business

one that also threatens to reconfigure your business

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If you ever imagined that Chrome would end up in the hands of another company, it will not happen. Ni OpenAi nor perplexitywith their ambition to compete in searches, they will have the opportunity to stay with him. According to Reutersa federal judge has ruled out the most drastic measure in one of the most relevant antitrust cases of the digital era. Google will keep control of its star and Android browser, but it is not empty: the failure forces you to give up land in another way. What decided today: Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled that Google will not have to sell Chrome or Android, but must accept significant limits in their distribution contracts. The sentence prohibits exclusive agreements for Chrome, Search, the Assistant of Google and Gemini, accepting part of the company’s proposals. The ruling, issued on Tuesday by the Columbia district court, is a turning point in the case that has put the power of the search engine under the magnifying glass. Share data: Google will have to offer your rivals key information from your search engine. The magistrate established that only companies that meet specific criteria can access it, which limits the scope of the opening. The objective is to facilitate competition in a market where Google domain is nourished by exclusive use signals. The ruling rules out, however, the government’s request to deliver a greater volume of data. The ‘default’ under magnifying glass: The court also restricted the agreements that guarantee Google the predetermined position in browsers and mobile devices. These exclusivities had been key to maintaining their dominant presence, ensuring that millions of users use their services. Although all payments to partners are not prohibited, the judge seeks to limit the scope of these practices. The company had proposed to eliminate some contracts to reduce the pressure of the case. The Department of Justice had requested much more aggressive measures: Chrome’s forced sale, the end of all distribution contracts and much broader access to search engine data. The judge rejected that roadmap and leaned for an intermediate approach. “The courts must address the design of remedies with a good dose of humility,” he wrote in his ruling. The sentence avoids a radical restructuring of Google, but does not leave it without obligations. Data advantage effect: The sentence points to the heart of Google’s competitive advantage: its search signal monopoly. By forcing data with selected rivals, the judge alters one of the levers that have consolidated their position for decades. Although the company maintains control of its key products, the risk is that others can replicate or improve its results. It is a subtle but potentially deep blow for your business model. The case began in 2020, when the Department of Justice and a group of states sued Google for abusing their position in online searches. Three years later, a ten -week trial put his business model and contracts under the microscope. Among the tests they stood out the 26.3 billion dollars that the company paid in 2021 to ensure be the default engine in browsers and mobiles. The judge ruled last year that Google had acted as monopoly. The ia: While the case advanced, the technological panorama also changed. Search engines are no longer the only starting point: attendees based on AI have begun to assume tasks such as planning trips, summarizing documents and responding complex consultations. Google has reacted with own products such as Ai mode and Geminiintegrating generative directly into the results page. The ruling not only marks legal limits, it also arrives in full transition from the model that cemented its domain. Google plans to appeal, and the process aims to extend for a long time. The judge’s decision is not the end, but the beginning of a new legal stage that will test how digital monopolies are regulated. Meanwhile, the company must adapt to ordered restrictions. The case is emerging as a reference for other judgments that face technological giants. Images | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 In Xataka | “I’m afraid we’re going to be more busy”: Jensen Huang Discrepa from Musk and sees at AF a deep labor transformation

Storing CO2 is now a business and the first submarine reservoir is in Europe

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Europe already has its first large underwater warehouse of carbon dioxide. The Northern Lights projectdriven by equinor, Shell and totalenergies, just Inject the first tons of CO2 in a reservoir located 2,600 meters under the seabed on the western coast of Norway. Why is it important. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is emerging as one of the few ways to reduce emissions in difficult sectors of decarbonizesuch as cement production, steel or energy from waste. Until now, these technologies looked as experimental or too expensive. With this project, Europe thus opens a commercial system for CO2 transport and storage. As assured Anders Opedal, CEO of Equinor, “This demonstrates the viability of carbon storage as a scalable industry.” In detail. The stored CO2 comes from the cement of Heidelberg Materials in Brevik, south of Norway. After being liquefied and transported by boat until Øgarden, it was pumped by a 100 -kilometer pipeline to the submarine reservoir known as Aurora. The first phase of the project will inject 1.5 million tons per year of CO2, although this same year Northern Lights gave green light to an expansion of the project thanks to a commercial agreement with Stockholm Exergi. A larger bet. The investment of 7.5 billion Norwegian crowns (about 740 million euros) will be the trigger for that expansion with a second phase that The capacity will increase More than 5 million tons per year from 2028. In addition to Stockholm Exergi, among the first clients is also the Danish Ørsted, the Dutch Yara and the Heidelberg Materials itself. “With the beginning of Northern Lights operations, we enter a new phase for the carbon storage industry in Europe,” affirmed Arnaud Le Foll, Vice President of Carbon Neutrality Business in Totalenergies. And now what. Although it is of course a true turning point, the doubt remains in the air about whether the model will scaling enough to contribute in a real way to the climatic objectives that are proposed by Europe. Norway opens the way, but the key will be especially in how much business, and how much reduction of emissions, these reservoirs can generate in the coming years. Cover image | Equinor In Xataka | The Era of Petroestados is ending: China is the first “electrostate” of the world and not because of its climatic moral

