The measures, worth over 5 billion euros (5.75 billion U.S. dollars), were laid out in two decrees. The first was aimed at supporting businesses, while the second focused on curbing rising housing and rental costs.
Speaking to the press, Sanchez admitted that the measures “won’t prevent the effects of this illegal war from reaching Spain,” but promised that “at least they will make them less corrosive and somewhat more bearable.”
Among the measures approved in an emergency cabinet meeting were a reduction of VAT from 21 percent to 10 percent on automotive fuels, electricity, and natural gas, as well as a reduction on special tax on hydrocarbons.
The Spanish government will also temporarily suspend its tax on electricity generation, while introducing a 15 percent personal income tax deduction for the purchase of electric and plug-in vehicles, along with additional tax deductions to support energy efficiency improvements, self-consumption and heat pumps, according to the measures.
“Extraordinary situations require extraordinary measures,” insisted Sanchez, who highlighted the decrees contain “80 measures that will come into effect as soon as they are published in the Official State Gazette (BOE).”
The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, disrupting global shipping, sending oil prices soaring and shaking the global economy.
European gas and oil prices rose sharply in early trading on Thursday. The Dutch TTF benchmark, a key reference for European gas supply contracts, surged more than 30 percent to 70.7 euros (81.3 U.S. dollars) per megawatt-hour at the open, before easing to around 67 euros (77 dollars) per megawatt-hour. The price has more than doubled from around 32 euros (37 dollars) megawatt-hour before the conflict began.
Oil prices also moved higher. Brent crude, the international benchmark, rose to above 116 dollars per barrel in early trading on Thursday.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez attends a press conference in Madrid, Spain, on March 20, 2026.
“A well-conceived 15th Five-Year Plan and its effective implementation will ensure we have even stronger foundations for basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035,” Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, once said.
Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stressed that socialist modernization can only be realized through a historical process of gradual and ongoing development. It requires the unremitting hard work of one generation after another.
Building new growth momentum
The world is undergoing accelerated changes unseen in a century, with the challenges of securing peace, development, security and governance intensifying, while geopolitical risks are increasing, and global economic growth momentum remains weak.
Notably, China’s economic transformation and upgrading are deepening, with reform efforts tackling deep-seated problems. In addition, new quality productive forces are being fostered at an accelerated pace.
“Efforts should be redoubled to gain experience in analyzing new situations and solving new problems,” Xi said during China’s “two sessions” earlier this month.
Developing new quality productive forces is an essential requirement for building a modern industrial system and fueling a powerful engine for advancing high-quality development.
As a new driver of future development, new quality productive forces should be cultivated in line with local conditions. It is necessary to leverage local resource endowments, industrial foundations and research capabilities to selectively foster emerging industries, new business models and new growth drivers.
Guided by scientific and technological innovation and anchored in the real economy, efforts should be made to speed up the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries and foster the growth of emerging industries and future-oriented industries, so as to accelerate the development of a modern industrial system.
Meanwhile, improving the national innovation system and stimulating the vitality of various innovation entities remain key priorities. With a focus on the frontiers of global science and technology, sustained efforts should be made to strengthen basic research and enhance original innovation capacity, while intensifying breakthroughs in core technologies in key fields and frontier technologies.
Amid a rapidly changing international environment and various uncertainties, focusing on managing the country’s own affairs well and enhancing its development quality is crucial in ensuring a good start to the 15th Five-Year Plan.
For China, it is imperative to advance high-quality development, build a unified national market and expand high-standard opening up to explore global markets.
China still faces challenges of uneven and inadequate development, including declining labor demand in traditional industries due to technological and industrial transformations, and growing pressure on public services and social security because of an aging population. Addressing these issues is essential for sustaining growth and ensuring that development benefits all.
Global vision of China’s modernization path
“Chinese modernization delivers benefit to the Chinese people and also advances common development of the world. It is a sure path for us to build a stronger nation and realize the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. It is also a path we must take to seek progress for humanity and harmony for the entire world,” Xi said in a keynote address at the CPC in Dialogue with World Political Parties High-level Meeting in 2023.
