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How the TUR rate continues to be the great refuge for consumers

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In a macroeconomic context where the word “inflation” continues to make headlines and the Third Gulf War threatens energy stability, Spanish households receive an unexpected respite. Starting this Wednesday, April 1, 2026, the Last Resort Rate (TUR) for natural gas will experience a drastic reduction that will lower the bill for more than three million families. The long-awaited descent. The individual rate without taxes will decrease on average by 16.6% regarding prices set last January 1. This fall consolidates the regulated tariff not only as the most economical option on the market, but as the great protective shield against the energy crisis for domestic economies. The good news isn’t just for individual households, however. Homeowner communities and energy service companies will also notice the relief. The neighborhood TUR will register cuts in its variable term that will range between 10.8% and 16.7%, depending on the consumption segment. All this is supported by the Official State Gazette (BOE). In its resolution of March 27, 2026, the General Directorate of Energy Policy and Mines certifies the new prices. Thus, the monthly fixed term is 3.93 euros for TUR 1 (only cooking and hot water) and 8.11 euros for TUR 2 (which includes heating), with variable terms of 3.82 and 3.61 cents per kilowatt hour, respectively. So how does it affect my pocketbook? To translate it into real euros, we have the analysis of expert platforms that have analyzed the official data. According to Sergio Soto, energy expert Roamsfor an average home in Spain with gas heating (the usual TUR 2) and a consumption of about 660 kWh per month, the approximate cost will plummet to 37 euros per month. “The new revision represents a saving of about 7.16 euros per month for an average household,” explains Soto. To put it in perspective, this same receipt was around 46 euros at the end of 2025 and 44 euros in the first quarter of 2026. For their part, the simulations developed by the experts of Papernest They allow us to see the impact depending on the type of family: Households with low consumption (up to 3,000 kWh/year): They will go from paying about 18.23 euros in January to 15.11 euros in April (a saving of more than 3 euros per month). Households with average consumption (about 9,000 kWh/year): They will see their bill fall from 48.32 euros to 39.54 euros per month (almost 9 euros in savings). Households with high consumption (about 20,000 kWh/year): The drop is notable, going from 101.40 euros to 82.43 euros (almost 19 euros of monthly respite). The small print. That gas fell by 16% while the price of a barrel of Brent has risen by 4% and the euro has appreciated slightly against the dollar seems like a magic trick, but it responds to three very specific technical and political factors: The “lag effect” of the market: Sergio Soto details that the regulated rate is reviewed quarterly and is based on an average of the gas costs in the wholesale markets of the previous months. In other words, the TUR does not reflect today’s volatility, but yesterday’s calm. This system acts as a buffer, allowing consumers to now benefit from gas that was purchased at a good price before the war. The end of winter: The TUR’s own methodology has an ace up its sleeve in April since the seasonal gas component disappears. During the winter, the calculation includes a surcharge because demand skyrockets. When spring arrives, that factor is eliminated, and the price begins to depend exclusively on the “base gas.” This simple mathematical adjustment makes the raw material cheaper by 16%. The real hero. As the study of Papernesta household can save almost more due to tax decisions than by lowering the gas itself. Royal Decree-Law 7/2026 extends extraordinary conditions fundamentals: VAT at 10%: It will be valid until June 30, 2026. This means that if we had the usual VAT of 21%, the reduction for an average customer would not be 16.2%, but a discreet 7.8%. (Or as they calculate in Roamsthe average bill would not be 37 euros, but 40.50 euros). Hydrocarbon tax: It remains at the legal minimum allowed (€0.00108/kWh). The zero-cost canon: The BOE expressly collects that a storage fee of zero euros is applied for reservations that exceed 20 days of consumption. This fee at zero cost will be subsidized by the state with 45 million euros, directly impacting downwards the variable term that we all pay. A real descent, but with spring nuances. The data is resounding, the official documents support them and the analysts agree: the regulated gas rate has suffered a spectacular drop. However, you have to apply a dose of realism when looking at the mailbox at the end of the month. As they conclude from Papernestthis reduction comes into effect on April 1, just when the Spanish begin to turn off their radiators. This means that the gas drop comes when it is least consumed. In the short term, the real day-to-day savings will be less noticeable because, simply, we will use many fewer kilowatts than in January or February. However, the medium-term impact is undeniable. Understanding our rate, monitoring our consumption and being attentive to the expiration dates of tax reductions (like that June 30 for VAT) is vital for the financial health of the household. Although the international context continues to hang in the balance, the conclusion is unanimous: today, the regulated market (TUR) continues to be the safest and most profitable refuge to light the stove and heat the water in Spain. Image | Photo by Henry Kobutra on Unsplash Xataka | Until now, every bus in Spain belonged to its father and mother: the Government wants them to be more like the AVE

