steady increase in prices over recent years. In fact, that rise only came to a halt last year in its principal destination, the United States, where demand has more than doubled in the last 15 years, making it a feature of a growing number of people’s diet.

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]]>CUARTOSCURO<![CDATA[Growing numbers of Mexicans are rethinking their plans for a US holiday]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/23/inenglish/1490276807_902021.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/23/inenglish/1490276807_902021.htmlThu, 23 Mar 2017 15:40:08 +0000A few days before Trump’s election victory, he had been planning to travel to the Coachella festival, which takes place throughout April near Palm Springs, in southern California. This would have been the third time, but in the end Guerrero decided to cancel the stay. He also opted not to accompany his wife on a work trip to New York in December. “I won’t be going back. I’m clear about that.”

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]]>MIKE BLAKE<![CDATA[Beyond Trump: the hidden threat robots pose to the Mexican economy]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/21/inenglish/1490096723_650297.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/21/inenglish/1490096723_650297.htmlTue, 21 Mar 2017 12:57:44 +0000A similar scene is taking place in the border town of Ciudad Juárez, the heart of Mexico’s low-cost processing and assembly plants located in duty-free zones and known popularly as maquilas. In this labor-intensive sector, robots have also started to take over production processes that until recently required manpower.

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]]>CHRISTIAN PALMA<![CDATA[Mexico welcomes record number of foreign visitors in 2016]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/06/inenglish/1488801077_568384.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/03/06/inenglish/1488801077_568384.htmlMon, 06 Mar 2017 13:34:44 +0000Experts put the growth down to the weakness of the peso against other currencies, the strength of the US economy and the growth in air connections with the United States, Europe and the rest of Latin America.

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]]>CUARTOSCURO<![CDATA[The gap that NAFTA was unable to close]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/02/15/inenglish/1487170809_275177.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2017/02/15/inenglish/1487170809_275177.htmlFri, 17 Feb 2017 10:05:21 +0000“The treaty means more and better paid jobs for Mexicans,” announced Carlos Salinas de Gortari, then the  president of Mexico. His trade secretary, Jaime Serra, went even further: “The wage differential [between Mexico and the US/Canada] will tend to shrink over time.”

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]]>R. Blackwell<![CDATA[“Renegotiating NAFTA might not be a terrible thing”: IDB chief economist]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2016/11/22/inenglish/1479817197_140333.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2016/11/22/inenglish/1479817197_140333.htmlTue, 22 Nov 2016 14:25:40 +0000Although he is not a fan of the current fashion for protectionism across much of the developed world, the economist defends the idea that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) – which has been heavily criticized by the US President-elect – needs to be updated for the 21st century.

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]]>ULY MARTÍN<![CDATA[Spain’s leading companies join call for UK to reject Brexit and remain in EU]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2016/05/31/inenglish/1464680963_626555.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2016/05/31/inenglish/1464680963_626555.htmlThu, 02 Jun 2016 09:50:14 +0000With just over three weeks to go until the referendum that will decide whether the United Kingdom remains within the European Union, Europe’s leading companies have reiterated the dangers of Brexit, saying it “would reduce prosperity”.

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]]>A. RAIN<![CDATA[Spain on European Union list of worst offenders for counterfeit toys]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/12/15/inenglish/1450185596_103267.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/12/15/inenglish/1450185596_103267.htmlWed, 16 Dec 2015 09:05:03 +0000Chinese-made counterfeit toys are costing Spanish manufacturers around €167 million a year – or 16.6 percent of sales – and are responsible for the destruction of 500 jobs. That’s according to a report by the European Union’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), the body responsible for registering EU trademarks.

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]]><![CDATA[Uber reaches out to Spanish regulators in a major strategy shift]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/11/13/inenglish/1447429811_201250.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/11/13/inenglish/1447429811_201250.htmlMon, 16 Nov 2015 14:44:25 +0000Uber, the US car-sharing service, is trying to patch up its relationship with Spanish administrations, in the midst of its continuing legal battle with Madrid before the European Court of Justice.

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]]>S. P.<![CDATA[IMF warns about the weakness of Spain’s corporate sector]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/07/08/inenglish/1436347050_481404.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/07/08/inenglish/1436347050_481404.htmlWed, 08 Jul 2015 10:18:24 +0000The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned about the weakness of Spanish businesses in the wake of the economic crisis, and is making recommendations to prepare for potential future shocks.

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]]>ERIC VIDAL<![CDATA[Spain moderates its line against Greece after referendum ‘no’ vote]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/07/06/inenglish/1436190562_676598.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2015/07/06/inenglish/1436190562_676598.htmlMon, 06 Jul 2015 16:19:30 +0000The Spanish government said on Monday that Greece should do all it can to keep the euro because the single monetary unit is “an irreversible project.”

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]]>Claudio Alvarez<![CDATA[Córdoba Airport is example of Spain’s wasteful spending, says EU]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/17/inenglish/1418827103_093311.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2014/12/17/inenglish/1418827103_093311.htmlThu, 18 Dec 2014 11:58:22 +0000The European Court of Auditors (ECA) has held up Córdoba Airport as an example of exactly how EU air infrastructure funds should not be spent.

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]]>Juanma Vacas<![CDATA[Brussels turns down Spain’s request to clarify rules for alternatives to taxis]]>https://english.elpais.com/elpais/2014/06/12/inenglish/1402567397_216162.htmlhttps://english.elpais.com/elpais/2014/06/12/inenglish/1402567397_216162.htmlThu, 12 Jun 2014 13:25:20 +0000The European Commission says it will not intervene in the conflict between taxi drivers and online car-sharing applications such as Uber, as the Spanish government had requested.

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]]>Sean Gallup