Spanish stadiums seek money desperately, and it is not by whim. 19 days of business a year are no longer enough

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The City has just signed the one who wants. The Al-Hilal has paid Neymar more than 100 million a year. Chelsea spends 300 million in a summer and nothing happens. And meanwhile, Real Madrid has to convert the Bernabéu into a shopping center with retractable grass to try to keep up. This is the story that nobody tells when he talks about Why are Spanish stadiums transforming into money 365 days a year. It is not so much innovation as survival. The problem began when the Premier League began to distribute 2,000 million a year only in television rights. Then the clubs arrived. The City, the PSG, the Newcastle. Then Arabia Saudi appeared offering contracts that make the gulf sheikhs look poor. Spanish clubs look at their income and make accounts. The last of the Premier enters more on television than the Liga room. Nottingham Forest can pay wages that Sevilla or Valencia cannot be allowed. And when they try to compete for a decent player, a Saudi club appears offering the triple. The solution? Squeeze the stadium to the last drop. Concerts, weddings, tours, restaurants, hamburger competitions, whatever. Because 19 League games a year no longer give to pay the squad of a half -table team. The Valencian metaphor The Roig Arena is about to open its doors and already has A long list of confirmed events. It will be the largest covered pavilion in Spain, with capacity for 18,600 people in concerts. Juan Roig, owner of Mercadona, has set 280 million pocket to make it come true. Six kilometers, on the other side of Valencia, is the skeleton of the Nou Mestalla. Abandoned for 16 yearsin an uncomfortable limbo for all – club, hobby, city, town hall – but it’s too late to reculate. The works have just resumed because there was no other. Among those six kilometers there is an uncomfortable reality: Roig Arena is going to eat the event market that Valencia CF needs desperately. The club expects the Nou Mestalla, when finished in 2027, it works 365 days a year to generate the income that allows you to survive. But by then, Roig’s pavilion will have already taken many of the concerts and large events that are not outdoor football. Roig’s play is brilliant: A multipurpose space that does not depend on signings, or qualify for Europe, or compete with petrodollars. It only needs people to want to see Taylor Swift, Bad Bunny OA who visits Valencia now that he will have an ideal place. And that fits wonderful with the culture of the event that prevails in this era. Meanwhile, Peter Lim has Valencia on the edge of the abyss, with a half -stadium to make when open will be late for the party. And there go the shots of this story. How Spanish football has discovered that the sports brick business does not work as before. And cases in Madrid and Barcelona Real Madrid had everything calculated. Great 1,347 million in the new Santiago Bernabéu was not a whim, it was a need to continue competing against City or PSG. The plan was brilliant: concerts all year, A 900 square meters StarbucksTours to 30 euros per head. Taylor Swift left 9 million in two nights. At that rate, you amortized the investment and you have to sign. But they did not pay enough attention to a detail. The neighbors. 95 decibels when the legal limit is 58. 24 complaints that did not see enough the club’s proposal to sound free home. 2.6 million in fines. Concerts suspended until further notice. The most expensive stadium in Europe cannot do its business because the houses are 30 meters. And without that extra income, how do you compete with petrodollars? Atlético tried to capture that value thanks to the fact that its stadium, the Metropolitan, is in the middle of nowhere compared to the central Bernabéu. And with it it started until The threats of complaints arrived. But for now he will shelter ten concerts by Bad Bunny, a million admitted by concert. Meanwhile, Barça is getting 1,450 million at Camp Nou after losing 100 million a year playing in Montjuïc. Is The perfect paradox: You need to spend money that you don’t have to generate money you need to compete with clubs that have infinite money. The plan is that the new stadium Generate 247 million annually. Not only football, of course. Of everything that can be monetized. Because with 19 League games it does not even arrive to pay the interests of the Goldman Sachs credit. The boom that everyone wants to hunt Spain He invoiced 725 million in live music in 2024. Third consecutive record. Fomo and social networks are gasoline. The clubs look at these figures and salivan. If they can stay with a piece of that cake, they can sign a decent side. Maybe. That’s why everyone looks at their stadiums thinking: how is more paste of these bricks? Betis is reforming Villamarín, not to give many concerts or host a shopping center, but for Give a hotel, a well -being center and a clinic. Athletic studies what to do with San Mamés while throwing very expensive entrances in exchange for a postin experience, talk with a player and manager included. Everyone has understood the message: or you find new sources of income or become the quarry of the Saudis. The stadiums of the future will not be football stadiums that also do other things. Will be multipurpose spaces where football is occasionally played. Juan Roig has understood it perfectly. That is why he builds pavilions, he does not buy soccer clubs. He could rescue Valencia CF – his brother has Villarreal and is managing it wonderfully – but that movement has not been given and already seems completely discarded. Another without running out presided over the club in the nineties and came out regular. The clubs that understood this in time may survive. Those who continue to think that … Read more

