charge

the map that shows who is in charge and who has been left out

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When AI arrived and we saw everything it could do, the first impression of many was that it was going to take away their jobs (and the truth is, some statements didn’t help either), although the reality at the moment is different: we work more and rest less. Knowing how to use AI has become another skill, one that can be essential depending on your job: being a waitress is not the same as being a secretary or being a plumber or journalist. But even if the profession matters and the deployments are more or less global (in fact, Europe often lags behind as a matter of legislation), AI has not reached the same level throughout the world. The Microsoft AI Diffusion Report that monitors the AI ​​economy on a global scale (specifically, 100 countries) for the first quarter of 2026 collect a fact: 17.8% of the world’s working-age population uses it, but there are 10 countries that lead it and many that are behind. Of course: Microsoft’s report uses anonymized telemetry from its products. That is, if someone uses only ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude and never touches anything from Microsoft, they do not appear in the count. Microsoft tries to correct this bias with statistical adjustments, but it does not completely eliminate it. Microsoft’s report looks better with this infographic adaptation by Visual Capitalist what colors countries based on their use of AI: yellow tones for those places with high adoption and purple ones where it is little used. It is, in a nutshell, a quantitative snapshot of the actual use of generative AI tools. It is inevitable to associate the adoption of AI with labor productivity and competitiveness. Without going any further, Microsoft itself does it relating its real effects on employment: dev work in the US broke records in 2025, reaching 2.2 million, 8.5% more than the previous year. Obviously, this gap between the countries that use AI the most and those that use the least has as a background unequal access to this technology. In short: it is a more than perpetual digital divide and widens the inequalities that already exist. Which countries lead the use of AI Adoption of AI in the world by country. First quarter of 2026. Microsoft via Visual Capitalist Among the countries that lead the use of AI, one stands out: the United Arab Emirates, with 70% of its working-age population using artificial intelligence and growth that quadruples the world average rate. They are followed by Singapore (63%) and a group of highly digitalized countries, mostly European: Norway (49%), Ireland and France (48% each), Spain (44%), New Zealand (43%), and the United Kingdom, Netherlands (42%). Closing the top 10, Qatar tied with the Netherlands. The pattern is clear: they are moderately rich economies, with good internet connections and governments that have been investing in digital infrastructure for years. But the vast majority moves well below those figures and what better example than an a priori unexpected United States: it only has a 31% share despite being the cradle of almighty powers such as Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude or OpenAI’s ChatGPT. It is one thing to build artificial intelligence and quite another to use it.. Here it depends more on having a homogeneous digital infrastructure, state adoption policies and territorial equality, factors where small states like the UAE or Singapore have structural advantages. In the queue are many countries from Africa, Central Asia and Latin America, with quotas of just one digit or little more: Venezuela 10%, Russia 10%, Morocco 12%, Bolivia 13%, among others. The digital divide between north and south, at its finest: the Global North reached 27.5% usage compared to only 15.4% in the Global South. AI is spreading, but in a heterogeneous way towards those who were already advanced in digitalization. However, it is worth remembering again that since it is based on Microsoft product telemetry, this indicator may underestimate real adoption in markets where other providers predominate: China deserves special mentionwhere the AI ​​ecosystem has powerful local products such as Baidu, Alibaba, Deepseek or Moonshoot and his impressive Kimi K3. In Xataka | Who is really winning the AI ​​race, in a graph that puts Google in trouble In Xataka | If the question is which of the big tech companies is winning the AI ​​race, the answer is: none Cover | Visual Capitalist

It’s another excuse to charge more.

