The ultraconservative Raisi wins in Advance in Iran

The Iranians appoint Friday without much enthusiasm a new president in an election that should consecrate the victory of the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei opened the polls by voting next to his offices minutes after 7:00 am (02:30 GMT). It is officially a question of allowing the greatest number, among the 60 million Iranians of voting age, to go to the polls serenely while the country is hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The final results of the election are expected for Saturday at midday. According to the few polls available, abstention could reach an unprecedented level and exceed 57%.  Ebrahim Raïssi, head of the Judicial Authority aged 60, is an arch-favorite, for lack of competitors to his measure after the disqualification of his biggest political opponents.

Macron commemorates the June 18 call

President Emmanuel Macron commemorates Friday the 81st anniversary of the appeal of June 18, 1940 of General de Gaulle, in the presence of the last companion of the Liberation, Hubert Germain, and the only survivor of the Kieffer commando, Léon Gautier, who will be decorated. The Head of State will attend in the morning the traditional military ceremony at the Mont Valérien memorial near Paris, the main place of execution of resistance fighters and hostages in France by the German army during the Second World War. He would later fly to Berlin for a working dinner with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The Merkel/Macron couple meets in Berlin to talk Europe

A few months before her departure, Angela Merkel receives Friday Emmanuel Macron for a dinner dedicated to Europe, one of their last tête-à-tête on topics that have long divided them, before a spectacular rapprochement thanks to the pandemic. EU heads of state and government are due to discuss the pandemic, economic recovery, migration and external relations, including tensions with Turkey and Russia. It will be a special meeting, as the Chancellor prepares to pass the baton after sixteen years at the helm of Europe's largest economy, after the general elections on 26th September.

Air surges in Gaza, after incendiary balloons to Israel

For the second time since the end of the blitzkrieg in Gaza, the Israeli air force bombed targets of the Islamist movement Hamas in this Palestinian territory on the night of Thursday to Friday, in retaliation for incendiary balloon launches towards Israel. Shortly before midnight, the Israeli military said its fighter jets had targeted Hamas positions in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for incendiary balloon fire that sparked a dozen fires in southern Israel. After the Israeli strikes, militants from Hamas' al-Qassam Brigade "fired machine guns" at Israeli villages surrounding the Gaza Strip and drones patrolling the skies, an official told AFP. The sirens sounded in many Israeli villages bordering the Gaza Strip, but the Israeli army later clarified that their triggering was not related to rocket fire from the Gaza Strip.

The Supreme Court upholds Obama's flagship health law

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday refused to invalidate Barack Obama's flagship health insurance law, leaving health coverage in place for millions of Americans. His decision, taken by a majority of seven out of nine judges, represents a snub a posteriori for former President Donald Trump, who has tried by all means to remove the emblematic law of his predecessor. This is the third time the Court has validated this law since its adoption in 2010. This time, her ruling is based on a procedural argument: according to her, Texas and the other Republican states that filed the appeal were not justified in doing so. During the procedure, Joe Biden had judged "cruel" this last attempt to cancel a device that proved particularly useful during the Covid-19 pandemic, in a country where care is very expensive.

IN BRIEF

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country should prepare as much for "dialogue as for confrontation" with the United States under president Joe Biden, the official KCNA news agency reported Friday.

Eight people have been arrested in China after a gas line exploded in a residential area that killed at least 25 people last weekend, local authorities said Friday.

With a very legsted Neymar and once again scorer, Brazil crushed Peru 4-0 on Thursday in Rio de Janeiro, signing its second victory in two Copa America matches.

One person was killed and twelve others were wounded in a series of shootings committed by a man who was driving in Arizona (United States), police said Thursday after arresting the alleged shooter.