Iran has just crossed the great energy red line. Türkiye is the first victim of a blackout that is already looking at Europe

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We had been holding our breath for weeks, accepting the logistical tension in the Strait of Hormuz as the new normal. However, the war has crossed an irreversible red line. We have gone from a trade blockade to the physical destruction of the world’s energy engine, and the consequences are already being felt in the global economy. The impact was so immediate that the price of natural gas in Europe skyrocketed by 35%. Global interdependence has caused the first major domino to fall to be thousands of kilometers from the epicenter: Turkey has become the first country to suffer a gas supply cut, marking the beginning of a chain reaction. The blow to the energetic heart. It is not just any objective. As explained Deutsche Welle, South Pars is the largest natural gas reserve in the world – shared with Qatar, which calls its part North Dome – and contains enough gas to supply the world’s needs for 13 years. It is the basis of Iran’s energy survival. The response from Tehran was withering and expansive. As detailed in the Wall Street JournalIran did not limit itself to responding to Israel, but attacked vital infrastructure in neighboring countries, launching missiles against the gigantic Ras Laffan industrial complex in Qatar (the largest liquefied natural gas facility in the world) and refineries in Saudi Arabia. In the midst of this war chaos, Iran turned off the tap: Tehran suddenly paralyzed its natural gas exports to Türkiye. Türkiye in the eye of the hurricane. The cutoff to Türkiye is not an anecdote, it is the symptom of a systemic crisis. According to the data provided by BloombergLast year, Ankara imported around 13% or 14% of its total gas needs (about 7 billion cubic meters) from Iran. To the gallery, the Turkish government tries to project calm. How to collect ReutersTurkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar has categorically assured that “there are no supply problems” and that the country’s storage facilities are at 71% of their capacity. Furthermore, the minister insists that oil dependence of the Middle East is a “manageable 10%” and they are already accelerating diversification agreements with giants such as TotalEnergies, Exxon and Shell. The markets are not optimistic. The experts consulted by Middle East eye They point out that Turkey has alternatives – such as increasing the flow from Russia or Azerbaijan – but the closing of the Iranian tap will force Ankara to compete fiercely in the international market for emergency shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). Panic reaches Europe. And this is where the domino effect hits us directly. As Türkiye goes on a desperate hunt for LNG ships, the pressure on prices becomes unsustainable for the Old Continent. The day after the start of the conflict, the price of gas rose 55%. However, in the midst of this European chaos, one country is resisting the challenge much better than its neighbors: Spain. Thanks to a massive deployment of solar and wind energy, our country manages to cushion the initial blow by sinking prices during daylight hours. But the transition is painfully incomplete and we are not invulnerable. As analyst Antonio Aceituno, from Tempos Energía, warns, the Spanish balance is broken when evening falls. When the sun disappears, gas combined cycles begin to cover demand, returning tension to prices. It is empirical proof that, without massive batteries to guard the sun, at eight in the afternoon we are still at the mercy of what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. As the expert Gerard Reid reflects in Euronewsit is preferable to depend on China to import a solar panel once every 25 years, than to depend on gas from the Persian Gulf every day. Broken diplomacy. Arab governments are “furious” because they feel the US-Israeli strategy has put a target on their backs. For its part, Qatar has called the attacks on its facilities a “dangerous and irresponsible step” and a direct threat to its national security. In the midst of this powder keg, Washington’s role is erratic. President Donald Trump took to social media to deny prior knowledge of the Israeli attack on South Pars. However, Trump did not hesitate to issue a brutal ultimatum to Tehran: if it attacks Qatar again, the United States will “massively blow up the entire” Iranian oilfield. The scars of a systemic war. As my colleague Miguel Jorge analyzes well,the dynamic that has been activated is dangerously reminiscent of the 1991 Gulf War. It is no longer about destroying military capabilities or political pressure; We are facing a war against the very infrastructure that supports the states. The apparent lightness with which this conflict has developed has dragged us into a dead end. Iran has shown that it does not need to win a conventional military war; It is enough for him to set the energetic heart of the planet on fire. Even if a ceasefire were signed tomorrow, the material reality is inescapable. Charred refineries and dry pipelines to Türkiye are not rebuilt with signatures on a piece of paper. The scar on the world’s infrastructure will take years to heal, and the crisis that we had been avoiding for months has already detonated irreversibly. Image | Hamed Malekpour Xataka | The red lines are ceasing to exist: the fear of the US and Qatar in the face of Iran’s attacks on basic infrastructure

