only you can stand it because france and was the second most important place to stand it since the early centuries already. completed and was given as a good. king some not. who's also known as louis king the friend there are many churches french catholics around the world and tired of the french by the way my daughter was in the united states in the church of the french. plays a role that i. had a law that you can be compared to only. the law and and the vatican some sense parents had role of being second long all

of them or companion of the bath. or large part of his to all of the vehicle danny. and. the question of reconstruction a building of this significance and it's going to be quite a process presumably you know it has to draw and so many different types of people from historians to tax but presumably at the vatican will the vatican play a role will the church want to have you know presumably that that will be. some sort of role or expertise for them to offer in this. i think the vatican will offer or some help some expect. probably is that as we all know you know do something that only. the smallest. five years he's never

seen and we were hoping something maybe he's always them that they're all interpretation and so. he got to church here is there has to be a big debate on the role and it's kind of murky what kind of. what kind of are you be cocky or and back when congress crown all talking about how the. repeal of the ground there will be a debate on how you call it's you got to. live now globally on many issues and it's lead also on a lot of the scaffolding are for you or your ballot you all he's very old will be it's nine scintilla of google. they were earth to keep some kind of

constant. when something like that. you have reopened the question of that is going to kill all those who could always use them in these last years all or all. the art. yeah absolutely it's absolutely fascinating isn't it that now when it comes to the process of reconstruction it might be very and might be unforeseen challenges and there might be difficulties in establishing a consensus and getting broad agreement on precisely how it should be built and what it is that constitutes a work of art thank you very much must've jolie we will chat later on but i will thank you for now. is live for us in paris as hasher we've had a bit of trouble maintaining your connection i hope that it's a bit better now can you tell us what you've been saying in the past few minutes.

that's why when i lost my job was actually standing on the front side of the cathedral the sort of most i call make a major where you see the two towers and from there it looked as if a lot of the fire had perhaps died down there was far less smoke than earlier but we've now come round to the all the side on one of the sides behind not because i'm kathy to i can tell you that the flames are continuing to rage around dogs so you can see a moat better and it really gives you a sense of how difficult it must be for the firefighters who are trying to put out that blaze they're using water cannon but when you look at the false scale of this fire you see the small jets of water in what seems to be an enormous assessor of raging flames a very difficult indeed for firefighters to put out this fire but they are trying it certainly a little less than it was before you can only imagine the sort of damage that there

is inside as well the furniture the sculptures the paintings this is a famous piece of the call and at the moment it is ablaze the french president emanuel mark all of the tweeted a bit earlier that he stood with the nation that he was very profoundly sad to see these images as so many prisons are coming here no doubt he will be talk. firefighters right now trying to keep up morale find out what is happening and get a sense of just how long it will take to put out this fire because that is the real question though the question is how much more damage will be done by this blaze which is rage now for a couple of hours at least and just cause the whole of the roof to collapse will the towers be able to withstand the continuation of the blaze. that's right because reports suggest that actually that the fire has now spread to the rectangular towers so even though it's been brought under control it does appear to be

spreading in places and the longer the fire goes on for presumably that would need to in the structure and make it even more vulnerable possibly bake it easier for the fire to spread but you know firefighters have been on the scene for an hour or two now trying to bring the blaze under control but very difficult with a building of of this scale and of this size we've been seeing water cannon deployed they've obviously evacuated the area to make it easier for them to access the cathedral itself and as you say natasha a french president is at the scene of the cathedral fire and he is also heading into meetings with paris police so that there will be some very serious questions are asked about how this happened.

indeed because all we know is a moment is that this fire broke out but we're not exactly sure why we know that there was renovation going on in the cathedral but you know a cathedral like this eight hundred fifty years old renovation has been ongoing for much of it so a life span it takes a lot of work to maintain it it takes a lot of work. to clean it so that there was a motivational going is that connected to the fire we don't know a tool and there is an investigation that has been north and hopefully we will find out what's happened but of course the focus now is really on trying to put that fire out and i think when you look around around me they're all going to simply thousands of people who have stopped on the bridges all around the world to dump cathedral because to give you a sense of where it is this cathedral is on a small island on the river said which runs through the center of paris the the french capital and all along the riverbanks people have stopped and they've been standing there for i was absolutely transfixed not the song it's this symbol of

power is in flames many people very sad i've seen people crying i've seen people say look it's it's been around familiar thousand years hopefully it will stay around but it's an extraordinary sight and i think that no one here will probably go home around me until that far has got out yes that's right now natasha i am. on the. page of individual great favor he is a good fellow and appears to have some expertise or knowledge about a situation like this and one of the things he's tweeted out he says the first issue is how old church is a built he says heavy timber construction with large open spaces. very very few if any in a church. in very few cases the fire stops so yes

