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A Moroccan sued a real estate agency for not showing him an apartment just because of his origin. Now they will have to pay 10,000 euros

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The story sounded so strange, so much like an ‘improvised excuse’, that Hamid Hmata decided to do an experiment. In January 2024after seeing how the umpteenth real estate company closed the door on him after finding out about his Moroccan origin, Hamid asked a co-worker to help him out. His friend (with a Spanish name) called the same agency asking about an apartment in Mataró that Hamid had been interested in shortly before. He had no problem. They confirmed that the home was available, gave him information and scheduled an appointment. Shortly before, Hamid had been told the opposite, that it was already rented. The story could have stopped there, but what the agency probably did not take into account is that Hamid has been battling discrimination in access to housing for some time. Now that episode of 2024 has led to a pioneering sentence by “real estate racism”. a dozen complaints. The statistics They suggest that Hamid is not (far from it) the only immigrant who encounters obstacles or outright racism when looking for housing. His case is different in something: this man of Moroccan origin, father of two minor children and with the necessary income to pay for a rental house, has been denouncing real estate racism for some time. And he has also done so in an active way, calling out against various agencies and presenting a dozen complaints before the Mataró City Council. “For being a migrant”. His case was revealed ago just a month and a half the DESCA Observatory, one of the entities that has accompanied Hamid in his peculiar real estate crusade. At that time, the platform explained that the man had been looking for an apartment for four years, a long period during which he had dealt with “great difficulties.” The reason? Everything indicates that its origin. “Different real estate agencies, allegedly, would have covertly avoided providing him with their services (showing him the apartment, evaluating his candidacy, managing a contract, etc.) due to the fact that he was a migrant,” details DOWNLOAD From office to office. Despite his efforts, most of Hamid’s claims were unsuccessful. Their complaints to the City Council ended up being filed and they undertook a “bureaucratic journey” by different organizations, such as the Housing Agency of Catalonia, the Consumer Agency and finally the Office of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination. Almost all of Hamid’s complaints ended up being dismissed, but last month DESCA recalled that there were still three live files: two “in the administrative procedure phase” and another “in the preliminary proceedings phase.” And the big surprise came. We have now known the next chapter in Hamid’s real estate odyssey. a few days ago DESCA revealed that the Office of Equal Treatment and Non-Discrimination (OITND) of the Generalitat of Catalonia has imposed a fine of 10,001 euros on a real estate agency in Mataró for, the association claims, “a case of real estate racism in access to rentals.” The reason would have been the episode with which we started this article. Same floor, different answers. In 2024 Hamid was interested in an apartment for rent, so he contacted the real estate agency that owned it to visit it in person. He couldn’t. A day and a half after requesting the interview they told him that it was already leased. The explanation did not convince Hamid, who asked a colleague (in this case with a Spanish name) to call the agency to inquire about the home in question. Same agency, same apartment… different answer. Him, ensures DESCAYes, they made an appointment for him. Click on the image to go to the tweet. “True, but it has nothing to do with it.” Determined not to let the matter go, Hamid attended the visit scheduled by his friend to ask the head of the agency for explanations. Specifically, I wanted to know if the problem was that the owners of the apartment did not want to rent it to a person of Moroccan origin. “The administration admitted it: ‘That, that’s also true, but it has nothing to do with that. It’s reserved,’” reveals DESCA. The phrase is reminiscent of the one he received recently as well. another moroccanin this case from Irún, who was looking for a home. Mosqueado recorded the explanations of the head of an agency that had slammed the door: “The owner doesn’t want anyone from outside.” A figure: 10,001 euros. Hamid’s experience demonstrates several things. To begin with, proving an episode of “real estate racism” is not easy (he has denounced a dozen agencies). The second is that when it is detected it is expensive. DESCA explains that, in this case, the OITND has fined the agency a fine of 10,001 euros, although that is only part of the punishment. For one year you will not be able to receive any public aid or subsidies, nor establish contracts with the Generalitat Administration. “The OITND resolution recognizes that the reported facts consist of a case of discrimination in access to housing for ethnic-racial reasons and/or origin, which according to Law 19/200 on equality and non-discriminatory treatment is a serious infraction,” argues the observatory. The standard to which the platform refers clearly states in its section 14.3 that real estate agencies and their clients “must respect” equality and not discriminate. Why is it important? For several reasons. The first, the pioneering nature of the sanction. At least in Catalonia, where according to the RAC1 chain There is only one similar precedent. In 2022, Barcelona City Council revealed that the court had ratified a fine of 90,001 euros which he had recently imposed on “a real estate agent” for “excluding a group of people from access to housing due to their origin.” On that occasion the trigger was an advertisement for an apartment that only accepted Spanish tenants. The fine that the OITND has just imposed is interesting for another reason. There are studies that suggest that real estate racism is far from being a one-time phenomenon. In … Read more