The price of gold is in the clouds so that has created a new criminal business: “narcomineros”

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In Stilfontein, an ancient mining town in South Africa, neighbors no longer fear the void of abandoned tunnels, but to strangers who arrive in cars loaded with rifles. “A few days come, they buy tools, they disappear,” said a local merchant. They are not traditional miners. They are armed bands that dispute, underground, an increasingly valuable booty: gold. Similar scenes are repeated in the Forests of the Amazon, in the Colombian Cauca rivers or in the tunnels of the Peruvian Andes. What was artisanal gold fever has become a silent war. The precious metal that in London or Dubai represents refuge and financial stability, in the field is stained by mercury, blood and organized crime. Goldery Fever of the 21st Century. According to Reuters estimatesthe price of gold has tripled in the last decade and rose more than 25% only so far this year. On August 21, the ounce, a historical record was quoted around $ 3.331. Amid inflation, commercial wars and geopolitical tensions, investors seek in gold which always represented: security. But that fever does not translate only into bullion in vaults. It has also unleashed a metal race in the most fragile areas of the planet. The SWISSAID NGO has counted in a report that 435 tons of gold – about 31,000 million dollars – came out of contraband of Africa in 2022, twice as much before. In Peru, the first producer of South America, the regulatory authority itself calculated that 40% of last year’s gold exports were illegal. For its part, the UN He has warned that organized crime is already embedded in global gold supply chains. “The mafias are earning more money with gold than with cocaine,” has summarized for Financial Times Sasha Lezhnev, Anntry analyst. From the subsoil to the global market. A report for Financial Times He has detailed it quite accurately, since the illegal scheme is repeated: the metal leaves an Amazonian garimpo, an abandoned mine in South Africa or a site controlled by paramilitaries in Sudan; Cross borders by smuggling or with false licenses; He arrives in Hubs like Dubai, Switzerland or India; and once molten in standard bullions, it is integrated without friction to the international financial system. In Dubai, indicated as a “washing machine” of the world gold, it is enough to pay in cash to obtain refined bars with Emiratí seal. From there they re -export to Switzerland, London or Hong Kong. A merchant He has admitted it Non -Rodeos: “We are not going to buy gold. We acquire it in the wholesale market, we give the money and receive it. No one asks where it comes from.” Modus Operandi Global. On the one hand, in Latin America, groups such as the Gulf clan in Colombia or the PCC in Brazil already operate mines and dredgers. In Peru, almost 40 workers have been killed in deposits. On the other hand, in South Africa, the calls Zama Zamas They work under the control of mafias in abandoned mines, where authentic underground wars are fought. In Sudan, gold finances the RSF militia, accused of atrocities in the civil war. Logistics remembers drug trafficking: clandestine flights, improvised clues, corruption networks. With a crucial difference: while cocaine is always illegal, gold is legalized at the moment it merges into a ingot. The consequences are devastating. According to FTMercury poisons Ríos del Amazonas, fauna disappears and communities such as Yanomami suffer hunger, malaria and violence. “When the Garimpo arrives, diseases and drugs arrive,” explained the indigenous leader Juarez Saw. In South Africa, entire villages survive around ghost mines, trapped between poverty and violence. And in Sudan, gold has become a fuel of a civil war that already adds more than 150,000 dead. Governments against the strings. States try to react, with partial achievements. In Brazil, the Lula Government destroyed camps In the Yanomami Earth and boasts a 98% drop in illegal mines there and 40% less in gold exports. But the miners return when the operation ends. In South Africa, the police cut access to tunnels, without stopping the power of the mafias. In Sudan, international pressure has forced Dubai to harden purchase controls, although in his gold of gold there are still ingots of uncertain origin. The pattern is repeated: local corruption, territories impossible to monitor and criminal networks better financed than the states themselves. The formal market, innocent? The legal circuit is not alien either. The London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) sets global standards, but is a private club and traders club. Its liquidation system concentrates world trade without public supervision. The European Central Bank warns that the opacity and concentration of the gold market represent a risk for global financial stability. Bernhard Schnellmann, former director of the Swiss Refinery Argor Heraeus, He has synthesized it in his opinion column for FT: “Gold is too important to leave it in the hands of private clubs.” The new oil of the crime. The gold, eternal symbol of wealth and security, is today the new oil of the crime: a resource that feeds mafias, destroys jungles and finances wars. For investors in London or Dubai it is an active refuge. For clandestine miners in the Amazon or South Africa, it is a promise of escape that often ends in violence. In the vaults, a 400 -ounces ingot is identical regardless of its origin. But behind each bar can hide rifles, malaria, corruption and poisoned rivers. Image | Pexels and Africraigs Xataka | The price of copper reached maximum for a tariff that was not. The result: the biggest fall in almost 40 years

