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

May 23, 2026 by usatoday24

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

LaLiga wanted to fine VPNs that did not block IPs during matches. A court has been set up

May 22, 2026 by usatoday24

LaLiga has been waging an all-out war against football piracy for months and, with the support of a court ruling obtained in 2025, LaLiga had the power to ask operators to block certain IP addresses. The result? Websites that stumbled on match days due to some locks which were a clear example of kill flies with cannon shots. In a process in which it seemed that no one could stop these actions, LaLiga They got it in February of this year what seemed like another victory: a court in Córdoba ordered NordVPN and ProtonVPN Block certain IPs. Not even the judges themselves They knew if that could be done. and VPN tools evidently responded. Now another court in Córdoba has put some sense into all this, dismissing LaLiga’s request to impose fines on VPN platforms for failing to comply with the indiscriminate blocking order. The twist in the story of LaLiga and VPN blocks Through a release On its website, one of the companies affected by the initial ruling (NordVPN) has commented on the result of the ruling of the Commercial Court of Córdoba in what they have described as the dismissal of the request to impose coercive fines on NordVPN. The statement they have shared is the following: On May 19, 2026, the Commercial Court of Córdoba rejected LaLiga’s request to impose coercive fines on NordVPN for alleged non-compliance with the precautionary blocking order issued in February 2026. NordVPN had already warned at the time that the order was not technically viable without harming thousands of legitimate websites in Spain and abroad. Now, the court has accepted the independent technical evidence presented by NordVPN and ruled that it cannot be concluded that the company violated the order deliberately and without justification. The order issued in February required NordVPN to block a list of IP addresses that allegedly hosted unauthorized La Liga broadcasts. NordVPN’s technical experts have shown that target IP addresses change constantly, often within hours, meaning that the lists supplied do not correspond to the actual addresses at the time the blocking can be implemented. It was also demonstrated that the massive blocking at the IP level would have left thousands of completely legitimate websites without access for users in Spain and outside of it. After considering the conflicting expert reports, the court found a genuine technical dispute and ruled that the fines were not justified. It goes on to detail that this is a procedural resolution in the preliminary phase, so it does not resolve the underlying issue: the entire procedure that is still ongoing. nordVPN points out that it will continue to collaborate with the Spanish courts and points out that cloudflareone of the most affected in all this, also follows its own path of collaboration with the courts. What CloudVPN points out is that they are committed to the legitimate protection of intellectual property and the application of measures, but those measures must be proportionate, technically sound and respectful of both users and services that depend on the shared Internet infrastructure, stating that this massive IP blocking imposed on VPN providers, precisely, lacks all of these aspects. And most importantly, NordVPN points out something that is obvious: these measures “do not stop violators, who adapt in a matter of minutes while imposing real costs on legitimate users, companies and services that have no relation to the dispute.” In Xataka | LaLiga’s massive IP blocks are making life impossible for users, companies and developers. So you can claim

Europe and Japan step on the accelerator of nuclear fusion and place the ball in the court of a strategic country: Spain

