Notre Dame Cathedral will reopen in 2024, five years after fire
CBSN
The Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris is set to reopen to the public in December 2024, five years after a major fire damaged the landmark in 2019, according to the Paris Tourist Office official website. The cathedral's iconic spire collapsed in the blaze, and has been a major focus of the reconstruction effort.
"The supervision of the restoration is entrusted to the architect Philippe Villeneuve," said the Paris Tourist Office, adding that "the general principle is to rebuild the cathedral identically, including the spire."
"The return of the spire in Paris' sky will in my opinion be the symbol that we are winning the battle of Notre Dame," Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, the army general in charge of the restoration project, told the Associated Press.
Vaughan Gething was elected as the new first minister of Wales on Wednesday, becoming the first Black leader of a government in the U.K. Gething was elected to lead the government by members of the Welsh parliament in Cardiff, four days after winning the contest to be leader of Wales' governing Labour Party. He secured 27 of 51 votes in the legislature, the Senedd, where Labour is the biggest party.
Errekunda, Gambia — Lawmakers in Gambia will vote Monday on legislation that seeks to repeal a ban on female genital mutilation, or FGM, which would make the West African nation the first country anywhere to make that reversal. The procedure, which also has been called female genital cutting, includes the partial or full removal of external genitalia, often by traditional community practitioners with tools such as razor blades or at times by health workers.
Man falls to his death from hot-air balloon in Australia, leaving pilot and passengers "traumatized"
A man fell to his death from a hot-air balloon Monday as it passed over suburban Melbourne, Australia's second-largest city.