block everything to protect the football business

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It seemed inevitable, and so it has been: football has returned, and with it, LaLiga IPS blocks in Spain. On Friday, the 2025/26 season began, and since then numerous users have been able to verify how those indiscriminate and massive blockages of IPS have also started. The nightmare does not seem to have a solution in sight. The League returns, the blockages return. The beginning of the season last Friday led the beginning of the IPS mass blocks. The first game, held on Friday at 7:00 p.m. It will start To show the message “HTTP 451 – File unavailable for legal resons” on various websites. Blockages, as they point out In Bandanchathey have continued producing throughout the weekend, but in fact they have intensified. Blackhole: We don’t even know what happens. Normally when the operators followed LaLiga’s “orders” when blocking IPS offered some type of message like that to inform users that a certain IP or website was not accessible. This weekend we have seen how Movistar went to the “Blackhole” type blocking in which traffic to that IP address is discarded without more, as if it fell into a “black hole.” There is no error message and the browser or apps are waiting until the “Timeout“And the waiting time is exhausted to respond to the request. The impression for the user is that this server simply does not exist. What operators have blocked. As indicated by various users affected in X, the blockages seem to have expanded: Movistar continues to perform them, but also both Masorange and Vodafone seem to have begun to block strictly. In Vodafone, they point out in Bandancha, a message is now showing that “for reasons outside Vodafone this website is not available.” Complaints everywhere. Several users HE They complained precisely from Those blockages of This operatoras happened in other cases in other competitors. Digi also seems have applied these blockages. After a critic of a user, the operator responded in X Explaining that these blockages are not “a decision of ours, but in compliance with a sentence in favor of LaLiga.” Others that until now did not seem to have applied these blockages, such as lowi, also seem to have initiated this type of actions According to affected users. Just for sinners. As it was happening since March, the impact of the blockages is difficult to measure, but There are many Users With business and legitimate websites on the Internet that have been affected by All sides. The attacks focus especially on CDN platforms how to see or cloudflarewhich make use of shared IPS: when operators block one of those IPS, they not only block the IPTV service that is pursued with that concrete IP, but hundreds and even thousands of websites that share that same IP address. LaLiga FUD. In recent days LaLiga had paid to publish editorial articles In several general media in addition to promoting The video “You have pirate football. They have you.” In these contents the objective was the same: to disseminate the message that those who use IPTV services of illegal streaming end up being potential victims of malware. To these statements were added others that pointed out that these types of activities could also serve to finance drug trafficking. The biter bit. At no time are evidence of this cause-effect relationship, and we are facing a clear chaos of the commercial strategy known as FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, in Spanish fear, uncertainty and doubt) that disseminates negative, vague or bewoman information in order to harm a competitor. The truth is that anything has never been demonstrated in that regard, but LaLiga was fined a few months ago with a million euros by Collect biometric data Of the spectators without permission. The case is in the Constitutional. Both rootedcon and cloudflare have started various legal actions separately to try to stop the blockages, but for now those attempts They have not paid fruit. At this time these cases have been presented before the Constitutional Courtbut it is not expected that in the short term a resolution will occur. The blockages are going to be a nightmare, but they can dodge. The beginning of the season has therefore demonstrated what we all feared: that LaLiga will maintain (or intensify) those indiscriminate blocks of IPS. This first day has caused Fridays, Saturday, and Sunday, but there will also be left today and tomorrow, which means that predictably There will be more blockages these days. There is a way to avoid them: Use a VPN that allows us to have normal Internet access. In Xataka | “Every time there is football, the website falls”: the collateral effects of LaLiga blockages in thousands of users