May 5, 2026 by usatoday24

Europe and Japan walk hand in hand towards nuclear fusion commercial. They have been working together for several years in the JT-60SA experimental reactorthe largest magnetic confinement fusion energy machine that currently exists. However, this is not the only project in which they collaborate. They are also fine-tuning the LIPAc linear particle accelerator (Linear IFMIF Prototype Accelerator or IFMIF Prototype Linear Accelerator). This machine resides in Rokkasho (Japan). After having undergone a very ambitious update, it is ready to begin the final phase that will conclude with its commissioning in 2027. Its purpose is to test the limits of particle beam physics to pave the way for future fusion reactors. Europe and Japan began developing this 36-meter-long particle accelerator in 2007 with the aim of validating the design of an IFMIF-type machine (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) capable of acting as a neutron source. To achieve this, this device had to recreate the intense irradiation conditions that occur inside a fusion reactor. One of Europe’s most important contributions is a huge steel cryostat with magnetic shielding and a thermal shield that houses a powerful superconducting radio frequency system. This component serves to accelerate protons and deuterium nuclei until they reach a maximum energy of 9 MeV (megaelectronvolts), which will place them close to the high-energy neutrons that future commercial fusion reactors will produce. LIPAc is the precursor of IFMIF-DONES, which is already being built in Spain The knowledge that scientists hope to gain from LIPAc will be used in the development of IFMIF-DONES (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility DEMO-Oriented NEutron Source), that is already being built in Escúzar, a town in the province of Granada. The heart of this facility is a linear particle accelerator that will cost approximately 450 million euros, although the Government of Andalusia will provide half of this money. However, this is the cost of the accelerator; The entire IFMIF-DONES project will cost around 700 million euros. Spain will contribute half of this capital. IFMIF-DONES is one of the three fundamental pillars of the nuclear fusion edifice in whose construction the European Union is involved. The other two are ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and DEMO. The experimental nuclear fusion reactor that is currently being built in the French town of Cadarache aims to demonstrate that fusion at the scale that man can handle worksand also that it is profitable from an energy point of view. However, ITER does not aim to produce electricity. That will be the task of DEMO (DEMOnstration Power Plant), a facility that will take the technological advances that have been proven to work correctly at ITER and take them one step further to establish itself as the true precursor of commercial nuclear fusion reactors. However, without IFMIF-DONES there will be no DEMO, so right now Granada is the center of attention. The IFMIF-DONES linear accelerator will produce high-energy neutrons with the intensity and irradiation volume necessary to test candidate materials To fully understand the role of the IFMIF-DONES project, it is necessary to briefly review the fundamentals of nuclear fusion. One of the greatest challenges faced by technicians involved in the development of nuclear fusion reactors using magnetic confinement, such as ITER, is to recreate the conditions necessary for them to operate inside the vacuum chamber of these sophisticated machines. deuterium and tritium nuclei fuse. However, this is by no means all. When this reaction takes place, the fusion of a deuterium nucleus and another tritium nucleus triggers the production of a helium nucleus and a neutron that is ejected with an energy of about 14 MeV. The problem is that the neutron lacks a net electrical charge, so it cannot be confined inside the magnetic field which, however, does manage to retain the deuterium and tritium nuclei, which have a positive electrical charge. This is the reason why when it originates as a result of the nuclear fusion reaction, this neutron is ejected towards the walls of the vacuum chamber with enormous energy. This particle is very important because in practice it will be closely linked to the production of electrical energy in nuclear fusion reactors, but, at the same time, it represents a very aggressive form of radiation that can significantly degrade the materials used in the reactor. The components that will be most affected by the direct impact of high-energy neutrons and the most intense heat flow are the internal wall of the vacuum chamber and the blanket. The components that will be most affected by the direct impact of high-energy neutrons and the most intense heat flow are the inner wall of the vacuum chamber and the blanketwhich is a mantle that covers it and whose purpose is to regenerate the tritium that must be used as fuel in the nuclear fusion reaction. This is why it is crucial to develop new materials that are able to withstand the neutron flux and therefore ensure that the reactor will have a long operational life. This is, neither more nor less, the purpose of IFMIF-DONES. And to carry it out it is necessary to set up facilities designed to allow the technicians involved in the project evaluate the properties of candidate materials to intervene not only in DEMO, but also in future commercial nuclear fusion reactors. The mission of this project invites us to intuit what the heart of IFMIF-DONES is: a source capable of producing high-energy neutrons with the intensity and volume of irradiation necessary to test the candidate materials. And this neutron source will be nothing more than a linear particle accelerator that will help IFMIF-DONES scientists to test, validate and qualify the materials that in the medium term should reach future electric energy production plants through fusion. Image | Fusion for Energy More information | Fusion for Energy In Xataka | ITER has faced one of the great challenges of nuclear fusion: preventing plasma at 150 million ºC from destroying the reactor

The Supreme Court has declared the rule illegal, but the money is not going to return

