Madison Keys arrived in Australia unafraid of the possibility of her 30th birthday coming up next month, and with the modest aim of seeing how well she could perform.
After falling to two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in three sets in Saturday’s Australian Open final, the resilient American now has the answer.
Eight years after winning her first Grand Slam final in New York, Keys has now advanced to her first major title. Sloane Stephens won that game for her.
That 6-3, 6-0 loss has rankled ever since, but it was also a learning experience.
I think I never really gave myself a chance to play during that game because I was so enamored of the situation, opportunity, and everything else,” she said this week.
“I believe the most important thing for me has always been knowing that there will be many uncomfortable moments during the game,” she said.
” It’s going to be stressful. You are being watched by thousands of people.
Madison Keys enjoyed a strong start to storm the first set]Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters]
Now ranked 14, Keys will return to the top 10 for the first time since 2019 next week.
She made her first semifinal at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a prodigious 19-year-old to showcase her potential.
She defeated world number two Iga Swiatek in the final four of the year a decade later to set up a showdown with world number one Sabalenka.
Since Martina Hingis from 1997 to 1999, the Belarusian had been attempting to become the first woman to have won three consecutive Melbourne crowns.
But Keys, the 19th seed and underdog, made a nonsense of all that to clinch the title 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in an absorbing final.
Aryna Sabalenka appeared to have found her game in the second set as the game tightened]Edgar Su/Reuters]
Keys ended her season early in October last year and married her coach, Bjorn Fratangelo, a month later.
Since Fratangelo became her coach in 2023, the two players have been dating since 2017.
On the day before the final, Fratangelo stated to the media that Keys’s best was yet to come.
” I think she’s nowhere near her full potential, “said Fratangelo, a fellow American who won the boys ‘ singles at the 2011 French Open.
“You can get this far with an axe, but occasionally you just need new tools.” I think that’s what I’ve tried to bring to the table. “
Madison Keys celebrates with her coach and husband Bjorn Fratangelo]Jaimi Joy/Reuters]
Keys and Sabalenka both have powerful opponents who can outsmart them.
After losing the semifinal, Swiatek talked about Keys’s” bravery “in going for big shots at big moments.
On the eve of the final, Fratangelo called Sabalenka “a little more of the polished version of Madison.”
He remarked of Keys, “But what I’ve seen from her now is just what the greats do.”
They are capable of raising the bar when it matters most.
And so it proved on Saturday as Keys clinched the 10th title of her career, and biggest, for an early 30th birthday present.
Keys won the battle of her life, defeating Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins, both of whom were Melbourne’s former champions.
Belarusians will cast their ballots for president on January 26. Officially, there are five candidates, but 70-year-old Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the country for more than three decades, will almost certainly retain his seat.
While Vladimir Putin’s Russia tolerated a degree of open dissent, at least until the invasion of Ukraine, Lukashenko was described for many years as “Europe’s last dictator” – a reputation which didn’t seem to faze him.
The final and only dictator in Europe is me. Indeed, there are none anywhere else in the world,” he told Reuters in 2012.
Belarus’s opposition, the United States, the European Parliament and rights groups have dismissed the upcoming vote as a “sham”. Mass demonstrations erupted following the last presidential election in 2020, when widespread allegations of vote rigging were made public. Then, brutally, the authorities began to crack down on the system.
Experts and insiders say Lukashenko is driven by a “thirst for power” and, having been shaken by those demonstrations, the fear of losing control.
He has been fueled for 30 years by his desire for power. It does not let him relax for a second,” Valery Karbalevich, a political observer at Radio Liberty and author of an unofficial biography of Lukashenko, told Al Jazeera. He doesn’t picture his life without power because “power and life are the same thing.” ”
Born in 1954 in the town of Kopys in northern Belarus, Lukashenko, a self-confessed troublemaker at school, was a Soviet pig farm manager before becoming president. According to observers and those who worked under him, the leader is ruthless and distrustful, making occasionally outrageous claims like vodka and visits to the sauna helping to stop COVID.
“This man is capable of giving an order to kill if someone goes against him,” said Pavel Latushka, Belarus’s now-exiled former minister of culture from 2009 to 2012.
I spoke with him directly and he said, “If you betray me, I will strangle you with my own hands.” He later made a public comment to Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov in a recent [2024] interview. ”
Who is the leader behind Belarus’ election on Sunday, and what motivates him today?