presumably there would be some sort of fire protection system inside a building like this that we don't know precisely what procedures would be in place . we can certainly see that it has been an enormous struggle an enormous challenge for the emergency services to try and extinguished. yes flames. yes and a huge battle and just to give you a sense of the drama a little bit earlier we were a bit closer at the front of the cathedral the police led us through that particular point where able to get quite close and suddenly we heard an enormous noise part of the roof collapse and we saw flames leaping out of the top of this cloud of bread black smoke came above us and there were burning cinders and ash fooling raining all around us the police started screaming at everyone to get back they started pushing us fall apart because there was a real fear for people's safety the police very worried indeed that these are bits

of burning cinder and ash that were like engulfing the area around not could perhaps start another fire which of course is something they'd like to avoid and what we've heard so far is that they have been no casualties or have been no deaths but of course we don't know the full picture yet because that the cathedral is still on fire firefighters are still trying to battle the blaze so we won't know exactly the situation until the fire is pushed out because of course they're all simply hundreds of thousands of people who visit this area this cathedral the time it is surrounded by shops is surrounded by restaurants and cafes twelve million visitors a year it is a place which you know where parisians come to stroll so who is around the cathedral when it when it started to burn we don't know exactly the extent of we don't know the extent of that damage the damage not only to the building but was there any want to around and we don't know about those casualties yet there are

many many questions ahead but of course as i said the focus really now is on trying to prevent any more damage to this. mosque to peace if you like this very famous noted on cathedral. yes that's right and we've just been one i've been seeing some pictures of. the mayor and. it does go on throwing some questions speaking describing this as a terrible fire but also urging people to respect the boundaries in the cordons that have been set up because obviously it's very important for even though it's in central paris and as you say the tasher it's a very busy area it's crucial the emergency services and firefighters have clean and clear access to the building if they are able to to do their jobs properly and to do all they can to actually stop the fire itself obviously

there is no immediate word on the cause of the blaze there will be an investigation and according to the paris prosecutor's office an inquiry has already started so there will be serious questions to answer as to precisely who was on the site at the time what materials were in use how they were being used we don't know that there's a great deal we don't know yet and the people of paris will be very keen to know the findings of that investigation given that the special the historic significance of this we do know that the cathedral had been undergoing a renovation project worth millions of dollars specifically some six point eight million dollars including work on it speier natascha but that spire has now been destroyed. so where

does seem as if one of the spires we're always seeing flames certainly clark being up to it so exactly what the extent of the damage is i i can't tell from where i am but dramatic scenes of course and if you can imagine what it means for let's say parisians to see this building it's a building which is such a symbol of paris as much as the eiffel. tower you know it's just not the sort of building that people would have thought would be able to catch fire in such a way that it could be so badly damaged and that's why as you say many people will be asking some very tough questions as to how this could have happened why it could have been prevented and exactly what caused it in the first place again as i said the focus very much on trying to stop the blaze you said the mayor of paris and it i'll go is there at the scene as is the french president the man or my comment or my craw who at this time in fact was supposed to be giving a national televised address to the nation he was preparing for that all day it was

something that was very much anticipated in france because he was going to be giving his response to the grand debate that has been held in france giving a yellow vest protesters and members other members of the public a chance to air their grievances he was going to come up with some new policies but at the last minute he had to cancel all of this debate and he rushed here to be not saddam he felt that this was a moment to come together with the nation a moment of unity in a moment to really be there and show support for the firefighters who are working so tirelessly to try and stop these flames. all right thank you very much atia we will definitely be speaking some more but i understand that we can now speak to najibullah who lives nearby she joins us via skype from paris so clearly you are not far from the scene of the fire what have you been seeing through the course of the afternoon and into the evening. well i was going back from work and we

noticed from the bus a lot of people taking selfies and who toes and then we saw a huge amount of smoke in the sky and we were wondering what was going on and someone on the bus told me no to them is on fire i was all shocked we were all shocked and. as we walked we we could feel ashes on our faces everyone was really shocked by these huge moment and it's been there since forever and it's a here to part of paris history also. yes and i can sense in your voice a great sense of well you know clearly feeling a sense of loss as many people in paris probably feeling at the moment watching this magnificent building and the destruction caused to it as a result of this fire and it's fascinating that you just say how you're walking through the streets and you can feel the ash you can feel the ash from the fire on

your face that really that really. gives us an indication of the strength and the potency of this fire. yeah it was very strong and we could see from far away from plymouth which is really far. all the room on fire and we could see all the building collapsing and nobody would do anything we were wondering what were they. according to the traffic we could easily understand that. by a man could have troubles get into the building because there was a lot of traffic. all that's interesting so i mean yes it's obviously this is a central part of paris you have cafes restaurants shops and businesses and we were hearing from the mayor of pallet paris earlier urging people to leave the area the areas obviously been evacuated but. given the location of the not turned on

