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Anthropic was accused of stealing books to train its AI models. Their solution has been simple: pay

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A federal judge in San Francisco has given the final green light to the $1.5 billion agreement between Anthropic and a group of authors and publishers that They reported her for using her books without permission to train Claude. And after extracting millions of books from digital libraries without authorization, and from physical bookstores to scan and destroy en masse, everything has ended up being settled with money. What has happened? Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin definitively approved this Monday the agreement that Anthropic reached with the plaintiffs, as collect Reuters. The figure was already known since last year, when Judge William Alsup gave his preliminary approval, but this last step was missing for the money to begin to be distributed. How we got here. A group of writers sued Anthropic in 2024 accusing her of using copies of her books to train Claude without her consent. Judge Alsup ruled in June 2025 that training AI with copyrighted books falls under “fair use,” a decision that set an important precedent for the entire industry. The judge also clarified that, although training with those books was legal, Anthropic had broken the law by downloading more than 7 million copies from digital portals without authorization and storing them in a kind of internal library that was not necessarily intended for training, according to explains Reuters. That specific point was going to be decided in a separate trial, with compensation that could skyrocket to hundreds of billions of dollars. So to avoid this, Anthropic preferred to make an agreement. Between the lines. As we explained some time ago, the court documents that came to light revealed the real scope of the project, baptized “Panama”, and with which the company came to physically buy and scan millions of bookscutting their loins to digitize them and then recycling them. Before going this route, Anthropic employees, including its co-founder Ben Mann, had downloaded books directly from unauthorized repositories such as LibGen. The company has always maintained that this content was never used to train a business model, but it was precisely that part of the process that took it to court. How much and to whom. The distribution is made at a rate of about 3,000 dollars per work, out of an estimated total of 500,000 titles between authors and publishers, according to details TechCrunch. Aparna Sridhar, deputy general counsel at Anthropic, said in a statement that the company reached this agreement in 2025 after the ruling that recognized training with books as fair use, and added that more than 91% of the affected authors and publishers have already claimed their share of the payment. For his part, Justin Nelson, lead attorney for the plaintiffs, has called the settlement “historic” and has stated that it represents the largest copyright recovery ever achieved, according to collect also Reuters. Not everyone is satisfied. Some authors have raised objections, arguing that the amount was insufficient, benefiting plaintiff’s lawyers too much or unfairly leaving out certain rights holders. Judge Martinez-Olguin has rejected these arguments, considering that they did not realistically reflect the risks of having gone to trial, and approved fees of more than $101 million for the lawyers, below the $187.5 million they had requested. according to Reuters. Some authors and publishers directly opted out of the agreement and have their own lawsuits against Anthropic that are still ongoing. Why it is important. This closure does not resolve the underlying legal debate for the rest of the sector. And since it is an agreement and not an appealed ruling, Alsup’s decision on “legitimate use” will never reach an appeal court, so it does not constitute binding jurisprudence, as underlines TechCrunch. Each judge is free to interpret similar cases in their own way, and that is just what is happening with the lawsuits opened against Google, Meta, Midjourney and OpenAI for similar reasons. Cover image | Anthropic, edited by Xataka In Xataka | It took 15 years for computers to improve the productivity of companies. AI may take longer for one reason: sabotage