Alexander Lukashenko, president of Belarus, delivers a speech at a meeting with senior military personnel in Minsk, Belarus, in June 2023 [Press Service of the President of Belarus/Handout via Reuters] [Press release]
Soviet nostalgia
Belarus, a landlocked nation of a little more than nine million bordering Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia and Lithuania, was once part of the USSR. Like many leaders of former Soviet republics, Lukashenko’s political career began during that period. In contrast to them, Lukashenko was the only lawmaker in Soviet Belarus to vote against the country’s independence in 1991. He did not support nationalism.
Nostalgia for the Soviet era is reflected in much of Lukashenko’s governance.
“He lived in the Soviet Union for more than 30 years and now, he cannot go beyond that life experience,” said Karbalevich.
Lukashenko, then 39, won Belarus’s first, and so far only, presidential election deemed free and fair by outside observers in 1994. The independent candidate ran on a populist platform, pledging to root out corruption and railing against the “lawlessness” which he said held the country “hostage”. Immediately post-independence, Belarus suffered from a stagnating economy, corruption, inflation and racketeering gangs.
Lukashenko survived an assassination attempt on the campaign trail when his car was attacked by unknown assailants, though it’s unclear when exactly or whether he always had distrustful tendencies. Later, a state-television show claimed that high-ranking officials were at work with the attackers.
Lukashenko won approximately 80 percent of the vote, defeating the country’s first prime minister, Vyacheslav Kebich, who inherited the job after independence and under whom quality of life had deteriorated.
Within a year of assuming office, Lukashenko held a referendum that changed Belarus’s white-and-red flag to one closely resembling the old Soviet design. We have given you the national flag of the nation you fought, he told veterans of World War II. ”
He kept the collective farms open, ensuring the success of the agricultural sector, and maintained a planned economy with state monopolies over industry. Contrary to what is happening in Russia and Ukraine, where a few businessmen with connections to the government have prospered in recent years, this state-run economy prevented the emergence of powerful oligarchs who dominated national politics.
“At the beginning of his presidency, he was really popular,” explained Karbalevich.
He described how the public admired him as the people’s president and said, “He considered himself the people’s president.” ”
For instance, Lukashenko bragged about how bedridden war veterans flocked to the voting booths at a meeting of government officials in 2006.
Lukashenko addresses the Belarusian People’s Congress in Minsk on April 25, 2024 [Press Service of the President of the Republic of Belarus/Handout via Reuters]
‘Afraid to look him in the eye.
According to Karalevich, Lukashenko wanted to be remembered as the man who “created the Belarusian statehood” and a post-communist transition alternative, but he also wanted the state to have control over the economy.
To an extent, it proved efficient: unlike Russia, which was plagued by poverty and organised crime in the 1990s, Belarus was relatively safe and the inequality gap was narrow. The nation’s Gini coefficient, a measure of wealth inequality, maintains a better balance than that of its neighbors and even Western Europe.
Throughout, Lukashenko has tried to cultivate an affectionate, paternalistic image as “Bat’ka” – the father of the nation. He frequently takes part in “subbotnik,” the Soviet practice of giving unpaid volunteer work on the weekends, such as by working on a farm. He enjoys sport and fitness, and projected an image of a strong, healthy leader by playing hockey.
“Lukashenko enjoys evening events,” said Latushka, who worked directly under the president during his time as a minister.
“He gathered key officials, journalists, sports and cultural figures for closed parties on New Year’s, on the traditional Old New Year [January 14]. At first, there was an open part, and later a closed one that could last until 6 or 7 in the morning with a Stalinist concert program while everyone gathers around the table and watches the performers. Lukashenko can drink a lot at these kinds of events, and he can then dance. He lives in a society that is hidden from view. ”
Early in his rule, Lukashenko’s leadership was quickly revealed to be another aspect.
“Fear. Officials sit with their heads down during meetings with him, Latushka said.
Everyone is afraid to look him in the eye. This system of power is paternalistic. As soon as he leaves, everyone’s heads will rise, everyone will start talking and acting differently. In public, Lukashenko is outwardly a very cruel person, capable of publicly humiliating anyone. He disregards the viewpoints of others. ”
On January 5, 2023, a defendant’s cage is occupied by Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, who was also awarded the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Consolidating power
Lukashenko created a constitutional referendum within two years of taking office, ceding control of the security apparatus and parliament. The opposition alleged widespread voting fraud, although it’s also possible a part of the citizenry, wary of the instability in neighbouring Russia, was indeed willing to grant Lukashenko those powers.