All these European alternatives are great if you want to depend less on the US

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You may or may not have realized it, but chances are that many of the apps and services you use every day are owned by a large US company. Precisely for this reason, more and more users are thinking in switching to services of European origin, thus depending less on the US. Is it possible? The reality is that there are many quality European services that are a real alternative and are very worthwhile. There is a lot of work pending if you plan to reduce your dependence on American services to a minimum, but let’s start with four basic ones: cloud storage, email, VPN and cloud office automation. European alternatives to Gmail Are you looking for a European email service? Yes, most people choose Gmail, but we have options if we don’t want to depend on Google for our email: Proton Mail: Proton has its email service, very much in line with its cloud storage. It has end-to-end and zero-knowledge encryption, so not even the company itself will be able to access our information. It starts at a very reasonable price (2.99 euros per month), but right now we have the same promo to try the service for 1 euro per month for the first month. Proton Mail (the first month) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Tuta Mail: We have an alternative of German origin that also works with renewable energy. It also offers very good security, as well as protection against spam, phishing and tracking. It has a free option if we want to try the service, although it is a bit limited. Part of 3.60 euros per month. mailbox: Another service of German origin is Mailbox, which in addition to offering email, has an assortment of various functions (including video calls). The most basic service offered by Mailbox costs 1 euro per month. European alternatives to Google Drive or iCloud The cloud has become an oasis where we can save our photos, videos and files to free up our equipment. The most popular or used are usually Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud, although there are quite interesting European alternatives: Internxt: Internxt, a company of Spanish origin, offers end-to-end encryption and is open source, so anyone can access it. This service is committed to an annual modality that starts from the 16 euros per year, although it also has lifelong plans. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Proton Drive: Another quite notable alternative is with Proton, which offers a service with end-to-end encryption and with a lot of control over the files we store, as well as the links to share them that we can create. It has a fairly reasonable price, although right now there is an active promotion that allows us to get a month to try Proton Drive for 1 euro. pCloud: Of Swiss origin, pCloud is another European cloud storage alternative. It has a very intuitive interface and has a native application on practically all operating systems. This service is part of the 4.99 euros per monthalthough it also has annual and lifetime options. European alternatives to Google Docs Online office automation is very useful, especially when it comes to working collaboratively. Yes, we also have several very interesting options of European origin: OnlyOffice: a very useful service that is characterized above all by a very intuitive interface to use. It offers the possibility of hosting it in our own cloud with services such as OnwCloud or Nextcloud and, being open source, anyone can audit it. It has a free plan. Nextcloud Office: This service also offers a very good online document editing experience, both alone and collaboratively. Yes indeed: here we do not have a free plan. Proton Docs: This company also offers office automation among its services, which is doubly useful: it is easy to use and very secure. In addition, it is included in Proton Drive or even Proton Unlimited, which is this company’s package that includes both 500 GB of cloud storage and Docs, VPN, password manager and your email. This last service is on sale right now: it goes on 8.99 euros per month in its annual mode (so we will pay a total of 107.88 euros). Proton Unlimited (12 months) The price could vary. We earn commission from these links European alternatives to IPVanish More and more people use a VPN to protect your Internet traffic and your VPN. There are several of the best VPNs that are of American origin, although not all. We have European alternatives that are safe and work well: Mullvad VPN: With more than 700 servers distributed in 38 countries, Mullvad VPN is one of the best European alternatives if we are looking for a VPN. It costs only 5 euros per month, regardless of whether we want a month, a year or a decade. The price could vary. We earn commission from these links Goose VPN: It is a smaller alternative, but Goose VPN is also a very interesting European service that can come in handy if we are looking for one of these tools. It offers 24/7 support and unlimited devices and is priced at 4.99 euros per month if we choose your annual subscription. It is worth noting that it offers a lifetime subscription for 159 euros. Proton VPN: Proton also has VPN, one that is open source and allows any user to access it. One of the best things about this service is that it has a free option, which is interesting if we want to try it before subscribing. Its price right now is 2.99 euros per month if we opt for its annual subscription. NordVPN: We leave one of the most recognized VPNs for last, which is also one of the best we can currently use. Right now it is on sale with a discount of more than 70% if we choose its two-year plan, one that also comes with 3 extra months. In other words: we … Read more

Micron knew that the RAM crisis was going to be great for them. The reality that has gone even better