how it works and how to configure it to pay with it on your mobile

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Let’s tell you What is Bizum Pay and how does it work? This application created to be able to pay with Bizum in stores. The Spanish application arrives to compete with the American Visa, Mastercard, Apple or Google trying to take over our mobile payments. We will start by explaining what Bizum Pay exactly is and how it works, so that you know how to differentiate it from normal Bizum. Then, we will tell you how to install and configure the app on your mobile. Of course, I am already warning you that being able to configure it will depend on whether your bank has already implemented the service. What is Bizum Pay Bizum Pay is an application that works like Google Pay or Apple Pay, and is used to pay in card machines using your mobile. Thus, instead of carrying a physical card with which to pay, you can do so using your mobile phone, and with the extra layer of security provided by biometric identification, confirm the payment with your face or fingerprint. The operation of the application is the same as that of other paid apps. You launch it, and when you have unlocked it, you bring the mobile phone closer to the dataphone. Both will connect and you will make the payment. The difference between a normal Bizum and Bizum Pay is that the normal Bizum is made to send money to other people using your mobile number. Meanwhile, Bizum Pay is created to be used in card machines and pay in establishments, replacing your physical cards and other American payment apps. How Bizum Pay works There is a fundamental difference between Bizum Pay and other payment systems. You are not going to link a card but your bank account. All mobile payment applications work by linking a physical card to use from the device, but in Bizum Pay you use your account. Therefore, it is not a virtual card that you are going to use, but when you pay with this system you make an immediate transfer between accounts. The money leaves your bank account and goes to the establishment’s account configured in its contactless payment infrastructure. This makes sense, because Bizum itself is a service for making transfers directly from the bank account where you have set it up to someone else’s. The difference is that with Bizum Pay you no longer need to use phone numbers to send moneyand everything is done through the establishments’ dataphone. Bizum Pay also allows you to store tickets or passes, just like Apple Pay or Google Pay. Additionally, in the app you can see all the payments you have made, saving these “tickets” to consult them whenever you want. The Bizum system has the same security guarantees as the rest of the mobile payment options. You’ll have to unlock your device to pay, so it’s safer than paying with a card that others can use. Bizum currently has 39 participating banking entitiesamong them the most important banks in Spain, but also many neobanks. How to configure Bizum Pay To configure Bizum Pay, you have to download the application on your mobile. You have it available on Google Play for Android and in the App Store of iPhones. You install it like any other app. When you open the app for the first time, you will be taken to a screen where how it works is explained. You will have to slide, and in the end you will have to write the phone number to which you have Bizum linked. You know, that number that you configured in your bank app, and that is the one that your friends use to send you money through this system. This will take you to the activation of Bizum Pay in your bank’s appthe one where you have Bizum configured. When the bank app opens, you can confirm the activation of the payment app. Your bank may not yet support Bizum Pay. This will depend on each bank, and you may have to wait a few weeks until you can use the application. But the activation is as we have explained to you. When you activate Bizum Pay you will have to configure it as your default mobile payment app. The steps to follow depend on your mobile: On Android: Settings > Connected devices > NFC > Contactless payments On iOS: Settings > Apps > Default Apps > Contactless App If you get involved, use Android or use an iPhone, the best thing is use the settings search and search for terms such as “payments” or “contactless”, so that the option automatically appears. When you enter this screen you will have the mobile payment app that you usually use configured, and you will be able to change it to Bizum Pay, although only when you already have the app activated. In Xataka Basics | Bizum in 2026: everything that changes (and what does not) in transfers with this system

The intestine has a “Goldilocks zone.” And if we often defecate outside it, we must pay attention.

