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Simon Harris confirms his candidacy for Irish Prime Minister, without other candidates

The Irish Minister of Higher Education, Simon Harris, announced on Thursday his candidacy for the position of leader of the Christian Democratic party Fine Gael and Prime Minister, after the resignation of Leo Varadkar.

In the absence of other applicants and after already receiving the support of more than half of his parliamentary group, Harris, 37, will be confirmed on Monday as leader of the formation, as a step prior to assuming the head of the Government after Easter.

The next ‘taoiseach’ (prime minister) has previously occupied the Health and Interior portfolios, the latter during a maternity leave of the current holder, Helen McEntee, who today refused to dispute the charges.

In making the announcement, Harris declared himself “honored” for receiving the support of “so many” co-religionists during the last 24 hours, while thanking the leadership shown by Varadkar during his seven years at the head of the party and in two stages as prime minister.

“Leo has guided our party and our country during very difficult times, including Brexit, the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent rise in the cost of living,” the conservative leader explained in an interview with the public broadcaster RTE.

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The deadline for submitting candidacies for the leadership of Fine Gael began this Thursday and will end on Monday, although no last-minute announcement is expected, so Harris will be confirmed in office on April 5, on the eve of the party’s annual conference.

The Dáil (lower house) will meet again after the Easter holidays and the investiture session is scheduled to be held then.

Harris pledged to hold his future positions with “energy and enthusiasm,” to which he hopes to contribute, he said, with his own “life experiences”

“I want to work with my colleagues, I want to listen, I really want to reconnect with our party throughout the country,” he added.

Varadkar announced his resignation on Wednesday by surprise, two weeks after the unexpected defeat of the Executive’s proposal in two referendums aimed at modernizing the concept of family and the role of women in society.

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The conservative leader, 45 years old, took the reins of the Government in December 2022, after two years as deputy prime minister in the coalition Executive with the centrists of the Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.

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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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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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