leave

for Mark Zuckerberg to leave California

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Jeff Bezos is not going to be the only technology mogul patrolling the warm waters from Florida with his imposing superyacht. Everything indicates that Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are preparing to change zip codes and move to Miami from California, as published The Wall Street Journal. The founder of Facebook could have found a mansion on the exclusive artificial island Billionaire Bunkerwhere you will have Jeff Bezos, Tom Brady or Ivanka Trump or Julio Iglesias as neighbors. Like other millionaires settled in California, Zuckerberg is not moving for the climate or the views, but rather he is doing so in the midst of the debate over new wealth taxes on West Coast millionaires. The Zuckerberg family packs its bags. According what was published by BloombergMark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are in the process of purchasing an oceanfront mansion in Indian Creek, off the coast of Miami, for an estimated price between $150 and $200 million. The operation is considered one of the most expensive in the history of Miami-Dade County, despite the exclusive nature and privacy of Indian Creek, means that the few mansions that come on the market in that location reach prices well above the average. Sources of The Wall Street Journal they assure that the mansion that Mark Zuckerberg would be negotiating for is recently completed, on a plot that is almost one hectare of land and access from the sea. The “billionaire bunker”. Indian Creek is an artificial island in Biscayne Bay, off Miami, that was conceived almost as a residential bunker (hence its nickname “Billionaire bunker”) with a single road that connects it to the rest of the keys. The island is divided into about fifty plots facing the sea, located around a large golf course. The extreme security and level of discretion offered to its residents, far above that of a conventional gated community, make Indian Creek a perfect place for the privacy of large fortunes. Among the residents already settled on the island are figures like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who own a beachfront plot for which they paid about $32 million, while others like Tom Brady or Carl Icahn reinforce the idea that this is less of a neighborhood and more of a private club for the ultra-rich. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg’s mansion is very close to the two adjoining mansions that Jeff Bezos bought, and that now is reforming to join them. California squeezes the ultra-rich, Florida rubs its hands. Rumors of Zuckerberg’s move to Miami come while an initiative to apply a single 5% wealth tax net of those who exceed 1,000 million dollars. This measure would affect to about 200 billionaires who live in that state. Most of these great fortunes are from the sphere of Silicon Valley and big technology, although some of these millionaires, like Jensen Huang, have assured have no problem paying more taxes. Several billionaires, including Peter Thiel or Larry Pagehave already abandoned California due to the threat of this tax. He California exodus to other states with more lax fiscal policies is not something new. Figures like Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk already changed zip code more than a year ago, establishing their new residence in Florida and Texas respectively. In Xataka | Zuckerberg’s neighbors are fed up with him. The last straw: he set up an illegal private school in his mansion Image | Goal

its 1,500 residents forced to leave the town due to the arrival of new rains

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The municipality of Grazalema in Cádiz without a doubt Leonardo is bearing the brunt of the storm As we have seen in numerous images where water can be seen in the streets, in houses or even coming out of power outlets. Given all this, the situation has reached a completely unsustainable point, so the authorities They have ordered the complete evacuation of the municipality. Heavy rainfall. This decision comes after receiving this Wednesday the town almost 600 liters of water per square meter surpassing all previous records. This large amount of rainfall has formed a symbiosis with the many liters that had fallen in the previous days and weeks, which has made the situation completely unsustainable. The problem is precisely what may come in the coming days. The AEMET has already alerted that this same Saturday the Grazalema region will be on orange alert due to rainfall that will once again reach tens of liters. Something that has activated all the machinery to relocate citizens while the weather situation returns to normal. Its magnitude. It is not an easy task, since we are talking about a town with nearly 1,600 residents who will now have to move to another point to guarantee their safety. Just as they collect local mediait was the president of the Andalusian Government himself who has announced this measure in an appearance with the mayor of Grazalema due to the absolutely anomalous situation that the town is experiencing. The main focus of concern is placed above all on the geological state of the municipality, and especially on its aquifer. Earth movements. The main danger that the municipality’s aquifer is full of water is that it begins to exert pressure on the terrain itself. This translates into ground movements with structural damage that would affect homes or the streets themselves. How will it be done? Although this evacuation will take place during the day and with weather conditions that are currently more favorable than those experienced yesterday, moving so many people is not easy. For now, the authorities have indicated that residents who can travel with their own means to Ronda, where they can be welcomed in a pavilion managed by the Red Cross. Although it is also possible that some neighbors move to the homes of relatives or acquaintances. In any case, having time ahead will ensure that this evacuation is done in an orderly manner and in areas such as the president himself points out of the Andalusian Government. Something that they point out must be kept in mind is serenity at this time so that chaos does not spread. It is an obligation. The evacuation of the municipality is not voluntary at all, but is mandatory for all resident neighbors who must leave the municipality following the instructions. In this way, tonight no one will be able to sleep in Grazalema without a clear date to return. Other evictions. Throughout these days we have seen how in different parts of Andalusia evacuations have had to be carried outsuch as in Dúdar (Granada). Although an evacuation of a municipality of considerable size with more than 1,000 inhabitants, the truth is that there are few precedents that we can have in mind right now. Images | Rob In Xataka | MAs water gushes from the ground in Grazalema, Andalusia’s last resort against flooding is already underway: the reservoirs