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You organize your vacation, book a hotel, and the notice is usually always the same: entry from 3 p.m.. For those who carry many suitcases and arrive early, this causes more than one headache, and hotels know this well. In fact, they are cashing in on it. Hotel hours change. Before 2020, it was normal for check-in time (check-in) was at 2:00 p.m. and the departure time (check out) was at 12:00. Since the reopening of hotels after the pandemic, the chains have been pushing these schedules towards others that of course make your operation easier. Nowadays it is common to find that the check-in It cannot be done before 15:00 and the check out It’s at 11:00 or 12:00. The “kellys” have a very valid point.. There is a reasonable argument for this change: as a Hotusa spokesperson explains in El PaísThese schedules ensure that cleaning teams have enough time to leave rooms spotless. Those who do this cleaning, the so-called kellys, confirm this, and clarify that those four hours give them room for maneuver because the average is that each worker cleans between 20 and 30 rooms a day. That is totally logical, but hotels are also taking advantage of the circumstance. Welcome to the “Early check-in“and to”Late check-out“. Although no hotel chain explicitly recognizes it, a Barceló spokesperson did admit that this opens a new avenue of business. In recent times the options “early check-in” and “late check-out” in various hotel chains so that customers can enter between one and two hours before and leave between one and two hours later. These options, of course, have an extra cost that means that hotels can in turn have an additional source of income that they did not have before. If you are a loyal customer, you can enter earlier and leave later. Other chains offer these extended hours to members of their loyalty programs. Marriott allows your clients of the Gold Elite program leave two hours later with a minimum of 25 nights a year. Those in the Platinum Elite program have 50 nights per year. Hyatt, Hotusa and Melia they do the same. The pattern is identical in all cases: flexible access to schedules is not a right of the guest, but a privilege of the loyal customer. The trap of loyalty services. Hotel chains’ points programs operate on a disturbing premise: if you concentrate all your stays in a single hotel brand, you recover services that were previously standard for any customer. Those early check-in and late check-out They are the clearest example, but the list includes other benefits such as room upgrades, free breakfasts, access to executive lounges or added connectivity services. What was once courtesy is now a reward for your loyalty. A loyalty that, yes, you pay while you lose some ability to choose. A fantastic idea except for the occasional tourist. The chains consulted in the text agree on the same idea: these changes make it possible to improve the experience of frequent customers, and at the same time make possible more efficient management of resources. What they don’t say is that the model has a clear winner, and it’s not the occasional traveler. The tourist who travels two weeks a year, arrives at his destination on an early morning flight and books through a conventional tour operator is doomed. Pay a higher rate, do not accumulate redeemable points and wait hours in the lobby or you are forced to pay extra. In Xataka | China is preparing a hotel where robots will act as receptionists, waiters, cleaners and security guards: it aims to automate almost everything

This is the new Motorola Edge 70 Max, a mobile phone with 7,100 mAh that promises up to 73 hours of autonomy per charge

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Habemus new Motorola phone. This new device, called Motorola Edge 70 Maxcomes with a very good processor and a screen that looks great. However, What is most striking about this device is its battery.which thanks to silicon carbon It has enormous capacity. The device can currently be purchased in Spain for 699 euros and we explain its main characteristics below. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links A mobile phone that promises up to three days of autonomy This new Motorola phone comes with a 6.82-inch AMOLED panel with QHD+ resolution, a 144 Hz refresh rate (something we don’t usually see on too many phones yet) and a peak brightness of 7,000 nits. In addition, it is compatible with HDR10+, which already tells us that it will look very good with both multimedia content and text, even outdoors. At the hardware level, this 70 Edge Max comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 under the hood. This one is one step below its older brother (who bears the last name Elite), but it still has what it takes to deliver great performance. This processor is accompanied by 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage (no further memory configurations available). Now, it’s the battery’s turn. Motorola has put a 7,100 mAh battery inside this mobile, which promises to offer up to 73 hours of autonomy per load. This figure is not bad at all, to which we must add 90 W fast wired charging (the charger is included as a gift, along with Moto Buds Loop headphones), 25 W magnetic wireless charging type MagSafe and reverse charging. Finally, we must also talk about its camera system that, although it seems triple, in reality only has two sensors: a main 50-megapixel sensor and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle one. Arrives with Android 16 as standard and you will receive two system updates (three years of updates in terms of security patches). ⚡ IN SUMMARY: Motorola edge 70 max ✅ THE BEST Battery over 7,000 mAh: Thanks to carbon silicon, this Motorola promises an autonomy of three days. Powerful and with a good screen: The Qualcomm processor it has, without being the best, offers very good performance. Its screen with 144 Hz and a good level of brightness also looks very good. Comes with charger and free headphones: Today’s cell phones carry less and less things in the box, so it is good news that this one comes with a free charger (and headphones). ❌ THE WORST Few years of updates: Motorola only offers two years of operating system updates, far from the six or seven of brands like Samsung and Google. The ultra wide angle is not up to par with the other camera. 💡 BUY IT IF… You are looking for an Android mobile with a lot of autonomy, notable performance and you like or have had a Motorola mobile before. ⛔ DON’T BUY IT IF… Do you prefer to wait for the price to drop after launch or do you want a mobile phone with more years of guaranteed updates. You may also be interested Google Pixel 10 – Free Android Smartphone with Gemini, Advanced Triple Rear Camera, 24+ Hour Battery and 6.3″ Current Screen – Obsidian, 128GB The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Samsung Galaxy S26, 256GB, Mobile Phone with Galaxy AI, 50MP Camera, 12GB RAM, 4300mAh Battery, 3 Year Manufacturer’s Warranty + 1 Extra Year, Black Color (Spanish Version) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Some of the links in this article are affiliated and may provide a benefit to Xataka. In case of non-availability, offers may vary. Images | Motorola In Xataka | Best mobile phones in quality price. Which one to buy based on use and ten recommended models In Xataka | Best mobile phones 2026. Which one to buy based on use and six recommended models