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As it could not be otherwise, the companies that are benefiting the most from the RAM crisis They are precisely those that have the product and, therefore, they are the ones that set the price. Micron is one of those few companies that is profiting from the excessive demand of this key component for any gadget, a demand caused by the AI ​​fever. The figures from its latest financial report have even exceeded expectations. Although there are some nuances to comment on. Let’s go to trouble. What has happened? Micron just published the results of its second fiscal quarter with numbers that have left analysts speechless. Its revenues have almost tripled those of the previous year, reaching $23.9 billion, well above Wall Street estimateswho expected about 20,000 million. Earnings per share have skyrocketed to $12.20, compared to the $9 projected. And for the third quarter, the company anticipates revenue of approximately $33.5 billion, almost ten points above what the market expected. Those who share the benefit. Artificial intelligence has changed everything in the memory market. The data centers that power AI models require massive amounts of high-performance memory, and the available supply cannot meet that demand. Micron, together with Samsung and SK Hynix, forms the trio that controls practically the entire supply world of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, which are basically one of the key components to run the long-awaited NVIDIA GPUs. Those who buy at any price. Micron’s own CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra, counted to CNBC that the company can only cover between 50% and two-thirds of what its main clients need. Put another way: there is a queue of buyers willing to pay whatever it takes, and Micron simply doesn’t have RAM for everyone. According to SK Group President Chey Tae-won, the global shortage could last another four to five years due to structural bottlenecks in semiconductor production. What’s coming Aware that what is happening now will not last forever, Micron is investing at a speed that has made the market nervous. The company plans to exceed $25 billion in capital spending in 2026 alone, and has already announced that in 2027 that number will rise another $10 billion. Among other operations, it has closed purchasing a plant of Taiwanese Powerchip for $1.8 billion, which will begin producing DRAM wafers in the second half of 2027. The company has also started mass shipments of its new HBM4 memory of 12 layers, which will be directed to the new Vera Rubin platform from NVIDIA. Precisely how much NVIDIA will depend on Micron for this new generation compared to its rivals is the big open question for all investors. Everything is going well for them, but the shares are going down. There has been a bit of a cold reaction in the stock market, as shares have fallen around 5% in the session after the results, despite the fact that the numbers have beaten all forecasts. The reason is the same thing that happened with NVIDIA a few weeks ago: When expectations are very high, even good results can disappoint. From Goldman Sachs they counted that the value could move in a narrow range in the short term after a “very solid quarter with guidance well above consensus, in a context of already elevated expectations.” That has not prevented banks like Wells Fargo or Barclays from updating their upward forecasts to $550 and $670 per share, respectively. The big photo. Micron has accumulated a revaluation of more than 60% so far this year, and has become the most profitable value on the PHLX (Philadelphia Semiconductor Index). Mehrotra affirms that Micron is “the invisible layer that powers AI today.” But it seems that the company is slowly losing that cloak of invisibility. In Xataka | NVIDIA has been pining for months to sell its H200 to China: it just received the news it was waiting for

Taking money from a family member just before their death seemed like a great idea to avoid paying taxes. It wasn’t