cathedral it would have taken some time for the fire engines to reach the site because of because of the number of people in the area because of the need to evacuate people around and of course the traffic being a key issue. no doubt the traffic is a key factor in determining how quickly the fire engines could get to the scene and maybe that will be we know now that there is going to be an investigation into the cause of all of this and can i ask if you you live nearby can you can you see the cathedral from from where you live. no i can't and fortunately because i they were on the first floor. right and so have you been i mean i don't i'm not quite sure what you're hearing or if you're keeping an eye on what the authorities are saying like official statements on twitter and things like that but do you just plan do you just plan to stay home for the building stay home stay at home for the evening presumably you're not going to be do you think you might. go out to see what's

happening with this no i don't think i would go out because you know it is really crowded outside and we can really feel the ashes and smell the smoke which is really bad for us and i think i would rather stay home and watch what was going on hoping. that something could be done and when you were in the streets you i think you saying you will walk in with some friends but can you see what we are you seeing i mean went when the fire erupted it was speaking i spoke to one of the eyewitnesses earlier and we've been hearing these descriptions of people watching just you know such compelling images but that watching with a sense of shock and horror and disbelief what was the reaction of the people around you. in fact i was going back getting back from work

and there was a walk in and everyone who were around it was shocked i could see some some people cry in a lot of tourists we could see we were we could hear different languages and. which it which was notable is that you could hear the same total tone with different languages everyone was shocked the room was wondering what was happening everyone was asking why you are or how the fire to begin in the building gets here or. that so and we know that there will be an investigation into that now and there were renovation works going on and official sources have been speaking and the suggestion is that the fire probably was an accident and it probably was linked to the renovation works but obviously we have to wait and see what emerges from the inquiry itself and you are telling me that

you were on your way home from work do you when you walk home from work do you pass the not true don cathedral is that on your way yes every night every night. and. it reminds us of berries and how huge this is and. how much it is like a main cathedral in the books in paris history. and do you ever i mean sometimes when you live in a city you people can occasionally take a sites like this for granted and there are more to you know visitors the tourists rather than residents but would you would you often go to the cathedral yourself to visit. no it's really. been there twice. i think when you leave near you can see all you can see the cathedral

opens really for example for greece christmas or easter you can see the door open. get in there and it's really beautiful but i've been there twice on you've been there twice and tell me what are your thoughts and your impressions on those visits . oh i think it was. they were one of the most. beautiful thing you can see the cathedral was wonderful it was huge big with a real. real rare gothic architecture and i don't know if. the people who will eventually work on the rebuilding of the real be able to i don't know make you to say i don't think so we. think there are is definitely

that sense of loss this evening is palpable because it's history but it's just incredible intricate detail in the architecture in the statues that are in these are things that are going to be extremely difficult to recreate and when you were passing the cathedral you say you knew you wouldn't visit often yourself you twice visited the cathedral but would you know was it always you know did you always see tourists in the area was it always filled with people who have come from all over the world not just in europe but from from everywhere to to see this case natural. there was always a huge queue with a lot of people. wandering to see the cathedral and every day every. stop. today. and you were saying that outside

is thick with smoke and ash and. i'm got different screens up and i can see images from from actually different parts. of the cathedral from different vantage points but it really does look as though the air is thick with smoke and presumably it could be like that for some days to come a fire on this scale engulfing a building. in this way presumably the air in the area and where you live it could be quite uncomfortable for some days to come yes yes it's really off polluted and now we could really feel that the air was. was filled with smoke and i think yes it will be difficult. for the next day i think that we should run in. eventually

to avoid britain and smoke. it was really good to talk to you i do appreciate it you definitely shed a sense of not just your reaction but a sense of how a lot of people in paris and in france will be feeling at these images tonight thank you very much you might speak later on but i'll say thank you for now joining me over the phone is timothy milray who saw the fire on folding timothy can you share can you share with us. what it was that you were seeing earlier on. thank you for having me i was a i was at home and i thought that the fire was really gaining strength so our i knew no mo ma so i i went off so just to see it for myself because i had trouble believing it and so i was pretty far away in the distance but you could always call

already see that the fire was absolutely huge the the the the roof as it had already collapsed but you can see that the entire the entire building inside the building it's it's all on fire ever everything will be lost. awful. awful yeah and we know that it's not just about the building itself that there was many precious artefacts and invaluable works of art inside that can probably now never been be replaced they will be lost forever and when you were out on the streets did you can you describe for me the reaction of people around you. it was seeing pictures of hundreds of people gathering on bridges this emotions are running very high in paris this evening. i was i was in the i was on the on the moma and everyone was watching it to many persians many tourists but everyone was

watching in the same direction everyone was wrong with down there is there is like a feeling of shock being everywhere and just everyone was quiet and some people were in tears that it was really really emotional every everyone i really think everyone is coming together in paris every everywhere they can to witness it because it. was probably i couldn't believe it myself but i see it from a much it couldn't look away and nobody could where i was you had hundreds of people watching it was everyone was. really. and those feeling of shock and disbelief. resonating beyond france because that has been international reaction to what is unfolding in paris tonight the u.k. prime minister to resign may saying that her thoughts are with the people of france this evening on the emergency services who off fighting the terrible plays.

