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Notre-Dame Cathedral reopens five years after devastating blaze

December 7, 2024 0 comments

Notre-Dame Cathedral, situated on an island in the River Seine in Paris, France, is reopening this weekend after more than five years of intense reconstruction work to restore the medieval building to its former glory.

After a fire gutted the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019, the 12th-century Gothic masterpiece has now been masterfully restored and will reopen to the public on Sunday following a ceremony on Saturday, which will be attended by a lineup of heads of state and top-level delegates from around the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who promised to restore the cathedral within five years after the catastrophe, made a preopening visit to the site on November 29 with his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron. The president thanked the thousands of workers who had reconstructed the building.

“The inferno of Notre-Dame was a wound for the nation, … and you were its remedy,” the president said.

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Prince William to meet Donald Trump in Paris

December 7, 2024 0 comments

Prince William will meet Donald Trump in Paris ahead of the ceremony marking the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The Prince of Wales is expected to discuss the importance of the US-UK’s “special relationship” with the president-elect.

He will also be meeting with outgoing first lady Jill Biden, President Joe Biden’s wife, Kensington Palace added.

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‘Hindus have changed’: A sleepy Indian state becomes anti-Muslim tinderbox

December 7, 2024 0 comments

Kadamtala (Tripura), India – The last thing that Shahin Ahmed, 38, remembers of his brother, Alfeshani Ahmed, was a frantic call with him amid gunshots and screams.

At about 9pm on October 6, Alfeshani, a 36-year-old owner of a smartphone and electronic accessories shop, had just hastily shut his shop in the Kadamtala market to rush back home to Jher Jheri, a Muslim-majority village over three kilometres (about 2 miles) away in North Tripura, a district in northeast India.

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Trump backs his Pentagon chief nominee Pete Hegseth as controversies mount

December 7, 2024 0 comments

The US president-elect stands by his pick for defense secretary despite scandal and allegations of misconduct.

United States President-elect Donald Trump has voiced support for Pete Hegseth, his embattled pick for Pentagon chief, whose nomination appears in peril amid scandals and concerns about his lack of experience.

Trump signalled on Friday that he does not intend to withdraw Hegseth’s nomination, heaping praise on the combat veteran and former Fox News host. As Trump’s pick to be secretary of defense, Hegseth, like other top cabinet picks, needs to be confirmed by the incoming Senate.

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Russian attacks across Ukraine kill at least 12 people

December 7, 2024 0 comments

Governor says strike on Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region sets a service station on fire, killing at least 10 people.

The death toll from a Russian attack on Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region has risen to at least 10, the local governor says.

Ivan Fedorov said the strike on Friday set a car garage and service station on fire. He shared images and videos on Telegram showing a fire blazing with debris strewn across a street.

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Israeli forces strike, storm Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital with ‘no warning’

December 6, 2024 0 comments

The World Health Organization says Israel issued no warning for the strike on the hospital that killed four staff.

At least four staff have been killed when several air strikes hit Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital and Israeli forces stormed the facility, according to the hospital’s director and the enclave’s Civil Defence agency.

Hossam Abu Safieh, the director of one of the last functioning health centres in northern Gaza said a series of air strikes hit the northern and western sides of the hospital on Friday, “accompanied by intense and direct fire”.

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Top war-crimes court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others in Israel-Hamas fighting

December 6, 2024 1 comment

THE HAGUE (AP) — The world’s top war-crimes court issued arrest warrants Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas’ military chief, accusing them of crimes against humanity in connection with the 13-month war in Gaza.

The warrants said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant have used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and have intentionally targeted civilians in Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza — charges Israeli officials deny.

The action by the International Criminal Court came as the death toll from Israel’s campaign in Gaza passed 44,000 people, according to local health authorities, who say more than half of those killed were women and children. Their count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Experts say hunger has become widespread across Gaza and may have reached famine levels in the north of the territory, which is under siege by Israeli troops. Israel says it has been working hard to improve entry of aid, though the trickle of supplies into Gaza remains near the lowest levels of the war.

Netanyahu condemned the warrant against him, saying Israel “rejects with disgust the absurd and false actions” by the court. In a statement released by his office, he said: “There is nothing more just than the war that Israel has been waging in Gaza.”

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