Aerial footage reveals the extent of the damage to Notre Dame Cathedral after a fire tore through the 850-year-old structure. Up to 500 firefighters had battled to contain the flames on Monday evening. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has vowed to rebuild the Paris landmark within five years. The fire started at the base of the 93-metre spire and spread through the cathedral’s ribbed roof, made up of hundreds of oak beams, some dating back to the 13th century
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Mark Carney tells global banks they cannot ignore climate change dangers
Financial sector warned it risks losses from extreme weather and its stakes in polluting firms
The global financial system faces an existential threat from climate change and must take urgent steps to reform, the governors of the Bank of England and France’s central bank have warned, writing in the Guardian.
In an article published in the Guardian on Wednesday aimed at the international financial community, Mark Carney, the Bank’s governor, and François Villeroy de Galhau, the governor of the Banque de France, said financial regulators, banks and insurers around the world had to “raise the bar” to avoid catastrophe.
Continue reading...Notre Dame was ‘15 to 30 minutes’ away from complete destruction
Firefighters risked their lives to stop the raging fire spreading to the two belfry towers
Notre Dame Cathedral was within “15 to 30 minutes” of complete destruction as firefighters battled to stop flames reaching its gothic bell towers, French authorities have revealed.
A greater disaster was averted by members of the Paris fire brigade who risked their lives to remain inside the burning monument to create a wall of water between the raging fire and two towers on the west facade.
Continue reading...Notre Dame fire is devastating – but iconic cathedral will live on
Edifice joins long list of culturally significant buildings with history of destruction
The history of beloved, culturally significant buildings is inextricably connected to a history of destruction – and very often fire. Less than a century after building of the present Notre Dame began in 1163, fire damage is thought to have prompted the remodelling of parts of the cathedral. The Gothic structure replaced an earlier church that had been built on the site of a Roman temple to Jupiter. By the 19th century the building was in a state of deep neglect: almost a ruin and lacking its spire.
Related: Notre Dame Cathedral fire – a visual guide and timeline
Continue reading...Forget Brexit and focus on climate change, Greta Thunberg tells EU
Teenager who started school strike movement urges MEPs to ‘wake up and take action’
The teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has chided EU leaders for holding three emergency summits on Brexit and none on the threat posed by climate change.
In a clarion call to Europe’s political leaders ahead of European parliament elections in May, the founder of the school strike movement said if politicians were serious about tackling climate change they would not spend all their time “talking about taxes or Brexit”.
Continue reading...Assessing the damage at Notre Dame Cathedral – in pictures
After Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed by flames on Monday, work has begun to assess the damage to the 850-year-old building
Continue reading...Notre Dame fire: fears over fate of cathedral’s treasures
The 850-year old building is home to priceless works of art, statues and religious relics
On Monday night, as Notre Dame Cathedral burned, firefighters scrambled to save its precious contents.
The 850-year-old cathedral is home to priceless works of art, architecture, musical instruments, statues, woodwork and religious relics – from the 8,000-pipe great organ to Nicolas Coustou’s sculpture Descent From the Cross. A full list of the masterpieces housed in the cathedral is posted on its website.
Continue reading...Notre Dame fire: Macron pledges to rebuild devastated cathedral
Fire brought under control on Tuesday but spire of centuries-old landmark destroyed after flames burst through the roof
A fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral in the heart of Paris was brought under control by firefighters in the early hours of Tuesday morning, though officials warned there were still residual fires to put out.
Thousands of Parisians watched in horror from behind police cordons as a ferocious blaze devastated Notre Dame Cathedral on Monday night, destroying its spire and a large part of the roof.
Continue reading...Notre Dame through the ages – in pictures
From a 15th-century coronation of an English king, to the liberation of Paris in 1944 and this year’s yellow vest protests, the 850-year old cathedral has stood witness to the sweep of history. For many Parisians, Notre Dame is the very heart of their city. Thousands of them looked on on Monday night as a fire ravaged the Gothic monument
Continue reading...Our hearts bleed for our beloved Notre Dame | Christine Ockrent
The cathedral has always meant more than mere Gothic splendour throughout France
When the spire broke and fell over, we felt as if it was plunging straight into our hearts. To all of us in Paris, and throughout France, Christians or not, believers or non-believers, Notre Dame has always meant more than mere Gothic splendour.
Related: Notre Dame fire: Paris cathedral devastated by ferocious blaze
Continue reading...Huge fire sweeps through Notre Dame Cathedral – in pictures
Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral was engulfed in flames on Monday afternoon, causing its main spire to collapse and raising fears for the future of the 850-year-old building and its precious artworks
Continue reading...The Guardian view on the Notre Dame fire: we share France’s terrible loss
One of the great symbols of France has suffered terrible fire damage. The whole of Europe is scarred too
It feels as though the very heart of France and the soul of Europe have been suddenly and viciously ripped out. The fire that coursed through large sections of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on Monday evening was an act of blind and terrible destruction that causes a great stab of emotional pain to us all.