The future of the Internet is flooding of ia. And there are those who have already seen a business niche: content made by humans

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Internet has been filled with Searches results generated by artificial intelligence and of ‘Slop‘. The first is already reducing clicks to halfand points to collapse for the media. The second is something that users will have to live if the platforms do not get more serious to improve the filtering. Among all the tangle of new and ancient actors, an old Google opponent has returned to position itself as an alternative to the current in this era. Forks Duckdukgo. What are they doing. Duckckgo is an alternative search engine focused on offering the greatest possible privacy to its users, and for this, use, for example, the Bing searches. After 16 years since its foundation, the company has launched a Filter of images generated with AI that frames in its philosophy of the “private, useful and optional” functions. For the end user, this means being able to see or hide the images generated by the general search of images, something that is already problematic in Google where, for example, we come to see distorted results, even in examples as recognizable as ‘The young woman of the pearl’. The company has already shown that it can be differentiated, with Duck.aian own chatbot that anonymizes conversations and does not use them for training. How do they. To use this filter, the company is not using an engine driven by artificial intelligence or something similar. Those responsible have detailed the method, and is based on using manual open source block lists that the popular content blocker provides Ublock Origin and the Ublacklist’s Hage AI Blocklist, a browser extension created so that users can manually filter concrete websites of their Google results. Effectiveness. One of the big problems of the contents generated with AI is that they not only come from repositories that clearly indicate it, such as Midjourney explore, for example. In this sense, from DuckDuckgo They recognize That the filter “will not capture 100% of the results generated by AI”, but “will considerably reduce the amount of images generated that are shown.” Examples of images generated by AI that do not come out when activating the filter. Some of them is not as obvious as the largest in the first row. In our case, for example, we have sought “dog jumping” without activating the filter so as not to see. And he has found the image of a dog jumping with a suspicious origin: Freepik. It was an image generated by AI that has stopped appearing when activating the filter. Next to him was more of the same source that he has also leaked. The challenge. The filtering works well, but the challenge for companies such as Duckduckgo is capital, because Freepik already serves as “generated with AI”. But what happens when a random image that we find in media like this has no label to indicate it? There they have to play methods that use verification system with detailed analysis of the image, which makes the resources required to do so effectively fire. Beyond images, the difficulty is in the filtering of websites with texts generated by artificial intelligence. Openai, for example, launched A tool to detect plagiarismand then He withdrew it silently. Although according to leaks now they have a tool that operates, They do not throw it. The problem. Detectors do not just work well, and after reaching accuse students of using and erruniversity professors are suffering the phenomenon: To make undetectable texts, students are resorting to rewriting tools that worsen their quality. Google, a strong defender of the generative AI, has opened Its Synthid water brand technology. The inconvenience? We continue needing a universal standard that at the moment does not arrive. And even if it arrives, users will not always want to mark their creation as done with ia. For example, the images generated with Google image indicate its nature with the “AI” icon, but erase or cut it is very simple. The snowball does not stop, The hole. According to the Empty Internet Theory either ‘Dead Internet Theory‘, Much of the content that exists in the network is created by automated bots and algorithms, and with generative intelligence, the thing is going more. In addition, Google’s preview has only been the first step: now it touches Ai mode, which no longer delivers a results, talk. So, although we win comfort, there will be a huge hole for companies such as Duckckgo, looking for that the basic unit of communication on the Internet is still aliveor that knowledge remain something democratized without Loot all Internet content. As an idea, DuckDuckgo can deepen including filters throughout web navigation: it can be distinguished from browsers with AI with a different approach to Your browser. Images | Xataka In Xataka | People did not stop hacking virtual work interviews with AI. Solution: We want to meet you in person

An organized macaque band has mounted the perfect business in Bali: Mangos for your iPhone