The Government says Palantir is a risk to national security. NATO, of which Spain is a member, has put it in charge of its own

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Moncloa has begun to ask public companies not to sign new contracts with Palantir, according to Agustín Marco has advanced in The Confidential. The order is not official nor is it in writing, but an agreement has already been reached with the Civil Guard and another with Navantia. The panoramic. Spain joins France, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands in distrust towards the company of Peter Thiel and Alex Karp. The unofficial argument is the usual one: not to risk sensitive information in the hands of an American company with close ties to the Trump White House. The veto affects Telefónica, Indra, Correos and Navantia, all of them under the umbrella of SEPI. There is no statement, no press conference, no official note. They are indications transferred internally to boards of directors. In detail. The contract that really matters still stands. Defense signed with Palantir in 2023 a 16.5 million euro agreement for the Armed Forces Intelligence Center, and that contract expires in November of this year. According to The Confidentialthe chiefs of the General Staff have pressured Margarita Robles to renew it because there is no comparable alternative. Either Palantir or nobody. The decision remains unmade. The contrast. While Moncloa slides the veto inside, NATO announced this week that Palantir’s Maven Smart System becomes its operating system for military data management. Spain is a partner of the Alliance and has had to approve this decision, like all allies. So he voted yes in Brussels but has chosen the opposite direction behind closed doors. Why is it important. The veto does not touch the only thing that really counts: the Defense contract. Everything else (the Civil Guard and Navantia) were negotiations in progress, but not consolidated relationships. Cutting them costs little. Touching the CIFAS contract (Intelligence Center of the Armed Forces), on the other hand, would require replacing a tool that, according to sources in the military sector itself, has no rival in the market. Again: either Palantir or nobody. Yes, but. The gesture has a clear recipient: the US government. Pedro Sánchez has not received the US ambassador in Madrid, Benjamín León Jr., for months and Its Executive has invested 115 million euros in Openchip and another 5,000 million in a chip gigafactory as a commitment to European technological sovereignty. The Palantir veto fits that narrative. What doesn’t fit so well is that this same story coexists with a Defense contract that no one dares to cancel. And now what. The end of the current contract in November will test whether this was signaling or conviction: If the CIFAS contract is renewed without making much noise, the veto will have been a diplomatic gesture. If it is dropped without an equivalent replacement, Spain will be left without the tool its own military considers irreplaceable. The middle way, replacing it with European or national technology, does not yet exist. In Xataka | AI is crucial for the US military. So he’s naming OpenAI and Palantir leaders as lieutenant generals Featured image | Palantir, Wikimedia Commons

Ferrari wants your car to charge itself in the sun while parked. One of his patents explains how