In a frighteningly short time, it gutted and humbled one of the great buildings of Paris, in an act of annihilation of one of the emblematic places of Europe that had survived the brutality of the French revolution and the world wars of the 20th century.
Continue reading...Fighting in Libya will create huge number of refugees, PM warns
Fayez al-Sarraj says Khalifa Haftar’s attack on Tripoli ‘will spread its cancer through Mediterranean’
Hundreds of thousands of refugees could flee the fighting caused by Khalifa Haftar’s attempt to seize the Libyan capital, Tripoli, the prime minister of the country’s UN-recognised government has warned.
The warnings by Fayez al-Sarraj – who also claimed Haftar had betrayed the people of Libya – echo those given privately to the Italian government by its intelligence services, and are clearly designed to alert EU states to the possible consequences for European migration of a prolonged civil war in the country.
Continue reading...Downing Street under pressure to close down Labour talks on Brexit
No 10 scrambles to explore options before possible heavy losses in EU elections
No 10 is feeling the pressure to pull the plug on Brexit talks with Labour and move to an alternative plan, amid warnings that the opposition is in no hurry for a deal before the European elections.
With talks deadlocked and no sign that the government moving on its red lines, neither the Conservatives or Labour want to appear responsible for the breakdown in discussions.
Continue reading...Finland’s SDP tries to build coalition after narrow election win
First leftist PM in 20 years may find it hard to build consensus amid splits over welfare system
Finland’s Social Democrats will try to form a coalition government after a narrow win in parliamentary elections that saw left-leaning parties make sweeping gains, despite a stronger than expected showing from the far right.
The centre-left SDP, led by Antti Rinne, a 56-year-old former trade union leader, will have 40 MPs in a fragmented 200-seat Eduskunta (parliament) after winning 17.7% of the vote following a campaign attacking the austerity policies of the outgoing centre-right coalition.
Continue reading...Deal with Serbia possible this year, says Kosovan president
But Hashim Thaçi has no plans to lift tariffs on Serbian goods that led to suspension of talks
An agreement to normalise relations between Serbia and Kosovo along the lines of the historic deal between Greece and North Macedonia is still possible in 2019, despite severe setbacks in recent months, the president of Kosovo has said.
Serbia has refused to recognise Kosovo as an independent state since its former province broke away in 2008 after almost a decade of international administration in the aftermath of a bloody war in 1998-99.
Continue reading...Europe urged to reject US Middle East plan if it is unfair to Palestinians
Exclusive: letter from former officials says Europe must stand by the two-state solution
High-ranking former European politicians have condemned the Trump administration’s one-sided Israel-Palestine policy and called in a letter for Europe to reject any US Middle East peace plan unless it is fair to Palestinians.
The letter, sent to the Guardian, the EU and European governments, was signed by 25 former foreign ministers, six former prime ministers, and two former Nato secretary generals.
Continue reading...Ben Jennings on recent defections from the Tory party – cartoon
The Observer view on extraditing Julian Assange | Observer editorial
Sending the WikiLeaks founder to face charges in the US would be a disaster for press freedom
It’s not difficult to despise Julian Assange. For seven years, he has attempted to evade rape and sexual assault charges in Sweden by seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. He has dismissed the charges as a “radical feminist conspiracy” and tried to smear the complainants as acting on behalf of the CIA. His excuse for refusing to face trial in Sweden – that he would then face extradition to the US – has always been hogwash. He is no safer from extradition in Britain than he would have been in Sweden, as he may soon discover.
There are questions to be asked about WikiLeaks, too. The organisation has been invaluable in allowing whistleblowers to safely publish documents that the authorities would rather have kept hushed up, from the truth about the commodity trader Trafigura’s devastating dumping of chemical waste in Ivory Coast to videos of US helicopter attacks on Iraqi civilians. It is, or certainly was in its early days, an important tool in cutting down to size those in power who would abuse their power.
Continue reading...Rape and abuse: the price of a job in Spain’s strawberry industry?
Ten Moroccan women say Spanish authorities have ignored claims they were trafficked, assaulted and exploited
Last April, Samira Ahmad* kissed her baby goodbye and boarded a bus, leaving her home in Morocco for the strawberry fields of southern Spain.In her bag was her Spanish visa and a contract that promised €40 a day plus food and accommodation. In the three months she’d be away, she hoped the pain of being separated from her family would be softened by the money she’d be sending back to them – a fortune compared to what she’d be able to earn at home.
A year on, and Ahmad’s life is in ruins. She is destitute, divorced and for the past 10 months has been living in hiding, surviving on handouts with nine other Moroccan women who – like her – claim they faced human trafficking, sexual assault and exploitation on the farm where they were hired to work. She says her biggest mistake – other than coming to Spain – was going to the authorities.
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