April 27, 2026 by usatoday24

The Low Emission Zones of Madrid operated for years with regulations that the courts ended up declaring it illegal. During all that time, many fines were imposed and processed that thousands of drivers paid, and the City Council is clear about one thing: that there will be no refunds. What exactly happened. The Supreme Court of Justice of Madrid (TSJM) annulled part of the ordinance that regulated ZBEs in Madrid in December 2024, following an appeal presented by the Vox municipal group. The court considered that the economic impact report was insufficient, since it had not been correctly assessed how much it would cost citizens and small businesses to adapt to the movement restrictions, nor had less restrictive measures with equivalent effects been explored. As the ruling was not final at the time, the City Council continued to apply sanctions while appealing to the Supreme Court. However, the TSJM rejected the appeal on April 15with a sentence of 2,000 euros to the City Council for the expenses of the judicial process. Why there will be no refund. Vice Mayor Inma Sanz counted that current jurisprudence prevents giving retroactive effects to sentences when the sanctioned rule was in force at the time the fines were imposed. Along the same lines, the delegate of Urban Planning, Mobility and Environment, Borja Carabante, defended that the sanctions were placed under a regulatory framework that was valid at the time. The point that remains in the air. The City Council’s position is not completely uniform. Municipal legal services are still studying what to do with the fines imposed in the ZBEs of Plaza Elíptica and Centro (the two special protection zones) during the period between the TSJM ruling (December 2024) and the entry into force of the new ordinance (March 2026). It has been more than two years in which fines have continued to be imposed with a regulation that a court had already declared null. Carabante acknowledges that “whether or not” these specific sanctions are being assessed. The new ordinance as a shield. The Town Hall approved last month a new Sustainable Mobility Ordinance, correcting the previous one based on the indications indicated by the TSJM and keeps all ZBEs operational. The Consistory argues that this new ordinance leaves the sentence without practical effect, since it provides a solution to everything that the TSJM had requested. Among its novelties is that the vehicles of registered residents without an environmental label can circulate in Madrid as long as European pollution limits are respected. Opinion division. The Associated European Motorists (AEA) organization has publicly demanded to Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida the annulment of all sanctions imposed until the publication of the new ordinance in the official gazette, on April 6. According to data from the AEA itselfbetween September 2021 and November 2025, the City Council imposed more than 3.3 million fines related to ZBEs for a value of more than 650 million euros. Its president, Mario Arnaldo, consider that “hundreds of thousands of drivers” have been sanctioned with fines of “dubious legality” through a strategy designed to continue collecting while the judicial process lasted. What those affected can do. The Supreme Court’s decision does not automatically annul any fine, but it reinforces the options of those who want to appeal them. According to the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU), the situation varies according to each file. And those who appealed at the time and still have the procedure open have a better chance of recovering the money. However, the organization says that those who paid without appeal face a more complicated path, having to go through requesting full nullity. The OCU ask to the City Council to cancel the non-firm sanctions ex officio and return the amounts already collected in files still open, without transferring to the citizen “the burden of legal uncertainty created by an annulled ordinance.” Cover image | Madrid City Council In Xataka | 400 cameras and an ambitious goal: the first metro driven 100% autonomously in the Community of Madrid