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Pooping is a thermometer of gut health. So much so that in Australia they encourage employees do your things at work. It is a moment that we can even take advantage to read or to do infinite scroll on mobile (even for share the site where we are pooping), but also one we should pay more attention to. The reason is that the time and frequency are details that say a lot about our long-term health. Cause or consequence? Over the years, different research has been carried out on the importance of defecation as such, but also on the ideal time to do itits frequency and the shape, size and texture that they should have the depositions. Studies have been carried out that linked the constipation with a higher risk of infections and diarrhea chronic with neurodegenerative diseases. However, these observations were made in subjects who already had a disease, so it was necessary to find out if the intestinal problem was a cause or a consequence. Since science is not done alone, a team from Institute for Systems Biology took the lead in answering that question. The study. In it studyresearchers Sean Gibbons and Johannes Johnson-Martinez analyzed the clinical, genetic, microbiological and lifestyle variables of 1,400 healthy adults. Something that the subjects had to detail was the frequency of bowel movements, which would be classified as follows: Once or twice a week – Constipation. Three to six times a week – Low frequency. One to three times a day – Normal frequency. More than three times a day – Diarrhea. “Goldilocks Zone”. Researchers found that people who reported eating a high-fiber diet, exercising regularly, and being well hydrated had good bowel movements. In a display of scientific humor, they baptized this “the Goldilocks zone,” which is a bowel movement frequency of between one and two bowel movements a day. That is the point at which, according to researchers, the balance between the microbiome and physiological markers is optimal. Therefore, the optimal frequency is between one and two times a day, but this is not always the case and when there is an imbalance that is when problems begin within us. Ideal stool shape: type 3 and 4 More serious than it seems. Johnson-Martinez comments that “if feces remain in the intestine for too long, microbes use up all the available dietary fiber, something they normally ferment to produce short-chain fatty acids that are beneficial for health. If this happens, the ecosystem changes and begins to ferment proteins, which generates various toxins that can reach the bloodstream.” Those byproducts of protein fermentation leaked into the bloodstream, such as p-cresol sulfate and indoxyl sulfate, pass to the kidneys, being associated with markers of worse kidney function… constipation. If, on the other hand, diarrhea occurs, the feces practically do not pass through the intestine, causing clinical parameters related to liver damage. That is to say: with constipation, the kidneys suffer. With diarrhea, the liver. Snitch. Gibbons comments that chronic constipation, which we have just seen what effects it produces, has been associated with neurodegenerative disorders and the chronic progression of kidney diseases. What remains is to define whether this abnormality in intestinal movement is an early warning of a chronic disease or organ damage. Now, the study also explores how this frequency of intestinal movement is also related to the anxiety and depressionrelating mental health to bowel movements. The researchers comment that it has been possible to link the frequency of bowel movements with all body systems and how it is something that can be a risk factor in the development of chronic diseases. Their hope is that medicine will take bowel movements seriously to “optimize health and well-being, even in healthy populations, based on bowel movement frequency.” And something interesting is that, if we do not have any problem, we should neither hold back the urge nor force it, because we artificially reduce and increase the time that the feces are in the intestine. Study the feces. There is an important detail that must be taken into account: having a frequency other than once/twice a day may be normal. The problem is when it becomes chronic. That’s when we should ask ourselves what is happening. There may be a health problem, but also that we have a diet low in fiber from fruits and vegetables. It is logical, but food and our lifestyle It is something inseparable from our feces. Plus, keeping an eye on them from time to time is not a bad idea because it is a free gut health test. Also you can scan your poop with an app that analyzes it thanks to AI. The time matters. Being in the “Goldilocks zone” is relevant, but previous studies have also explored the idea that when we poop is relevant, too. Studies carried out in 2020 and 2022 They related circadian rhythms to gastrointestinal activity. At night, intestinal activity decreases significantly, but during the day, especially after waking up or eating, there is greater mobility. An optimal time is half an hour after waking up, since the colon is activated after a night’s rest, but defecating later than that moment does not mean that something is wrong because there is some flexibility in the matter. Images | Cabot Health, Bristol Stool Chart, Sincerely Media In Xataka | Everest has become a dumping ground for feces. Solution: that all climbers carry theirs in bags

In the middle of the heatwave, Italy is debating whether it is “idiotic” to pay €95 for an ice cream cone