The Ministry of Labor wants death leave to be extended to 10 days. Obstacle: Congress

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The Ministry of Labor plans to approve by royal decree law the extension of leave for the death of family members up to 10 days. Although the formula would allow its entry into force immediately after the Council of Ministers, there is a risk that the measure will end up being overturned later in Congress. Just like share El País, the Secretary of State for Labor, Joaquín Pérez Rey, confirmed this Tuesday that “the intention would be for the rule approving leave for bereavement and death to be an urgent rule” and that his “predisposition is to do so through a royal decree law shortly.” The Government’s strategy. By processing the norm as a decree law instead of as an ordinary draft law, the ministry led by Yolanda Díaz seeks to ensure that the extension of permits is applied immediately, without waiting to complete the entire parliamentary procedure. That would make the measure come into force the day after its publication in the BOE, although it then requires validation by Congress within a maximum period of one month. According to account In the middle, during that period, workers who suffer a family death could now access extended leave. Agreement. Job agreed with CCOO and UGT On December 15, the paid leave for the death of a spouse, common-law partner or relatives up to the second degree (parents, children, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren) was extended from the current two days (extendable to four in the event of displacement) up to 10 days. These could be used continuously or discontinuously within four weeks after death. Furthermore, just as share El País, the agreement includes a new 15-day permit for palliative care, divisible into two fractions over a period of three months, and one day of leave to accompany someone who is going to receive euthanasia, regardless of family ties. Rejection. The employers’ association CEOE and Cepyme have opposed the proposal because they consider that “it represents a new attempt to transfer to companies the cost and responsibility of public policies on care that corresponds to the Administration,” as they indicated in a statement. The lack of consensus in social dialogue marks the position of the PP, which has already announced its vote against following its criterion of rejecting labor measures that do not have the joint support of unions and employers. Key vote in the air. Parliamentary arithmetic turns Junts and PNV into decisive pieces in approving or not the measure. Just like they point From El País, the Catalan nationalists have already joined together with PP and Vox to overturn the reduction in working hours and have maintained very critical positions with other proposals rejected by unions and employers, such as the increase in the self-employed quota. For the measure to be approved, the Executive would need the support of the entire left plus the support of Junts and PNV, or at least the yes of one and the abstention of the other. Comparisons with Europe. Labor has been highlighting Spain’s delay compared to neighboring countries in regards to death leave. From the middle they point out that Portugal extended the paid leave for the death of a spouse in 2023 to 20 days, equal to that of children, while in France 12 working days are granted for the death of children and 14 if the deceased is under 25 years of age. According to the ministry, the current two days in Spain are insufficient to face a duel. A controversial vote. The decision to take the measure through a decree law responds to a clear intention to make it difficult for the opposition to reject it, since it is a measure of high social sensitivity. “suffering from the death of a son or daughter” is “not a question of the right or the left,” counted Pérez Rey in the middle. Cover image | Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | Deepfakes are much more than a bad joke. Now the Government wants them to be a violation of the right to honor