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A few weeks ago, Ferrari dropped a time bomb with its first electric car, Luce. the car has given to talk at lengthand has generated all kinds of opinions. It is also a vehicle that gives us clues about the direction the brand wants to take in this stage of transition that we are going through. But it is not the only one, because if we delve into the intricate world of patents, Ferrari has registered accounts that would raise some eyebrows. One of his last patents registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is share the CarBuzz medium, which describes a system of photovoltaic panels that deploy from the roof of the vehicle when it is parked. It is not a typical solar roof and has peculiarities that are worth commenting on. What’s in the patent. The document describe a rollable photovoltaic panel housed in a cavity inside the roof of the car. When the vehicle is stopped and turned off, the panel can be removed through a slot to cover it. According to the technical drawings of the patent, there are two possible positions: one of the panels deploys forward, over the windshield, generating shadow in the cabin; another does it from the rear, under the rear window, oriented at an angle to better capture sunlight. The mechanism uses a U-shaped element and two support rods to extend the panel from its roller. Why do you do it this way and not any other way? The solution may seem complicated (and it is) compared to simply integrating solar cells into the roof, as some manufacturers already do. But Ferrari seems to have its reasons. First, a roll-up panel that is only activated when parking allows the use of a larger photovoltaic surface than would fit on the fixed roof. Furthermore, the patent explicitly mentions the dual purpose of the system, which is to charge the battery and reduce the interior temperature of the cabin when the car is in the sun. Along with this, in the patent is pointed out The system includes sensors and weather data to automate when it is deployed or picked up. Limitations. A solar panel that only works when the car is stationary and in the sun has a very limited range in real life. In the end, the efficiency of these systems depends greatly on weather conditions, the orientation of the vehicle and the exposure time. It is not a fixed place with a large space that allows these losses of efficiency to be counteracted, as is the case in a photovoltaic installation that we can integrate into a house. CarBuzz mention the case of Hyundai, which has been studying this technology for years and that it integrates into some of its test vehicles. The firm stated that its solar roof can replenish between 30% and 60% of the battery per day in ideal conditions, which for a car with more than 300 kilometers of autonomy could cover the average trip to work. But those “ideal conditions” are the exception, not the norm. What it says about Ferrari. As we have mentioned before, the patent appears at a very specific time, as Ferrari has just launched the Luce, its first fully electric car, conceived as a vehicle for everyday use and not just as a sports car for occasional use. It makes sense for the brand to start exploring ways to manage autonomy and charging in different ways than conventional ones. On the other hand, just as points out CarBuzz, adding weight and complexity to the roof goes against Ferrari’s historic philosophy, focused on pure handling and clean design. These are ideas that the brand will have to play with to clarify its priorities in the coming years. However, it should be noted that, at the moment, it is only a patent, not a product announcement. Ferrari, like many other companies, registers technical ideas without necessarily implying that they will reach a production car. Cover image | Matt Antonioli and Ferrari In Xataka | “Solid-state batteries are not the Holy Grail”: the head of CATL explains why it will take us a while to see them in cars

They have asked a Galician judge if Raynair and Vueling can charge for hand luggage. The answer could not be more Galician

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Two years later, it will be Europe that contributes its point of view. The answer will be key to deciding whether Ryanair, Vueling or Volotea can charge for hand luggage. The decision falls on a court in A Coruña, after the Public Prosecutor’s Office sued these three companies. Those involved will have to wait to know what the High Court of Justice of the European Union says. The demand. Ryanair, Vueling and Volotea are three companies that have been operating at A Coruña Airport. All of them are low cost and are known for applying very strict measures when it comes to hand luggage. So strict that passengers have been allowed for years only with a small backpack if they do not want to face an extra cost on their flight. The Public Prosecutor’s Office, however, considers these practices to be abusive. It is the same line that the Government has followed, which even sanctioned the three for this luggage policy. In that fineRyanair with more than 100 million euros in punishment was the one that had the worst stoppageBut the legality of that fine is in doubt. And what has happened? That the A Coruña court handling the matter has referred the matter to the Superior Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), as explained in The Mediterranean Newspaper. Now, the CJEU must give a reasoned response to the matter and with this response the magistrate will decide. For now, the procedure is suspended. This occurs because the magistrate handling the matter requires the involvement of Brussels in two questions. The first is whether the European Union’s freedom of pricing regulations go against Spanish regulations that require airlines to allow free travel with hand luggage. And, second, if this extra price on the ticket is an abuse of consumers. There is nothing clear. It is not the first time that a Spanish magistrate asks the CJEU for help. The question raised refers to a similar decision taken in 2014 in favor of Vueling, but according to the judge, that victory for the airline is not enough to now settle this new confrontation. And justice itself in Spain has taken decisions that may seem contradictory. In fact, there are two very clear examples: The airline wins: last year, in SevilleRyanair won a trial in which it was accused of a position of power by charging for hand luggage. The passenger wins: also last year, in SalamancaRyanair lost a trial in which 147 euros were claimed for charging a passenger for a carry-on suitcase on different routes between 2019 and 2024. Why does it happen? The problem is that the rules that regulate air traffic do not clearly specify what is or is not carry-on luggage. And they do not specify minimum measurements either. This has caused tension in Spain that is repeated. For the Government, the measures used by low-cost companies They are clearly insufficient to carry the essential luggage. On the contrary, these companies defend that they do allow a backpack to pass under the terms offered and that the law protects them when they decide to price larger packages. Furthermore, they point out that on their planes there are no spaces for all travelers to carry their luggage in a suitcase, but the Government defends that if the luggage fits under the seat, this cannot be an excuse. And Europe has already positioned itself. The problem is that Europe has already taken a position repeatedly on this issue. First, we know that the European Union has worked on a new regulation in which it will specify what minimum measures are required… and the problem for Spain is that These measures coincide with those requested by Ryanair on its trips. Furthermore, the Transport Commissioner of the European Commission seems to have positioned itself clearly in favor of companies. In fact, a file has already been opened against Spain for the fine imposed on Ryanair and the rest of the low-cost companies in relation to the charge for hand luggage. With everything and until there is a clear ruleit seems that the conflict can be repeated over time. Photo | Dimitri Karastelev and Ray Freimanis In Xataka | When Ryanair CEO went to a restaurant he was charged for two extras: “priority seating” and “legroom”