The Supreme Court ended up seeing the obvious

March 13, 2026 by usatoday24

The last straw for a worker is to have been doing the same job for more than 16 years in the same place and with the same colleagues, and to be fired for not having passed the trial period. It seems like a joke, but it is exactly what happened to the employee of a notary office in Madrid. What came next was a judicial battle that reached the Supreme Court, and ended up agreeing. Although taken to the extreme, this case is no exception. In Spain, companies terminated more than a million contracts in 2025 alleging that the worker had not passed the trial period, and the data suggests that behind many of these dismissals there is something else than employees who did not perform enough. Sixteen years in the same place. Just like is detailed in the sentence of the Supreme Court, The worker had been working in the same notary office since May 2004, chaining contracts with different notaries who occupied the position throughout that period. In September 2019, the titular notary was assigned to another location and was offered the choice between going with him to Jávea and keeping his contract in force, or collect your compensation for the cessation of its activity. The employee opted for compensation of 10,071.20 euros. A few months later, the new notary contacted him to enlist his services and that of his former colleagues at the same notary office. In February 2020, he signed a permanent contract with this new notary with a trial period of six months. It should be noted that the new notary was employing the majority of the previous staff, he continued in the same office, with the same furniture, computers and software as all his predecessors. The pandemic and layoff. With the state of alarm due to COVID-19 newly declared, the worker and two colleagues went to the notary’s office to remind the notary that he must apply the health measures dictated by the authorities: shifts, gel, masks and limiting activity to urgent matters. The notary’s response, recorded literally in the sentence, was that “this is not a cooperative.” That same afternoon, the three received their dismissal letters for not having passed the six-month trial period contemplated in their indefinite contract. The case took five years to resolve. In December 2023, a first court ruled in favor of the worker: if the new notary had assumed the staff and resources of the previous one, there was a transfer of the company and the agreed trial period was void. There is no point in testing the ability of someone who has been in the same position for 16 years. Finally, and after several appeals before different instances, in January 2026 the Supreme Court confirmed its verdict: the trial period was not valid and sentenced the notary to reinstatement of the employee or compensation of 54,294.42 euros. One million layoffs a year. This case is striking because of the extreme and obvious nature of the situation, but it is nothing more than an example of an upward trend among companies to avoid compensation for unfair dismissal. According to report data ‘Balance of the labor market in 2025‘ Prepared by the USO union with sources from the SEPE, INE and Social Security, Spanish companies terminated 1.02 million contracts alleging that the worker had not passed the trial period. This represents an increase of 2.34% compared to 2024 and 79% more than in 2021, before the last labor reform in which permanent contracts were reinforced compared to temporary contracts. What it does especially that data is relevant The thing is that it is not a general increase: it is mainly the indefinite contracts that are behind this growth. Before the labor reform, in 2021, only 13% of all dismissals for not passing the trial period corresponded to permanent contracts. In 2025, that percentage had already risen to 75% of layoffs. To put this figure in a context, dismissals of permanent workers grew by 137% in the same period, while dismissals of permanent workers in a trial period grew by 864%, to exceed 720,000 cases. “At USO we have always said that it was more than suspicious data. Suddenly, there are many people who are not worth the job for which they are hired. It is clear that the trial period is an escape route to hire people temporarily and not even have to compensate them. But it has been seen that, even so, not only is its use abused, but it is twisted and used illegally,” warns Joaquín Pérez, general secretary of USO. The gap left by the storms. To understand the reason behind this sudden use of the trial period to argue for dismissal, we must take into account a detail in the regulations that governs severance pay: When an employee does not pass the trial period, the company does not have to pay him any compensation or justify his termination of the contract. On the other hand, for a dismissal, it must be justified and, depending on the case, compensation must be paid. Firing with the excuse of not having passed the trial period is even more profitable for the company than letting it expire. a temporary contractsince in this case a compensation of 12 days per year worked is applied. Therein lies the trap that the unions They have been denouncing for some time. With the latest labor reform, companies can no longer chain temporary contracts so easily and are forced to hire indefinitely in many more situations. Terminating an indefinite contract during its trial period is cheaper than any other form of dismissal, and hardly requires any paperwork. As and as they pointed from The Economistthis fraud of law would be producing a precariousness of permanent jobs. The Ministry of Labor launched inspection campaigns in 2024 and 2025, but in January 2026, layoffs for this reason continued to grow by 1.3% compared to the same month of the previous year. In Xataka | Companies … Read more

There are people sharing their court cases with AI. The problem is when a judge considers the conversations as evidence