These remarks situated Chinese modernization within the historical context of China’s relations with the world, highlighting its inclusive character and pursuit of win-win outcomes.
Chinese modernization is fundamentally characterized by proactive global engagement. Since the reform and opening up, China’s developmental trajectory, guided by successive five-year plans, has been inseparable from international cooperation.
Openness has always been the defining feature of Chinese modernization. From “the world factory” to “the world market,” and from a land for global investment to a global innovation hub, each leap in China’s development drives cooperation with the world into broader areas and deeper levels.
As industrial transformation accelerates, China’s massive market will continue to offer significant demand for countries worldwide. In pursuit of smart, green and integrated growth, China aims to share its manufacturing experience and technical innovations to drive global sustainable development.
Beyond that, the global significance of the Chinese model of modernization lies in its success in shattering the myth that modernization is synonymous with Westernization, thereby creating a new form of human advancement.
“China will do well only when the world does well, and vice versa,” Xi once said.
Leveraging the China-proposed Global Development Initiative, Global Security Initiative, Global Civilization Initiative and Global Governance Initiative, the world’s second-largest economy is committed to the building of an open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world of lasting peace, universal security and common prosperity.
Faced with global changes not seen in a century, China will continue to stand on the right side of history and remain a steadfast, reliable and constructive force in a turbulent world.
CPC leadership as core
Chinese modernization is characterized by unique features: the modernization of a huge population, the modernization of common prosperity for all, the modernization of material and cultural-ethical advancement, the modernization of harmony between humanity and nature, and the modernization of peaceful development.
In advancing Chinese modernization, the key lies in upholding the overall leadership of the CPC, which has been the strong leadership core in developing socialism with Chinese characteristics.
By integrating the basic tenets of Marxism with China’s specific realities and its fine traditional culture, the Party has, through years of dedicated efforts, deepened its understanding of the laws that underlie governance by a communist party, the development of socialism, and the evolution of human society.
The Party has led China in building one of the world’s most complete industrial systems, in eliminating absolute poverty, in growing into an economy of 140 trillion yuan (about 20.32 trillion U.S. dollars), and in becoming a major trading partner for more than 150 countries and regions.
Advancing Chinese modernization requires solid work and sustained efforts over time, and sound planning must go hand in hand with effective implementation. Party members and officials are urged to establish and practice a correct view on governance performance, remain committed to serving the public and improving people’s well-being, make well-grounded decisions, and focus on practical work.
An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 10, 2026 shows a dual-fuel car carrier loaded with vehicles for export setting sail at Yantai Port in Yantai, east China’s Shandong Province.
The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, accused the Ivy League university of violating the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli people and turning “a blind eye” to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis.
Jewish and Israeli students were subjected to severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive harassment on the ground of their race or national origin, and they were excluded from participation in and denied the benefits of a Harvard education because of their race, ethnicity, or national origin, the complaint alleged.
The complaint also contended that Harvard had actual knowledge of and was “deliberately indifferent” to the harassment and exclusion of Jewish and Israeli students, and that it “intentionally” discriminated against Jews and Israelis.
Since January 2025, the U.S. administration has issued threats to several U.S. universities, warning them of potential funding cuts if they fail to adjust their policies. The main demands included eliminating what was described as antisemitism on campus and dismantling diversity initiatives that favor certain minority groups.
In April 2025, after Harvard rejected the U.S. administration’s demands, the administration announced it would freeze 2.2 billion U.S. dollars in multiyear grants and 60 million dollars in multiyear contract funds for the university.
In February, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his administration was seeking 1 billion dollars in damages from Harvard University.
This photo taken on May 24, 2025 shows a view of the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the United States
The Chadian government confirmed the attack occurred Wednesday and said the drone was launched from within Sudanese territory.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) condemned what it called a drone attack on Al-Tina and blamed the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), calling it “a violation of Chad’s sovereignty and a dangerous escalation.”
