International
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.
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.
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.
International
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
The Israeli military announced on Sunday that 136 boxes of food aid were airdropped into Gaza by the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt, Germany, and Belgium.
“In recent hours, six countries conducted air drops of 136 aid packages containing food for residents in the southern and northern Gaza Strip,” read the statement, which added that the operation was coordinated by COGAT, the Israeli defense body overseeing civil affairs in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Israeli military emphasized that they will “continue working to improve the humanitarian response alongside the international community” and reiterated their stance to “refute false allegations of deliberate famine in Gaza.”
The announcement comes as UN agencies warn Gaza faces an imminent risk of famine. More than one in three residents go days without eating, and other nutrition indicators have dropped to their worst levels since the conflict began.
The agencies also noted the difficulty of “collecting reliable data in current conditions, as Gaza’s health systems —already devastated by nearly three years of conflict— are collapsing.”
Meanwhile, Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Sunday that hospitals in the enclave recorded six deaths from hunger and malnutrition on Saturday, all of them adults.
International
Seven inmates dead, 11 injured after violent riot in Veracruz prison
Seven inmates were killed and eleven others injured in a violent riot and clash inside a penitentiary in the Mexican state of Veracruz, local authorities reported on Sunday.
The disturbance began on Saturday afternoon at the Social Reintegration Center in the port city of Tuxpan, in northern Veracruz, when inmates staged a protest over extortion and assaults allegedly carried out by members of the criminal group known as Grupo Sombra.
The protesting prisoners clashed with another group of inmates and set fires inside and outside the facility, seizing control of the prison for more than 12 hours.
During the takeover, the rioters released several videos, including one showing four prisoners —believed to be members of Grupo Sombra— accusing them of being behind the violence and extortion inside the prison.
It wasn’t until Sunday morning that elements of the Mexican Army, the National Guard, and local police forces managed to enter the prison and regain control. The state’s Public Security Secretariat confirmed that around 9:00 a.m. local time a coordinated operation restored full order and reestablished control of the facility.
Authorities also reported that the fires set by inmates were fully extinguished.
Official figures confirmed the “tragic” deaths of seven inmates and injuries to eleven people, who are now receiving medical treatment in various regional hospitals.
This is the second deadliest riot in Veracruz in the past eight years. In 2018, a violent uprising at the La Toma medium-security prison left seven people dead (six police officers and one unidentified man) and at least 22 injured (15 officers and seven inmates).
The riot follows the kidnapping and killing of retired teacher and taxi driver Irma Hernández, a case that shocked the entire country and was attributed to Grupo Sombra. Images of Hernández kneeling, surrounded by armed men in the municipality of Álamo, sparked nationwide outrage. She was murdered after refusing to pay extortion demands from the criminal organization.
Despite these incidents, Veracruz has not seen a spike in the daily homicide average. In fact, there has been a 1.6% decrease in homicides in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
In 2023, the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) reported 3,094 incidents in Mexican prisons —an 18.5% increase from the previous year— resulting in 100 deaths and 892 injuries.
International
Study finds COVID-19 vaccines prevented 2.5 million deaths worldwide
COVID-19 vaccines prevented an estimated 2,533,000 deaths worldwide between 2020 and 2024, according to an international study led by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Italy and Stanford University in the United States, published in the journal JAMA Health Forum. Researchers calculated that one death was prevented for every 5,400 doses administered.
The analysis also found that the vaccines saved 14.8 million years of life, equivalent to one year of life gained for every 900 doses given.
The study, coordinated by Professor Stefania Boccia, revealed that 82% of the lives saved were people vaccinated before becoming infected with the virus, and 57% of deaths avoided occurred during the Omicron wave. In addition, 90% of the beneficiaries were adults over 60 years old.
“This is the most comprehensive analysis to date, based on global data and fewer assumptions about the evolution of the pandemic,” explained Boccia and researcher Angelo Maria Pezzullo.
Israel says 136 food aid boxes airdropped into Gaza by six nations
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