up to four days of leave

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The derailment of an Iryo high-speed train and the alleged collision with an Alvia train that was traveling on the adjacent track has caused one of the most tragic railway accidents reminiscent of the Spanish railway system. The accident caused train circulation between Madrid and Andalusia to be instantly interrupted, leaving thousands of passengers. no options to return to their places of residence and without being able to return to work today. In this context, the UGT delegation in Andalusia has remembered from their social networks to companies and employees that this circumstance is among the assumptions contemplated by paid leave of up to four days due to “force majeure causes”, as previously happened before the DANA of Valencia. No rail traffic between Madrid and Andalusia. The accident occurred in the municipality of Adamuz (Córdoba), causing the suspension of railway traffic between Madrid and Andalusia, and without a clear date for the reopening of the service, given that rescue tasks and investigation of the event are still being carried out. The closure of train circulation has caused many employees to see how their trains suffered cancellations and they were trapped in their destinies without option to return to their homes and without a clear transportation alternative. Four-day paid leave. As a result of this total interruption of service, UGT has reminded through their social networks that he article 37.3 g of the Workers’ Statuterecognizes up to “four days for inability to access the workplace or travel through the necessary traffic routes to get there, as a consequence of the recommendations, limitations or prohibitions on movement established by the competent authorities.” This situation includes both those who regularly travel from Madrid to Andalusia by train and those who depend on transfers or connections affected by the closure of the line, provided that the mobility problem is a direct consequence of the incident and the decisions of the competent authorities. According to the union, this situation, which has left thousands of workers trapped in a community other than their own and without the immediate possibility of return, could benefit from this paid leave, provided that the company has been previously notified of the situation. Teleworking options. The measure contemplates in these cases the possibility of opting for alternatives such as teleworking until the causative event is normalized, as long as the affected employee has the possibility or option to carry it out. That is, your position allows it and you have the necessary technical means to telework until you find an alternative to return since you still no alternatives have been enabled and services such as rental cars They are saturated. The background of DANA. The measure was initially approved in response to natural disasters such as the one that devastated different towns in Valencia, Albacete and Málaga on October 29, 2024, but its application can be expanded beyond natural phenomena and also applied to accidents such as the one that occurred in Adamuz, which has disabled rail traffic between not only the line that connects Madrid with Seville with High Speed, but also with other branches to Málaga and Huelva. In Xataka | Thousands of employees cannot go to work after DANA. We already know how the Government is going to help them. Image | Flickr (Luis Fernando Franco Jimenez)

Barcelona believes it has a night security problem. So you’re going to leave the Christmas lights on all year long