The SAF denied involvement and said in a statement Thursday that an RSF drone had struck a gathering of civilians inside Chad, calling it part of a “repeated pattern” of cross-border attacks.
Chad’s information minister and government spokesperson, Qassem Sharif, said the government had raised its military and security forces to a higher state of alert following the strike. He said Chad reserves the right to pursue those responsible inside Sudan under international law.
The strike comes as fighting between the SAF and RSF has intensified along the Sudanese-Chadian border, particularly in the Darfur region, where both sides have clashed over supply routes and border crossings.
The crossings between Sudan and Chad, including the Adre crossing, are vital commercial and humanitarian corridors for Darfur’s population.
Chad closed its border with Sudan on February 23 after armed groups crossed into its territory, allowing exceptions only for humanitarian purposes with prior authorization.
The SAF and RSF have been at war since April 2023. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions inside Sudan and across the region.
The Sudan conflict has driven millions of people to flee across the border to Chad. Chad’s president has ordered the military to retaliate against future attacks from Sudan following a drone attack that killed at least 17 people and injured several other people attending a funeral.
Trump’s remarks followed reports that Iran hit Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, after Israel launched an attack on Wednesday against Iran’s South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf it shares with Doha.
Qatar reported fires and extensive damage at its LNG facilities targeted by Iran, adding that emergency response teams had been deployed to contain the situation.
“The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen,” Trump said.
“NO MORE ATTACKS WILL BE MADE BY ISRAEL pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack” Qatar again, he added.
If Iran attacks Qatar again, “the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” he warned.
Meanwhile, Oman’s Foreign Ministry condemned the targeting of energy facilities in Iran’s South Pars gas field, describing it as a dangerous escalation that threatens regional security and global energy supplies.
The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on February 28, disrupting global shipping, sending oil prices soaring and shaking the global economy.
Trump’s remarks followed reports that Iran hit Qatar’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, after Israel launched an attack on Wednesday against Iran’s South Pars offshore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf it shares with Doha.
As Iran’s top security official, Larijani’s killing represents a major loss for Iran’s leadership and has sparked more intense retaliatory attacks from Tehran on Israeli and U.S. targets. Here is what you need to know about Larijani’s death:
Who was Larijani?
Born in 1958, Larijani served as a senior official in Iran for several decades.
After Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, he joined the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) in the early 1980s, before transitioning to government, serving as Culture Minister between 1994 and 1997.
During the early stages of Iran’s nuclear crisis, Larijani, who once served as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, played a key role in the process that ultimately led to a nuclear agreement.
In 2008, Larijani ran for a seat in the Iranian parliament and was elected speaker, a position he held until 2020.
Larijani tried to run for president in 2021 and again in 2024, but on both occasions, the Constitutional Council disqualified him.
In 2025, following the 12-day war between Israel, the United States and Iran, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Larijani as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council.
How did Larijani die?
Since Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in an Israeli strike in February, Larijani had played a key role in Iran’s national affairs, frequently issuing tough statements in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks.
On Tuesday, the Israel Defense Forces said that it carried out precision airstrikes in Tehran, killing Gholamreza Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Basij volunteer force, and Larijani.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said later on Tuesday that Israel had killed Larijani, adding, “There are many more surprises.”
Late Tuesday night, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council confirmed that its secretary, Larijani, had been killed.
In a statement, the council said Larijani died early Tuesday alongside his son Morteza Larijani, deputy for security affairs at the council’s secretariat Alireza Bayat, and several others.
The council praised Larijani’s long service to Iran’s development and called for national unity in the face of external threats.
Reactions to Larijani’s death
Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei offered his condolences on Wednesday over the death of Larijani, while hinting at retaliation.
In a statement on social media, he condemned the “assassination,” stating that those responsible would inevitably “pay the price for their crimes.”
In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Israel’s killing of Larijani will not deal a fatal blow to Iran’s leadership.
“I do not know why the Americans and the Israelis still have not understood this point: The Islamic Republic of Iran has a strong political structure with established political, economic, and social institutions,” Araghchi said. “The presence or absence of a single individual does not affect this structure.”