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would you pay 95 euros for a cone ice cream? It may seem like a far-fetched question, but in Italy a thorny debate is heating up that has among its protagonists: Flavio Briatorethe Piedmontese businessman famous for his connection with the Alpine F-1 team. In recent days, the tycoon has heated up the networks by calling “cretin” (idiot) who spends dozens and dozens (and dozens) of euros on a cone ice cream, a comment that was not liked in a shop in Apulia known precisely for that: selling ice cream with gold for €95. As we said, the debate is served. What has happened? To understand the controversy we have to go back a few days, when a story began to circulate in the Italian press. explosive statement from Briatore that has little to do with his usual business: ice cream. Although the businessman is known above all for his connection with Formula 1, years ago he promoted a chain of exclusive pizzerias call Crazy Pizza. Perhaps that is why the ‘Pomeriggio Cinque’ program contacted him to talk about summer and food. Everything was perfect, until Briatore harshly criticized those who buy cone ice cream for 70 eurosenough to enjoy a good seafood dinner. What exactly did he say? He assured that anyone who spends so much money on a cookie and cream cone is a “cretin”a word that in Spanish could be translated as “idiot.” In recent days this outburst has been repeated again and again on Italian networks and media such as Daily of Puglia, Il Messaggero either Leggoamong many (many) other newspapers, fueling the debate about whether, matters of tone aside, Briatore is right: Is it crazy to spend 70 euros on an ice cream cone, no matter how luxurious and tasty it may be? Before continuing, one detail must be clarified. On Monday the newspaper The Republicone of the most read in Italy, accurate that in reality Briatore’s words are not new and his controversial video dates back to 2024. In any case, it doesn’t matter. His statements have now gone viral, the debate has permeated the country and, above all, it is now that the other interested party has responded: a business in the Puglia region that effectively sells ice cream at seafood prices. Of course, now its star product, the one that Briatore criticized, is no longer sold at 70 euros. That was his launch price. Now it costs a whopping €95an increase supposedly forced by the increase in the price of its ingredients. What business is that? Mokambo Gelateriaan artisanal ice cream shop located in Ruvo di Pugliaa city in Apulia of around 25,500 inhabitants. Although it is not a particularly populous town and is far from moving the hordes of tourists who visit Rome, Florence or Venice every year, Mokambo has managed to become a popular reference in its sector. And one of the reasons is its most exclusive product: Lo Scettro del Re (King’s Scepter), an ice cream launched in 2018 for 70 euros. Since then he has given a lot of talk. @nick_radogna Ho Mangiato il Gelato D’oro is €70 🍦Second is it worth it? #gelato ♬ suono originale – Nick Radogna What have their owners said? Basically they have taken advantage of their renewed media pull to show off their chest. Both since your profile on Instagram, where they accumulate 24,000 followers, as in interviews with Italian media. For example, a few days ago one of the business owners, Vincenzo Paparella, chatted with Corriere della Sera to respond to Flavio Briatore. “I think he simply hasn’t understood who we are. He probably imagined that we are one of those who take a normal cream ice cream, put a gold leaf on top and sell it at an exorbitant price. If that were the case, he would be absolutely right to criticize it. But our project is totally different,” claims. What the famous ‘King’s Scepter’ offers, claims the Italian ice cream maker, is not a simple cone with cream, but “a gastronomic experience” with “a journey, a history, a work of research and experimentation.” But… What is the ice cream like? A gourmet product in every rule. The ‘Scepter’ incorporates a sheet of 24-karat edible gold, Iranian saffron, Bronte pistachio and fresh whipped cream. In theory, its ingredients include freshly milked milk from the Murgia area and free-range eggs. Of all these products, the one that makes it most expensive is Sargol saffron of Mashhad, in theory the reason why right now it is charged 95 euros. The ice cream parlor of course offers cheaper items, such as cones for five euros. And is it sold? Although not everyone can spend 95 euros on a cone that can be enjoyed in a matter of minutes, Paparella claims that the ‘Scepter’ has achieved surprising success. “In this time we have received more than 2,000 people who have come from all over the world just to enjoy this experience,” presume the ice cream man In fact, they have 148 people with reservations to try it between now and September. It is not a negligible figure if we take into account that, beyond the price, Ruvo di Puglia is not exactly a well-known destination. What is the underlying debate? “The numbers speak clearer than any controversy,” ditch Paparella. And he is right. We may consider it expensive or not, but the undeniable thing is that the ‘Cetro’ has a market and there are people willing to travel to a remote town and spend almost 100 euros to taste a cone. At its core, the debate is old and quite simple: does the gourmetization? Is it demand that determines prices? Curiously, as was remembered these days in the Italian press, the controversy has now arisen from the hand of a businessman (Briatore) who is no stranger to the world of luxury. Images | Mokambo Gelateria In Xataka | Spain’s favorite ice creams are from Mercadona and have no “brand”. And there is a … Read more

China is diverting its largest rivers thousands of kilometers away. The price to pay is a huge environmental mystery

