World

Valerie Pecresse, the conservative who could become France’s first woman president

Published

4 years ago

January 12, 2022

Fifteen years ago, Valerie Pecresse quelled a student uprising over her university reforms with the same blend of consensus-building politics and reformist mettle that she believes will now propel her to the French presidency, Reuters reported.

Chosen to run last month by rank-and-file members of the conservative Les Republicains party, voter surveys show Pecresse could beat President Emmanuel Macron in April’s election. If she succeeds, she would become France’s first woman head of state.

In an office adorned with framed cinema posters, Pecresse, 54, reeled off a list of woes facing France that speak of her social and fiscal conservatism: poor control of national borders, violent city ghettos and a growing pile of debt, read the report.

“We need to restore order, both on our streets and in our national accounts,” she told Reuters.

A minister for higher education and then the budget during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency, Pecresse said last week she would bring out “the power hose” to clean up trouble neighbourhoods where the state had lost authority and lawlessness prevailed.

According to the report critical of Macron for “burning a hole in the state coffers” during the pandemic, Pecresse has promised to reform France’s generous pension system and cut a bloated public wage bill – both pledges she says Macron has failed to deliver on.

Her style, she says, is “two-thirds (Angela) Merkel and one-third (Margaret) Thatcher”.

“I am a woman who consults, decides and acts,” she said. “The one-part Thatcher is to say ‘I’m not for turning’,” referring to a phrase in a 1980 speech when the conservative British leader refused to back down on liberalising reforms.

Pecresse pointed to the cutting of hundreds of jobs at her head office to make way for more high-school staff, reduced spending and higher investment as proof she gets things done. In 2020, she won a second mandate to run the greater Paris region.

Opponents who had nicknamed her “the blond” had paid the price, she said. Asked if France was ready for a woman president, she replied: “Voters on the right have shown they’re ready, and they can be the most reticent to trust a woman.”

‘UNBENDING’

Pecresse’s party, which traces its origins to Charles de Gaulle, dominated French politics for much of the post-war era. But after Macron redrew the landscape in 2017, it has struggled to unite its centre-right and staunchly conservative factions.

According to Reuters the defection of a senior conservative lawmaker to the campaign bid of far-right polemicist Eric Zemmour on Sunday underscored the challenge she faces keeping a feuding party together.

Opinion polls show her in a close-fought race with Marine Le Pen, leader of the traditional far-right, for the second spot in the election’s run-off vote. Zemmour follows close behind. Should she make it, she would be the most dangerous opponent for Macron, the surveys suggest.

Born in an upmarket Paris suburb and educated at France’s elite ENA school for politicians and civil servants, Pecresse is a moderate in a conservative party that has lurched rightwards as the far-right fuels anti-immigrant sentiment and a desire among many voters to get tough on law and order.

Pecresse has toughened her language on immigration and identity, seeking to neutralise the threat from Le Pen and Zemmour, whose promise to “save France” from Islam has polarised France.

She says she would end the automatic right to French citizenship for people born in France and stiffen judicial sentences in places where police have lost control, read the report.

On a table in Pecresse’s office sits a photograph of Samuel Paty, the teacher decapitated by a Chechen-born teenager in a suburb of Paris in 2020 because he used caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a lesson on free speech.

Pecresse said the teacher’s portrait would follow her to the Elysee Palace if she won the election.

“We have to be unbending in the respect of our values,” Pecresse said. “In the public space, the law comes before faith. It’s the same rights, the same duties for all.”

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World

Israel built and defended a secret base in Iraq for Iran war, WSJ reports

Published

1 day ago

May 10, 2026

Ariana News

Israel established a covert military installation in the Iraqi desert to support its air operations against Iran, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, citing individuals familiar with the matter, including U.S. officials.

The report said the facility was used as a logistical hub for the Israeli Air Force and also housed special forces, as well as search-and-rescue units prepared to assist any downed pilots during operations.

According to the newspaper, the base was built with the knowledge of the United States shortly before the onset of what it described as a joint U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran.

The report added that Israeli forces conducted airstrikes against Iraqi troops on at least one occasion after they allegedly came close to discovering the site, in order to prevent exposure of the facility.