Then, in 2004, Lukashenko was able to win the presidency again and again through a similar referendum, giving him the right to run for office.
Uladzimir Zhyhar, a former detective and representative of Belpol, a group of exiled ex-Belarusian police officers who defected to the opposition after the protests of 2020, accused law enforcement of being, first and foremost, henchmen for Lukashenko’s regime.
“This is the system he has cultivated for 30 years,” Zhyhar told Al Jazeera.
“After the anti-constitutional referendum of 1996, the police, courts, prosecutor’s office, investigative committee and, of course, special services, obey [Lukashenko]. There is torture, there are illegal arrests, there are interrogations … and the main department for fighting organised crime, which if it concerns politically motivated crimes, they are allowed to do everything. Absolutely everything, regardless of human rights or anything else. ”
Between 1999 and 2000, four of Lukashenko’s political opponents went missing (PDF): former Interior Minister Yury Zakharanka; lawmaker Viktar Hanchar and his friend, businessman Anatol Krasowski; and journalist Dzmitry Zavadski. In 2019, an exiled member of a top organization that targets gangs admitted to participating in three of their murders and abductions.
Lukashenko has appointed loyalists to senior positions, both within the security forces and state-run industries. However, it appears he lacks complete trust in them.
“Lukashenko absolutely hates people who can be in some position of authority, and so he is constantly engaged in the rotation of personnel,” Zhyhar explained. And while former security personnel may occupy deputy positions at enterprises, they are never – “as a rule” – appointed to top posts.
“He is afraid that this former security operative, having certain knowledge, having a certain authority, will be able to form connections and pose a threat to him. ”
Putin and Lukashenko visit the Museum of Naval Glory in Kronstadt near Saint Petersburg, Russia on July 23, 2023 [Sputnik/Alexander Demyanchuk/Pool via Reuters]
Between the West and Moscow
Early in his presidency, Lukashenko’s foreign policy echoed the old Soviet Union’s position during the Cold War. In support of Slobodan Milosevic, he retaliated against Western imperialism and traveled to Belgrade during NATO bombings. He and Boris Yeltsin, the president at the time, signed a Union State agreement in 1997, and he was deeply committed to Russian reintegration. Under terms which were never fully implemented, Russia and Belarus would have re-united.
According to Karbalevich, “Lukashenko wanted to unite Russia into one state and conquer it.” “Then, in the 1990s, Boris Yeltsin was unpopular in Russia as a president. At any democratic election, Lukashenko believed he could defeat him because he was old and ill. However, Lukashenko lost interest in integrating with Russia after Putin took office [in 1999]. ”
Vladzimir Astapenka, who served as a Belarusian diplomat to several Latin American nations in the 2010s, continued, “the initial relations between Lukashenko and Putin were very, very tense.” “They were like competitors, and Putin did a lot to move Lukashenko back to where he belongs. ”
Lukashenko used his position as the nominal Union State to snag concessions from Moscow, though. Belarus’s economy relyed heavily on Russian subsidies for cheap oil, which Belarus refined and sold both in Ukraine and the EU. Russia, meanwhile, imported vast quantities of Belarusian agricultural produce, such as milk and cheese.
Throughout the 2010s, the two sides remained cordial but disjointed, with Lukashenko quietly adopting a more Belarusian identity and even using Belarusian as his speech language in 2014 rather than the customary Russian.
Lukashenko has managed his personal interactions with Putin and Moscow, according to Yauheni Preiherman of the Minsk Dialogue Council on International Relations think tank. According to him, “I occasionally refer to him as the best Kremlinologist in the world because, regardless of whether we like him, his intimate knowledge of Putin and the rest of the Russian political elite makes him a very knowledgeable statesman in that regard,” he said.
At the same time, Lukashenko started reaching out to the West, for instance, in 2008 and 2015 ordering the release of political prisoners, after which the European Union (EU) in turn lifted some sanctions it had imposed over Belarus’s internal repression.
Belarus and Lukashenko flipped sides over the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed early in the conflict, when the conflict first started to elude Belarus as a neutral mediator in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
The headline “Lukashenko, the last dictator of Europe, being only focused on ensuring his power inside the nation” is what you typically read in the mainstream of Western media. That makes him ideologically close to Putin, and that’s the end of the story,” Preiherman explained.