Companies are replacing junior workers with AI. Now it’s time to pay the consequences

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When artificial intelligence appeared on the horizon, the first thing we thought was that it was going to retire us. Later, he was going to retire the most senior profiles and now we know that it is just the opposite: is stopping job access to junior profiles. In the past, companies competed fiercely to attract young talent, but now Gen Z has found its great rival in AI. Beginners? No, thanks. This Revelio Labs job report reveals that entry-level hiring has fallen by 35% in the United States since 2023. And it is one of many studies: this other of job offers estimates the drop in junior offers between 11 and 20% in the last year. The phenomenon is not exclusive to the United States: in Spain these data from El Confidencial They report that the Big Four are going to reduce the hiring of people under 30 years of age by between 10 and 20%. In the UK, more of the same. AI boosts productivity… if you’re the boss. The business premise is that artificial intelligence can carry out these tasks of those people with a junior profile such as documentation, testing or writing basic code. It is not that these tasks have disappeared within the workflow, it is that they have been absorbed by higher levels in a twist of efficiency and productivity: senior profiles supervise what the AI ​​does. And if, AI screws up. To the question of how many hours of work per week does AI save you? from the consulting company Section collection in The Wall Street Journal There is a clear divergence between managers and staff: 40% of workers think that they are not saving anything because even if there is a quick response, there are errors and hallucinations. When you take into account the time spent going through everything, checking and redoing, the beads are not so round anymore: this Asana studio shows that employees spend 4.5 hours per week correcting AI work. The boomerang effect. That youth encounter yet another obstacle to having a full adult life is a real drama in terms of unemployment, but this paradigm shift in hiring is also a total threat to the stability of the technological infrastructure as we know it: The illusion of efficiency. AI chops code faster than anyone else, but that raw data is misleading because it doesn’t consider side effects like validation. Operational risk. If the AI ​​does not have human supervision at each step, it can make critical errors, serve as an example when half the internet went down for the total automation of Amazon servers. Of costs and responsibilities. If the AI ​​makes a mistake and it reaches the final chain of the process, that is, delivery to the customer, it is paid. Let them tell Deloitte, they had to reimburse the cost of a report prepared for the Australian Department of Employment and Industrial Relations because it contained hallucinations. A demographic bomb. All of the above is a toll that many companies seem willing to pay for the sake of that efficiency, but there is a devastating effect on a large scale in the medium and long term: the knowledge gap. When these senior profiles retire, there will be no one who can replace them simply because you have eliminated the training ground that is experience. The figures have spoken: between 2024 and 2032, 18.4 million professionals in the United States will retire according to this study from Georgetown University. However, only 13.8 million new workers will gain access. About to explode. Part of the work of senior profiles includes mentoring and all its intrinsic benefits: there are studies that confirm that increases motivation, promotes psychological well-being and even reduces exhaustion. In short: saturation of tasks, inability to delegate and the loss of that added bonus of teaching: there are many ingredients for the recipe for burnout. In Xataka | If AI is going to leave us without jobs, in the United Kingdom they are already seriously discussing the solution: a universal basic income In Xataka | We believed that the AI ​​talent war is about engineers and developers. Actually, it’s about plumbers and electricians.