cathedral we have also been hearing from germany as chancellor angela merkel european leaders world leaders all expressing their sympathy with what is happening right now merkel saying that she is deeply sad. and by the events in paris i'm so sorry to see the images of not saddam she says al faw a with our french friends also some reaction from the vatican the vatican expressing incredulity and sadness of the not true don blaze so that is just a flavor of the international reaction to what is happening in paris tonight also the church in in the holy land saying that they are praying for not true dom at thankfully no injuries or deaths as a result of this fire the area was evacuated and timothy i'm just wondering if

for those people who might be watching who are not familiar with the area and with the geography around the tree down cathedral this is a very busy area with many cafes and restaurants and and tourists it would have taken perhaps some time to clear the area and evacuate it. actually. be emerging from the going amazing because nobody got hurt i don't know exactly how the fire spread but nobody got hurt great the the area around the cathedral where you have the view of the cathedral but it will course quite large but you have all two old buildings that are really nearby maybe like ten fifteen meters away from the cathedral who it is a good fire to spread there that's really that's a great job on the part of the department of parish and really. i'm really sorry that they could not control the fire but at least they were able to get everyone out in time and so you know nobody got hurt and it's already great.

through the but they couldn't do anything about the cathedral the roof or the computer older with everything but yeah you know the reform movement i've been great because the neighborhood is very busy to mckibben a lot of people and everyone got out ok little crêpe yes and we will saying from the mayor and who was saying that it was important for people to respect the the road blocks and you know and yes in trying to encourage people to stay away from the area and to respect the boundaries that have been put in place by emergency crews and i'm just looking at reports here a spokesman for the paris fire department saying that the next hour and a half is crucial in order to see if the fire at the not true cathedral can be contained so it looks as though we are in

a very critical period for five fighting crews at the moment and that if they can't contain the fire in the next ninety minutes then this building could potentially be completely destroyed irreparably destroyed. there too. this is really all i knew that was actually hoping that the towers could be could be safe. yeah i really don't know what to tell you you're kind of taking the high surprise i didn't know that those were in danger but yeah i really hope that they're going to be able to to master the fire and to to save what's left of the building because the this is this is a thousand years of history we're losing right now this is a tragedy not just for you you were talking about international support earlier i really think the cathedral represents something not only for for christianity of

course but for everyone this is this is something that has been there for almost a thousand years and the roof the roof was built over a thousand years ago to i have i have no words i have no words compared to the try to describe the tragedy and the loss but paris is feeling right now. and i could see the people i was speaking to one resident of paris earlier and she lives nearby homes she's she was telling she can't see the cathedral itself that she doesn't is in the area and she passes she passes by the nazis every day on her way to and from what she was out on the streets here on and she was saying that the air is thick with the state with smoke and ash it was actually very uncomfortable. presumably that's going to just from the images that we can see the air is very thick with smoke so that could be quite difficult for people well with or without

breathing difficulties but it's just you know already the city is so polluted and i don't know if if that's consistent with what you were seeing and feeling in the air when when you when and by. actually actually i was i was seeing it from a distance as i would tell you it was i was in moema so i was on the hill and it's it's quite far so i couldn't tell you about the about the air. but i know that i know some people who are nearby right now and they just don't look at. a smoker not you you can't you come think you're right away from from that and yeah the idiot who did but i don't think the the air or the local area is going to fade pretty for. the law it's not a matter. for timothy mary we might speak later on but for now i will say thank you for sharing your thoughts with yours and how you evening spin appreciate it we

just want to give you a bit of context to this a bit of background on the cathedral itself as we've been saying it is one of the oldest and most recognizable buildings in paris its name translates to our lady of paris. work began on the cathedral in eleven sixty three and the original structure was completed nearly two hundred two hundred years later in thirteen forty five it is the most visited landmark in paris receiving some thirteen million people every year which is more than thirty thousand people every day so that just gives you a little bit of background on the historical significance of this site but also the sheer crowds that drawn from all over the world not just in france not just in europe but really from everywhere it in some ways this is a global science and it is

a cathedral that many people will want to visit when they are in paris that will definitely be one of the places that they want to see that they want to take in and they want to experience and now it looks as though a significant part of it has been lost. is live for us from paris natasha a spokesman for the fire department saying that the next ninety minutes a going to be absolutely crucial. and you can imagine where it just standing in front of the cathedral now we've been moved from side to side as police are trying to keep people in safe areas and now seems that starting in front of the to where we are is a safe it's dogs you might not be able to see the facade of it behind me but what we can see all firefighters all around the huge doors of the front of the cathedral actually open and it's quite eerie you can just about see inside the shafts a lot of light from the fire fights as torches as they are obviously making their