He contends that his interactions with Russia and the West are more complicated than that.
“With Russia, he has had both more conflict and cooperation, whereas with the European Union and the West, he has had less of both. And this is easy to explain,” he said. This is because Belarus’s structure is significantly more similar to Russia and dependent on it in many ways. ”
A diplomatic crisis erupted in the Union State’s still-unresolved issue in 2019. Putin urged Moscow to pursue reintegration, but Lukashenko warned that any such action would be seen as hostile, so the Kremlin responded by cutting back on its oil subsidies.
The next year everything changed.
In Minsk, people demonstrate against the results of the upcoming presidential election on August 9, 2020. Opposition in Belarus alleges poll-rigging and police brutality at protests that resulted in President Lukashenko’s [Tatyana Zenkovich/EPA-EFE] landslide results.
‘Enacting vengeance’ against protesters
With more than 80% of the vote, Lukashenko won the 2020 presidential election, a ballot that the opposition thought was rigged.
In one of Belarus’s largest mass protests ever to occur, hundreds of thousands of people poured into the streets. They were met by truncheon-wielding riot squads. About 35,000 were arrested, and thousands were allegedly 15/belarus-systematic-beatings-torture-protesters” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>beaten or tortured in custody. At least one protester was raped in custody, and up to 15 protesters were killed during or in the wake of the unrest.
“For the first time, he lost,” Zhyhar said.
“He lost informationally. Because of the large crowds of people who had gathered in a chain of solidarity, he lost in the street. He lost, in fact, even at the elections themselves, because everyone saw the queues that were lined up to vote for [opposition candidate Sviatlana] Tsikhanouskaya. Everyone witnessed it. ”
“The authoritarian regime has become totalitarian,” Karbalevich said. “It is forbidden to criticise Lukashenko. The accuracy of the state line is unquestionable. If a person is found [doing that] in social networks, he or she is detained for this. Lukashenko’s behaviour has changed. Political organization has gotten more rigid.
The events of 2020 have traumatized Lukasenko. He is now cruelly executing the Belarusis who protested against him. ”
There are currently more than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, at least 10 of whom are held in solitary confinement. They include Nobel Peace Prize winner Ales Bialiatski, chairman of the Viasna Human Rights Centre, and Sergei Tikhanovsky, husband of Tsikhanouskaya who now leads the exiled opposition from Lithuania.
“Lukashenko is well aware that not all the people against him have left the country, and he didn’t imprison everyone. And therefore, for four and a half years, we have been repressed,” Zhyhar said.
“We have no independent media, we have no independent trade unions, we have no independent NGOs, we have no independent courts, we have no independent law enforcement agencies. And most importantly, Lukashenko is still afraid of the people. Therefore, he does not reduce repression, he only increases it. ”
Lukashenko attends a news briefing following talks with Putin in Minsk on May 24, 2024 [Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via Reuters]
Hostage of his own system
The aftermath of the 2020 protests burned Lukashenko’s bridges with the West, as the United States, United Kingdom and EU imposed sanctions, while Putin supported him.
“The sanctions, when they were initially adopted, were proclaimed as a means to force Lukashenko and his government to lessen domestic repression, free prisoners, and launch an inclusive internal discussion with his opponents,” said Preiherman.
But on all those counts, the situation is much worse, he says. They have also created unintended consequences. “Lukashenko has had next to zero manoeuvring space in relations with Russia, [and] geopolitically, they have ensured that Russia is the only game in town,” he added.
The protests presented Lukashenko with a dilemma: share power with the people, or with Putin, reflects Karbalevich.
He and Putin agreed to share power, but now the West is convinced that Lukashenko isn’t a true master of Belarus and that he is just his puppet. I would not be so radical; Lukashenko is quite autonomous. But today, this union with Belarus and Russia is very close. ”
Lukashenko authorized Russia to launch the invasion of Ukraine from Belarusian territory after he refused to deploy troops in the conflict in February 2022. Lukashenko acted as a mediator between Putin and Yevgeny Prigozhin, giving him the role of a peacemaker during the Russian mercenary Wagner Group revolt of 2023.
“From being competitors they became … I wouldn’t say friends, but allies,” Astapenka, the former diplomat, said.
And Lukashenko must have control over Belarus. ”
In January, Lukashenko signed a law preventing opposition leaders from contesting presidential elections, giving him lifetime protection from criminal prosecution, lifelong support for his family, and a law prohibiting his opponents from running for president.