Microsoft put the head of its AI department in charge of Xbox. Now it’s dismantling all of Xbox’s AI

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Asha Sharman is the new CEO of Xbox and has arrived with a mission: to blow up Xbox. At least, that is what he is proposing in the first three months of his mandate in which he took the reins of the company in one of the worst moments in its history, with a diffuse identity and with the responsibility of filling the shoes of a Phil Spencer who had been with the company for 40 years. The most curious thing is that Sharma came from presiding over CoreAI, one of Microsoft’s most important AI divisions, and is doing the opposite of what many of us expected. Dismantle AI from within. Distrust. The Xbox brand is not going through its best moment. Since the disastrous E3 in 2013 where the Xbox boss said that if someone didn’t want an always-connected console (Xbox One) they could stick with their old Xbox 360, things have gone downhill. That someone was a Don Mattrick who was replaced by Phil Spencer and with whom things began to change. Game Pass, studio purchases to feed the ecosystem and strategy changes such as launching games on PC and PlayStation. The accounts seemed to come out in services, but not in hardware or games. After all this time, Phil retired and a totally different profile arrived: that of Asha Sharman. The directive I wasn’t a gamer like Phil, he also had no gaming experience. He came from leading CoreAI, a Microsoft team focused on accelerating the development of AI software for internal and external customers to build and run AI applications and agents. Out with the AI. When it was announced that she would be in charge of replacing Phil, in the midst of the ‘Microslop’ meme, many of us feared the worst for the division. Even one of the fathers of Xbox He pointed out that Sharma was going to bury Xbox. However, through Twitter, the CEO has just launched a release quite interesting: “Xbox needs to move faster, deepen our connection to the community, and address friction for both players and developers.” It would seem like just another message, that typical ‘CEO language’ that so many managers use, but it has gone one step further by committing to something interesting: “Today we promoted leaders who helped build Xbox while bringing in new voices to help us move forward. This balance is important as we get the business back on track. As part of this change, we will begin removing features that do not align with our intentions and plans for the future. “We will begin scaling back Copilot on mobile devices and will stop development of Copilot on consoles.” CoreAI Avalanche. This implies a shift in the strategy of a Microsoft that, like others like Meta, they had become an AI company. They have pushed Copilot to its limits, putting it on capon even on televisions thanks to commercial agreements or by renaming its office suite so that, now, its most important services were Copilot and, therefore, artificial intelligence. These statements, therefore, represent an interesting change, as interesting as seeing who are those who now manage Xbox. Sharma talks about “new voices” and what contrasts with this plan to dismantle Copilot in some of the products is that many of them come from… CoreAI. As they point our colleagues from 3DJuegos, The Verge raises a list of four very important members of that AI division who, now, come to Xbox to work with Sharma when defining the future strategy and the new machine: Project Helix. Return to fan. It is not Sharma’s only turn in this short period at the helm of Xbox. From the “everything is an Xbox” campaign, tremendously controversial because if everything is an Xbox, nothing is, we move on to a “we are xbox“, a return to those origins in which an Xbox is an Xbox, and that’s it. Well, also the PC, which is receiving its ‘Xbox mode‘ to improve the video game experience. There is rumors that they are considering returning to exclusives (PC and Xbox) abandoning launches on platforms such as PlayStation 5 and They have lowered the price of Game Pass Ultimatethat it was shot a few months ago. Of course, although they lowered the price, they also left ‘Call of Duty’ out of the subscription, so that reduction is misleading. I want to believe. Now, you have to be careful with all this. Although they are already taking some actions (that “reduction” of Game Pass or stopping the development of Copilot on Xbox), the return to exclusives and the roots of Xbox are issues that remain to be seen. Until they start taking more forceful action, we won’t be able to assess how far Sharma has gone to do things differently. Furthermore, and it is not to look for spins on Sharma’s statements, the board has pointed out that they stop Copilot on consoles. And that word, “consoles,” is very important because we don’t know what Project Helix will be. Your new machine definitely cannot be classified as a console because the machine itself Microsoft is positioning it as a PCone in which the crisis of components will impact strongly both in availability and price and it remains to be seen if they miss that opportunity to bring AI to the living rooms. But well, it is evident that the new CEO has arrived at Xbox wanting to wage war and we can think “ok, but above it is someone with more power: Satya Nadella.” And yes, Nadella has been one of the great drivers of converting Microsoft into an AI company, but just yesterday the company’s CEO sent a powerful message: clean Windows of so much garbage to win back the fans. Only time will tell, but it is evident that Microsoft’s image is not going through its best moment. In Xataka | France wants to “become independent” from Windows and embrace Linux: Extremadura has a lesson to transmit