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Vigo risks losing his position as “city of lights” (from Spain). Although the Galician City Council usually displays its Christmas decorations already in July and boasts every year of the millions and millions of LEDs that adorn its streets for almost two months, from November to January, there is another city that is about to raise the stakes: Barcelona. There the Consistory has decided maintain part of the lighting for the festivities Old City during the remainder of winter. Their reasons actually have little to do with Christmas. Lights, lights and more lights. Christmas may be over, but in Spain it is becoming common for us to talk about its lights for months and months. In Vigo they do it because the City Council begins to hang them in the middle of Julywith the thermometer flirting with 30º and the city full of tourists in shorts and flip-flops. Now they will do it too in Barcelonaalthough for other reasons. What do they want to do there? The news I advanced it on Monday The Vanguard: Barcelona is finalizing a plan to improve the lighting of some of the narrowest (and darkest) streets of Ciutat Vella, taking advantage of part of the decoration that was installed there this Christmas. That is to say, in the absence of traditional streetlights, garlands strung between facades are good. Although Jaume Collboni’s team has not yet revealed the details of the initiative, the idea does seem clear: it is not so much about neighbors, merchants and tourists continuing to walk for months under decorations of Santa Clauses, Three Wise Men and Christmas trees, but rather about maintaining the most ‘timeless’ designs. Walking under light bulbs. The key is therefore to take advantage of decoration that does not clash with the rest of the winter. To reinforce it, the municipal government also proposes maintaining the garlands that the merchants themselves have placed. In the Gòtic there are businesses that have been hanging decorative lights on their own, although as these were private initiatives they encountered challenges such as the passage of garbage trucks or some parades. Where, when and how. While waiting for the City Council to provide more details about where, when and how the initiative will be deployed, The Vanguard has advanced some keys: the measure will focus on points in Ciutat Vella, Gótic and Sant Pere streets, Santa Caterina and Ribera that aspire to improve their lighting. Regarding the calendar, councilor Albert Batlle explains that the Consistory proposes keeping the lights for several months: “The will is that the measure be implemented, now and in the future, during the winter time period, approximately between the last weekend of October and the last weekend of March.” Two keys: trade and security. Batlle too confirm that the measure pursues two objectives: to favor the businesses and residents of the area and to put an end to alleys in which pickpockets find refuge. “We want to improve the lighting of some small streets in Gòtic and Sant Pere, Santa Caterina and la Ribera to promote commercial, cultural and social revitalization, and also to improve the feeling of security, especially on days with fewer hours of daylight,” he adds. “We are working on the formula to enhance this network.” “They give them more qualms”. The measure appears to have had good reception among the businesses in the area, which even proposed expanding the list of roads that were initially going to benefit from the lights. “If the streets are more illuminated, walking becomes safer and commerce will benefit,” recognize to The Newspaper David González, from the Via Laietana Merchants Association. Proof of how convincing the measure is is that at the time some businessmen from Born they already started to hang garlands at your own risk. “People go along Paseo del Born very happy because the promenade and the streets are usually well lit. But the dark alleys make them hesitant.” The idea has also been found with detractors who consider it a patch. But… Does it work? Although he has achieved reduce your crimeBarcelona usually appears in the area highest of the rankings about the cities insecure from Spain. The key is whether more public lighting will translate into greater real safety, a question that has generated debate in recent years. What they do seem to confirm cases like that of Vigo is that a good commitment to street lighting (even if it is seasonal) serves to attract thousands of visitors. Images | Barcelona City Council (X) and Núria (Flickr) In Xataka | The upper area of ​​Barcelona no longer interests the rich: the Eixample has become fashionable and its neighbors tremble because of the prices

Science has investigated why we bite our nails or leave everything until the last minute: “controlled explosions”

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Biting our nails until it hurts, bingeing on junk food after a stressful day either open TikTok just when we have to start workingit is not an irritating habit that we would like to erase from our daily lives. But the reality is that science is beginning to see these behaviors in a radically different way: as a protection strategy for the organism. The brain seeks survival. As pointed out by different experts such as clinical psychologist Charlie Heriot-Maitland, author of Controlled Explosions in Mental Healthour brain prefers to inflict controlled “microdamage” on itself rather than face a greater and unpredictable threat. And the premise from which affective neuroscience and evolutionary psychology start is forceful: our brain is not programmed for us to be happy, but it is programmed to seek survival. Which is precisely what we did thousands of years ago when we tried to hunt or flee from predators. Systems that are still very present in our genetics. A hypersensitive system. This threat detection system is hypersensitive today. In the modern world we do not have to flee from a predator, but criticism from the boss or the fear of failing in a project activates the same alarms that a predator in the savanna activated in our ancestors. And faced with this unbearable stress, the brain looks for an escape route that acts as a “safety valve.” This is what Heriot-Maitland calls “controlled explosions.” Nail biting. Why can something as absurd as biting your nails or picking your skin be “protective”? The key is predictability. And in a chaotic world and an emotional, abstract and difficult to manage threat, cause us a little physical damage (like biting a cuticle), causes the brain to divert attention towards a specific, real stimulus and, above all, under our control. In this way it works as a “costly signal”, since we prefer a small and known damage to cushion emotional pain that we perceive as potentially devastating. Procrastinating is not laziness. scientific literature speaks in this sense of the self-handicapping (self-limitation), which suggests that we put obstacles on ourselves to protect our self-esteem. This way, if you stop studying for an exam and fail, you can tell yourself, “I failed because I didn’t study.” It’s a small damage to your ego. However, if you study to the maximum and fail, the conclusion is much more painful: “I failed because I am not capable.” The brain prefers the narrative of lack of effort (microdamage) rather than facing the threat of incompetence that poses greater emotional damage to anyone. It is not exclusive to us. In nature, there are numerous social insects that resort to defensive self-immolation in order to save their colony, as we already saw. In our case, the mechanism is something like this: we sacrifice our current well-being, such as physical health, to reduce a perceived long-term risk. The problem is that this system is designed for life or death situations, not to manage the chronic stress of the 21st century. In this way, what began as a useful defense ends up becoming a self-defeating pattern that generates more anxiety than it relieves. How to avoid it. If we understand that modern nails or procrastination are defense mechanisms, the solution changes completely. In this way, modern therapies, such as Compassion Focused Therapy, They propose that the first step It is not fighting against the habit, but understanding the reason for its existence. The most important thing in this case is not to punish yourself, since self-criticism is perceived by the brain as other threatens more, which reinforces the need to resort to the destructive habit to calm down. In this way, if we generate security, the brain will not have the need to cause these “controlled explosions.” Images | Sander Sammy Tim Gouw In Xataka | Procrastination is one of the great temptations of the mind. There are techniques to avoid it, according to science