“To an extent, he became a hostage of the system that he himself created,” Karbalevich said.
In Gaza City’s Palestine Square, Hamas handed over four Israeli women who were detained as part of the ceasefire agreement to Red Cross officials.
Later on Saturday, in exchange for the second release of the captives on Saturday, Israel said 200 Palestinians were released from its jails.
Numerous masked Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters gathered in the square where a sizable crowd of Palestinians also gathered prior to the release of Gaza.
In addition to hundreds of Hamas members, other Palestinian factions, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, were also present at the site.
Palestinians gather in Palestine Square ,]Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters]
Before the release, Hamas fighters and members of the Red Cross were seen signing documents.
Karina Ariev, Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, and Liri Albag, four Israeli women, have been identified by Hamas. The four captives, who were in Israeli military uniforms, waved to the crowd as they were released.
Ibrahim Al Khaliji, reporting for Al Jazeera from Palestine Square, described the release as a “historic moment”.
Later on Saturday, the Israeli army confirmed that the Red Cross had received the soldiers who had been released. They had been given a medical evaluation.
“The four returning hostages are currently being accompanied by IDF]Israeli army] special forces and ISA]security agency] forces on their return to Israeli territory, where they will undergo an initial medical assessment”, the army said in a statement.
However, a statement from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Palestinians will not be , allowed to return to northern Gaza until Arbel Yehoud, one of the captives, is released. Yehoud was supposed to have been released on Saturday, according to the statement.
Yehuda is still alive and will be released on Saturday, according to a Hamas official.
Palestinians detained by Israeli authorities
Of the 200 Palestinians released from Israeli jails, 121 were serving life sentences, while 79 were serving long sentences. The youngest prisoner is only 15 years old, while the oldest prisoner is 69. Egypt is expected to hold up the detention of 177 Palestinians for 48 hours.
People gather near a bus carrying freed Palestinians in Ramallah]Ali Sawafta/Reuters]
They will consequently be sent to Tunisia, Algeria and Turkey, which all agreed to receive them.
In Tel Aviv’s central square, dubbed Hostages Square, a big screen showed the faces of the four female soldiers that were released. In the crowd, people waved Israeli flags, while some held posters with the captives ‘ faces.
“I’m extremely excited, exhilarated”, one person among the crowd, Gili Roman, told The Associated Press.  , “In a heartbeat, in a split of a second, their lives are going to turn upside again, but right now for a positive and a good side”.
In addition to the agreement, Israeli forces are anticipated to leave the Netzarim Corridor, allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees to re-enter their homes in northern Gaza.
People in Tel Aviv react as they watch broadcasts related to the release of Israeli captives]Nir Elias/Reuters]
Additionally, it is anticipated that Israel will begin bringing in more humanitarian aid and other goods for commerce to the southern Rafah border crossing.
Many Palestinians believe that the exchange of captives and prisoners on Saturday is more important than it will make the way for their return to northern Gaza, according to Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary, who is reporting from the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza.
In response to Prime Minister Robert Fico’s apparent push for closer ties with Russia, tens of thousands of people protested across Slovakia.
Up to 60, 000 people gathered in Bratislava for the latest manifestation of public outcry against Fico, whose visit to Moscow last month sparked a string of protests.
Civic group Mier Ukrajine – “Peace for Ukraine” – said it called the rallies in defence of “democracy”, following the prime minister’s remarks on switching Slovakia’s foreign policy and leaving the European Union and NATO.
In Bratislava, protester Frantisek Valach declared, “We do not want to be with Russia. We want to be in the European Union, we want to be NATO, and we want to stay that way.”
On Friday, tensions escalated after the prime minister’s left-wing nationalist government accused organisers and political opponents of attempting a “coup d’etat” in league with an unspecified group of foreigners.
Fico, who was wounded in a shooting that left a gunman dead last year, claimed a group of unidentified experts in Slovakia had supported protests in Ukraine and Georgia last year, citing a secret report from the nation’s intelligence services, known as SIS.
He unveiled no specific evidence, but he stated in a statement that the opposition planned to occupy government buildings, block roads, organize a nationwide strike, and start fighting with police forces as part of his government’s plan to overthrow him.
Opposition parties have sought , a no-confidence vote , against Fico’s government, but Fico has so far looked set to survive the vote as he maintains a thin majority.