We have crossed another line with subscriptions. LG now allows you to pay a fee to use a television in a European market

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What started as a practical formula to pay for digital content has, little by little, become a way of life. Subscriptions to listen to music, watch series, store photos, work, protect your computer. Based on small installments, has been normalized that an increasing part of our lives depends on a monthly payment. And when the time comes to do the math, that recognizable feeling of juggling the budget appears: we cancel one, reactivate another, adjust as best we can so as not to go overboard. Perhaps we pay more and more to access, and less and less to possess. That is why the latest twist in the phenomenon draws special attention: now you can also “rent” a television instead of buying it. Rent a TV if you can’t (or don’t want to) buy one. The scene comes from the United Kingdom. There, LG already offers a modality called LG Flex which allows access to a selection of televisions and sound bars through subscription, directly from the company’s website. The logic is similar to that of other services: you choose the product and, at the time of checkout, you select Raylo as an option, since LG presents it as its official partner for this program. The proposal is sold as “flexible access” to premium products, with no initial outlay, and with different subscription durations to adjust the monthly price. In practice, it is a paradigm shift in an object that we traditionally bought and amortized for years. What does “flex” mean? The subscription is proposed with two very different paths: a renewable monthly plan, designed for those who want maximum freedom, and closed plans of 12, 24 or 36 months, which reduce the monthly payment in exchange for a greater commitment. It is a well-known logic: the longer the term, the lower the fee. In addition, the proposal includes a 14-day free trial and, at the end of the period, the user can choose between continuing to pay month by month, requesting a change to a newer model at no additional cost or returning the device. Of course, this last option is not neutral: the withdrawal has a fee of 50 pounds (about 60 euros). The key is what you are paying. A television like LG OLED evo AI C54 83-inch 4K (2025) It is offered for 3,999 pounds (about 4,620 euros at the exchange rate in that market), with a subscription available from 123.90 pounds per month (about 145 euros at the exchange rate) with Raylo, while a LG QNED evo AI QNED9MA 86-inch 4K Mini LED It is listed for 2,499.98 pounds (about 2,890 euros at the exchange rate), with installments starting at 78.35 pounds per month (about 92 euros at the exchange rate). The difference is in the time horizon: if the subscription is maintained for a long time, the accumulated amount may end up exceeding the purchase price. That is why Flex is best understood as a formula to have the television “in use” without purchasing it directly, not as an alternative designed to pay less at the end of everything. Will it leave the United Kingdom? For now, the experiment remains in the United Kingdom. LG has not communicated plans to expand Flex beyond that market, so, at the moment, there is no basis to assume that it will reach other European countries. But even as an isolated case, the idea says a lot about the moment we are going through: subscriptions are no longer just a method to access digital content or tools, but a commercial language that is also beginning to be applied to physical objects. Images | LG In Xataka | Apple Creator Studio is not just a subscription. It’s Apple looking to conquer the little tiktoker who uses CapCut and Canva

Moeve has a turnover of 1.8 billion euros. The Prosecutor’s Office asks to dissolve the company because, they claim, they did not pay 7.7 million in taxes

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Now Cepsa is Moeve. And now it is Moeve who has to fight against an accusation from the Public Prosecutor’s Office for fraud in the payment of taxes. The court case has been dragging on since 2022 but has its origins almost a decade ago. Now, the Prosecutor’s Office is asking for 28 years in prison for its board, targeting three senior officials of the Canary Islands Tax Agency and, in addition, the dissolution of the company. What has happened? In short, the Prosecutor’s Office accuses Moeve of tax fraud in the Canary Islands. According to their investigations, the company would have stopped paying 7.7 million euros to the Treasury by passing off diesel fuel as fuel oil when paying taxes between 2016 and 2021. The change is substantial because the tax rate on fuel oil (€0.56/tonne) is much lower than that on diesel (€222/1,000 liters). They stand out in Motorpassion that diesel has a tax 400 times higher than the change of units and, from there, would come the 7.7 million euros that the company would have omitted when presenting its taxes. What does the Prosecutor’s Office ask for? The Prosecutor’s request is harsh: That criminal proceedings be opened against the company The dissolution of the company Fine of 13 million euros for the company 28 years in prison and more than 25 million euros in fines for the board Two-year disqualification for three senior officials of the Canary Islands Tax Agency How did the events happen? As described in Fuerteventura Diarythe Prosecutor’s Office maintains that between January 2016 and October 2021, the then Cepsa, through its subsidiary Petróleo de Canarias (Petrocan), settled the taxes by passing off diesel fuel as fuel oil with “a clear intention of defrauding” the regional Public Treasury. According to their calculations, the company would have stopped paying the following amounts: 2016: 781,295 euros 2017: 404,134 euros 2018: 1.4 million euros 2019: 2.3 million euros 2020: 1.6 million euros 2021: 1.2 million euros In all that time, the Prosecutor’s Office accuses the Canary Islands Tax Agency of ignoring the complaints that came to it from the oil company. And the company IR Maxoinversiones, which manages various local gas stations, already reported the events in 2019, repeated it, expanding the complaint in 2020, and some time later filed a third complaint. The officials indicated by the Prosecutor’s Office, however, did not file any measures to investigate the events. What does Moeve say? Company sources point to Xataka that “the case is appealed. We reject the accusation and we hope that the actions of justice confirm the correct application of the taxation carried out by Moeve to the product called Diesel Oil, for industrial use and not linked to the activity of service stations.” They explain that Diesel Oil is a much heavier product than the diesel that we can consume for the car, so its use can only be industrial to start a machine or power a heater. That is, the usual use given to fuel oil. Thus, they point out that their taxation has always adjusted to what the Treasury has demanded at all times and that they are not trying to pass the product off as what it is not in their accounts. Disproportionate? Although the Prosecutor’s accusations are on the table and they say they can support them with data, it remains to be seen what the resolution of the case is. The claims refer to an alleged evasion of 7.7 million euros over six years, a very small figure for a company that only in the first nine months of the year 2025 (latest data published) earned 472 million euros in net profits and invoiced more than 1.8 billion euros in 2024. Therefore, beyond proving that Moeve did not pay the taxes due, it will have to be demonstrated that this omission was made with the intention of enriching himself and not because of a mistake when filing taxes, an element that seems essential for a judge to order the dissolution of the company. a company with more than 11,000 employees. Photo | moeve In Xataka | There is a hidden war to sell us the cheapest possible gasoline. One that Ballenoil and Plenergy already dominate