a storm that aims to leave Twelfth Night under snow

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The weather models are slowly beginning to give us a vision of what is going to happen in these first days of January, and the reality is that we are already looking forward to a Three Kings’ night. with really low temperatures and even snow cover. Something that responds to the arrival of the storm Francisan anticyclonic block at high latitudes and an outbreak of continental polar air. The clash of masses. For a heavy snowfall to occur on the Iberian Peninsula, it is not enough for it to be cold, but humidity is also needed. That is why the scenario they propose GFS models and ECMWF for this January 2026 it is, technically, textbook. All this because an anticyclone has been installed in northern Europe and arctic areas, which forces very cold air to move south, directly towards Spain. While this cold settles on the peninsula, we must not forget about the storm Francis that enters from the southwest loaded with humidity. And when Francis’ humidity collides with the “wall” of frigid air already over the peninsula, a so-called “mass clash” occurs. This is where it turns into snow generally at very low levels. The AEMET. In his special prediction For these important dates, the meteorology agency indicates that this Friday the 2nd the rains will reach the Canary Islands and to the west of the peninsula. But it will be on January 3 when rainfall will be very abundant in western Andalusia, with snowfall at low levels in the north. But the truly interesting thing is between Sunday, January 4 and Tuesday, January 6, Three Kings’ Day, where heavy and persistent rains are expected in the south and east of the Peninsula. The highlight may be the snowfall in the eastern and central part of the peninsula, which the AEMET points out that can be important with a large drop in temperatures. Arrival of unusual snowfall. The “postcard” of Three Kings with snow is plausible in a good part of the country, although highly conditioned by the orography and some details of Francis’ career. In the south, for example, AEMET and local media report a drop in the snow level of up to 400 m in provinces like Granada either Malagawith minimums below 5 °C in capitals and negative values ​​in the interior, which opens the door to snowfall in areas where they are uncommon. In the center and east of the peninsula, the coldest scenarios place the level around 400–500 meters during January 4 and 5 and snow at medium or low levels in the southeastern quadrant, eastern Iberia, the east of the southern plateau or the Baetics; In the north and northwest, the posterior maritime polar mass keeps the snow in the mountains and could leave significant accumulations in systems such as the Montes de León. The American GFS model has come to propose for the Three Kings Day environment snow accumulations of more than 30 cm in the province of Toledo and greater than 40 cm in areas of Teruel, in a scenario of very extensive snowfall that inevitably reminds us of Filomena. A new Philomena? It’s an almost obligatory question. with the arrival of this storm, and although there are voices that affirm that we are going to face that, experts ask for caution to see how the predictions develop as the days go by. And the difference between a historic snowfall and an episode of cold rain depends on just a few kilometers in Francis’ trajectory. In this way, if the storm drops in latitude, cold air will dominate and snow could cover Madrid, the center of the peninsula or Granada. But if the storm moves north, the warm mass would win the battles and the snow would be restricted to mountain areas and medium elevations. Everything will depend on how the prediction develops in the coming days. The danger for horseback riding. With this forecast that we have on the table right now, the truth is that the cavalcades may have problems making their usual routes. Although it must be taken into account that these forecasts may change, not being truly 100% reliable until a few days before these dates arrive. After Three Kings Day. Once these dates pass, temperatures will begin to increase substantially. This way, starting January 6th Precipitation is expected to begin to lose intensity and extent in the southern areas, although it could still be locally strong in the Strait, while snowfall remains in the more mountainous areas. Images | AEMET In Xataka | La Niña is going to be meteorologically “less intense” than we expected. And that actually hides a problem.