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Water in China has a basic geographical problem, since the south of the country floods very frequently while the north is in a drought situation. To solve it, the Asian giant has spent decades running which is probably the most ambitious hydraulic engineering project in the history of humanity, since they are literally moving nature. Making history. If there is a country capable of altering the face of the Earth to guarantee its economic and demographic survival, it is China. The premise is as simple to understand as it is pharaonic to execute, since what they are doing is transferring water from the rich Yangtze River basin in the south to the arid plains in the north, where a large part of the country’s population, agriculture and industry is concentrated, but barely 20% of its water resources. The result of this It is the ‘South-North Water Transfer Project’ that has a colossal network of canals, pipelines and pumping stations that are defying geography. The figures of a titanic work. To estimate the size of this project, it is enough to go to official sources, since, according to the latest updates from China’s Ministry of Water Resources, the infrastructure is unparalleled in the world. Specifically, to date, the system has managed to transfer more than 70,000 million cubic meters of water through its central and eastern route. From a hydrological perspective, as detailed in CEDEX technical schemes on platforms such as Hispagua, this is equivalent to moving entire rivers artificially. The beneficiaries There have been 150 million people who have seen how this water injection It has even allowed an “ecological replenishment”, recovering the water table in northern areas that had been depleted for decades. But massive intervention on the ground always has a “B side.” The rivers. As China redraws its water map, an alarming fact emerged, as official censuses revealed that tens of thousands of rivers appeared to have disappeared in the country in just a few decades. Here the specialist media have raised great global concern about this phenomenon, since it is not known if this transfer was drying out the country at an unprecedented rate. The answer. It was given to us by an article published in 2019 that pointed out that the massive “disappearance” of the channels was not due to the fact that they had evaporated overnight due to dams or climate change, but rather to a problem of cartographic methodology. That is, historically, censuses included what scientists call ‘pseudo-rivers’ and used counting criteria that were not supported. Now that they have applied a much better and more consolidated hydraulic classification, the number of these “lost” rivers has been drastically reduced. The ecological cost. The fact that rivers are not disappearing en masse from the maps does not mean that the megaproject is free, since modifying the flow of some of the most important basins on the planet entails risks that scientific literature has been monitoring for years. Already in 2009, a classic review published in Wiley by researcher Zhang Quanfa warned of the profound Yoenvironmental implications of the transfer. Here he proposes that extracting such massive volumes from the south irreparably alters the Yangtze basin, causing an alteration of the southern aquatic ecosystem, or it has even been seen that as less fresh water reaches the mouth of the Yangtze, sea water penetrates inland, threatening the local supply and agriculture of the delta. The demographic cost. Added to these environmental warnings is the institutional analysis of experts such as Mark Wang and Chen Li who point out the governance challenges and the enormous political and social friction generated. Here different critical organizations point out that the authorities have forced the resettlement of hundreds of thousands of people and have required multimillion-dollar investments in treatment plants to prevent contaminated water from the south from ruining the reserves in the north. Images | ダモリ In Xataka | A small river lost between Russia and North Korea is testing something much bigger: China’s patience with both.

The price you will pay will be the dismissal of 100,000 employees and the closure of more factories

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Just a year and a half ago, Volkswagen reached an agreement with the unions to lay off “only” 35,000 employees to ensure the continuity of some factories, ensuring their operation until 2030. a bad drinkbut acceptable in order to preserve the employment of many other Volkswagen employees. Today the German group has announced that this pact it’s broken. The numbers don’t work. The German magazine Manager Magazine advanced that the group’s CEO, Oliver Blume, had presented a new adjustment plan to the board of directors. The number of layoffs is the highest that the German manufacturer has ever announced: up to 100,000 layoffs worldwide, and four factories in Germany with closure on the table. The size of the problem. Volkswagen closed 2025 with more than 662,000 employees all over the world. Losing 100,000 jobs means losing almost one in six workers. As and as highlighted the agency EFEthis is the largest restructuring in the group’s 89-year history. The plants designated for closure are those in Hannover, Zwickau and Emden, all three of the Volkswagen brand, plus the Audi factory in Neckarsulm. The plan also includes a 15% reduction in investments for the next five years and a general spending cut of 11 billion euros before the end of the decade. The accounts don’t add up. The numbers for the first quarter of 2026 explain this drastic move by Volkswagen. Operating profit fell by 14% year-on-year to 2.5 billion euroswith a margin of 3.3%, while sales fell 7%. Analysts expected almost 4,000 million in operating profit. Chief Financial Officer Arno Antlitz left no room for doubt in the seriousness of the situation in the results report for the first quarter of the year: “We must radically transform our business model and achieve structural and sustainable improvements.” The group has already reduced around 29,000 positions from 2023 and cut its production capacity from 12 to 9 million vehicles per year. For management, these measures are not enough to compensate for the drop in sales. Chinese pressure and tariffs. There are two sources of pressure that have accelerated the deterioration of Volkswagen’s situation. The first and most obvious are the Chinese manufacturers. In 2025, cars made in China reached 7% of sales in the EUexceeding one million units for the first time. At the same time, European exports to China plummeted by 43%. Volkswagen, which has one of its largest markets in China, has been losing share there for years due to the unstoppable push of local Chinese brands. The second key factor comes from the opposite extreme: the United States. The tariffs that Trump has imposed on European vehicles have hit hard a group that has most of its factories in countries affected by the tariffs. Blume he recognized it at last week’s general meeting of shareholders: “Never before has the risk situation been so high.” To gain liquidity, the German manufacturer has just closed the sale of 51% of its Everllence marine engine division to Bain Capital for 7.4 billion euros. This could be just one more of future asset sales to obtain more liquidity. The union wall. As might be expected, the plan has not been well received by unions. The late 2024 agreement with IG Metall promised that there would be no factory closures or forced layoffs in Germany until at least 2030. The new plan blows up those commitments. Daniela Cavallo, president of the Volkswagen works council, and Christiane Benner, head of IG Metall, reacted with a joint statement of frontal rejection of the announced layoffs: “If these plans go ahead, we will stop them with all our forces.” On July 9, the supervisory board of the Volkswagen group will debate this workforce adjustment plan, which would affect one in every six of the company’s employees. The decisions made at that meeting will decide the future of Volkswagen. In Xataka | Volkswagen cars are no longer as popular as they used to be, so Volkswagen wants to start making… missiles Image | Volkswagen

