The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
A truck carrying bells is parked outside Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, in Paris, on Sept. 12, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 12 September 2024
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The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris

The bells are back at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
  • A convoy of trucks bearing eight restored bells pulled into the huge worksite surrounding the monument Thursday on an island in the Seine River
  • They are being blessed in a special ceremony inside the cathedral

PARIS: Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is getting its bells back, just in time for the medieval landmark’s reopening following a devastating 2019 fire.
A convoy of trucks bearing eight restored bells — the heaviest of which weighs more than 4 tons — pulled into the huge worksite surrounding the monument Thursday on an island in the Seine River.
They are being blessed in a special ceremony inside the cathedral before being hoisted to hang in its twin towers for the Dec. 8 reopening to the public.
Cathedral Rector Olivier Ribadeau Dumas, wearing a hardhat as he prepared to enter the cathedral and bless the bells, called them ‘’a sign that the cathedral will again resonate, and that its voice will be heard again. A sign of the call to prayer, and a sign of coming together.”
The bells will be raised one by one and tested out, but they won’t ring in full until the day of the reopening, said Philippe Jost, overseeing the massive Notre Dame reconstruction project. He called the bells’ arrival ‘’a very beautiful symbol of the cathedral’s rebirth.”
While construction on the cathedral started in the 12th century, the bronze bells damaged in the fire are from the 21st century. They were built according to historical tradition to replace older bells that had become discordant, to mark the monument’s 850th anniversary.
The cathedral’s roof and spire, which collapsed in the fire, have been replaced, and scaffolding is being gradually removed from the site.


German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’

German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’
Updated 6 sec ago
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German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’

German security chief warns over October 7 ‘trigger point’
Middle East turmoil tends to spark reactions in Germany, warned Thomas Haldenwang, chief of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
Anti-Semitism and hostility toward Israel are a “connecting element” between Islamists, pro-Palestinian extremists and other radical groups on the far right and far left

BERLIN: Germany’s domestic intelligence chief warned Friday that the anniversary of the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel could be a “trigger event” for unrest.
Next Monday marks one year since the attack by the Palestinian Islamist militant group that sparked Israel’s invasion of Gaza and conflict with Hamas allies in Lebanon, Iran and elsewhere.
Middle East turmoil tends to spark reactions in Germany, warned Thomas Haldenwang, chief of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV).
Anti-Semitism and hostility toward Israel are a “connecting element” between Islamists, pro-Palestinian extremists and other radical groups on the far right and far left, he said.
“The anniversary could be a trigger event for large parts of the protest spectrum,” he said, warning of a “great potential for emotionalization, polarization and radicalization.”
Aside from official commemorations of the October 7 attack, a number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations are planned in Germany at the weekend and on Monday.
In Berlin, police union spokesman Benjamin Jedro said that “we are looking at the coming days with great concern” after witnessing “hatred, anti-Semitism and violent excesses” by some pro-Palestinian activists.
Haldenwang in his statement pointed out that the number of anti-Semitic crimes had risen to an all-time high since the Gaza war started.
“The potential danger of possible terrorist attacks against Jewish and Israeli individuals and institutions, as well as against ‘the West’ as a whole, has increased significantly in the past six months.”
Haldenwang reiterated his warning against jihadist attacks, pointing to a deadly stabbing spree in the western city of Solingen last month.
“Islamists have understood how to use the current Middle East crisis to revitalize their propaganda and mobilize their followers,” he said.
The Daesh group is “using its propaganda to use the situation in Gaza to create emotions and encourage young Muslims in the West in particular to carry out terrorist attacks.”
The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,205 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 41,788 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations has described the figures as reliable.

Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation

Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation
Updated 04 October 2024
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Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation

Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation
  • Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicenter of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency
  • Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains

ABUJA: A cholera outbreak has hit Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, already reeling from floods that displaced nearly 2 million people, an official said on Friday.
Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicenter of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency that has displaced thousands into camps and strained sanitation facilities and potable water sources.
Borno Health Commissioner Baba Mallam Gana told reporters that 17 cases have been recorded following tests, but no deaths so far.
“However, we are recording an increasing number of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD)/suspected Cholera which is not unconnected with the flood devastation,” Gana said.
Almost 500 cases of AWD have been recorded, Gana said, with five local government areas mostly affected.
Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, displacing millions from their homes and damaging health facilities and other infrastructures.
Gana said that to combat the latest outbreak, the state got 300,000 oral cholera vaccine (OCV) doses from the federal health ministry, which have been distributed across displacement camps and flood-hit communities.
The state is waiting for an additional 600,000 doses of the vaccine to ensure adequate coverage, he said.


Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina

Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina
Updated 04 October 2024
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Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina

Donald Trump tries to blunt Democrats’ momentum in North Carolina
  • The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms

FAYETTEVILLE: Donald Trump is heading to North Carolina on Friday for the fourth time in a month, as the Republican presidential candidate tries to firm up support in a state he was winning handily a few months ago but is now among the most competitive in the race.
The former president’s visit to Fayetteville, home to a large military community, comes as the state has been convulsed by literal and political storms.
Once-in-a-generation floods triggered by Hurricane Helene killed dozens in the state’s western mountains, while the Republican candidate for governor has faced damaging reports about past inflammatory and lewd comments.
Some Trump allies privately say the race in North Carolina, which Trump won in the 2016 and 2020 elections, is too close for comfort, even as they think he still has a slight leg up on Democratic rival Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
By some metrics, the vice president is doing marginally better here than she is in Arizona and Georgia, even though Trump lost both of those states in 2020. Those three states are among a handful of battlegrounds that both candidates have a legitimate shot of winning next month.
“I’m freaking out about North Carolina,” said one major Trump donor, who was granted anonymity to give his candid assessment of the race. “Georgia and Arizona are not in the bag, but heading in the right direction.”
Trump leads Harris by 0.5 percentage points in North Carolina, according to a polling average maintained by FiveThirtyEight, a polling and analysis website. The former president leads Harris by 1.1 points in Georgia and 1.2 points in Arizona. All of those figures are within the margin of error for major polls, meaning either candidate could walk away with a victory.
Trump will also travel on Friday to Georgia, where his campaign said he will receive a briefing with Governor Brian Kemp on local storm recovery efforts and then speak to the media.
Trump had been leading Biden by several percentage points in North Carolina before the Democratic president dropped his re-election bid in July and passed the baton to Harris, who has steadily closed the gap with Trump.
While Trump’s ad spending in the state has been relatively modest compared to most other battleground states, he has hit the campaign trail hard. His four campaign events in North Carolina, including stops in Wilmington and Mint Hill, in the last month are more than those in any other state except for Wisconsin and Michigan, according to a Reuters tally.
The Trump campaign referred a request for comment to North Carolina’s Republican Party. Matt Mercer, the party’s communications director, said the Trump campaign was going as planned in the Southern state.
“North Carolina is close and has been for several cycles,” Mercer said. “However, President Trump has won the state twice, and we are confident we will deliver a third time.”
The vice president also has made frequent trips to North Carolina and is expected in the state again on Saturday.
Dory MacMillan, a communications official for her campaign, said Harris “is gaining momentum as voters continue to learn more about Vice President Harris’ vision for a New Way Forward where our freedoms are protected and everyone has the chance to not just get by, but get ahead.”
Among the potential headwinds Trump faces is the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, Mark Robinson, a Trump ally.
In September, CNN reported that Robinson, a Black man, had advocated bringing back slavery and said he enjoyed transsexual pornography in an online chatroom. Robinson denied making the comments.
Analysts say it is unclear if the Robinson scandal will depress turnout among Republicans on Election Day, potentially hurting Trump. But it will certainly not help.
“It hasn’t necessarily changed voters’ minds, but where I would be concerned is that you want everyone rowing in the same direction,” said Doug Heye, a veteran Republican strategist and North Carolina native, who noted the disarray around Robinson’s campaign was hampering its ability to drive voters to the polls.
Election officials, in the meantime, are scrambling to make sure voters in the western part of the state can cast a ballot after Helene destroyed towns and roads and left many residents displaced.
It is too early to measure the storm’s impact on the race, but analysts said the event has made new opinion polls going forward unreliable, as many potential respondents lack phone service or are preoccupied with recovery efforts.