way through the interior but it's full of smoke i mean you can only imagine how difficult it is for them to see whether. some of the fire levels just promote the towers you can see firefighters there making their way through on the side. more firefighters a spraying a water cannon because the flames continue the fight is continuing around the back of the cathedral where the roof collapsed i mean as far as we know the whole of that roof has collapsed in fact we were very close by when one section just fell through when the flames leapt out of the top of the cathedral is extremely dramatic the police also every want to believe why people were just grabbing their bags and running as was good a nash was raining down so very dramatic scene say in paris they started a few hours ago and they continue. and also the french president and manual on the scene you're seeing pitches of him earlier he has canceled

a planned speech and we also understand he has been having a nice change with the paris police. as the french president a man of war michael as you said he was supposed to be making a televised address this evening it was very much anticipated it was his response to get a vest protesters a grand debate that's an initiative launched several months ago to allow people to have a grievances he was going to be coming up with new policies of course and many people would have been sitting in front of the television screens this evening waiting to see him on all my corn instead what they saw with these images all of moto damn cathedral the symbol of paris a law it's a blaze i mean very shocking indeed for the french president to cancel does address he came down to the cathedral he tweeted shortly before that he felt that this was a very sad moment to me to be here he's been speaking to firefighters i imagine has

been trying to keep on rolling trying to find out exactly how this fire started because what we understand is that it started near one of the towers that you can see behind me at the front of the cathedral it then spread very quickly through some of the wooden scaffolding and the ruth. of the cathedral because there were renovations underway we don't know it's all whether those renovations were linked to this fire but what seems to have happened is this fire spread very fast indeed the exact cause is there hopefully we'll find out at some point because an investigation has been enormous but so the focus very much on trying to end this blaze and save as much of this historic gothic cathedral as possible and it is by no means that they will be able to do that natasha the deputy interior minister saying that saving not to dom is not. i suppose with that remark that trying to prepare people for the prospect that the cathedral could be completely destroyed.

but it's hard to tell i mean certainly the front of it is standing because it's behind me and you would imagine that such a stone structure would hopefully with sound a certain amount of this fire damage but it you know i mean all potential specialists is very it's it's very hard to tell i mean certainly a huge proportion of this cathedral has been destroyed and it's not just about the structure when you talk about not to damage the furniture the paintings the sculpture everything in so i did the historic for the curtains you know these are the things which make a damn what eases the reason that people from all over the world visit it is the reason that this cathedral so cherished by parisians it's famous for prisons as the artful towers so the site of inflate in flames is incredible and then of course many people wondering you know how much of it will be able to be recovered will the whole cathedral and dock being destroyed i mean we can just call no at this stage

what we do know there is everyone's trying the best far far it's as i said we tried their best to save as much of this cathedral as possible and of course that is the absolute priority right now of the reports that the fire had spread to one of not john's rectangular towers and the first responder. happened trying to salvage the yachts and the other objects and precious pieces that are obviously irreplaceable if they are lost that is stored inside the cathedral. those efforts are very much ongoing you know that the deputy mayor of paris speaking earlier said that the cathedral has suffered colossal damage and a cathedral spokesman was saying that the entire wooden interior was burning and was likely to be destroyed so. quite remarkable scenes we've seen here in paris this evening but also. perhaps worth

mentioning that the fire started i think around seven pm local time in paris and firefighters book called on the scene and it's quite a busy city isn't it as if you've got a great day you've got people but you've got a great deal of traffic and they presumably would have taken a bit of time for emergency crews to to reach the scene and to to begin that was. all that's right because not to dunkirk the joy is built on a small island in the middle of the river sand the river the runs through the halls of power is. you know this is an historic area there are lots of old buildings and narrow streets of course when this fire broke out members of the public rushed to see what was happening there were people absolutely everywhere the still all i have to say at that point police and fire services with trying to get through was extremely chaotic people being pushed in all directions as the police and fire

vehicles trying to reach the cathedral in order to try and battle the blaze but as you as i was i'll just say it you know remembers the public wanted to come in saying that people were not eating both sides of the rivers and they are they still all you know thick crowds of people standing on the bridges or just watching. the not so darn cathedral aflame you were speaking to an eyewitness before who sounded very moved very saddened and not very much the mood of many people is just not the sort of thing you margin seeing you know not saddam cathedrals been standing for more than eight hundred years you don't expect to see an enormous fire coming out of the top of that you don't expect to hear and see parts of its roof collapse so i think for many people in paris is an extremely sad evening because they do cherish this building so much of these poles of the city's landscape part of its history part of its identity. exactly and for that reason people would expect to be strict procedures and guidelines in place not just for tourists that

might be accessing the site but for anyone working inside the cathedral we know that this massive renovation project was underway to restore part of the building to strengthen it the expectation is that there would be very strict control and precise procedures for those working inside a building like is because of its historical significance because of its importance in terms of how they work what materials they have with them and how careful they have to be of course accidents can happen as sources suggest that it probably was an accident and it may well have been linked to the renovation work. i mean if it was an accident i mean it's an incredible result an incredible outcome to this accident when you see the damage that's been done. but again we don't we