In November, Spain is supposed to force stores to charge an amount for each bottle and can sold. It is supposed

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Something ticks inside every yellow recycling bin and the noise perfectly reaches newsrooms across the country. Hence the articles, pieces and reports that They say that “starting in November the stores will charge” for each plastic bottle. The good news is that yes, the law says that. The bad news is that where the ticking does not reach is the power centers of Madrid capital. What’s happening? Indeed, the Waste Law of 2022 obliges Spain to have a Deposit, Return and Return System (SDDR) for plastic bottles, cans and beverage bricks operational as of November 22, 2026. And the reason is simple: the country had to recycle 70% of everything introduced into the market by 2023 and we did not achieve it. Faced with this possibility, the legislator was clear: the current system had to be abandoned and the packaging return system adopted (the one that charges a deposit for each container and returns it later). Portugal found itself in a similar situation and just introduced the European system. So? What is the problem? The truth is that we have no shortage of problems. To begin with, measuring how we really recycle. For years, stakeholders claimed that recycling rates were close to 80%; However, in 2024, the General Subdirectorate of Waste prepared a report relating to the calculation of the separate collection of SUP bottles for beverages that lowered that figure to 41.3% (well below the 70% required). The second problem is regulation. Following the Law, in May 2025, four organizations (Ecoembes, AECOC, Procircular and CorePET) They asked the Community of Madrid that authorized them as Collective Systems of Extended Producer Responsibility in charge of managing the SDDR. The Community is the competent one since the organizations have their headquarters there. And then? Then nothing. Madrid legally had six months to resolve the request; but it granted itself an extension of another six months that would end next month. However, the Ministry of the Environment has already explained that they have no intention of doing anything because of the “legal uncertainty (that it entails), since adequate and sufficient regulations have not been developed at the state level.” MITECO, for its part, responds that there is no insecurity and that they are not going to do anything more. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking. Nobody knows anything. While the CAM runs out of its extension, there are less than seven months left before we begin to break the Law and all scenarios are on the table: from a quick solution to a blockade that delayed everything two or three more years (most likely). What is out of the question is that there is no political will to implement this and nothing suggests that this will change. If you had to bet and taking into account that Spain is the country with the most cases of infractions for not transposing community regulationsit would be surprising if the SDDR started in November of this year. Image | James Lo In Xataka | Europe decided to regulate how garbage should be disposed of. We will pay it with a new mandatory rate in 2025

Volotea begins to charge extra due to the rise in oil prices on its flights. 97% of passengers have agreed to pay it