Getting a manicure while she was on sick leave almost cost her her job. He was saved by a detective who didn’t know how to do his job.

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Companies increasingly make use of the services of private detectives to investigate whether their employees really They are on sick leave or they are faking itwhich would be reason enough to a disciplinary dismissal. According to the detectives themselves, the companies that use their services do so because they previously They already have signs that there is fraud, which is why the majority of cases that are investigated agree with the companies that hire them and end up in disciplinary dismissal. However, in some cases, the way that evidence is obtained is the key to the success of the case. This is what happened to the employee of a beauty center in Barcelona. Despite being able to prove that there had been fraud, a sentence The Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia declared the dismissal null and void and forced the company to compensate its employee. Medical leave and dismissal. The employee at the beauty center went to the doctor because of pain in her left hand and back, and they gave her the temporary disability leavewith rest and rehabilitation to recover. While she was still on sick leave, the company began to suspect that perhaps she was not that sick and decided to hire a private detective to check what she was doing outside of work. The detective prepared a report in which he noted that the worker had performed a manicure service for which she had charged 35 euros in cash while she was still on sick leave. With that report as a key piece in its argument, the company fired her via disciplinary dismissal, alleging that she had broken trust and that she was taking advantage of her leave to work on her own. In your dismissal letter you could read: “(…) you summoned, and performed a manicure treatment on, a person who was accompanied by said company (of detectives), at the aforementioned address, and charged this person in cash 35 euros for the service performed. The company has sufficient evidence, images and videos that confirm the regularity of these events.” What the court decides. The worker appealed the dismissal because she understood that it was unfair and was based on evidence obtained illegally. In the first instance, the Social Court No. 1 of Barcelona agreed with the company and declared that the dismissal was appropriate, and assigned the employee to collect 771.15 euros for untaken vacations plus 10% late payment interest. But did not recognize compensation some. The story changed when the case reached the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJCAT), when the worker appealed that first sentence. The Social Court reviewed how the detective’s evidence had been obtained and concluded that it was invalid because it had been obtained by inducing the situation. That is to say, something that was already happening had not been observed, but rather the opportunity had been created for the employee to do that manicure. What Detectives Can and Can’t Do. The case puts on the table what private detectives can do when investigating a person on sick leave and what lines they cannot cross. From Sentinel Private Detectivesremember that the law “prohibits them from taking images or evidence of events that occur in the intimate part of people’s lives. The garden is also considered an extension of the home,” so they cannot record there if it is a closed space. The investigation agency points out that their work should focus on “following and observing, without forcing situations,” and that their role is that of “mere observers of facts and behaviors.” Jordi Briñoldirector of Brininvest Detectiveshighlights that its activity is regulated by the Private Security Law and for the Civil Procedure Law, and that in cases of sick leave they can only act in “open spaces.” According to his explanation, “anything that happens in intimate spaces or that has what is called an expectation of privacy, we cannot access there”, and any monitoring must comply with what he calls “the triple judgment of proportionality”, that is, that the evidence is adequate, necessary and that it does not take longer than reasonable. The researcher clarifies that they can carry out actions under pretext (for example, making an appointment in a publicly announced consultation), but “we cannot provoke an unnatural response”, which fits with the idea that the person under investigation cannot be induced to commit the infraction. Why the detective’s evidence is useless. In this case, the court considers that the detective did not limit himself to looking from the outside at what the convalescent employee was doing as his regulations dictate, but that he intervened to make the behavior happen for which she was later punished. Along these lines, the ruling links with the doctrine of the Supreme Court that rejects evidence based on provocation, and remembers that situations cannot be fabricated and then used as an excuse to fire. By removing the detective’s report from the case, the company’s entire argument collapsed, so the Court understands that the true reason for dismissal is that the worker I was on medical leavesomething that Law 15/2022 prohibits using illness as a reason to dismiss a person because it represents discrimination due to illness. For this reason, the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia declares the dismissal void, orders that the company reinstate the employee, pay her all the salaries that she stopped receiving during the time that the judicial process lasted and pay her 7,501 euros for moral damages, in addition to 600 euros in defense fees. In Xataka | Social Security has published the data on sick leave in 2024 and we have bad news: we have broken a record Image | Unsplash (Behnaz Kh)