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Why should an additional tax be paid for receiving money in inheritance for which the deceased already paid taxes? Many people ask that question and They decide to jump into the mountains (prosecutor) trying a thousand and one tricks to avoid payment of the Donations and Inheritance Tax. The most common trick is to empty bank accounts of the family member before he or she dies. Spoiler: it goes wrong. A solved case by the Superior Court of Justice of Madrid shows that this belief can be very expensive, and that the attempt to avoid the treasury can end up exactly where one wanted to avoid arriving: paying the Treasury even more than what they would have paid in the beginning. Money, what money? A woman was listed as the owner or authorized person on several of her sister’s bank accounts. In September 2017, this died without leaving a will. When the General Directorate of Taxes of the Community of Madrid began to investigate the case, it found that the deceased’s assets were much larger than what her sister wanted to make out. As of December 31, 2016, the three bank accounts of the deceased accumulated considerable balances: one with 9,217.08 euros, another with 51,216.58 euros and a third with 132,644.53 euros, in which the sister appeared directly as joint owner. In addition to these savings, the deceased had received 45,000 euros in April 2017 for the sale of her part of a property that she shared with her sister. By December 31, 2017, all the money in the accounts was gone. The Treasury calculated that the total money and assets that should have been declared in the inheritance amounted to 122,931.67 euros, to which was added the value of 50% of a property in Hoyo de Manzanares valued at 1,812.50 euros. ​No resignation possible. The sister responded to the first requests from the Treasury by assuring that the deceased had died without assets. Some time later he provided a notarial document of renunciation of inheritance dated September 29, 2020, more than three years after death occurred. His argument was that he did not know that his sister had assets, and that the only movements he had made in the deceased’s accounts were payment procedures for the residence where he received care his sister in her last month of life. The court that reviewed the case in the first instance initially agreed with him, considering that this payment could be interpreted as timely management. However, the Community of Madrid, in charge of collecting the tax, appealed and the TSJM resolved differently. Although in theory you can renounce an inheritance at any time during the process, doing so after having acted on the deceased’s assets has tax consequences that no notarial deed can erase. What does it mean to accept an inheritance without wanting to do so?. In Spain, you do not need to sign any paper to legally become an heir. The law includes in its article 999.3 the figure of tacit acceptance, which occurs when someone acts on the assets of a deceased as if they were already theirs, even if they have never confirmed acceptance of inheritance. Withdrawing money from your accounts, selling your property or simply managing your assets are examples of actions that, in the eyes of the law, are equivalent to saying “yes, I accept”, even if no paper has been signed.​​ The problem is that many people are not aware of this rule and believe that as long as they do not sign anything before a notary, they are safe. In reality, what matters is not what is signed, but what is done. The Supreme Court takes decades establishing that any act that unequivocally reveals that someone he is behaving like an heireven if informally or even unconsciously, has the same legal and fiscal effects as an express acceptance of the inheritance.​ What the law says about disappearing money. The TSJM applied the article 11.1.a of the Inheritance and Donation Tax Lawwhich establishes that the assets that would have belonged to the deceased up to one year before his death They are considered part of the inheritanceunless proven otherwise by solid evidence. Not only did the sister not provide any explanation as to what had happened to that money, but she did not even try throughout the entire process. The court also assessed that the deceased was admitted to a nursing home and was receiving special care, which made it highly unlikely that she would have been able to manage the withdrawal of the money from her accounts on her own. Given that the sister was the owner or authorized owner of all of them, the judges concluded that moving that money was equivalent, in the eyes of the law, to having accepted the inheritance. Pay the tax, but get rid of the fine. The TSJ of Madrid confirmed that the woman had to pay 26,217.11 euros as settlement of the Inheritance Tax for her sister’s inheritance. However, the judges annulled the fine of 17,999.73 euros that the Madrid treasury demanded, because the Community of Madrid failed to prove that the woman had acted with the deliberate intention of deceiving the treasury, something that the law requires before being able to impose a financial penalty of that type. In Xataka | The “Great Transfer of Wealth” is not only a thing for the rich: demographic change will concentrate wealth among the youngest Image | Pexels (cottonbro studio)

Why on earth donkeys arose has always been one of the great mysteries of natural history. Until now

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When we think about the animals that have been accompanying humans since time immemorial, helping us in agricultural and daily tasks, surely the first candidates are horses, dogs, and even cats. Probably the donkeys (Equus africanus asinus) are a little further down the list. Until now we believed that the domestication of the donkey was an event that was repeated in different places and times in prehistory. However, the largest genetic study of these animals carried out to date revealed a different story: that of a single domestication of the donkey, which occurred about 7,000 years ago in the area around the Horn of Africa and what is now Kenya. The closest relatives of the domestic donkey, wild donkeys (Equus africanus) still live today in this African region. The common donkey is sometimes seen as a subspecies of these African donkeys or as an independent species closely related to it (in which case its “scientific” name would be Equus asinus). According to the team, led by French researchers, the donkey was domesticated in this context, and then began to spread throughout the rest of Eurasia, already as a domestic animal about 4,500 years ago, that is, about 2 and a half millennia after being domesticated. The genetic study has not only pointed out the unique origin of this species, but It has also “advanced” the date of domestication by about four centuries. The domestication of the donkey would have made sense in its spatiotemporal context. About 7,000 years ago the Sahara environment witnessed an aridification process that led the desert to expand. The donkeys they had an advantage Compared to other equids, they are more resistant to lack of water, which could have made them ideal for use as an aid in transportation or agricultural work. For their analysis, the international team of researchers analyzed samples of 207 modern donkeys from 31 countries, as well as remains of skeletons of 31 other donkeys who lived in the last 4,500 years. They also used genetic information from other equids to expand the study. The work of the researchers was published in the journal Science. The variety and the mules The study also offers us some curious stories about this animal. For example, genetic analysis of Roman-era remains found in France tells the story of a generation of giant donkeys (up to 25 centimeters larger than the average modern donkey). The Romans They didn’t raise these donkeys colossal for their direct use, but because mules (crosses between male donkeys and horse mares) were of great use to them. The Romans took advantage of an animal that combined part of the robustness of donkeys with the ability to travel long distances more typical of horses. After the fall of the Roman Empire, mules once again gave way to donkeys since economies had become more local, so it was not necessary to use them to transport large loads along the popular Roman road network. The donkey is perhaps the most maligned of domestic animals. Despite having played a key role in human development over the past four millennia, the donkey is often seen as synonymous with stupidity or clumsiness. Such is the point that the donkey has become a threatened species in places like Spain or Mexico. For better or worse, the donkey continues to form part of our cultural heritagefrom the donkey with which Sancho Panza accompanied Don Quixote to that of Friar Perico. Now, thanks to science, we know a little more about the history of what could be the least popular cousin of the equine family. In Xataka | The Iberian lynx is reconquering Spain and that is good news. The challenge now is to understand why In Xataka | Science had always believed that only humans understand geometry. Until we noticed the crows again Image | Ansgar Scheffold