Friday’s protests neared levels seen in 2018 when the murder of Jan Kuciak, a journalist investigating high-level corruption, forced Fico’s resignation.
Up to 60, 000 protesters gathered in Bratislava to oppose Prime Minister Robert Fico’s tilt away from the European Union in favour of Russia, on January 24, 2025]Denes Erdos/AP Photo]
Fico’s private trip , to Moscow , in December saw him hold talks with Putin, a rare encounter for an EU leader since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
After Kyiv stopped the transit of Russian gas supplies heading to Slovakia on January 1, he has threatened to halt humanitarian aid in retaliation.
Last week Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced several measures, including a 100 percent tax on the value of homes bought by foreigners, to tackle the country’s housing crisis.
Sanchez wants to stop people who are not citizens of the European Union from purchasing real estate there. According to Sanchez, “Spain’s housing should be for Spanish people to live in, as well as for migrants who come here to work, build a life, and contribute to the development and prosperity of our country,” making reference to those who invest in housing.
In a number of cities, including Barcelona and Seville, people have started to protest against tourists because of housing shortages and rising prices, which are thought to be contributing factors to the crisis.
How serious is the housing crisis, and will the new measures address the issue that previous governments have neglected to address?
What is Spain’s new property tax proposal?
Sanchez has proposed 12 steps to tackle the country’s strained housing market, which saw some of Europe’s highest price increases last year at 8.3 percent.
The 100 percent tax will affect overseas buyers, who bought 27, 000 apartments in 2023. In the third quarter of 2024, about 15 percent of all real estate properties were purchased by foreigners, according to the Association of Registrars.
“They]overseas buyers] did so not to live, but to speculate, to make money with them, something that in the context of scarcity we cannot afford”, Sanchez said at the forum, “Housing, the Fifth Pillar of the Welfare State”, in Madrid on Monday.
The Spanish leader also suggested putting more money on vacation rentals to ensure that tourists’ rented apartments were treated “like a business.” “It is not fair that those who own three, four, five apartments for short-term rental pay less tax than hotels”, Sanchez said.
Other proposals include tax breaks and incentives for landlords to set aside rents in high-demand areas and to offer affordable housing, particularly to young people.
What other measures has he announced?
Sanchez, who leads the left-wing coalition government led by his Socialist Workers’ Party, also intends to change laws to make land available for private construction more quickly and easily accessible.
About 600, 000 new homes are needed by the end of 2025 but some 90, 000 homes are being built each year, according to the Bank of Spain.
Sanchez emphasized that housing was the top priority of his government, but he was careful to point out that the solution was elusive. The Spanish prime minister announced the creation of “thousands and thousands” of affordable social housing units by transferring two million square meters of land to a new, public company.
Government subsidies are provided for government-owned or managed buildings, as well as nonprofit organizations.
Sanchez stated that social housing constitutes just 2.5 percent of Spain’s market, far below the space in other major EU countries, such as 14 percent in France and 34 percent in the Netherlands.
Sanchez added that the government plans to stop fraud in holiday rentals, such as those on platforms like Airbnb, without giving a detailed plan.
Fraud in Spain’s holiday rental market includes unlicensed rentals that violate legal or safety standards, fake property listings, and unauthorised subletting of properties to tourists without the owners’ permission.
Spanish authorities opened an investigation into Airbnb in December 2024 after failing to remove thousands of erroneous rental offers from its website.
Meanwhile, the golden visa, introduced in 2013, would be eliminated. By purchasing real estate projects worth at least 500 000 euros (roughly $513 000), this program granted wealthy non-EU investors the right to obtain residency.
What characteristics and people will it most impact?
Individuals who frequently use the properties as vacation or investment homes as they are citizens or residents of the European Union will be subject to the tax.
In Spain, foreign buyers account for about 10% of all acquisitions by non-residents in the final quarter of 2023, making up the top 10% of all foreign buyers.
Shortage of housing and high rentals mean that people have been priced out of the market, with the rate of homelessness rising by 24 percent since 2012 to 28, 000 people, according to official figures.
Spain’s new measures aim to help residents, especially those in cities and coastal areas such as the Balearic Islands, and the Canary Islands, where rents have surged due to high demand and limited supply.
When will it go into effect?
The precise date for implementing the tax on foreign buyers and other proposed measures hasn’t been specified.
The proposals require approval in Spain’s fragmented parliament, where Sanchez’s minority coalition may face a challenge in passing legislation.