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If you saw the soprano series, you will surely remember Junior who left a memorable phrase: “You carry the helm the best you know. Sometimes the trip is quiet, sometimes you get on the rocks. But you keep respect, that’s what matters.” In Bali there are no ships on, but a temple on the edge of a cliff where respect is won in another way: fruit fruit, glasses by glasses. An organized band. The temple of Uluwatu, south of Bali Island, attracts thousands of tourists every day looking for the sunset ceremony and traditional balineas dances. But in the shadows – full daylight – another function takes place: that of thieves monkeys. As He has detailed a report for Wall Street Journalthe protagonists are about 600 long -tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis), considered sacred guardians of the temple by the locals. Their method is direct: they detect distracted tourists, they approach with stealth and take away value objects. A few seconds are enough for a mobile, graduated glasses or even slope to change hands. Jonathan Hammé, a British tourist, remembers the moment with a mixture of disbelief and resignation: “I was admiring my eyes when I felt something on my back. It was a monkey that stole my sunglasses. He got on a tree and started playing with them as nothing.” To recover them, he had to offer him oreos. The animal accepted, but the glasses ended up folded. Economic intelligence at the primate level. It is not random robberies. Scientific studies carried out by Professor Jean-Baptiste Leca’s team from the University of Lethbridge (Canada), They have documented that macaques have a sophisticated sense of value. They steal what humans value more – designs, glasses, wallets – because they know that these objects are more “exchangeable.” For more than 273 days of observation, the researchers documented dozens of cases on the dribbing process, which sometimes lasts up to 25 minutes. In other words, the monkeys not only steal but demand greater rewards for more valuable objects. This phenomenon, known in primatology as “Token Economy” or symbolic economyit is very rare in wild animals. Unlike laboratory experiments, these behaviors are natural, free and socially learned. Young monkeys observe successful adults, mimic their techniques and perfect the art of theft. Thus, the “barter culture” is maintained generation after generation. What if they don’t want to return it? When the tourist fails to recover the object on their own, the Pawanga local mediator specialized in negotiating with the monkeys. Ketut Ariana, 52, has been doing this work for two decades: “Every week we recover between 30 and 50 objects. In high season, up to ten phones per day.” Ariana He explained to the WSJ that monkeys do not respond equally to all foods. For cheap glasses or combs, just a banana. For iPhones, a whole handle bag, rambután or, in extreme cases, raw eggs, is needed. “Eggs love. But if you use one very soon, then they don’t want anything else,” he jokes. It is not something new. Although some believe that the phenomenon arose with the arrival of tourism, Ariana says that robberies began much earlier. “Before they stole bracelets or necklaces to the faithful who came to the ceremonies. When tourists with telephones and cameras arrived, they adapted.” And not only that: they evolved. The 2021 study Published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B He concluded that these behaviors have been in the Uluwatu colony for more than 30 years and that they vary between subgroups. Some monkeys specialize in glasses, others in mobile phones, others in fabric objects. Each clan has its style. Are there other thieves? Although Uluwatu’s case is the most documented, similar behaviors have been observed in other regions of Asia. There is a documentary series of the National Geographic in which you can see how in Thailand the city of Lopburi has faced true “invasions” of macaques that break into houses, they looted refrigerators and face the neighbors. Or in India, several cities suffer incidents with monkeys that enter offices, hospitals and markets. However, what differentiates Uluwatu’s macaques is their structured “rescue robbery” system. They do not take food: they take goods to exchange them. A dilemma on a saturated tourist island. The context helps to understand why the phenomenon persists. Only in May 2025, Bali received 602,213 international visitors, According to the Central Statistics Office of Bali. So far this year, the island already adds more than 2.6 million foreign tourists more than in 2024. This tourist pressure explains in part why the “business” of the monkeys is still alive: every day new offices arrive who become perfect target for Uluwatu’s macaques. Taylor Uter, an American tourist who participated in a yoga retreat, lived the experience intensely since his mobile was stolen. After offering several fruit bags, the monkey released the phone. It was intact, but the experience ruined his visit. “I didn’t see the fire show. I wanted to leave. I felt I was in the middle of a criminal monkeys.” Beyond astonishment or anecdote. Uluwatu’s case forces to reflect on coexistence between humans and animals in tourist spaces. On the one hand, monkeys are an integral part of the temple ecosystem and have spiritual value. On the other, its behavior has generated a whole parallel economy of bartering, losses, recoveries and viral anecdotes. The authorities recommend visitors to save value objects in closed backpacks, avoid visual contact with the monkeys and always follow the instructions of the temple staff. Even so, the risk persists. And the same story. The truth is that in Uluwatu there are no magical solutions: monkeys will continue to steal and tourists will continue to arrive. Scientists see it as a unique case of “symbolic economy” in wild animals; The premises, as part of the day to day. For visitors, the lesson is simpler: better keep the iPhone well … or wear a bag of mangoes in the backpack. Image | Thomas Schoch Xataka | A couple … Read more

There was a day when buying a luxury watch was a very profitable business. The US tariffs are getting it again