This is how Russia has become the great winner of the Hormuz crisis

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On Thursday evening, March 12, the Swedish Coast Guard boarded the tanker Sea Owl I south of Trelleborg, off the coast of Sweden. The next day, the authorities They arrested their captainof Russian nationality, and on Sunday a court ordered his formal arrest for using allegedly false documents to operate the ship. This 228-meter-long ship sails under suspicion of using a false flag, in this case from Comoros, and is on the European Union sanctions list. As explained The Moscow TimesAlthough the ship, which set sail from Brazil, claimed to be heading to Estonia, the Swedish Coast Guard believes its actual destination was the Russian port of Primorsk. This is one more link in the “shadow fleet” that Moscow uses to evade sanctions. In fact, just a few days before, Sweden had seized another ship, the cargo ship Caffasuspected of transporting stolen Ukrainian grain. A lethal bottleneck. But while the West tightens the noose in the icy Baltic, the true collapse looms in the south. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, turned into an impassable “digital fog” by the war between the United States, Israel and Iran, has suffocated the world energy market. According to The New York TimesIndia—highly dependent on imports from the Middle East—had been in agony for months after Donald Trump’s administration imposed punitive tariffs to force it to stop buying Russian crude. Without quick access to crude oil from the Persian Gulf and with the US ban on Moscow, the Asian giant was looking into the abyss. Indian state refineries were forced to close entire processing units due to the simple physical shortage of oil. Washington’s retreat. Faced with Iran’s direct threat to shoot up the barrel of Brent at 200 dollarsthe United States has had no choice but to give in. The US Treasury Department has issued a temporary emergency waiver. This license, valid for 30 days, allows India and other countries to buy Russian oil stranded at sea. Although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent justified the measure by stating that it seeks to stabilize world prices and that it will not bring “significant financial benefits” to the Kremlin, the reality of the markets dictates a very different ruling. Russia makes money (and legally). Indeed, the main beneficiary of this crisis is the Kremlin, and it is also doing so completely legally in the eyes of Washington. According to data from Argus Media collected by Bloomberg, Prices for Russian Ural crude oil delivered to India’s west coast have hit a record high of $98.93 per barrel. This historic rebound has occurred precisely after the United States expanded its permission to buy Russian crude oil in the midst of the upward spiral caused by the war in the Middle East. The humiliating discount that Russia was forced to apply has vanished, reducing it to just $4.80 per barrel compared to the global Brent index. At the diplomatic level, Moscow also gains muscle. According to the Anadolu Agencythe foreign ministers of Russia and India are already talking to use alternative forums to the West, such as the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), to mediate the de-escalation of the Middle East. The great irony of international sanctions. On the one hand, Sweden spends police resources raiding Russian ghost ships in the frigid Baltic Sea. On the other hand, offices in Washington are forced to urgently legalize the purchase of crude oil from Moscow to avoid the economic collapse of India and a global recession. In the end, geopolitics always ends up surrendering to the laws of thermodynamics and infrastructure: the world needs physical energy and, faced with the closure of Hormuz, the West has had to swallow and pay in gold price for the oil of the same country it was trying to suffocate. Image | Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash Xataka | The big winner of the Hormuz blockade is the country that the West has tried to suffocate for years: Russia

Sam Altman has had another great idea to finally charge the user all the money he needs: a receipt at the end of the month