There is a Europe that is suffocating to pay for housing and another that lives in peace. And this map shows the differences

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Beyond the political ups and downs, corruption, unemployment, the war in Ukraine, or the (increasingly) convulsive scenario of international geopolitics, from time to time The CIS reminds us that there is a much more everyday problem that keeps us Spaniards up at night: access to housing. At the end of 2025 39.9% of those surveyed by the organization pointed out housing as “the main problem” facing the country. And it is normal if you take into account the mismatch between supply and demand, the pressure that carries out tourist rentals and (above all) the sharp rise in prices of recent years. Every time we talk about the residential market, however, the same question arises: beyond the exact cost of the square meter (m2), calculated by the General Council of Notaries, the executive or portals like IdealisticHow “unaffordable” is accommodation in Spain? What economic effort does it require from families? Is it more or less than what other European households must assume? Getting perspective Type of housing (in m2) available spending 40% of monthly income. ESPON, the program who is dedicated to studying cohesion of the EU, has published a series of maps that help answer these questions in a quick, direct and, above all, visual way. To prepare them, two parameters have been basically set: the prices of the real estate market for sales and rentals and the income data published by Eurostat. Everything divided by regions. By crossing them the organism has been able to carry out two calculations. The first is to estimate what type of housing (in m2) a person who allocates 40% of their income to this purpose can rent in each EU region. The second is what percentage of their rent that same tenant should dedicate if they wanted a 100 m2 house. Percentage of monthly income necessary to rent a 100 m2 home. ESPON does not stop there. He has also transferred those same questions to the buying and selling market residential. That is, what type of housing could a person willing to invest 40% of their annual income for an entire decade afford? And how many years would you have to endure that same budgetary effort if you wanted to buy a 100 m2 apartment? In both cases the maps are similar and they leave behind a series of conclusions, such as the profound differences that exist within the same country. “Regions containing and surrounding capital cities such as Paris, Berlin, Lisbon and Madrid tend to be less affordable compared to the rest of the nation. Additionally, coastal regions tend to be less affordable, which is also clearly seen in the Netherlands and Germany, Portugal, Spain and France.” Available housing (m2) investing 40% of the income for 10 years. Years necessary to buy a 100 m2 home investing 40% of the income. For example, while a Madrid resident willing to invest 40% of his annual income in housing would need between 20 and 25 years To pay for a 100 m2 house, a resident of the province of Teruel would need at most ten years of effort. In Barcelona it would need around 20-25 years while on the other side of the peninsula, in Pontevedra, between 15 and 20 years would be enough. The worst part in Spain is Malaga, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, where ESPON calculates that on average a buyer would need to invest 40% of their annual income for more than three and a half decades. A very similar effort would have to be endured by the inhabitants of the Algarve, Setúbal, part of the Paris area, Monaco, Corsica or different points spread across Eastern Europe, where ESPON itself recognizes that “quite unaffordable” areas are concentrated. If we talk about the rental market, the panorama It’s not very different. A Madrid resident who would like to rent a 100 m2 apartment would need to dedicate (on average) between 80 and 90% of their income to it. The situation is worse in coastal points, such as Barcelona, ​​Huelva, Malaga and Eastern European regions. In the provinces of Zamora or Huesca they would be enough between 30 and 40%which is closer to the debt ceiling level than recommend assuming the experts. Images | Quique Olivar (Unsplash) and ESPON In Xataka | It is not a country for Spaniards: Madrid and Catalonia are losing national population while gaining foreign population