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The second -hand luxury watch market has lived a roller coaster in recent years. After a record time promoted by New millionaires of cryptocurrencies and of the bag, the bubble of luxury watches exploded. Now, factors such as the rebound of cryptocurrencies and changes in the commercial war initiated by the US are reconfiguring the recovery panorama of this exclusive market. 2020: cryptocurrency boom and stock market. Interest in luxury watches not only reflects a passenger fashion. The nature of luxury watches, considered as much as works of engineering art as An alternative investment form which sometimes exceeds the stock markets in profitability, also responds to global economic movements and the search for shelter assets. During the pandemic and the later years, the rise of cryptocurrencies and the good moment of the bag generated a new wave of millionaires. Many of them, driven by the need to invest their earnings in tangible assets, launched a tropel to buy luxury watches. This trend especially affected brands Like RolexAudemars Piguet or Patek Philippe, whose most coveted models were difficult to get in traditional stores due to their limited production. That dramatically increased demand by exceeding the supply. The result: a bubble that led to the second -hand market of these exclusive watches to shoot reaching Duplicate the price They cost new. The collapse of the bubble. This bubble It soon exploded. When financial markets began to show signs of weakness, many of the investors who had acquired luxury watches They decided to sell themsaturating the second -hand market with the pieces that had bought at a price inflated a few months before. The oversight and the lack of buyers caused the watches that were previously sold for twice their original price now barely had a way out, making prices fall to historical minimum values. Stabilization and recovery factors. At present, although the second -hand luxury watches market still remains at modest levels, begins to show signs of moderate recovery. Such and as they highlight in Bloombergalthough the figures are far from the levels reached after the pandemic, the sector begins to recover, partly driven by the renewed interest of cryptocurrency investors after The rebound that has experienced In recent months. The uncertainty about tariffs To European luxury products imposed by the US, including Swiss watches, may be braking that boom, since they affect both the final prices of sale in store, and the availability of products in key markets such as the American. Tariff impact. After the announcement of the tariffs that the US was going to impose on Europe, American luxury watches suppliers reacted immediately. According to published data By Bloomberg, after the “Day of Liberation”, in which the beginning of the Trump’s commercial warthere was an increase in the purchase volume in the North American market of 150% as anticipation at the entrance of tariffs. A reaction that Not even Apple could avoid. However, the next month, purchases fell 25% because simply, suppliers had already bought everything they could and the tariff sanctions of Trump had not appliedwhich caused the supply of new watches in stores to cover the demand. So second -hand market prices have remained stable. The diversification of luxury. At the same time, the stagnation of Sales of luxury products in Asiaespecially in China, it has made luxury watches manufacturers have more stock for European and North American markets. That also contributes to stabilized second -hand prices because there is not so much pressure on the availability of new stores in store. In addition, the rise of high jewelry for men is also contributing to the recovery of the second -hand market of luxury watches develop without shocks. Until relatively recently, watches were the only remarkable jewel in male fashion. However, in recent years The trend has changed and necklaces, bracelets and other jewels are part of male outfits. Not even Mark Zuckerberg He has been able to resist. In 2023, the volume of that market was 8,500 million dollars, but by 2025 it is estimated that it will grow to 9,410 million dollars, indicating that male jewelry is gaining ground and watches are no longer the only option for high purchasing power investors. In Xataka | Casio for Gates, Omega Lunar for Bezos, Patek Philippe for Arnault: What the clock of each billionaire says about him In Xataka | Mark Zuckerberg has put on brown and gold chains to grind more. Surveys say it still falls badly Image | Rolex

There is a ‘cover’ in the business that will generate the increase in defense spending: Telefónica

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Telefónica is not just the dean and leader in clients of Spanish telecos: it is also the one who dominates the technological tenders of the Ministry of Defense. It is no accident. AND will go to more. Why is it important. Spain has adhered to the plan to reach 5% of GDP in military spending, although maintains your plan not to invest more than 2%. In any case, there is a horizon to increase that item that will result in more than a dozen billions of euros additional to current investment. And everything indicates that Telefónica will be one of the great beneficiaries of this expansion. In figures. It is not a monopoly because there is plurality of winners, but the concentration is very high. The context. The State is the main shareholder of Telefónica with the 10% that invested –2.3 billion– in May 2024. Marc Murtrathe president who arrived six months ago, came from Indra, another participated by the State, after the SEPI forced the change in management. In detail. In the last two years, Telefónica has multiplied its presence in defense. Among the main recent contracts include: Yes, but. This concentration in state companies has a geopolitical logic. The government wants to shield military communications against foreign technological dependencies. Especially after The recent rupture with Israeli suppliers such as Elbit Systems that advocates the government. The beneficiary, according to an exclusive The confidentialit will be most likely Indra. In any case, national security justifies state control. The threat. For private competition, the panorama is complicated. With the increase in defense spending and preference for companies participated by the State, opportunities for other operators are reduced. It is a market that is nationalized by the back door. The Declaration of Murtra in Congress three weeks ago He speaks for himself: “Telefónica wants to invest in defense, but always subordinated to the defense policy that marks the ministry,” he said. Translation: We are an executing arm of the state, not an independent competitor. Deepen. The new budget of 34,000 million for 31 Special Modernization Programs It will be the great test. Telecommunications, cybersecurity, command and control systems: Everything goes through the digital infrastructure already controls. It is your time to capitalize years of investment. In Xataka | Spain refuses to spend 5% of GDP on artillery. Because what you really want is to sell it to Europe Outstanding image | Xataka