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We are used to pay the electricity bill or water because they have become basic and totally universal goods. Well, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is clear that artificial intelligence will be exactly that: a commoditya basic and totally universal good. This implies, of course, that there will come a time when, just as we pay the electricity or water bill, we will pay the monthly AI bill. Paying for AI will be an everyday thing. Altman recently participated in an event in Washington DC and there raised an idea that has been around for a long time but is certainly gaining more and more strength: that AI will offer like electricity or water, on demand: as soon as you need it, it will be there for you. That, of course, will mean that just as we now pay for our electricity or water use, we will also pay for the AI ​​supply that we use. And we will do it at the end of the month with the traditional method: an invoice from our supplier. In Xataka The most powerful AI agent in the world has just arrived: the first thing it does is warn you that it is dangerous From consuming kW to consuming tokens. Thus, instead of paying fixed subscriptions as we usually do now when contracting ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro, for example, what we will do is pay that monthly bill. The amount we will pay will be based on how many “tokens“(processing units) we have consumed to solve all types of tasks. We have power plants, we will have data centers. To Altman this speech fits like a glovebecause it justifies its AI data center megaprojects —and those of the rest of the industry—. If AI is to become that universal basic resource, we will have to have the infrastructure (the “AI power plants”) to sustain it. Without such infrastructure, Altman warns, the price of “intelligence” will skyrocket, turning it into an exclusive privilege for the richest or a resource rationed by governments. Compute Yottaflops. That race for infrastructure has already begun, and big technology companies are fueling it. The reason is simple: either they enter that maelstrom or they risk being left out if the AI ​​revolution actually becomes a reality. Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, explained in her opening talk at CES 2026 that the world will need more than “10 yottaflops” of computing – 10,000 times more than the existing AI capacity in 2022 – in the next five years to be able to meet the demand posed by this massive use of AI. Chips missing… and a lot of energy. The real obstacle to achieving such computing capacity not only lies in the chips – the memory crisis is a side effect of this – but also in energy. data centers they consume a lotwhich makes national electrical networks can finish not having sufficient capacity to supply said energy. OpenAI will not stop spending. Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, explained in December that their projects, no matter how gigantic they may seem, will go further. Although the company has already committed to investing $1.4 trillion with its partners in data centers over the next eight years, OpenAI wants to “get ahead of the future, but I don’t think we can be, no matter how ambitious we want to dream of being right now.” That is to say, he believes that all his estimates and projects may end up being dwarfed by the true scale to which AI can reach. {“videoId”:”xa1wtpm”,”autoplay”:false,”title”:”Perplexity, Personal Computer”, “tag”:””, “duration”:”88″} Big Tech wants to bill you at the end of the month. Turn AI into a commodity For it to reach all homes would be an absolute triumph for the companies that are investing in it. The tech industry has not managed to direct its costs to the user other than in things like our internet connection or, at most, in our spending on streaming services —similar to current AI plans—. If it achieves that bill at the end of the month that hundreds (perhaps thousands) of millions of people would also pay, AI would become an extraordinary income machine. In Xataka | OpenClaw changed the rules of the AI ​​race. Technology companies already have their answer: copy it (function() { window._JS_MODULES = window._JS_MODULES || {}; var headElement = document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)(0); if (_JS_MODULES.instagram) { var instagramScript = document.createElement(‘script’); instagramScript.src=”https://platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js”; instagramScript.async = true; instagramScript.defer = true; headElement.appendChild(instagramScript); – The news Sam Altman has had another great idea to finally charge the user all the money he needs: a receipt at the end of the month was originally published in Xataka by Javier Pastor .

We thought that the great challenge of veganism was vitamin B12. A study suggests that social relationships are