don't know you know we still have an investigation ahead of us but it does seem that in some ways that it could have been made to the renovation work that was happening i mean but how like you say such a cathedral sounds such an accident could possibly happen in the cathedral which. the story which is so important and cherished by the nation why there would be stricter controls of what was happening you know it would be an incredibly unusual situation but accidents do happen and if it is an accident in this case then a it's of course terribly unfortunate that it is resulted in such terrible damage the loss of so many items the loss of a great part of the structure and it's not over yet because of course that fire continues and as firefighters continue to work to try stop the fire and save what they can all of notre dud. yes those efforts are ongoing and several hours later we can see that the fire is still blazing that might be less smoke and it might be

under some control but it's still very much there and firefighters are continuing with that started at seven pm local time she was saying we do not know the cause of this fire yet but we know that an investigation is underway in the paris prosecutor's office saying that that inquiry has already started the french media reports citing police sources have indicated that the fire was started by accident and the tasha president emanuel is on the scene there and this comes at a very interesting time for them he's just conducted this nationwide exercise. people's opinions and hearing out there we even says in consultations in town hall meetings in an effort to try and quell this revolt against his presidency and and now this. well that's right i mean you know

you need spin quite extraordinary evening from our own mark all who would be deep in preparations in the lease a palace preparing for this ground speech that everybody has been waiting for for a few days it in for all different to me to be talking about little but what will tomorrow marco talk about in his speech what he responds to the findings of the grand debate will see the policies what will he be offering the yellow vest protesters and the general public and will they be enough to save the remainder all for his presidency in terms of him being able to continue with his reforms well of course that is open sets aside right now because what most people are looking at right now is not a matter of course speaking because he's been here but they are looking at pictures all of his five forces continue to battle the blaze they would have been. thing in front of the television sets no doubt waiting for marco but instead these incredibly dramatic images of this famous building and really everyone's attention

is riveted on what is happening behind me sorry for him and all mark all this will be perhaps an opportunity for him if you want to put it that way to call upon national unity to come together and this need a moment these are great he tweeted about saying it's an incredibly sad moment not just for him but for the nation so i think those will be some of the things on his mind this evening and certainly i think most people in the public will be looking at what's happening with not far down and whether or not it could be saved or rather than right now thinking about him at all mark calls a possible policies later this week yes of course as you say these images are shocking and people are feeling a great sense of loss and sadness certainly some of the eyewitnesses that we've been speaking to are feeling incredibly emotional and just a sense of disbelief that this could happen but then watching the images unfold it it's very difficult people to come to terms with this and to accept what is

happening because this cathedral is such a fixture in the city it's an icon in european culture. earlier in the tasha we have been hearing international leaders way in. it seems as though you know many world leaders watching what is happening here in paris tonight we've been hearing from the vatican the vatican saying the not to fire has caused shock and sadness saying that it's. it's close to french catholics and they are praying for the firefighters we have heard as well from the german chancellor angela merkel saying that she is deeply saddened by the events unfolding in paris expressing her solidarity. she said and her thoughts she says all with our french friends. and also the u.k. prime minister to resign may expressing very similar sentiment saying that she too

. expresses her sympathy. with what is happening in paris this evening and so you certainly sense that it's just. you know everyone is watching this very closely keeping an eye on on this fire and it started at seven pm local time but it is still raging natascha we definitely going to continue our conversation about our correspondent there watching this very closely but if you are just joining us we are watching a major operation in the french capital this evening we are seeing firefighters emergency crews trying to extinguish a major delays this icon. this important part of french cultural heritage the historic cathedral of not true dom the blaze started

seven pm local time and it has spread and it looks like a significant part of the cathedral has been destroyed the french president emanuel is on the scene he is having meetings with french police he has canceled a speech that he was due to give this evening because of what has happened but we have also been. hearing from the spokesman from the fire department saying that the next hour and a half actually the next sixty minutes now are crucial in determining whether the cathedral can be saved and it seems as though some of the official voices that we're hearing from fronts tonight there there is a sense that the cathedral could possibly be either lost or destroyed in a very significant way to the point where rebuilding and reconstruction might be extremely

challenging if not impossible and you have to think about a building of. this magnificence it reconstruction will not be easy it will involve a great deal of money the renovation project that was already under way you can see some of the scaffolding there the renovation project cost millions of dollars and it's not clear if the funds will be ready available for rebuilding or restoration process on this scale. just looking at some of the reports coming in to us here. and actually we can speak to timothy marais because he watched these events in paris and he joins us on the line now and timothy i assume that you've been watching the pictures and you've been keeping a close eye on what's been happening. yeah absolutely i turned on my t.v.