February 15, 2026 by usatoday24

More and more users have an AI chatbot as a companion for everything, whether ChatGPT, Gemini, Claudeor any other. The problem comes when we decide to share sensitive data with this type of tools, especially with commercial models produced by large technology companies where we will always have the doubt of where our data travels. In this sense, there are those who share their legal data with the assistant, which can lead to something like what recently happened in New York. And a city judge just set a precedent historical by considering that any conversation held with a chatbot is public and therefore not protected by attorney-client privilege. That is to say: everything you share with the AI can end up being used against you in court. The case. Bradley Heppner, an executive accused of fraud worth $300 million, used Claude, Anthropic’s chatbot, to ask questions about his legal situation before being arrested. He created 31 documents with his conversations with the AI and later shared them with his defense attorneys. When the FBI seized his electronic devices, his attorneys claimed those documents were protected by attorney-client privilege. Judge Jed Rakoff has said no. Because No. Just like share Moish Peltz, a lawyer specializing in digital assets and intellectual property, in a post on X, the sentence establishes three reasons. First, an AI is not a lawyer: it is not licensed to practice, owes no loyalty to anyone, and its terms of service expressly disclaim any attorney-client relationship. Second, sharing legal information with an AI is legally equivalent to telling it to a friend, so it is not protected by professional secrecy. And third, sending ‘non-privileged’ documents to your lawyer afterwards does not magically make them confidential. The underlying problem. As the lawyer recalls, the interface of this type of chatbot generates a false sense of privacy, but in reality you are entering information into a third-party commercial platform that retains your data and reserves broad rights to disclose it. According to Anthropic privacy policy In effect when Heppner used Claude, the company may disclose both user questions and generated responses to “governmental regulatory authorities.” Dilemma. The court document reveals Also an aggravating factor: Heppner introduced into the AI information that he had previously received from his lawyers. This poses a dilemma for the prosecution, according to account Peltz. And if you try to use those documents as evidence at trial, defense attorneys could become witnesses to the events, potentially forcing a mistrial. What does it mean to you? If you are involved in any legal matter, according to this ruling, what you share with an AI can be claimed by a judge and used as evidence. It doesn’t matter whether you are preparing your defense or seeking preliminary advice, as each query can end up becoming a factor against you. And it does not only apply to criminal cases: divorces, labor disputes, commercial litigation… any conversation with AI on these topics escapes legal protection. And now what. Peltz points out that legal professionals must explicitly warn their clients of this risk. You can’t assume that people understand it intuitively. The solution he mentions involves creating collaborative workspaces with AI shared between lawyer and client, so any interaction with artificial intelligence will occur under the supervision of the lawyer and within the lawyer-client relationship. Cover image | Romain Dancre and Solen Feyissa In Xataka | Folding clothes or taking apart LEGOs has always been a tedious task. Xiaomi’s new AI for robots has put an end to it

The owner of an Audi A3 was fined three times for driving without a license. On the fourth, the court took away the car

December 21, 2025 by usatoday24

What prevents a driver from driving without a license? Obviously, the law. But going down to a purely practical field, what prevents a driver without a driving license from going to the garage at home, taking his car, turning the key and putting it in first gear to take the car to work, take a walk or go out? That’s what has happened in Vigo where Justice has only found the way out for one woman: to take away her Audi. The Provincial Court, tired of imposing sanctions on him that emphasized that he was prohibited from driving, has decided to confiscate his Audi to avoid greater harm. By then the sentences had had “no deterrent effect,” in the words of the ruling. Either you give it to me or I’ll take it from you There are not many violations for which they can keep our car. There are not many reasons why they can revoke our driving license. Surely you have already found one of them. Bingo. A positive for alcohol or drugs leaves, for the moment, the car immobilized and depending on the severity of the positive, it can leave us without a driving license. In cases that the car is immobilizeda passenger who does not test positive may well take charge. alcohol control Or a family member or friend can come pick it up, as long as the immobilized car is not hindering driving. If neither of these two cases occur, the tow truck comes and takes it to the municipal warehouse. The next day, the car can be removed. By a person who has a driver’s license, of course. But, as we said, what really prevents a person from taking their car again when they arrive at the garage at home? The limits have been found by the resident of Vigo who stars in a story collected by The Voice of Galicia. The Provincial Court has ended up confiscating his Audi to prevent him from driving again without a license and in the process has answered the question of how many times is too many times. They explain in the Galician media that on March 15, 2025, she was caught driving without a valid driving license because all her points had previously been removed. Taking charge of the case, the Criminal Court sentenced him to six months and one day in prison for a crime against traffic safety. But he applied a less common decision: seized his Audi A3. The reason is that the convicted woman was the fourth time she had faced justice for similar events. To the point that the judge in charge pointed out that his record includes three other similar convictions in just 11 months. On those three previous occasions, the driver was fined for driving without a driving license. In the third, in addition to the financial penalty, he was imposed 60 days of work for the benefit of the community. On the fourth occasion lost the Audi A3 with whom he was driving. Upon hearing the verdict, the accused appealed to the Pontevedra Court, alleging that the three previous convictions for the same reason (driving without a license) are not enough to apply the aggravating circumstance of multiple recidivism. In addition, he requested that a mitigating circumstance be applied for drug addiction and asked that the car be returned because he considered that the measure was disproportionate and unjustified. For its part, the Pontevedra Court has confirmed that the seizure of the vehicle was a correct measure because the three previous convictions had had “no deterrent effect.” In addition, he emphasizes that the car itself was a “potentially dangerous instrument” since the driver had been detected driving without lights at night or under the influence of drugs. Photo | Audi and DGT In Xataka | In 1896 a man decided to drive at the reckless speed of 13 km/h. And he received the first fine in history