Russia on Wednesday condemned the killing of Larijani. “We certainly condemn actions intended to harm health or, even more so, to kill representatives of the leadership of a sovereign and independent Iran, as well as other countries. We condemn such actions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a daily briefing.
Hamas on Wednesday also condemned the “treacherous” Israeli strike on Tehran that killed Larijani.
Praising Larijani’s support for the Palestinian cause, the group extended condolences to Iran’s leadership and people, calling the attack a “flagrant aggression” against Iran.
As Iran’s top security official, Larijani’s killing represents a major loss for Iran’s leadership and has sparked more intense retaliatory attacks from Tehran on Israeli and U.S. targets. Here is what you need to know about Larijani’s death:
The news about the supreme leader being in Russia for treatment is a “new psychological war,” Jalali said on X. “Iranian leaders do not need to flee and hide in shelters; their place is on the streets among the people.”
Kuwaiti daily Al-Jarida reported over the weekend that Mojtaba Khamenei was transported to Russia on a military aircraft and had already undergone surgery at a private clinic, citing a high-ranking source close to the new supreme leader.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the report during his briefing on Monday.
Iran has denied the transfer of recently selected Supreme leader to Russia for treatment.
He said in a social media post that Argentina communicated this decision through a note addressed to the United Nations Secretary-General on March 17, 2025.
In accordance with the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, the withdrawal takes place one year after that notification.
“Our country will continue to promote international cooperation in health through bilateral agreements and regional forums, fully safeguarding its sovereignty and its capacity to make decisions regarding health policies,” Quirno said.
The Argentine government announced the decision to withdraw from the global health body in February last year.
Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni told a press conference at the time that President Javier Milei had instructed the Argentine foreign minister to withdraw the country’s participation in the UN specialized agency.
The spokesperson said that the decision “gives the country greater flexibility to implement policies adapted to the context and interests that Argentina requires, as well as greater availability of resources, and reaffirms our path towards a country with sovereignty also in matters of health.”
President Javier Milei had instructed his foreign minister to withdraw the country from WHO
“Hours ago, U.S. forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz,” the command said.
“The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these sites posed a risk to international shipping in the strait,” it added.
Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters that Washington is “not ready” to end its strikes on Iran, now in its third week.
Trump admitted that his demand for a joint escort mission through the Strait of Hormuz has been rejected by most NATO members and U.S. allies, saying he is “disappointed” in NATO’s decision and asserting the United States does “not need the help of anyone.”
He said Japan, Australia and South Korea also rejected his escort call.
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Iranian parliament speaker, said in a post on X on Tuesday that the Strait of Hormuz “won’t return to its pre-war status” but gave no further details.
In a recent report by J.P. Morgan, analysts warn that oil producers in the Middle East could sustain output for “no more than 25 days” if the Strait of Hormuz were completely shut.
Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, alongside Iran itself, depend on this narrow passage to export their crude oil.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told U.S. media last week that the strait remained open to international shipping, except for vessels belonging to the United States, Israel, and their allies.
The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, disrupting global shipping, sending oil prices soaring and shaking the global economy.
U.S. has claimed a strike near the Strait of Hormuz
He made the remarks in a post on social media platform X early Tuesday while reacting to a report by U.S. media outlet Axios claiming so, as the military campaign launched by the United States and Israel against Iran has entered its 18th day.
“My last contact with Mr. Witkoff was prior to his employer’s decision to kill diplomacy with another illegal military attack on Iran,” Araghchi said.
He added, “Any claim to the contrary appears geared solely to mislead oil traders and the public.”
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, high-ranking military commanders, and civilians. Iran responded through several waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. assets and bases in the Middle East.
Speaking at a press conference in Tehran on Monday, Araghchi stressed that Iran had not sent any message to the United States requesting a ceasefire, noting that the war must end in a way that it will not be repeated in the future.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has roundly rejected having had any new contact with U.S. president’s special envoy