For decades rats devastated these Pacific islands. Now we’re finding out what happens when they leave

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Before we get to work I propose a game: open Google Earth, type “Bikar Atoll” either Jemo Island and let the search engine take you to those remote points lost in the middle of the Pacific. What do you see? Beaches with turquoise waters and white sand, leafy trees, nature in its purest form. The typical place that promises paradise on earth and where anyone would want to go for a week’s trip. The problem is that until recently both islands had a problem: they were rat infested that had turned their ecosystem upside down. Until recently. In a remote part of the Pacific… They are found Marshall Islandsan island republic located in the region of Micronesia, Oceania, famous for its paradisiacal images and dreamy sandy beaches. Among its string of islands there are two in particular that in recent months have caught the attention of environmentalists: Bikar Atoll and the Jemo Islandboth included in the Ratak island chain. The reason? After intense conservation work and a campaign that dates back to 2024, the two islands have seen their fauna and vegetation recover little by little. As an example, environmentalists they explain who have found a colony of hundreds of onychoprion fuscatus (sooty terns) with chicks in an area where until not so long ago there was not a single one. Not to mention the thousands of sprouts that have begun to appear on previously bare soil. An annoying (and voracious) stowaway. There is little mystery about this change. It is explained by a campaign launched last year and which focused the focus on the big problem that was devastating the ecosystems of Bikar and Jemo: rats. Although both islands have always stood out for their birds (when Spanish explorers discovered Jemo They nicknamed her ‘The Birds’‘), over time they ended up displaced by another animal with a voracious appetite: rodents that arrived hidden on board ships and fed on eggs and other local species, which drastically impacted the delicate island ecosystem. A date: 7/24. Things began to change in July 2024when Island Conservationtogether with the Marshallese Marine Resources Authority, launched an ambitious campaign to eliminate the invasive rats. With the help of a drone he launched baits throughout the islands, a meticulous task that led him to cover each hectare with around 25 kilos of a product designed especially for rodents without affecting the rest of the native species. Months later the team returned to Bikar and Jemo to assess the scope of the campaign. “As soon as you step onto the island, your senses are activated to the maximum: you look for the rats, you look for birds on the ground, look for any clue that indicates whether we have won or lost,” confesses Paul Jacquesdirector of Island Conservation to CNN. What he obtained during that visit was “a great revelation,” confirmation (confirmed with studies) that the plague had subsided. Change of terrain after the disappearance of the rats. Baby birds found on the island. “Drastic transformation”. The quote is by Paul Jacques, who summarizes what they found on the islands: “A colony of 200 sooty terns where there were none before fed hundreds of chicks.” “We also counted thousands of seedlings of the native tree Pisonia grandis in just 60 supervised 12-meter plots in the forest. In 2024 we had not found any,” relates the person responsible for the project, who remembers that this regeneration is essential for the fauna that inhabits both islands. “Native forests are essential for nesting seabirds and crucial for carbon absorption and the ecological health of the island,” insist. When the rats disappeared, the turtles, crabs and birds were no longer harassed, which was soon reflected in the rest of the ecosystem. More birds translated into more guano, which in turn improved soil fertility, encouraging more native vegetation and reefs. And as a picture always says more than a thousand words, Island Conservation has taken care of document the change with a series of photos that show the before and after of the campaign. Far beyond Bikar and Jemo. Change is important for the islands, but from Island Conservation it is insisted in that the success of your campaign goes further. “This integrated approach offers enormous benefits for biodiversity, demonstrating how land and sea conservation, when strategically linked, can boost resilience and ecological impact.” The organization also recalls that the regeneration of the islands benefits neighboring island communities, such as the one located in Likipe, which have historically come to Jemo in search of natural resources. Without rats, they now find more crabs there and hope to achieve sustainable fishing. Images | Andrew Arch (Flickr)Google Earth and Island Conservation In Xataka | New York rats have become a pest that is impossible to eradicate. They have a secret: their own language

The only thing that Europe’s AI Law has achieved is to leave us lame. The question is whether turning back will do any good.