In 2017, the owner of an electric car installed a charger with his neighborhood community against him. The Supreme Court has spoken

December 16, 2025 by usatoday24

A neighborhood association does not have the right to prevent a neighbor from installing a charger in their garage. This is the conclusion reached by the Supreme Court, confirming what can already be read in the Horizontal Property Law where this assumption is included. This has been the case of a neighbor from Alicante. 2017. The entire case studied by the Supreme Court has its origins in the last months of 2017. As stated in the rulingat the beginning of September of that year, the owner of an electric car contacts the administrator of his neighborhood community to inform him that he is going to install an electric car charger in his garage. There begins an exchange of communications in which the property manager maintains that he cannot carry out said installation because he is occupying common areas with the cables pulled for it and asks him to wait for the ordinary meeting to ask the neighbors if they agree with said installation since he can only carry it out if all the neighbors give their approval. Why does an electric car have less autonomy than advertised? without permission. It is then that the owner of the electric car tells the administration of the garage’s community of neighbors and its president that he does not need the approval of the neighbors since it is only necessary to inform the community of owners of his intentions. To do this, remember that in the article 17.5 of the Horizontal Property Law the following is specified: The installation of an electric vehicle charging point for private use in the building’s parking lot, provided that it is located in an individual parking space, will only require prior communication to the community. The cost of said installation and the corresponding electricity consumption will be assumed entirely by the person or parties directly interested in it. Therefore, he points out, the installation will be carried out whether the neighborhood community wants it or not. He emphasizes that he will pay the costs in full and that the electricity will be supplied with the service of his home. The complaint. Once the charging point was installed in December 2017, the ordinary meeting of the neighborhood community decided in February 2018 that the installation is illegal because it is occupying common areas and that for this the owner must receive the approval of the neighbors. They point out that if the installation is not eliminated within two months they will use the appropriate legal measures. Given this decision, the owner of the electric car denounces the community of neighbors so that the agreement in which the installation of his charging point was discussed is annulled. The defendant neighborhood association requests that it be dismissed and the court of first instance agrees with it, dismissing the lawsuit and ruling that the owner of the electric car has to pay the costs of the trial. From there, the matter escalates to the Supreme Court. First, the owner appeals the decision and the court of second instance agrees with him, admitting the complaint to be processed and declaring the agreement of the ordinary meeting null and void despite the fact that the community of owners filed an appeal that was dismissed. Then, the community of neighbors files an appeal against the decision of the court of second instance. The Supreme Court. With all this background, the Supreme Court concludes that the owner has the right to install a charging point in his parking space despite the fact that he has to occupy common areas with perforations and passage of cables, as detailed by the community of neighbors. In its ruling, the highest judicial body rejects the appeal of the community of owners. They remember that although in article 17 of the Horizontal Property Law there are several points that require the unanimity of the owners to occupy common areas for private purposes, this is not the case in the case of the fifth point in which the installation of charging points is regulated. Additionally, they explain the following: (The installation) requires an electrical supply, which can only be obtained through the appropriate conduction, it is obvious that it must necessarily flow through such elements. In other words, the legislator had to necessarily imagine that the wiring would pass through common elements. If, however, it introduced this rule without referring to said circumstance or the agreement of the Community, it is because it considered that this particular action was excluded or outside the decision-making powers of the Community, which could not oppose the practice of installation Communicate but do not ask permission. As confirmed by experts in horizontal property to Xatakaany resident of a community garage can install a charging point for their electric car even if the neighborhood community objects. Legally, it is only necessary to communicate the intention to do so and comply with the Technical Guide of application of the ITC-BT 52. Special purpose facilities. Infrastructure for recharging electric cars. When the Madrid College of Administrators was consulted, its advisors recommended complying with the following requirements to avoid problems: Prior communication by the requesting owner or neighbor. From the meter to the charging point, the line must be installed under approved pipe and along the route agreed upon with the community of owners, and common conduits and boxes cannot be used. The pipe pass from the meter room to the garage will be the responsibility of the requesting owner. The charging point will be installed on the back wall of the parking space, as centrally as possible and without occupying the flight of the adjacent spaces. The owner or neighbor must deliver the installation bulletin to the community of owners. Comply with current regulations at all times. An exception. It occurs in Catalonia and its objective is to facilitate the installation of more than one charging point for electric cars by taking advantage of the implementation of the first plug or, at least, trying to ensure that it … Read more