one where we pay 20 dollars a month (if we pay) and another where companies pay up to 200 per employee

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The AI ​​industry is forking into two paths. They are non-binary and actors can be in both at the same time, but it was expected that we would see this branching: Products aimed at the general consumer. ChatGPT wins there and Gemini is growing lately. Tools for companies. Gemini and Copilot from Microsoft stand out more there, but Anthropic is growing a lot thanks to Claude Code. This division also marks something else: who is going to capture the real economic value of AI. Why is it important. Companies pay up to $200 per month per employee for the best model. ChatGPT “domestic” users, one tenth. And in business environments, the difference between the best and the second best matters a lot. At least much more than in domestic environments. Yao Shunyu, who worked at OpenAI and is now at Tencent, sums it up: “If your salary is $200,000 and you have 10 tasks a day, an excellent model does eight or nine. A weaker model does five or six. And when you don’t know what those five or six are, you waste time monitoring it.” according to the newsletter ChinaTalk. The contrast. “If you compare the Today’s ChatGPT with the one from a year agothere’s really no perceptible difference,” Yao points out. “On the other hand, AI-assisted programming has already changed the entire coding industry. “People no longer write code, they talk to their computer in natural language.” Most ordinary people still use ChatGPT as a kind of enhanced search engine. In companies, more intelligence directly means more productivity with a clear economic value. Between the lines. Anthropic has bet everything on this. Claude Code has changed the way developers work. And now just launched Coworkwhich seeks to bring that same idea to office workers, outside of programming. They are not going after occasional users: they want entire teams that depend on AI to work. OpenAI dominates in adoption figures and brand recognition, but it has a problem: many users who pay little on average. Companies are increasingly looking for tools that truly improve productivity. The threat. In the business market, whoever has the best model wins. Companies will always pay for number one if its price is comparable to the rest of the proposals. In consumption, something decent is enough and the price sensitivity is greater. And OpenAI needs a lot of money. Training and operating these models costs a lot. The consumer market has a fairly low profitability ceiling, and that is why they seek to shore it up with advertising revenue and pointing towards those of affiliation. And now what. This year we will see it clearly: OpenAI needs to prove that its enterprise agents are worth the money. Anthropic will continue to refine its position in code and productivity. Google is a little late but has hit the nail on the head with Gemini 3. At the end of the year we will know if OpenAI’s generalist strategy works or if the AI ​​business ends up divided between those who dominate the office and those who dominate the couch. In Xataka | OpenAI fully enters health for a simple reason: ChatGPT is already our front-line doctor (although we don’t want to admit it) Featured image | Anthropic, OpenAI, Xataka

“Free-range” eggs are no longer free-range due to the confinement of the hens. But they continue to pay much more