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December 8 was a fateful day for the European Union, but not many realized it. And it was because that day the AI ​​Act was passedthe European regulation on artificial intelligence. Thierry Breton, European commissioner, he was pleased with a tweet that automatically became a meme. I was bragging about how Europe had tripped itself up. The responses to that tweet They made it clear that the reception of the regulations was very different from what the EU would have expected. The criticism was forceful and very clear: with these regulations the only thing the EU was achieving was to slow down innovation and make it even more difficult to compete in a segment that was defining the world. While the US and China joined the party without asking permission and without asking for forgiveness, Europe stayed at home happily crocheting. That regulation, which came into force in August 2024instantly caused the AI ​​segment out at two speeds: that of Europe, almost at a standstill, and that of the rest of the world, which stepped on the accelerator (without looking too closely at the consequences). We have seen the consequences of that in the last two years. Europe has been relegated to the second (or third) plane, and with honorable exceptions like the Spanish Freepik or the French Mistral, we have very little to talk about in this area. Meanwhile, the US dominates the commercial plane and China is a steamroller both at a training level as in your open model development. Europe wants to turn back: the question is whether it is too late Yesterday the European Commission presented a project for simplify various digital regulationsand the most important modifications actually affect the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPRor GRPD for its acronym in English). The changes proposed by the Commission will make it easier for companies to share sets of anonymised and pseudo-anonymised personal data. That will have a direct impact on the capacity of AI companies, which They will be able to legally use personal data to train their data models as long as that process meets the rest of the GDPR requirements. The proposal also softens one of the key elements of the AI ​​Act, which, as we say, came into force in August 2024 but included several elements that would come into force some time later. Thus, now the “grace period” for the regulations that regulate the high risk AI systems —those that pose a “serious risk” to health, safety or fundamental rights—is widespread. It was supposed to be activated in summer 2016, but now that regulation will only apply when it is confirmed that “the necessary standards and supporting tools are available” for AI companies… whatever those standards and tools are, yet to be defined. Other amendments in that new Digital Omnibus include simplified requirements for the documentation required of SMEsin addition to a unified interface so that companies can report cybersecurity incidents. Henna Virkkunen, vice president of technological sovereignty at the European Commission, explained that: “In the EU we have all the ingredients to be successful. However, our businesses, especially startups and small businesses, are often held back by a set of rigid rules. By reducing bureaucracy, simplifying EU legislation, opening access to data and introducing a common European business portfolio, we are creating space for innovation to be produced and commercialized in Europe. This is being done the European way: by ensuring that users’ fundamental rights remain fully protected.” These amendments to current digital regulations will now have to be approved by the European Parliament and the 27 member states of the European Union — which will need a qualified majority— to approve it. That process could last months, and during it the proposals themselves could see notable changes before being applied. As indicated in The Guardianthis “massive setback” of this regulation has caused concern among groups fighting to continue protecting privacy of European citizens. The European Digital Rights (EDRi), a pan-European network of NGOs, Indian that if the changes to the regulation are accepted, it will become easier for technology companies to collect and use personal data to train AI models without asking for consent. The European agenda seemed to change when former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi warned last fall of how Europe had fallen worryingly behind in the technology race. That speech was a breath of fresh air for Europeand European business groups have welcomed the proposal with optimism, but believe that they still fall short. A representative of the Computer and Communications Industry Association of which Amazon, Apple, Google and Meta are members indicated that “efforts to simplify digital and technology regulations should not stop there.” One click for cookies This simplification of regulation that affects all types of digital scenarios can have a positive effect. Accepting or rejecting cookies has become a daily torture for millions of Europeansbut the user experience may improve significantly in the coming months. And it may get better because the EU has proposed a modernization of policies related to cookies. To try to improve the browsing experience, it will limit the number of times cookie warning banners appear, but also will make it possible for us to accept or reject cookies with a single click. In fact, the future may be even more promising, because what is intended is that said consent (or denial) of cookies is integrated into our browser so that once we configure it, the websites are not constantly asking us if we accept cookies or not: the browser will know what we want and will answer for us at all times. In that “digital package” it is specified that once we accept or reject cookies with that “single-click“, websites must respect that choice of citizens for six months. Image | Christian Lue In Xataka | For the EU, our privacy has always been more important than AI. Until he understood that he was left behind

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