The crazy story of the Galician woman who registered El Sol before a notary, sold plots online and then took eBay to court

November 10, 2025 by usatoday24

To the French monarch Louis XIV he was known as the sun kingthus, with a capital letter and all its absolutist pomp. Strictly speaking, that title, however, belongs to another person, and it is not even the priest king. Cuahtemocgreat governor of the Aztecs, nor the Egyptian emperor Amenhotep III. If there is a lady and sovereign of the Star King—or at least that is what she maintains—that is Angeles Durana Galician who one fine day in 2010 decided to do something that no one else had done in thousands of years of human history: she left her house in Salvaterra do Miño, in the Vigo region, and stood in the office of a notary to draw up an official record that she, and no one else but her, declared herself the legitimate and authentic owner of the sun. When the good notary heard her, he couldn’t help but laugh, but he had no choice but to consult with his professional association and, in fact, sign a record of what that lady said. Since then, the story of Ángeles Durán has taken on delirious overtones, worthy of a good astro-legal thriller.I solicited. I, owner of the Sun This is how Ángeles Durán has proclaimed herself, a Galician who in 2010 surprised the world by proclaiming herself the owner of the Sun. And no, we are not speaking figuratively. The news advanced it in its day The Voice of Galiciawhich recounted how Durán went to a notary in a neighboring town, in the Vigo region, to draw up a record that she was the legitimate owner of the axis of the Solar System. If that became news—and it did, so much so in fact that it jumped to foreign media— it was not so much because of the occurrence itself as because of the result. Durán left the office with a document that he later did not hesitate to use. pose for the cameras. “I am the owner of the Sun, a star of spectral type G2, which is located in the center of the solar system, located at an average distance from the Earth of approximately 149,600,000 kilometers…”, proclaims the minutes of statements with the notary’s seal. The Galician newspaper explains that the official made him laugh upon hearing Durán’s claims, but he still consulted with his school and ended up attesting that the woman in front of him declared herself the legitimate possessor of the Sun. Since then many things have been said about Durán: that he is lawyer and psychologistwho at that time served as judicial expert and even, as published The Voice in 2022, who lives in Italy and is focused on preparing a book about the British royal family. One of the latest news that is known about her is that she is dedicated to composing “spicy and erotic songs” and who has released an album. What there is no doubt is that Durán dedicated time and effort to planning her strategy to proclaim herself the owner of the Sun. Whether more or less correct, the undeniable thing is that her request was based on a legal argument that she raised at the time and still maintained in 2019. before the cameras of Cuatro. Going back to Roman law The Galician law basically rested on two legs: a legal vacuum and a legal figure that dates back to Roman law. The first is related to the international agreement that establishes that no country can appropriate the planets. The key for Durán is in that nuance: that it affects the states would not imply, he maintains, that it extends to individuals. The second key is the usucapionwhich allows you to gain real rights to those elements that have been enjoyed for a certain time. And Durán had decades benefiting daily from the Sun’s rays. Like the other almost 8,000 million people who reside on this wide planet, true, but no one else had thought to raise it like this in a notary office. The law is made, the trap is made. At least that’s what Durán thought. “I have not bought the Sun because no one has sold it to me. What I have done is a deed for what is called usucapion,” I insisted in 2019 during an interview in which he assured that this figure can be used “by electromagnetic apprehension.” The truth is that Durán has not been the first to do something similar. Decades ago an American businessman, Dennis Hopeclaimed that he had found a legal loophole that allowed him to claim sovereignty of the Moon. His argument was very similar to that of the Galician: Hope was based on an old law from the 19th century, of the American pioneers, and that the Outer Space Treaty It does not affect individuals. The most curious thing is that the Sun is not the only property that Durán has claimed, although it is certainly the one that takes the cake in size, implications and impact. The Galician has made other equally curious visits to the General Registry of Intellectual Property. The World and The Country They have echoed how he came to record Tarzan’s cry or “the longest score in the world”, 24,000 million measures and related to telephony. “Every time you dial a number, notes are ringing and no one has recorded them,” explained in 2010: “If you mark 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, you are making a few measures and all the possible combinations, all of them, I have registered in my name.” A little plot in the sun… Durán was not satisfied with proclaiming herself the owner of the Astro Rey. He decided to go one step further, cutting up the vast expanse of the star and selling plots on eBay. On the first day he managed to market nearly a hundred stellar plots. According to explained in his day10,000 solar portions were offered, each accompanied by its respective certificate. For one euro, anyone could get a piece of star. … Read more

