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Widespread regret and condolences for the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisí

The death in a helicopter accident of the president of Iran, Ebrahim Raisí and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hosein Amir Abdolahian, has generated great regret in Arab countries and widespread condolences in the West.

The helicopter in which Raisí and other authorities were traveling disappeared for unexplained reasons this Sunday when it was returning from the city of Tabriz and the aircraft was found today in a mountainous area of the Varzeqan region, in Eastern Azerbaijan.

Among the Arab countries, the Lebanese government decreed on Monday three days of official mourning for the death of President Raisí.

Lebanon maintains good relations with Iran, one of the foreign powers that are considered most influential in the nation, due in large part to the close collaboration between Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite group Hizbulá.

The president of Syria, Bashar al-Asad, expressed his condolences and thanked Ebrahim Raisí for his work to strengthen the ties between the two countries, important allies at various levels.

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The president of Iran had made a historic visit to Damascus a year ago, the first of an Iranian leader of his level since 2010, a year before the outst of the war in Syria.

Iran is a key route for supplying oil derivatives and other goods to Syria, subject to a series of international sanctions that limit its trade activities, and also maintains a strong armed presence in Syrian territory, where Iranian advisers and pro-Iranian militias are present.

For his part, the president of the Palestinian National Authority, Mahmud Abbas, on Monday offered his condolences to the Islamic Republic of Iran after the fatal accident and that of Tunisia, Kais Said, also expressed “great sadness and pain.”

Meanwhile, the president of Turkey, the Islamist Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expressed his condolences for his “esteemed counterpart and brother” Raisí and highlighted the efforts of the deceased “for the peace of the Iranian people and our region during his term.”

One of the most heartfelt reactions was that of the Lebanese Shiite group Hizbulá, a close ally of Tehran.

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“For us he was an older brother, a strong supporter and a firm defender of our cause, and of the cause of the nation, especially Jerusalem and Palestine. And a protector of the Resistance movements and its mujahideen in all the positions of responsibility he held,” Hizbulah said in a statement.

The Lebanese group is part of an informal anti-Israeli alliance led by Tehran known as the “Axis of Resistance”, several of whose members hold fronts of support for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the framework of the war that began seven months ago in Gaza.

Hizbulah, who leads one of those fronts against Israel from southern Lebanon, allegedly receives strong arms and logistical support from his Iranian allies.

And the de facto government of the Taliban in Afghanistan also expressed its condolences on the death of Ebrahim Raisí, who was part of a Cabinet determined to build good relations with the fundamentalists despite occasional incidents.

Under the command of Raisi, who came to power in 2021 and was one of the favorites to succeed the supreme Iranian leader, Ali Khamenei, Tehran became one of the few countries interested in improving bilateral relations with the Taliban when they took power in Afghanistan that same year.

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The Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, and the Shiite Houthi rebels of Yemen expressed their “sincere condolences” to Iran on Monday in two messages.

Qatar is one of the closest Arab countries to Iran and has mediated on several occasions between the Government of Tehran and other countries, in particular the United States, to bring views on issues such as the nuclear program or that of Iranian ballistic missiles.

The Houthis of Yemen are an Iran-backed Shiite political and religious movement that took up arms in 2014 against the internationally recognized Yemeni government, and since then they control large areas of the north and center of that country in the south of the Arabian Peninsula.

In recent months, Houthis have managed to attract international attention for their attacks with ballistic missiles and drones, allegedly Iranian, against Israeli merchant ships or ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, in retaliation for that country’s war in Gaza.

Russian President Vladimir Putin today expressed his condolences for the “enormous tragedy” of Raisi’s death, whom he described as a “friend.”

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“As a true friend of Russia, he made a valuable personal contribution to the development of good-neighbourly relations between our countries and made great efforts to bring them to the level of strategic partnership,” the Russian president added.

Russia and Iran have strengthened their relations in recent years, especially since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, since Tehran supplies Moscow with the Shahed drones with which it bombs the territory of the neighboring country.

For his part, Chinese President Xi Jinping assured that his people “have lost a good friend.”