Flying to Mallorca costs only the Caribbean, the problem is that the airline business is no longer your tickets: it’s your clothes

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This week We counted That, if you have not reserved your vacation in the Canary Islands, the Balearic Islands or one of those other “hot” points of the Mediterranean coast, the same may come out, or even cheaper, a stay in the Caribbean. The paradox is that the fault is not of the flights, it is from the hotels. In fact, the price of flying, without more, has not shot how it is usually pointed. What has really changed is the airline business model. Your ticket is no longer as important as what you wear. A billionaire business. It The BBC counted In a report this week that put figures to the business. What was once a standard service (billing a suitcase without cost, choosing a seat or receiving food on board) has been transformed by airlines into a colossal source of income. With the rise of low-cost companies in the mid-2000s, headed by Flybe And then replicated by giants such as American Airlines, collection was institutionalized by invoiced suitcases, a trend that today includes hand luggage (the last resolution in Europe It will bring tail) and with ideas increasingly “creative”. The result is a market of “accessory rates” that only in the United States generated more than 7,270 million dollars in 2024 by billed luggage, and that will globally reach the 145,000 million this yearrepresenting 14% of the sector’s income. This phenomenon has caused indignation between consumers and politicians, who accuse the airlines of applying the so -called Like “Junk Fees” (junk rates) camouflaged in the price End of the ticket. The luggage fever (hand). Given this scenario, millions of passengers have chosen to travel Only with hand luggageshooting the demand for small suitcases that meet the strict dimensions imposed by the airlines. He counted the medium British that marks Like Antler They have seen the searches and sales of compact models increase massively, while in social networks (Especially Tiktok) The content related to “luggage tricks” and suitcases tests in real airline meters has been popularized. Here are influencers Like Chelsea Dickensonwho have turned these types of videos into the core of their online activity, generating more impact than the content on the destinations themselves. In other words, the phenomenon demonstrates how the industry has even influenced consumption habits prior to trip. The legal controversy. We have been counting it. The growing collection even for hand luggage has caused a Formal reaction in Europewhere consumer organizations Like Beuc They have denounced a Several airlines (including Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling and Wizzair) before the European Commission. They claim that these charges violate a 2014 judgment of the EU Court of Justice that establishes that hand luggage, if it meets reasonable weight and security requirements, cannot be an additional cost. However, the concept of “reasonable requirements” remains that gray area that still lacks a firm legal definition and that the airlines are grabbed, which allows them to continue applying charges according to their own criteria. In fact and as we said, the European Union has approved This week his position in favor of the regulation that will continue to allow airlines to charge for the hand luggage that travels in the cabin (yes, with the vote against Spain). The case of Indigo. The BBC counted that, in the face of the globalized tendency to monetize each service, some airlines, such as Indian Indiathey have remained out. Its executive director defends a policy of not charging for invoiced suitcases, arguing that prevents endless ranks and unnecessary conflicts in the shipping doors. Its operational model, which allows changes in just 35 minutes, demonstrates that an efficient logistics does not require squeezing the passenger for each basic service. This alternative, although marginal, emphasizes that there can be another type of relationship with the client in the air industry, challenging the dominant narrative of the sector. Between efficiency and abuse. In summary, the evolution of luggage collection reflects a paradigm change: the air trip has been fragmented in copper parts, leaving the passenger in a constant search for How to avoid paying further. While airlines defend their model in response to competition and the need for income, consumers and legislators question to what extent this strategy erodes the experience of flying. Thus, the hand luggage boom and the appearance of those “triprs of the trip” eager for visits reflect a culture of the minimum luggage as a form of economic resistance. If you want also, as forced adaptation to an increasingly hostile environment for the common traveler. Flying has ceased to be expensive, because what we carry with us is the real business. Image | Stockcake In Xataka | After the battle between the EU and the airlines for hand luggage, the rates and sizes remain for this 2024 In Xataka |

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