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More and more airlines are already taking measures to contain the energy chaos that has arisen as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. Although many of them have chosen to cancel a good number of flightsothers have chosen to make their tickets more expensive. One of them has been Volotea. And the Spanish airline has launched a price adjustment policy linked at the cost of fuel which can make the ticket already purchased more expensive up to a week before flying. Crisis in the Middle East. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuzthrough which it passes about 40% of oil consumed by European airlines, has skyrocketed the price of fuel and forced the sector to look for ways to avoid absorbing the blow on their own. Volotea has been the first Spanish airline to transfer this cost to the passenger explicitly and with its own mechanism. What exactly has he done. Since March 16, Volotea has applied what it calls the Fair Travel Promise: seven days before the departure of each flight, the airline consults the market price of fuel in public sources and, if it has increased compared to the time of the reservation, charges the passenger a supplement of up to 14 euros per person per trip. According to they count From 20 Minutes, most surcharges are between 7 and 10 euros. And the adjustment can also work the other way around: if the price of fuel drops, the company returns the difference. What options does the passenger have? The traveler who receives the surcharge notice has a period of 48 hours to decide what to do. You can pay the supplement and continue with your plans, request a full refund of the ticket, or take advantage of the time offered by the airline to modify or cancel the reservation for free up to four hours before takeoff. The company ensures that its customers are aware of this policy before booking, since they must accept it at the time of purchase. The numbers that Volotea manages. According to data from the airline itself, 97% of affected passengers have chosen to pay and keep their trip. The company interprets that percentage as a sign that the measure “is aligned with customer expectations,” in its own words. In addition, it has canceled a small percentage of flights due to higher fuel prices, although it assures that it affects less than 1% of its total schedule. Countermeasures. Not all airlines are acting the same. According to Expansioncompanies such as Air France-KLM, Qantas or Cathay Pacific already apply fuel supplements, while IAG (the group that owns Iberia and British Airways) or Ryanair do not do so at the moment. Groups such as Lufthansa or Ryanair itself have asked the European Union to study a joint purchasing model for kerosene, similar to the one that was launched with gas after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Why can it go further? If the Strait of Hormuz blockade is prolonged, pressure on fuel prices could intensify. The Airports Council International (ACI Europe) and Ryanair already have warned that the problem of cancellations in the industry could worsen if supply suffers. Spain has some margin thanks to its national refining capacity (almost 9.9 million tons of kerosene per year, according to share El Mundo), but it is not a structural solution. Volotea has moved in a different way, and now we wonder if more airlines will join this strategy. Cover image | Dylan Agbagni (Wikipedia) In Xataka | Airlines are becoming more imaginative to save costs: Lufthansa is going to clean economy class less

NASA has put a Spaniard in charge of the project for its future lunar base: Carlos García-Galán from Malaga

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Dressed in a jacket, light blue shirt and gold tie, Carlos García-Galán He did not occupy another chair at the NASA conference held in Washington. Escorted by the administrator Jared Isaacman and other top-level officials, the engineer from Malaga spoke before the press in the middle of the presentation of the agency’s new lunar turn. His presence at that time placed him at the forefront of a roadmap that redefines NASA’s priorities on the Moon. The context of that scene helps understand its relevance. Hours before,Isaacman had presented a roadmap that changes the focus of the agency. It is no longer just about returning to the Moon, but about establishing a sustained presence on its surface. The proposal involves deploying in three phases the initial elements of a permanent lunar base, with stable infrastructure and a logic that is more industrial than experimental. The man from Malaga who now pilots the Moon Base program This change of course also redefines the role of those who must execute it. In this context appears García-Galán, whose official position within NASA is “executive program” at the lunar base. This is a high-level management position, responsible for coordinate and guide program development, not an operational role on the ground. His role will be to lead the project from the agency structure, not to direct a facility on the lunar surface. García-Galán, remember, is not a newcomer, but an engineer who has developed his career within NASA and has been assuming responsibilities for years to get to this point. His presence in the announcement is linked to that trajectory, which now places him in one of the great bets of the US space agency at this stage. His career within NASA helps to understand why he has come this far. Before this appointment, García-Galán, according to LinkedInheld the position of “deputy manager” of the Gateway program, until now a relevant piece in the agency’s lunar architecture. With more than 27 years of experience In manned space flights, he has worked on the design, integration and operation of complex systems, participating in programs such as the International Space Station and the Orion spacecraft. His experience at Gateway also helps explain this appointment. In that program, García-Galán was involved in integration and management tasks within an environment with multiple partners and components. The new approach towards a lunar base requires precisely this ability to order diverse pieces, from missions to infrastructure, something that fits with the profile that has been developed within the agency in recent years. The program that he will now supervise is divided into several phases with a common objective: establishing a sustained presence on the lunar surface. NASA proposes a sequence of missions that will go deploying infrastructurefrom mobility and energy systems to communications networks and habitats. The idea is to advance progressively towards a base capable of sustaining longer-term human stays. Images | NASA (1, 2, 3) In Xataka | Elon Musk knows that TSMC is overwhelmed: Terafab is his idea to completely change the global chip industry

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