Xi highlighted the “important contributions of the Iranian president to the security and stability” of his country, as well as to “its development and prosperity,” according to a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry. In this line, the Chinese leader recognized Raisí’s efforts to “strengthen and develop the integral strategic relationship” between China and Iran, ties that he believes will “continue to be strengthened.”

In 2021, China and Iran sealed a 25-year economic cooperation agreement that broadly provides for Chinese investments in the Iranian energy and infrastructure sectors.

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The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, expressed condolences for the death of Raisí, Minister Abdolahian and his entourage. “Our thoughts are with the families,” he wrote in a message on his social network account X.

The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, joined with a statement in which he also conveyed his condolences to the rest of the deceased authorities, their relatives and “the affected Iranian citizens.”

Meanwhile, the NATO spokeswoman, in a message on social network X wrote: “Our condolences to the people of Iran for the death of President Raisí, Foreign Minister Amir Abdolahian and other people who died in the helicopter accident.”

Japan also sent its condolences to Iran. “There is nothing sadder than the news of a sudden death like this. We convey our condolences to the Government of Iran and its people, as well as to the families of the victims,” said Japanese government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi.

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International

The AP agency sues the Trump Government after being banned for writing Gulf of Mexico

The American press agency Associated Press (AP) announced this Friday that it has sued three members of the Donald Trump Administration after being banned from the Oval Office and the presidential plane Air Force One for not complying with the directive of calling the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America.

“The press and all people in the United States have the right to choose their own words and not to be retaliated for it by the Government. The Constitution does not allow the Government to control freedom of expression,” the media maintains.

In its style guide, AP decided to continue calling the Gulf of Mexico “by its original name”, still mentioning the new name chosen by Trump, since it is a body of water that shares a border with Mexico and Cuba.

The White House formally blocked AP’s access to the Oval Office and Air Force One on February 14. “We are very proud of this country and we want it to be the Gulf of America,” Trump said on Tuesday.

The agency’s lawsuit, of 18 pages and filed before a federal court in Washington DC, alleges that they have decided to take this step to claim their right to editorial independence and prevent the Executive from coercing journalists to use only a language approved by it.

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Trump signed the executive order to change the name to Gulf of America on January 20, the first day of his return to power. He later named February 9 as ‘ Gulf of America Day’.

The AP complaint is specifically directed against the president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, his number two, Taylor Budowich, and the White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt.

This Thursday, more than thirty US media asked the Government to restore AP’s participation in presidential events and not to take into account “the editorial point of view” when limiting access to the White House.

Among the signatories are the television networks Fox News and Newsmax, with a conservative tinge, in addition to other large newspapers such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, The Wall Street Journal or The Atlantic.

AP highlighted when reporting on his complaint that this Friday Trump referred to that agency as “radical left-wing lunatics”: It is “a third-rate company with a first name,” he said about it, the main one in the country and founded in 1846.

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Buenos Aires advances legislative elections to May 18 and suspends the primaries

The Legislature of the city of Buenos Aires approved this Friday the suspension of the open, simultaneous and mandatory primary elections (PASO), a measure that, according to the deputy head of government, Clara Muzzio, “allows to save 20 billion pesos (about 18,894 million dollars)”, and advanced the legislative elections for May 18.

“The City Legislature suspended the PASO, a measure that saves $20 billion for neighbors,” Muzzio announced on Friday.

For his part, the mayor of the City, Jorge Macri, maintained that the PASO “were an expensive mechanism that only solved the problems of politicians, not of the people.”

The May 18 elections, which were originally scheduled for July, will be held through the Single Electronic Ballot system.

In that instance, the inhabitants of the city of Buenos Aires will elect their local legislators and, in October, they will have to return to the polls to define, together with the rest of the country, the composition of the chambers of Deputies and Senators.

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“The fact that the elections are in May allows each Buenos Aires to decide on their own city, without being tied to national discussions,” said the mayor.

The project was approved in the Buenos Aires legislature with 55 votes in favor, 3 against and one abstention, after an agreement between the main political forces.