The Government is already debating whether or not to extend fuel aid. If you don’t do it we will pay 15 euros more to fill the tank

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Next Monday, June 29, the Council of Ministers will debate whether to extend the fuel tax reduction beyond June 30, which was the established deadline. If you don’t do it, filling the tank in the middle of a vacation trip is going to hurt us a lot more than it does now. Fuel aid. In March, the Government approved a package of urgent measures to stop the rise in energy prices caused by the war between the United States and Iran. The most visible for the driver was the reduction in VAT on fuel from 21% to 10%, accompanied by a reduction in the special tax on hydrocarbons. These measures expire on June 30 and the Government has to decide now what to do with them. What is being studied. According to share From ABC, the Ministry of Economy is considering maintaining VAT at 10% for at least three more months, that is, until September. A gradual withdrawal of aid is also being studied to avoid the so-called rocket effectthat is, a sudden increase in prices from one day to the next in the middle of the high travel season. What happens if it is not extended. According to the calculations of the Spanish Confederation of Service Station Employers (CEEES), the elimination of all aid would mean an increase in the price of 29 cents per liter for gasoline and 22 cents for diesel. With current prices (around 1.46 euros per liter for gasoline and 1.53 for diesel) both fuels would rise to 1.74 euros per liter. In this way, filling a 55-liter tank would go from costing around 70 euros to close to 90. And the blow would come right in the middle of the summer operation. The diesel thing is delicate. The Iran crisis has caused a liter of diesel to cost more than gasoline, something quite unusual taking into account the lower taxation of diesel in comparison. Although the price has fallen for four consecutive weeks, it still remains 5% above what it cost before the start of the conflict, according to collect ABC. If the reduction in the special tax on hydrocarbons is withdrawn, diesel has a good chance of once again overcoming the psychological barrier of 2 euros. Why it is not so easy to extend it. The Government cannot extend these measures on its own because it needs the support of Congress. That means negotiating with the investiture parties, including Junts and the PNV, something that already generated tension in March when the first decree was approved. On the other hand, there is also external pressure, since the Bank of Spain pointed out Just a few days ago, Spain has been the country in the European Union that has mobilized the most public resources in response to this crisis (0.25% of GDP), criticizing that 75% of the measures are not focused on the most affected, but are of a general nature, as is precisely the case with the VAT reduction. The European Commission and the Treasury technicians (GESTHA) also have recommended withdrawing these subsidies considering them contrary to the energy transition. What does the transportation sector ask for? The Spanish Confederation of Freight Transport (CETM) already has asked that any extension explicitly includes the transport of goods by road. In a statement, the organization warns that “leaving transportation outside of these measures would mean ignoring the sector on which a good part of the country’s economic activity is based.” In addition, the CETM demands that the commitment to pay 20 cents per liter of fuel promised to the sector be made effective. What does the president say? Pedro Sanchez has advanced that the new decree will be “to protect the productive fabric and also the citizens”, although without specifying the exact scope of the measures. The Government warns that, even with a peace agreement between the United States and Iran, the economic effects of the conflict will continue to pressure prices for weeks or months. Cover image | Roberto Rodríguez and engin akyurt In Xataka | In February, historic rains broke the roads. Málaga has just received the go-ahead to repair the A-7 and A-45