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Eggs have been in the news in recent weeks for the price increase they have been experiencing for the spread of bird flu. But now it returns to the front line of information as a result of a notice that has launched the OCU which would point out that every time we buy eggs we may be being deceived. The types of eggs. When we go to the supermarket to get a tray of eggs, there are several types available depending on the type of care that the hen that laid them has had. The cheapest are from chickens that are locked in the chicken coop, but then there are ‘free-range’ eggs, which in theory are from hens that do go outside and are code 1. And the same thing happens with eggs marked as ‘organic’, which have a very specific diet. The price of freedom. Choosing one type of egg or another means paying an extra price for these special conditions. And it’s not a few cents, as the OCU itself points outsince the ground egg right now has an average price of €3.25 per dozen. But free-range eggs are priced at €4.13 per dozen, which is an extra 88 cents per dozen. All this for the premise of animal welfare: a chicken that has access to the outdoors and pecks in the field without being in an enclosed coop. Something also justified by the increased cost that this entails. The problem. We must remember that for a few weeks we have been immersed in an avian flu epidemic that affects the chickens that produce these eggs. To try to contain it, the Ministry of Agriculture He ordered all chickens to be locked up starting in November.. But… Has this price difference disappeared? The OCU is what is being complained about: in practice, producers are selling a product under the conditions of a chicken, enclosed as if they were truly free-range eggs. On top of that, logically respecting the price increase that this crisis has caused. European regulations. Is it legal to sell something that is not? It is the question we must ask ourselves when we pay for free-range eggs when in fact they are not. To understand it we must go to EU Delegated Regulation 2023/2465. This European regulation contemplates a kind of “grace period” for producers in cases of force majeure, such as this epidemic. The law allows the designation of “free-range egg” to be maintained for a period of up to 16 weeks, even if the hens have to be confined. The objective of the rule is to protect farmers: to prevent them from losing their certification and market overnight due to a health crisis beyond their control. Lack of transparency. For the OCU, the problem in this case is not the certification that accompanies the egg, but rather the little information that a consumer has who does not know what they are buying. And from their study, after analyzing the seven major brands on the market, none of them report on the labeling of the change in breeding conditions. What is requested. The consumer organization is not asking for the confinement to be lifted, which is necessary to maintain the epidemic, but for information. They argue that there are precedents for rapid adaptation such as when the war in Ukraine began when sunflower oil shortage had to force the industry to change the labeling. All this to make changes to the ingredients in the oil. Paying the same. But the most important thing is that a surplus of almost one euro on average per dozen eggs is being paid for being free-range. When in reality they are the same eggs that are cheaper in supermarkets. This makes us raise the possibility that although the denomination is maintained (although with more information about what is happening), the price will be equated with those of the lower category, since in both situations we have chickens locked up. Images | Jakub Kapusnak In Xataka | In the 1970s, scientists realized that large animals should suffer more from cancer. And that wasn’t the case

OpenAI knows that it needs to continue generating memes and virals. That’s why she’s willing to pay Disney a lot of money for her content.

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Disney and OpenAI have announced a three-year licensing agreement that will allow users to create short videos featuring more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters through soraOpenAI’s AI video generation platform. The operation includes an investment of $1 billion by the Mickey Mouse company in the AI ​​startup. Change of sight. Disney has gone from sue AI platforms like Midjourney for unauthorized use of its characters to become OpenAI’s first major content licensing partner. The company also sent a cease and desist letter to Character.AI in September for the same reason. This change in strategy gives clues to Disney’s move, choosing to monetize and control the use of its intellectual property instead of trying to stop it completely. What users can do. Starting in early 2026, according to OpenAI, Sora users will be able to generate short videos for social networks with characters such as Mickey Mouse, Iron Man, Darth Vader, Elsa, Simba or Groot, as well as iconic costumes, accessories, vehicles and settings from these franchises. From ChatGPT, users will also be able to create static images of these same characters using text instructions. The agreement expressly excludes the faces and voices of real actors. The business model behind the agreement. OpenAI need viral content to maintain the attention of users, and in recent months it has made it clear to us that this route is its current main source of income to attract more users who want to go through the hoops of its subscription plans. Disney characters are precisely the type of content that fits this vision. That is why the company is willing to pay to license this intellectual property. Disney as a corporate client of OpenAI. Beyond the license, Disney will become a “major customer” of OpenAI, under the terms of the agreement. The company will deploy ChatGPT to its employees and use OpenAI APIs to build new tools, products and experiences, including functionality for Disney+. In fact, perhaps the most striking thing about the agreement is that a curated selection of videos generated by Sora It will be available to play from the streaming platform. Investment and purchase options. Disney will provide $1 billion in equity investment and will receive warrants to acquire additional stakes in OpenAI in the future. The transaction is still subject to negotiation of definitive agreements and approvals prior to closing. Commitments on responsible use. Both companies say in the joint statement that they will maintain “robust controls” to prevent the generation of illegal or harmful content, respect the rights of content creators and protect the use of people’s voice and image. OpenAI is further committed to implementing age-appropriate policies and other safety measures on the service. The vision of the CEOs. Bob Iger, CEO of Disney, assures that “the rapid advance of artificial intelligence marks an important moment for our industry” and defends that collaboration will allow “extending the reach of our narrative in a thoughtful and responsible way.” For his part, Sam Altman, head of OpenAI, affirms that the agreement “shows how AI companies and creative leaders can work together responsibly to advance innovation.” What’s coming now? It remains to be seen if this licensing model extends to other studios and large content owners. Everything indicates that it certainly will not be the only large company to take advantage of this type of agreement. The litmus test will be when all the content in Sora is released and if it gains enough traction on networks for OpenAI to consider it a small victory in its quest for make ChatGPT a profitable tool for your business. In Xataka | Quietly, a country is becoming a technological power thanks to data centers: India