The Constitutional Court has frozen 6,700 million of the Wealth Tax. Millionaires will have to wait until 2026

October 24, 2025 by usatoday24

The Constitutional Court has delayed until 2026 its decision on the legality of the current Wealth Tax, a tax that affects some 200,000 taxpayers in Spain and that in recent years has collected more than 6.7 billion euros, according to advanced The Economist. This delay creates a lot of uncertainty about whether the wealthiest taxpayers They may or may not recover the amounts they have been paying since 2021, when the tax went from temporary to permanent and its maximum rate was raised to 3.5%. History of a controversial tax. He Wealth Tax was created in 1977 and was renovated in 1991 to redefine your goals. During the first government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, its tax was annulled, although the figure of the tax as such was not eliminated, and in 2011 it was temporarily reinstated due to collection needs. Since that date it has been extended annually under the label of “temporary” until in 2021 it became permanent and the maximum rate was raised from 2.5% to 3.5%. As and how he collected Five Days In 2021, this change was questioned by the Popular parliamentary group, which filed an appeal before the Constitutional Court arguing that such structural modifications – in short, a new tax was being firmly created – could not be made through a budget law, according to the article 134.7 of the Constitution. If it is found to be unconstitutional, the Treasury should return everything collected from this tax from 2021 with interest to its taxpayers, a payment that part of an estimate of 6,700 billion euros. The impact on taxpayers. Based on jurisprudence, if the Court declares the tax unconstitutional in its current form, only those taxpayers who have previously requested a rectification of their declarations or initiated a refund procedure will be able to recover payments. The rest would not have the right to recover what was paid because, generally, the sentences do not have retroactive effect, as already happened when the Supreme Court declared the capital gain null and void municipal and the payments had to be returned. Ángel Sánchez, partner of the Golden Partners firm, specialized in real estate taxation assured to The Independent who “The lack of certainty about whether the tax is constitutional or not has a direct impact on the economic decisions of taxpayers. Nobody knows if in a year what is paid today will be able to be claimed.” Given this uncertainty, the expert warns that “only taxpayers who have submitted a rectification request or, where applicable, an administrative claim will be able to recover what they paid. Anyone who has not acted preventively will lose that right.” It’s up in the air, but it’s still valid. Something that is tax experts warning is that, although the Wealth Tax is in question, until justice orders actions, they remain in force. That means that if taxpayers don’t pay While the tax remains in force, they could receive sanctions, surcharges and interest for non-compliance, regardless of what the Constitutional Court rules. Sánchez clarifies that “not declaring constitutes a tax violation. The appropriate strategy is to comply with the obligation and, in parallel, present the claim or rectification to keep alive the right to refund”, in this way, the amounts could be claimed if the Constitutional Court orders its repeal. The claim period covers tax years from 2021 to 2024. The future consequences. If the Constitutional Court endorses the constitutionality of the tax, it will remain in force and consolidated as a permanent tax. On the other hand, if it declares it unconstitutional, the Government could approve a new law that respects the appropriate legal procedures to maintain it. A debate could also begin about replacing it with another more uniform tax figure or one linked to the Solidarity Tax of large fortunes, which has had such good results. There could even be a partial declaration of unconstitutionality, reestablishing the previous maximum rate of 2.5% or returning the tax to the temporary nature it had since 2021, which would imply that the Government would have to extend it each year. In any case, the delay in the Constitutional decision keeps thousands of taxpayers waiting for a ruling that will define the immediate future of the tax and the possibility of recovering millions of euros that have been collected in recent years. In Xataka | Spain has increased its census of millionaires: only 27.6% are paying the Wealth Tax Image | Wikimedia Commons (K3T0), Unsplah (omid armin)

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