you register or you will pay the fine on the AP-68

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Spain is immersed in a campaign to eliminate tolls from our roads. Even though Europe demands the opposite from usthe Government has been eliminating all payment obligations as concession contracts come to an end. so many that Spain will add 1,000 more kilometers to the road network that we maintain with our pockets coming directly from the shadow tolls with which some sections of the first generation highways are maintained. Last year, the Government has already assured that was not going to raise new tolls or raise existing onesdespite the rumors and pressures from Europe (and within Spain) They were going in that direction. The position has been to raise the barriers and that, this year, releases the AP-68 toll. A road on which it will not be necessary to pay… in some sections. And the fact is that payment for use on this road will be maintained in the Basque Country and Navarra. A new free flow toll As pointed out by some local media such as Álava Diarythe AP-68 highway that connects Bilbao with Zaragoza will be toll-free in the Basque section. Although the rates remain the same, they point out that the step should be more attractive because starting in November the rates will be reduced. At the moment, it is stated that the intention is to reduce the toll by 70% for passenger cars and 50% for heavy transport. That is, it would go from a payment of 22 cents/km to a payment of 6 cents/km. Regarding their passage through Navarra, no prices have been defined although it has been made clear that there is an intention for the vehicles to continue paying for use, according to the latest news. The price, however, is not yet defined. But the big news is that Álava will use a system of “free flow toll” which, at least initially, will be combined with the classic barriers. This system is already used on the Basque highway A-636 between Beasain and Bergara from 2022. With it, waiting times are reduced since there are no windows but, if you have only passed on time, you must be very careful not to get a fine. And, as we say, in this case there are no barriers or booths. Here, the driver registers on a website with a license plate number and with each step the current account becomes smaller. Simply, the gantries calculate the kilometers traveled and then add them up to pass the payment. It is similar to a Via-T but, as we say, there are no barriers to stopping. In the case of Álava, as we said, the system will be combined so that those who are regular users will be able to pass without stopping and at the end of the day they will be charged for the corresponding trip. But if you pass punctually, on vacation, for example, you will have to stop at the barrier or have registered in advance. If not, you will face a fine. It remains to be seen how much the penalty is if the driver fails to register and does not pass through the barriers. In the case of the A-636, it is 150 euros, according to the Consolidated Text of the Provincial Highways and Pathways Standard of Gipuzkoa. Of course, as we say, in the case of Alava (at least for now) there will be the possibility of paying the toll at the window. Photo | Vasyatka1 (1) and (2) In Xataka | Spanish roads have a serious maintenance problem and construction companies have a solution: make you pay for it

Today, at 9 p.m., we are going to pay the most expensive kilowatt-hour of all of 2026. And this is just the first heat wave of the year

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On Sunday, June 21 at 2 p.m., electricity was almost given away: it was paid at €0.02592 per kilowatt-hour, the lowest price in months. In a while, at nine at night, we are going to pay it at €0.89142, the most expensive price in all of 2026. Just over 24 hours difference and more than thirty times the price. What is happening here? The price of light. The wholesale market The price of electricity for today has already been determined: an average of 99.89 euros per MWh. That is, 75.96% more expensive than yesterday. Although the average is misleading (there is a huge difference between 32 at noon and 177 at night), the truth is that it helps to understand the problem. And that problem boils down to the fact that we are going to have dinner with energy prices that we have not seen since the cold wave of January 2025. What is this due to? In principle, three different things: the most obvious is the heat wave. It alone will trigger energy demand 6 GW more than normal, according to the consulting firm Optimize Energy. The second is the taxes that returned at the beginning of the month. And the last one is a small technical change that makes the valleys sink lower and the peaks rise higher. Now the market moves every 15 minutes instead of every hour. This, which, on average, should give the same result would allow the system to better match supply with demand. In theory, of course. The important thing is not the energy that comes in, but the energy that comes out. According to the system, due to the heat and the work schedule, demand will barely decrease until 10 pm. However, little by little, the sun will retreat, forcing turn on increasingly expensive plants. The rest is the market functioning: in a marginalist system, the last MW that enters is the one that defines the price of the rest. This Monday we have a ‘perfect storm’ and, consequently, an exorbitant price. And what can we do? If we have a fixed price, it should not affect us. If we have PVPC (and there are 10 million who have it), it is a good idea to spend only what is essential. But above all, think of this heat wave as a proof of concept. The truth is that this situation will occur whenever heat, little air and overpriced gas coincide. It is time to think about a domestic strategy to survive Spain’s great energy problem: the fact of have a huge amount of sun, but have nowhere to store it. Image | Torpical TidBits In Xataka | Renewable, coal or nuclear: where each country in the world gets its electricity from, in a detailed graph