The suspension of the primaries in the City of Buenos Aires occurs one day after the Argentine Parliament approved the same measure at the national level.

The original project sent by the national government sought the elimination of the primary system but finally, given the lack of support for that objective, the government chose to promote an initiative that suspends them for this year.

The primary election system was first implemented in Argentina to define the candidates for the 2011 general elections, based on a political reform approved by Parliament at the end of 2009, with the aim of democratizing political representation, transparency and electoral equity.

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According to the PASO system, to be qualified to compete in the general elections, candidates or lists of candidates must achieve at least 1.5% of the total votes in the primaries.

All parties are obliged to participate in the primaries, although they do not necessarily have to present more than one list of candidates to decide which one will lead to the general elections, an option for which the majority of the forces have opted in the last elections.

That is one of the reasons why the system has been questioned, among which are also its costs and the cumbersomeness of the organization.

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International

Trump threatens to impose tariffs on governments that apply digital fees to US companies

The President of the United States, Donald Trump, signed an executive order on Friday that threatens to impose tariffs on foreign governments that apply digital fees to US companies, including Spain, the United Kingdom and France.

The order states that “foreign governments have exercised a growing extraterritorial authority over US companies, particularly in the technology sector,” and directly cites the taxes on digital services that “several business partners” apply since 2019.

According to the text, the Trump Administration will impose tariffs on those governments that use taxes or regulations that are “discriminatory, disproportionate or designed to transfer significant funds or intellectual property from US companies to that government or its chosen domestic entities.”

Trump delegates to the US Trade Representative the possibility of “renewing investigations” on the so-called technology fees of Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Austria and Turkey, imposed in the first term of the Republican, and if so, “take all appropriate actions”, which would include the imposition of tariffs.

“US companies will no longer sustain failed foreign economies through fines and extortionational taxes,” says the White House document, which provides for a “process” for them to “report” these “disproportionate” measures to the Commercial Representative.

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He also instructs him to investigate together with the Secretaries of the Treasury and Commerce whether in the European Union or the United Kingdom the use of products or services of US companies is “required or encouraged” to “undermine freedom of expression”, political activity or, “otherwise, moderate content”.

It also suggests to the Representative, among other things, to hold “a panel” with its partners of the T-MEC (Canada and Mexico) on the tax on digital services in Canada, and identify ways to achieve a “permanent moratorium on customs duties on electronic transmissions”.

The order does not mention any specific company, but mainly affects large technology companies such as Apple, Google (subsidiary of Alphabet), Meta and Amazon, which have precisely starred in a resounded approach to President Trump since he won the elections in November.

In his first term (2017-2021), Trump ordered to investigate the digital fees to his companies abroad and threatened to apply tariffs to the six countries indicated today; taxes were imposed in the government of his successor, the Democrat Joe Biden, and subsequently suspended.

Trump signed another executive order aimed at restricting access to US technology, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, what he calls “foreign adversaries”, including Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Russia and China.

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The executive order does not specify in detail what measures will be taken to restrict the access of these “foreign adversaries” to US technology.

Under the label of “foreign adversaries”, the order identifies China, Hong Kong, Macau, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and the “regime of Venezuelan politician Nicolás Maduro”, according to the text.

Trump justifies his decision with the argument that “economic security is national security” and maintains that the country must protect its sensitive infrastructures and technologies, from artificial intelligence to semiconductors and advances in biotechnology.

The executive order focuses especially on China, pointing out that companies linked to Beijing have used investments in the US to access key technologies and that the Chinese government is taking advantage of US technology to modernize its military apparatus.

Since his return to the White House on January 20, Trump has announced several restrictions on trade with the aim of balancing the trade balance and pressuring countries such as Mexico and Canada to make concessions on immigration and efforts against drug trafficking.

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It has imposed a 10% tariff on China, which is in addition to the rates already applied during its first term (2017-2021).

Trump’s new restrictions come after his predecessor, Joe Biden, took steps to limit exports of semiconductors and artificial intelligence technology to China, which led Beijing to respond with export controls on graphite, a key material for electric vehicle batteries.

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