You can pay for dinners, but not receive family donations

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The use of digital payments has skyrocketed in Spain thanks to the ease of payment from mobile phones and the success of platforms like Bizum. For this reason, the Government has decided to adapt the regulations to today’s world. As of January 1, 2026, it is redefined how banking entities must inform to the Tax Agency about the movements of its clients. The historical limit of 3,000 euros that until now acted as a reference for notifying the Treasury is eliminated and the criteria is changed: the amounts no longer matter but the patterns. The key question is how this affects individuals. End to the limit of 3,000 euros. Until now, banking entities had the obligation to inform the Tax Agency of any movement that exceeds 3,000 euros, regardless of whether it was a company or an individual. With the new Royal Decree 253/2025 which comes into effect on January 1, 2026, that limit disappears. Starting in January, the reporting obligation goes from being based on the amount of the payment to the type of operation and the total volume of the year and the obligation to report is also added when these payments are made through mobile payment applications or payments associated with mobile phone numbers (Bizum). This opens the door to operations that previously did not generate any type of notice (payments of 50, 200 or 500 euros made by card, transfer or Bizum), can now become part of the periodic reports that financial entities send to the Treasury. Bizum and mobile payments: what changes? The elimination of this limit does not mean that the Treasury will review these movements one by one, but the automatic barrier that prevented small transfers from flying under the Treasury’s radar is eliminated. Payment systems between individuals, such as Bizum, which were traditionally presented as an “informal” and quick way to send money, are thus integrated into the official information circuit. Payment and electronic money entities must report to the Treasury the credits and charges of all these accounts, including those associated with external apps or virtual cards. That is, the Treasury will also know what income or payments are made through these platforms and their frequency. Paying for dinner is not paying a mortgage. For the individual user, this means that sending a Bizum to a dinner with friendsa gift or a shared expense continues to work as usual. What changes is that the information circulates more systematically between the entity and the Treasury. If the movements are sporadic and consistent with personal use, it will have no consequences. However, if these payments are continuous, high, periodic or present their own patterns of economic activity, they could reveal some undeclared commercial activity or hidden donations between family members. Donating is not a crime.. One of the most frequently asked questions It has to do with the possibility of making small donations to family members: helping a child with their studies, supporting a family member with an unexpected expense or making specific contributions. The new regulations does not limit these operations on the platforms, since money transfers of 200, 500, 1,000 or 2,500 euros can continue to be made without any impediment. The change is in the Treasury’s ability to detect them if they occur through Bizum, transfer or digital payment on a recurring basis. …crime is not declaring it. Although the operation remains legal, the inheritance and donation regulations apply. That means that any donation, even a small one, must be declared. In the majority of autonomous communities, the rates for these donations they are very rewarded between immediate family members, to the point that in many cases nothing is paid. But declaring them is mandatory. If the movements are repeated or if the recipient cannot justify the origin, the Treasury could detect them and request explanations or impose sanctions. They want to detect undeclared activity. The focus of the new regulations is not to check whether you pay for your friend’s movie tickets or every daily movement, but to identify economic activities that are hidden behind dispersed digital payments: undeclared rents, private classes, recurring sales of products or habitual income that could be considered commercial activities camouflaged as personal transfers. That is why, more than sending a certain amount of money to a friend or family member, what increases is the Treasury’s control over frequent and repetitive income, regardless of the amount. In Xataka | Bizum en la Renta 2024: what income and payments you have to declare and how to do it in the 2025 declaration Image | Ivan Linares (Xataka Mobile)

If you want bricklayers you have to pay them and give them vacations.

