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The Northern Irish unionist leader resigns after being accused of sexual crimes

The leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland, Jeffrey Donaldson, resigned from office after being accused of alleged sexual crimes committed in the past.

According to the public broadcaster BBC, the 61-year-old politician faces a rape charge, among other charges, arising from a police investigation that began a few months ago, after two women denounced him.

The so far head of the second Northern Irish, Protestant and pro-British political formation, was arrested and charged on Thursday along with a 57-year-old woman, and they must appear on April 24 before justice.

The DUP, which was the majority in Northern Ireland until the historic electoral victory of the Catholic-pro-Irish Sinn Féin in 2022, explained in a statement that Donaldson informed them by letter of the accusations, which he denies, and of his resignation with immediate effect.

“According to the party’s statutes, the board has suspended him from affiliation pending the outcome of the judicial process,” he said in the note.

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This Friday, the formation unanimously appointed Gavin Robinson, so far its deputy leader, as acting leader while internal elections are organized.

The Northern Irish Police indicated, without identifying the accused, that a 61-year-old man has been charged with “non-recent sexual crimes” and a 57-year-old woman, of “helping and inciting additional crimes.”

Elected leader of the DUP in 2021, Donaldson is Northern Ireland’s oldest deputy in the British House of Commons, where he initially joined in 1997 with the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). He was decorated by Elizabeth II in 2016 for his services to politics.

He managed the return of the DUP to the Northern Irish Government – which had been suspended since February 2022 – after reaching an agreement with the United Kingdom Executive to guarantee the status of the British province within the United Kingdom in the face of the divergences imposed by Brexit.

On February 3, Michelle O’Neill, of Sinn Féin, assumed the position of chief minister of Northern Ireland, with the deputy minister being the deputy of the DUP Emma Little-Pengelly.

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The unionists left the Belfast Government in February 2022 for their rejection of the Brexit Protocol for Northern Ireland – later replaced by the Windsor Framework Agreement – which imposed border controls between Great Britain and the region in order to avoid a physical border on the island of Ireland, in compliance with the 1998 peace agreements.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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