Here is some international news in brief.
Posted at 7:29 a.m.
Updated at 8:14 a.m.
The Iranian president calls on Israel to withdraw from Syrian border territories where it deployed troops after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad. The French government is examining a bill for the rapid reconstruction of Mayotte, an archipelago devastated by the cyclone Desire.
Iran calls on Israel to withdraw its troops from Syrian territory
Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian on Wednesday called on Israel to withdraw from Syrian border territories where it deployed troops after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad, a long-time ally of Tehran.
Mr. Pezeshkian made these remarks during a visit to Tehran by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, devoted in particular to recent events in Syria where Islamist rebels ousted Bashar al-Assad from power a month ago.
“The need for the Zionist regime to withdraw from the territories it has occupied and the importance of respecting religious feelings [en Syrie]especially in Shiite holy sites, were among the areas of concern,” the Iranian president said during a press briefing with Soudani.
The capital Damascus fell on December 8. Since then, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on Syrian military installations, saying it wants to prevent the arsenal of the fallen power from falling into the hands of the new authorities.
The Israeli army was also deployed in the demilitarized buffer zone of the Golan, in southwest Syria, on the edge of the part of this plateau occupied by Israel since 1967 and annexed in 1981. Iran condemned this deployment and has since called on Israel to withdraw its troops.
Agence France-Presse
An emergency bill for Mayotte examined by the French government
The French government examined on Wednesday a bill for the reconstruction of Mayotte, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean devastated by the cyclone Desirea text which should allow the “very rapid” implementation of measures.
Desirethe most devastating cyclone in Mayotte in 90 years, on December 14 caused the death of at least 39 people and left more than 5,600 injured, according to the latest report published by the authorities.
This text must “facilitate the accommodation and support of the population, as well as the reconstruction or repair of damaged infrastructure and housing,” declared Overseas Minister Manuel Valls during the report of the council of ministers.
For longer-term “structural” measures, particularly around questions of immigration, security and economic development, the government is planning another draft “program law” which will be drawn up within three months.
Main innovation, the text aims to waive “for two years” the rules of town planning and public procurement, to facilitate the reconstruction of schools, but also of infrastructure and housing affected by the “most serious civil security crisis in the country has known since the Second World War,” according to Manuel Valls.
Concerning schools, hard hit while Mayotte is the youngest department in France, “the State or one of its public establishments” will be able to ensure their construction, reconstruction or renovation in place of local authorities until December 31, 2027 .
Agence France-Presse
The funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen will take place on Saturday in France
The funeral of Jean-Marie Le Pen, a historic figure of the French far right, will take place on Saturday in his hometown of La Trinité-sur-Mer, in western France, Louis Aliot, the vice-president, said on Wednesday. president of the National Rally (RN).
Jean-Marie Le Pen, finalist in the 2002 presidential election, died Tuesday at the age of 96 in the Paris region, in an establishment where he had been admitted several weeks ago, according to his family.
The funeral will be held “in family privacy,” said Mr. Aliot, former companion of Marine Le Pen, one of Jean-Marie’s daughters.
The co-founder of the National Front (FN) party, which has since become the RN, had expressed in the past the wish to be buried in the family vault in Trinité-sur-Mer, a commune in Brittany.
A setting which should remain conducive to contemplation, said Mr. Aliot, despite demonstrations by opponents in several cities on Tuesday evening to celebrate the death of the former far-right tribune.
“They are not going to come and demonstrate at a funeral. And if they do, I guess the state will make sure to keep them away,” Mr. Aliot said.
The latter also confirmed that Marine Le Pen had learned of the death of her father through the press, during a stopover in Nairobi, returning from a trip to the devastated French archipelago of Mayotte, in the Indian Ocean. December 14 by the cyclone Desire.
Agence France-Presse
Italian journalist detained in Iran released and returns to Italy
Italian journalist Cecilia Sala, arrested on December 19 in Iran for having “violated the laws” of the Islamic Republic, has been released and is being repatriated, the Italian government announced on Wednesday.
“Our compatriot has been released by the Iranian authorities and is returning to Italy,” government services said in a press release published late in the morning. “The plane repatriating journalist Cecilia Sala took off a few minutes ago” and should land in Rome this afternoon.
This release is the result of “intense work through diplomatic and intelligence channels”, underlines the press release. Prime Minister “Giorgia Meloni expresses her gratitude to all those who contributed to making Cecilia’s return possible, allowing her to reunite with her family and colleagues.”
Mme Meloni received the journalist’s mother at government headquarters on January 2 and spoke by telephone with her father.
Cecilia Sala was arrested in Tehran during a professional stay on a journalistic visa, but the Iranian authorities have never communicated the precise reasons for this arrest.
Aged 29, the journalist has since been in a cell in Evin prison in Tehran. She works for Chora Media, a podcast site, as well as for the daily The Sheet.
Agence France-Presse