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Despite the growing demand for renovations and new homesthe construction sector suffers from a serious labor shortage. The current situation is not just a question of numbers, but a structural problem that is related to the aging of staff, the absence of generational replacement and difficult working conditions that fail to attract young people. The sector is experiencing a moment of “discovery”: if you want trained bricklayers, it is It is essential to improve their salaries and conditions, including vacation days and a work day that allows for reconciliation. That is the main drawback for an industrial fabric made up mainly of self-employed workers. A labor market under pressure. In Spain, the construction sector is going through one of its worst labor crises. According to the National Construction Confederation (CNC) it is estimated that currently some 700,000 workers are needed to cover the demand for works and renovations. Data from the BBVA Research Real Estate Observatory for June 2025 show that vacancies in the sector have multiplied by four since 2016, reflecting an upward trend that does not seem to stop. The employment figures collected in the BBVA report reveal that only 6.8% of those employed in Spain work in the construction sector, far from the 14% that was registered before the 2008 crisis. Aging without replacement. This situation is further aggravated by the difficulty in attracting new workers, especially due to the harsh legacy left by the 2008 crisis in which thousands of professionals left the sector or changed jobs. The BBVA report reveals that more than 55% of construction employees in Spain are over 45 years old and only 9% are under 30 years old, a clear indication of the lack of a generational change cash. Only the arrival of immigrants has allowed a slight rejuvenation between 2022 and 2024. Pascual, bricklayer and construction businessman, assured on Adrián G. Martín’s channel: “I have four projects underway and I need people who know how to manage them, but… I find few prepared people. I need young people who want to learn, but you can’t find them.” A demanding and… poorly paid job? The labor shortage is putting upward pressure on wages. According what was published by The Confidentialthe base salary for a construction worker is around 1,300 euros per month in 14 payments, which amounts to about 18,457 euros per year. according to the sectoral agreement valid until December 2026, but can be reached between 1,384 and 1,500 euros per month depending on the complements and the autonomous community. In regions such as the Valencian Community, the average salary amounts to 23,541 euros per year, while in other communities it exceeds 20,000 euros per year. The EPA data (Active Population Survey) by sectors indicate that, in recent years, salaries have been improving (forced by the increase in the SMI) in the lowest deciles, and due to the pressure of labor shortage in the case of those who have better training or first-class officers. Salary increase in construction Masons without school. Another key factor in the labor crisis is the lack of training for young people seeking to join this sector. The BBVA Research report indicates that Spain has a less qualified construction workforce than the European average, which negatively impacts productivity and limits the adoption of new technologies and efficient methods. The report confirms itAdjustment of employment supply and demand 2025‘ prepared by the Ministry of Labor, which indicates that there is a real and persistent imbalance in construction: there are positions that are difficult to fill, not so much because of lack of demand, but because the supply of qualified labor does not fit the profile demanded. That is, companies do not want to hire profiles to train them internally, so potential candidates to occupy that position in the future are rejected. Jobs without relief. The problem of talent shortage in construction does not only affect bricklayers. Traditional construction-related trades (such as carpenters, electricians, plumbers, painters, etc.) have shared the same construction practices. salary denigrationharsh working conditions and outsourcing of training. However, the attractiveness of employment remains low among young people because it is a “very hard job” and physically demanding, with long hours and little work-life balance. The construction employers have been very belligerent with both the working hours reduction measuresas time controlwhich does not contribute to making the sector attractive to young people. They are not getting rich. Given the shortage of personnel, it is natural to think that the available professionals are getting rich. However, this assumption, which would perhaps be fulfilled in a scenario of large companies where they bid for the best professionals, does not occur in an industrial fabric made up of 92.93% of self-employed people with SMEs without employees or micro-businesses with between 1 and 9 employees. As and how does it count electrician and TikTok influencer Ricardo Abellán (@dombydomotica), the problem of talent shortage is not so much due to staff training, but rather due to the inability of SMEs and self-employed workers to assume the salaries of their new employees. Before that financial inabilityprofessionals choose to generate increasingly longer waiting lists that would be weighing down the sector growth. In Xataka | Europe warns of labor shortage in the technology sector: the worst is yet to come Image | Unsplash (Emma Houghton)

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