The existence of the installation reportedly came under threat in early March, when Iraqi state media said a shepherd had alerted authorities to unusual military activity in the area, including helicopter movements. Iraqi forces were subsequently dispatched to investigate.

The Wall Street Journal further reported that Iraqi troops were struck by Israeli air operations while approaching the area, based on accounts from sources familiar with the incident.

Later in March, Iraq submitted a complaint to the United Nations alleging that foreign forces were involved in attacks in the area and initially attributed responsibility to the United States. However, the report cited a source familiar with the matter as saying the U.S. was not involved.

World

Trump releases government UFO files, more expected

Published

3 days ago

May 9, 2026

Ariana News

At the order of U.S. President Donald Trump, the Defense Department on Friday released dozens of previously classified files on alleged UFO sightings to provide what ‌it called “unprecedented transparency” to the American people, though analysts said many of the documents had already been made public.

The disclosure of documents, photos and videos of “unidentified anomalous phenomena” will be followed by future releases as more materials are declassified, the Defense Department said in a statement, Reuters reported.

Trump was the latest president to release U.S. government reports on UFOs, a disclosure process that began in the late 1970s. Experts said the batch of around 160 files released on Friday contained new videos of known sightings but gave no conclusive evidence of alien technology or extraterrestrial life.

The files include a 1947 report of “flying discs” as well as grainy photos of “unidentified phenomena” taken from the moon’s surface by the 1969 Apollo 12 lunar mission and a transcript of the Apollo 17 crew describing unidentified objects seen from the moon in 1972.

‘BRIGHT PARTICLES’ DURING APOLLO 17

Apollo 17 mission pilot Ronald Evans reported “a few very bright particles or fragments or something that go drifting by as we maneuver,” based on the transcript.

“Roger. Understand,” mission control replied.

“These files, hidden behind classifications, have long fueled justified speculation – and it’s time the American people see it for themselves,” Hegseth said in a statement.

The records release is likely to fuel fresh debate over government secrecy and the possible existence of life in the cosmos.

“Whereas previous Administrations have failed to be transparent on this subject, with these new Documents and Videos, the people can decide for themselves, “WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?” Trump said in a statement. “Have fun and enjoy!”

The move was welcomed by U.S. Representatives Tim Burchett and ‌Anna Paulina ⁠Luna, both proponents of declassifying UFO files. Luna said an additional tranche of material was expected in about 30 days.

“The files show that UAP are not simply a matter of speculation or public curiosity,” Harvard University astrophysicist Avi Loeb said in an email to Reuters. “The government has collected records.”

The images from Apollo 12 and 17 were fascinating but could be the result of asteroid impacts on the lunar surface, Loeb said.

DISTRACTION FROM POLITICAL PROBLEMS?

Some critics cast the UFO disclosures as a distraction from Trump’s political woes, including ⁠the unpopular U.S. military campaign against Iran and public pressure to release further files tied to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

“I really don’t care about the UFO files. I just don’t. I’m so sick of the ‘look at the shiny object’ propaganda,” former Republican U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene wrote on X.

UAP investigator Mick West said the administration of former President ⁠Joe Biden disclosed much of the same information as Friday’s release.

“They’re evidence of us not being able to identify a small white dot that’s a long distance away,” the Sacramento, California-based analyst said of the new UAP videos and images.

Independent journalist Leslie Kean said the release showed there was still a lot ⁠of government information on UAP that should be disclosed. Kean co-authored a 2017 New York Times story on a secret Pentagon UAP program, which prompted Congress to push for declassification of UFO documents.

“I think we’ve already proven the existence of UAP, but that doesn’t mean we’ve proven they’re alien or extraterrestrial or that we know what they are,” said Kean.

World

Trump says United States will get uranium from Iran

One of Trump’s central objectives in launching ‌military ⁠strikes against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon.

Published

5 days ago

May 7, 2026

Ariana News

President Donald Trump said on Wednesday the United States ‌would get enriched uranium from Iran, as the two countries struggle to reach an agreement on ⁠ending the Gulf war, Reuters reported.

“We’re going to get it,” Trump told a reporter as he left a White House event.

One of Trump’s central objectives in launching ‌military ⁠strikes against Iran was to ensure Tehran does not develop a nuclear weapon. Iran ⁠has yet to hand over more than 900 pounds (408 kg) ⁠of highly enriched uranium.