at six thirty just because i heard that there was a fire and i discovered the demon city of it. and the problem that we had and so i was for like half an hour and i saw the roof collapsing i saw this bike go up seeing i was really shocked and so i i didn't you know mark and so i went up just to watch it see by myself because i didn't believe it so i saw the i saw the flames from the from the hill and many people here watching tourists but also regions just watching in shock. because it's it's really hard to believe what is happening and we're definitely getting a sense of salt in that there is definitely a palpable feeling of shock and sadness in paris and paris and france tonight but also. this it seems that the international community.

have been speaking about this everyone is watching this very closely. and timothy i'm not sure if you're across some of the official statements that have been given updates on how the operation to extinguish the blaze is growing but emergency services have said that they are trying to salvage the artwork stored in the cathedral from the fire but at the same time they are not sure when not sure if they will be able to to save the cathedral because the fire has continued to spread. its tragedy to the inside of the cathedral from where i was from where i was standing or could see that the inside of the cathedral was burning and all that there is going he's going to be lost and there is apparently there is

a fear that it didn't fire might extend to the towers it means to organize it means that. the wonderful art work the statues that are here it's. i don't know i don't know i don't know what to say it's just it's just so hard to see everything go up in smoke like this you. want. to say speaking about the towel there's just some reports here quote seeing a five fights or who is at the scene saying just. speaking to the comment that you are making that efforts are being very much concentrated on preventing the collapse of the northern tower of the cathedral and. firefighters at the scene also saying that they are trying very hard to save the what at the back of the cathedral i mean there is a. history inside the building and precious artifacts that if lost can never be replaced that lost forever. yeah. the building of the

get good role was. that the beginning of the thirteenth century for the forty century i think it's it's been there for almost a hundred years. i just i just can't tell you the last that it means for for everyone in paris and even for just human history it's it's unbearable the other thing is that i grew up near the kids because i grew up in the on the left bank of paris right not far from it and you go you past near the cathedral every week or every every two or three days and you just watch it and you have this sense of stability and you have the feeling that it shows you continue with your city of here or i don't know your country or i don't know about that but it's it represents

so much to well to me but i think to other people in paris it's not it's it's not surprising that everyone is in shock it's really when you watch enough of them you had the feeling that it was it was going to be there forever i had to had that feeling i don't know well it's well it had been it has been that eight hundred fifty is so. i'm sure many people would feel the same as yourself and speaking about. the people of paris i'm just wondering have you been speaking to me this evening but have you spoken to any friends and family what do they say about this no i have some i have some friends who are not far from it or just watched and they're saying i don't have friends of friends the ones like compared to washington once they start and stop. i'm kind of between those two i there for an hour watching i just couldn't help myself. and then you have those were just

you said to watch it's. it's really it's really awful. and i can hear some sirens in the background i'm not sure if that's coming from your location timothy but tom whereabouts are you in paris i'm actually in your moma in the eighty's so i think this siren or no comment from my you know quality is you know not that gave there are you i imagine there are lots of bills in the. near near the fire because they're working hard and trying to save what can be saved. yes well we are looking at it we've got a number of images up here in front of us but essentially we can see that the fire is still blazing and the roof of the cathedral has already collapsed but emergency crews of course trying to salvage as much as they can but it really seems as though they are up against the clock the next sixty minutes all going to be crucial if

they are going to save all salvage the cathedral they have to do it soon. as soon as possible if i department saying that the next and they are entering a crucial period now and it seems that if they don't extinguish the fire and the next hour or so then the cathedral might be destroyed or a significant part of it might be destroyed beyond repair there was already renovation work taking place at one of asian what. the. that was. costing millions of dollars but of course it's difficult to imagine the kind of rebuilding and reconstruction that will need to take place now to restore the cathedral in some way but there is there is no there is no guarantee that that it can be rebuilt. or indeed what process will now and seeing

to try and preserve this magnificent historical building. i wanted it for now is the big question is not so much what they're building but what what can still be saved of the original will work that i received it will worry about the rebuilding later. so for now for now the what's left of the original must be saved and we're really hoping that the firefighters we know that they're going to do everything they can of course but we really hope that they're going to manage these selvages. anything thank you thank you very much timothy will it would it would be good to talk to you later but for now thank you do appreciate you taking the time. right well so i was speaking about the historical significance of not true dahmer and it is worth touching on some basic facts because it is one of the oldest and

most recognizable buildings in paris its name translates to our lady of paris work began on the cathedral in eleven sixty three and the original structure was completed nearly two hundred two hundred years later in thirty and forty five it is the most visited landmark in paris receiving some thirteen million people every year which is more than thirty thousand people every day earlier we spoke to nudge ma who saw the fire unfolding. i was going back getting back from work and i was walking and everyone who were around it was shocked and i could see some some people cry in a lot of tourists we could see you we could hear different languages and. which it which was notable is that you could hear the same total tone with different languages everyone was shocked iran was wondering what was happening and everyone