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Whatever there is taken the step to veganismfor whatever reasons, knows that the most difficult thing is not to give up cheese or meat, but to face Christmas dinner with the family or the Sunday barbecue with friends, since food is an event with a great social component. In this way, when someone decides to radically change consumption habits in a predominantly omnivorous worldnot only changes the plate, but also social relations. Now science has determined the tactics these people develop in order to survive social frictions. The data. The study, published in September 2025is not limited to conducting a survey among vegan people to analyze the impact on their social relationships. What they did was exhaustive field work between 2017 and 2022, combining in-depth interviews, observation and netnography, which is the analysis of the behavior of online communities. where debates arise about it. The goal here was none other than to understand exactly where and how everyday interactions are “broken.” And above all how they tried to compensate in an almost innate way. Social fractures. The researchers here identified that tensions in a social relationship do not arise from a simple difference of opinion about the most ethical diet, but from what they have called “relational fractures”, which are divided into three very clear areas: Co-execution: The simple act of cooking with another person, such as a partner, or sharing a meal becomes logistically complex. What was once a fluid ritual now requires planning, separate pans, and constant negotiation to arrive at a common dish. Co-learning: Family traditions, like inheriting grandma’s secret meatball recipe, are short-circuited. This means that the exchange of culinary knowledge between omnivores and vegans often comes to a standstill. Activities that may be everyday activities, such as going shopping or choosing a restaurant with other people, become logistical minefields where one has to balance one’s ethical needs with the preferences of others to choose, for example, a restaurant with a menu that suits everyone. Survival kit. So, if relationships fracture, how do vegans avoid becoming isolated? The researchers here discovered that, to maintain social peace and navigate these turbulent waters, vegans develop four specific “relational competencies” that sometimes appear without them realizing it, which we see below. Decoding. This is the ability to “analyze,” meaning vegans learn to anticipate how others will react to their diet and evaluate whether the environment is safe, hostile, or simply curious. Depending on the impression you have, your behavior will adapt to the environment by being more or less open with the topic. Disengagement. The second pillar is to deliberately separate food from social interaction, as it means that one will eat their vegan plate while another eats animal products, prioritizing company and conversation over dietary friction. Chameleon effect. The third adaptation consists of integrating so as not to attract attention in the group. This may mean, for example, bringing food from home to a social gathering or ordering a basic salad at a steakhouse without comment, all to prevent veganism from becoming the central topic of conversation of the evening. Abandonment. The last adaptation that has been detected in some vegans is where they directly give up different shared plans, such as stopping going to certain restaurants or social events. Even, in extreme cases, a distancing has been detected in an interpersonal relationship, since it becomes toxic due to the tensions that are generated. It is not born from nothing. One of the researchers has been exploring “morality in markets” for years and this led her to talk about indigenous and animal consumption practices. In this way, veganism is something that has been scrutinized for a long time in different studiessince it is not just about choosing what to eat, but it is an ethical stance that the omnivorous environment often perceives as a challenge to its own social and cultural customs. The big conclusion that can be drawn from all this is that the transition to a plant-based diet does not only require learning to read nutritional labels or discovering new recipes, but also requires a profound social and emotional re-education.. The long-term success of a vegan lifestyle depends as much on resilience at the supermarket as it does diplomacy at the dining table. Images | Anna Pelzer Xataka | Protein powder has become the star accessory of modern wellness. Nutritionists have something to say

Participate in our raffle and get two double Experience VIP tickets for the great technology event in Seville

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In just a few days (March 19 and 20) the first edition of CTx Tech in Seville, a great technology, innovation and talent event with more than 400 hours of content that will welcome more than 15,000 attendees. Xataka is the official Media Partner of the event and, to celebrate, we are going to raffle two double Experience VIP tickets for two people and their respective companions. These tickets, valued at 180 euros each, will allow you to make the most of the event and access everything, from the themed hubs to the VIP terrace, including premium and exclusive areas. To be precise, this is all it includes: Full access to the venue during both days. Innovation HUB (thematic agoras, tech, entrepreneurship and innovation). Public & Social HUB (Auditorium of institutional contents). ADA Auditorium with great speakers and star content. General networking within the CTx ecosystem. Access to Investment Hub Thematic Auditorium (investment, AI, tech). VIP terrace with exclusive service. Premium visibility area to the ADA Auditorium. High-level networking with strategic profiles. As is obvious, it is a great opportunity for both technology lovers, entrepreneurs and professionals. And to add something else, on March 19 at 8:40 p.m. in the ADA Auditorium you can attend, if you wish, the live recording of a special program of Infinite Loop with Javier Lacort and Antonio Ortiz, founder of Xataka and co-presenter of Stochastic Monkeys. How to get two double VIP tickets for CTx Tech Image | CTx Tech Participating in the raffle is extremely simple: you simply have to sign up at this form by entering your name, surname and email. It is important to verify that it is written correctly, since it will be that email that we write to in the event of winning. The deadline to participate will end next Tuesday, March 17, at 9:00 Spanish peninsular time. The winners will be chosen at random through EasyPromos, they will receive an email informing them that they have won and must confirm their attendance within 24 hours. If they do not confirm attendance within this period, the tickets will be distributed to the substitutes also chosen at random. To win, in addition to registering correctly on the draw website, you must be of legal age and resident in Spain. There is no geographical limitationso residents of the peninsula, the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla will be eligible for tickets. It should be noted that the prize is two double VIP Experience tickets, but travel, accommodation and per diem expenses are not included. That will be in the hands of the attendees. For more details about the procedure you can consult the legal bases of the draw. Images | CTx Tech More information and registration | CTx Tech

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