How affordable is housing in Spain?
In cities like Madrid, Barcelona, and cities along the Mediterranean coast, housing prices have increased significantly in recent years.
Rents in the country increased by 11 percent in 2024, according to real estate portal Idealista.
A one-bedroom flat in Barcelona’s city centre costs an average of $1, 313 per month, and $989 per month outside the city centre. Over the past ten years, the average rent in Barcelona has increased by 53 percent.
Spanish cities are still less expensive than a number of Western European cities, where the cost of living crisis has increased due to high rental costs and housing costs.
In London, which has also been facing a housing crisis, the average rent for a one-bedroom apartment was $2, 738 a month in December 2024.
According to a report from London’s City Hall, the city’s high rental costs were fueled by its proximity to a major industrial and student population, which in turn raises the demand for housing. Rents have fallen to record levels as a result of this demand, which is matched by a significant decline in supply of rental properties since 2020.
Sanchez cited a 48% increase in housing costs across Europe over the past ten years, nearly double the increase in household income over the same time period.
“The West faces a decisive challenge: not to become a society divided into two classes, that of rich owners and poor tenants”, he said.
“We are facing a serious problem, with enormous social and economic implications, which requires a decisive response from society as a whole, with public institutions at the forefront”, he said, according to comments published by the government.
A woman takes a picture during a protest against tourism in Barcelona in 2017]File: Manu Fernandez/AP Photo]
Is tourism the only factor influencing the housing crisis?
With more than 94 million tourists expected in 2024, Spain is the second-most traveled nation in the world. Tourism generated some $200bn in revenue, or 13 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Residents in Spain have complained about mass tourism, including gentrification, increased living costs and a spike in rowdy behaviour by party-seeking foreigners.
Tourism is not the only factor causing Spain’s housing crisis, though.
Spain’s housing bust of 2008 and the subsequent financial crisis also worsened the problem. Between 2008 and 2014 Spain experienced a major financial crisis, which also included a prolonged real estate crash.
According to a working paper from the European Central Bank, “by 2015, house prices had dropped by a third from the 2008 peak, and essentially no new homes were being constructed.”
The COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased construction costs significantly since then, exacerbated the crisis.
Young people living with their parents for longer periods, which slows down new residential projects, are hampered by the high youth unemployment rate of 26%, which means that. Nearly two-thirds of Spanish young people aged between 18 and 34 live with their parents.
The US State Department reported a record $ 318.7 billion sale of military equipment to foreign governments in 2024, which included the sale of $ 18.8 billion of jet fighters to Israel, despite the country’s ongoing investigation into the genocide in Gaza.
US weapons sales figures from the Biden administration’s final year were released on Friday, coming amid rising global instability and regional tensions.
Direct military sales by US companies rose to $200.8bn in fiscal 2024 up from $157.5bn in 2023, while sales arranged through the US government rose to $117.9 bn in 2024 over $80.9bn the prior year.
Arm sales and transfers are viewed as “important US foreign policy tools with potential long-term effects for regional and global security,” according to a statement from the State Department.
Sales approved in 2024 included but were not limited to $23bn in F-16 jets and aircraft upgrades to Turkiye’s military, $18.8bn worth of F-15 fighter jets to Israel, and $2.5bn in sales of M1A2 Abrams tanks to Romania.
The State Department said the US takes a “holistic approach” to arms sales and “weighs political, social, human rights, civilian protection” among many factors – including economic and military – when determining “the appropriate provision of military equipment” to allies and partners.
However, according to US investigative journalism organization ProPublica, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken continued to approve arms transfers to the nation in violation of US law and ignored earlier warnings about Israeli human rights violations in the wake of the Gaza war.
Gaza’s Israeli military has killed more than 47,200 Palestinians, according to images showing how devastated entire cities have been turned into rubble with the aid of US weapons, including bombs, missiles, warplanes, and other weapons.
The Biden administration is accused of knowingly funding Israel’s alleged genocide in Gaza by human rights organizations, UN experts, and even former US government officials.
In a detailed report released in November 2024, Human Rights Watch explained how Israel had made a conscious effort to stop Palestinians from occupying large portions of Gaza.
US defense contractors are working to meet the growing need for weapons as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The US is attempting to replenish its own stockpiles after sending weapons and munitions to Kyiv to support its war with Russia, while other international ministries of defense have been lining up to place orders to increase their inventories of US weapons.