Russia has decided ‘at highest level’ to remove Taliban from list of terrorist groups, TASS reports

Russia has decided ‘at highest level’ to remove Taliban from list of terrorist groups, TASS reports
Updated 57 min 31 sec ago
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Russia has decided ‘at highest level’ to remove Taliban from list of terrorist groups, TASS reports

Russia has decided ‘at highest level’ to remove Taliban from list of terrorist groups, TASS reports
  • Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021
  • Moscow formally labelled the Taliban a terrorist organization in 2003

MOSCOW: Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that a decision to remove the Taliban from a list of terrorist organizations had been “taken at the highest level,” the state TASS news agency reported.

The decision needs to be followed up with various legal procedures in order to make it a reality, President Vladimir Putin’s special representative on Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, was quoted as saying.

Putin said in July that Russia considered Afghanistan’s Taliban movement an ally in the fight against terrorism.

Russia has been slowly building ties with the Taliban since it seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US-led forces withdrew after 20 years of war but the movement is still officially outlawed in Russia.

No country has formally recognized the Taliban as the country’s legitimate leadership, although China and the UAE have accepted its ambassadors.

Russia added the Taliban to its list of terrorist organizations in 2003. Removing it would be an important step by Moscow toward normalizing relations with Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s acting foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi said in a speech in Moscow that recent decisions by Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to remove the former insurgents from a list of banned groups was a welcome step.

“We also appreciate the positive remarks by the high-ranking officials of the Russian Federation in this regard and hope to see more effective steps soon,” he said.

In separate comments on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was convinced of the need to maintain “pragmatic dialogue” with the current Afghan government.

“It is obvious that it is impossible to solve problems or even discuss an Afghan settlement without Kabul,” Lavrov said.

“Moscow will continue its course on developing political, trade and economic ties with Kabul,” he added, speaking at a meeting in Moscow with Muttaqi and representatives of neighboring countries.

While he did not mention the Taliban by name, he praised the current Afghan leadership for its efforts to curb drug production and fight Islamic State, which is outlawed in Russia.

Muttaqi said that countries in the region should cooperate against the Islamic State, which he said had established training centers outside Afghanistan.

Lavrov said the United States should return confiscated assets to Afghanistan and the West should acknowledge responsibility for the post-conflict reconstruction of the country.

Lavrov also called for an increase in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, and said Russia would keep sending it food and essential goods.

Russia has a troubled history in Afghanistan, where the Soviet army invaded in 1979 to support a pro-Moscow government but withdrew 10 years later after sustaining heavy casualties at the hands of mujahideen fighters.

Russia and its post-Soviet neighbors have suffered recurrent attacks from Islamist militant groups linked to Afghanistan — most recently in March, when 145 people were killed in an attack claimed by Islamic State at a concert hall near Moscow.


US, South Korea agree on five-year plan to share defense costs

US, South Korea agree on five-year plan to share defense costs
Updated 04 October 2024
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US, South Korea agree on five-year plan to share defense costs

US, South Korea agree on five-year plan to share defense costs
  • For 2026, the nations agreed to raise defense cost by 8.3 percent to $1.13 billion
  • Some 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea

SEOUL: The United States and South Korea on Friday agreed on a new five-year plan on sharing the cost of keeping American troops in South Korea, South Korea’s foreign ministry and the US Department of Statement said.
For 2026, the nations agreed to raise defense cost by 8.3 percent to 1.52 trillion won ($1.13 billion), South Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Seoul and Washington launched the talks earlier than usual in what was seen as a bid to conclude the negotiations before the US election in November.
Lee Tae-woo, South Korea’s chief negotiator, and Linda Specht, the top US negotiator for talks on defense cost sharing with Korea, finalized the new deal after eight rounds of talks that began in April, held just before the existing deals were due to expire next year.
Some 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea as part of efforts to deter nuclear-armed North Korea.
South Korea began shouldering the costs of US deployments, used to fund local labor, the construction of military installations and other logistics support, in the early 1990s.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee in the November election, had during his presidency accused South Korea, a key Asian ally, of “free-riding” on US military might, and demanded that it pay as much as $5 billion a year for the US deployment.
During his presidency, both sides had struggled for months to make progress, before reaching a deal with his successor Joe Biden, when Seoul agreed to increase its contribution by 13.9 percent, the biggest annual rise in nearly two decades.
The cost sharing rise for 2026 compares with the average annual increase of 6.2 percent for the past five years, to factor in higher maintenance costs and additional local staff, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.
For 2027-2030, they agreed to use the Consumer Price Index as a reference and work to make sure the annual increase does not exceed five percent, it said.