If he wins, the Italians will have to pay

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One of the first measures that the US and Europe adopted when the war in Ukraine broke out was to confiscate the assets of Russian oligarchs all over the world. This included the blocking of bank accounts and funds, mansions located in European countries and, of course, also all those superyachts that were moored in ports around the world. What at first seemed a succulent booty which was to be used to cover Ukraine’s support and defense costs, soon became a poisoned candy for the countries that had seized them for the enormous expense that it entailed keep them afloat. An example is found in the impressive Sailing Yacht Aby Russian tycoon Andrey Melnichenko, who has been stranded since March 2022 in the port of Trieste. Italy seized it as a measure of pressure, and four years later, the accumulated bill is close to 47 million dollars. Now, Melnichenko has decided to sue the country who has been paying for yacht maintenance and, if the lawsuit wins, he can take the boat and maintenance for free. That millionaire you told me about He Sailing Yacht A is considered as the largest private sailing boat in the world and, for four years, it has become the most famous in Trieste, where it acts as unintentional tourist attraction for visitors to the small town in northeastern Italy. At 143 meters in length and its avant-garde design, its appearance is closer to that of a futuristic submarine with sails than to a conventional superyacht. Its owner paid some 600 million dollars. The legal problem is that the ship, technically, it’s not Melnichenko’s. As usually happens in these cases, the Sailing Yacht A It is not registered directly to de Melnichenko, but is owned by a Bermuda-based company called Valla Yachts, which in turn owns it within a trust (corporate asset management instrument) managed by a Swiss company. Fishermen in the port of Trieste with Sailing Yacht A in the background In May 2024, the Lazio Regional Administrative Court (TAR) suspended its own trial and asked the EU Court of Justice to clarify something basic: can an asset be frozen when it is in the hands of a trust, not the one directly sanctioned? The European court said yes: It is compatible with European law to freeze these assets, as long as it is demonstrated that the sanctioned party has real control over them or effective access to their resources. The beneficiary of this trust is Aleksandra Melnichenko, the wife of the Russian tycoon. For Italy and the EU, this corporate network also ends with the Melnichenkos. As and how he published the italian Il GazzettinoFor the Melnichenko family’s lawyers, the yacht belongs to a legitimate and independent corporate structure, so the blockade on it had to be lifted since it was not proven that the sailboat is actually Melnichenko’s property. Maintaining a yacht is not cheap When Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU and its allies immediately reacted by imposing sanctions on the core of millionaires close to Putin. One of the most spectacular maneuvers It was the seizure of yachts, to send a clear message to the Russian power circle: touch their pockets. The problem is that no one stopped to think about the consequences of those confiscations and the expenses that those assets were going to cause them. Keeping a luxury superyacht afloat costs money. Big money. According to the most conservative estimates, the cost of annual maintenance of a yacht It is 10% of its purchase value. That is, if a yacht costs 500 million, the 10% rule It already anticipates that the annual maintenance expense will be about 50 million dollars a year. It is true that this calculation is based on a yacht that is used, but even when the yacht remains immobilized in a port, the expense account does not stop running. They know it well on the Caribbean island of Antigua, where the US authorities ordered the seizure of Alpha Black attributed to Russian oligarch Andrey Guryev. Sailing Yacht A anchored off Trieste During its stay in port, the yacht consumed a whopping $2,000 a day only on fuel necessary to keep the air conditioning running to prevent sea salt from damaging the materials and wood inside the yacht. If they did not sell the yacht, already complicated for legal purposes due to not knowing with certainty the identity of its true owner, it would be almost impossible. And returning it is not an option either because it would be a political defeat against Russia. In the case of Sailing Yacht AItaly appointed the Agenzia del Demanio to manage the ship. According to Reutersthe maintenance costs in these cases are borne by the State, which You can claim them later from the owner or recover them by selling the yacht. But to sell the largest sailboat in the world buyers are needed who are willing to embark on a long judicial process and who have enough assets to buy it…and those are not plentiful. So the mayor of Trieste has been wondering out loud Who is going to pay the 30,000 euros a day that it is costing them to maintain the Sailing Yacht A afloat. According to the specialized portal, Megayacht News The yacht will remain in Trieste and the maintenance costs will continue to be covered by the Italian treasury. The lawsuit may take months, or years, to resolve. If the Italian justice finally decides that the sanctions against the Sailing Yacht Athe Russian millionaire will be able to sail on it again and Italy will have paid him four years of maintenance free. In Xataka | We already knew that superyachts were floating mansions: Roman Abramovich’s is a fortress with an anti-missile shield Image | Flickr (Paul Fenton, adrianovero), Wikimedia Commons (Maximo Marmur)

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