was asking why or how did the fire. begin in the building oh i don't think i would go out because you know it is really crowded outside and that we can really feel the ashes and smell the smoke which is really bad press and i think i would rather stay home and watch was going on hope and. that something could be done every night or post from that and. it reminds us of paris and how he huge this cathedral is and. how much it is like the main cathedral in the goods books and in paris history. been there twice and. i think when you leave near you can see all you can see the cathedral

opens really often for example for greece christmas or easter you can see the door opened and that and people get in there and it's really beautiful but i've been there twice and. that was always a huge queue with a lot of people. wandering to see the cathedral and every day every night hasn't stopped since. today. well that was a clip from niger my who is a resident of paris she lives not far from the not too damn cathedral she passes it on her way to and from work and she was out on the streets a bit earlier describing the air being fake with ash and smoke she said it was quite difficult to breathe but expressing her dismay and her sadness at what we at this fire we can now speak to.

french journalist and elizabeth mckay she joins us from paris how would you describe reaction in the city to what is happening tonight. oh people are in shock i think. it's malls are. it's really suffer the. same time. all the way we live in the city to you. the way it was perceived for most of us catholics it's also. happening during easter week so the whole use we can. tell and it's it is also all of this is mixed together you know we think of the story first broke and we think about the big picture than we think about. the feature will as big. a sort of bringing in people into the city the words albany is

it's very difficult to overstate this you could say that this meeting is a kind of nine eleven happy without there but. for him all your good that is a historic monument. such as i've been finding it difficult to find well because the previous attempts we were saying quite the same thing we all know that we have a puzzle related to how do you call it will be the will live. it. yes and i think you know you say you were saying that it's very similar to what we're hearing from one of our earlier guests and i think that's because there are many people who are feeling exactly the same this evening there is a sense of shock there is a sense of sadness and interesting what you say about people feeling as though they had a personal relationship with the cathedral that it was

a symbol of stability and continuity in times which very uncertain. i don't. if you puberty it's. sort of. pretty short. but we have. this. election. sort of show interview to i think it's great to pull of faith out of charity something. you do. especially the spiritual in some ways and it is the rest of us because it is it's cult of the structure of power. was not destroyed by the nazis paris was not destroyed in the first. i think to start with

. but. there's the possibility that the end of the world may happen by mistake if i could. it's a very strange. now it's quite philosophical what you're saying that this cathedral was a hundred and fifty years old it has withstood so much that it have been destroyed by war or violence or bloodshed but possibly by something that was an accident i know that needs to still be established but just you know this is what these are the indications as things stand. yes. could i meet tomorrow wolf is a question thank you to the author of people how a whole drive. people all the celebration to say. the good people to be refilled

i think to be given a. couple days of record of the work involved in the state does when the but. the fact that it's going to be a reproduction of what we have which i think the idea that because you've always thought we don't stop to bother most people is with professional effort which is not something that would make your home go to contemplate so the question really got. pretty close to tampa is that is that i suspect there will be a quick move. to do we have to resort to rebuilding. the world heritage is actually is the united nations for all purposes not all because they're not all but. in total. bears witness to the call to duty to the spirit it really is also just as a result. and ann lisbeth i'm not sure exactly where you are at the moment but some

of the pictures that we've seen show that there are crowds of bystanders possibly residents a paris terrorists as well all still standing on bridges watching this this operation unfold where about he was a moment. all right we'll show you these idiots i don't like golf you know set up where i am but certainly i can see the live gold calls spoke for it all of these cable stations. you can see that these are both the you know up the firefighters of the spies yes the whole bonehead it's political early to say you don't see slavery but what you see go off like it was but it's a movie of the of a cathedral. there's a sort of rhetoric flying. all this was a special effect. but it didn't go up to all to be a spray beat or a part by the biggest i think this is the part harmony to bridge to go with what this will do to the inside of a cathedral didn't work don't blow all the pressure we. all took from will

be omitted pieces of furniture all the princes were put on hold but well. that's a little damaged by this with the with the top with those it's not that the because he's moved there to delete the structure it was would the structure it is not without the shanties. yes well there was renovation what's going on it is a very old building presumably that would affect the strength of the structure but you know i'm i'm this is just an observation and i'm not an architect but i don't regard you rather than should both say no the spirits of the building with who there was no question that they were not there but the cathedral it was almost a question of the sort of greek word invention so one of the. the question is not to write the words of those that were probably going to amount of cleaning.

but. go to preparing the culture shock and it's ok to compete. because the material leaves. a lot heidi comical so that probably explains why the fuck it took took hold so much . of a factor to get you to live which can't go. on like chuckles i spoke to a call from. one of them becomes a doctor i've seen in the big challenges especially that they have the whole effect trickle sort of blunt with a counter and when i was looking at there we can sort of. do so by my reaction was oh my god this is horrible and it's me and you know who will clean up stuff but we

had candles and all captions in the schools it's a perfectly true that it states. something that alludes to what's called a curved story what people do not realize is that. the first article today with all the things the with the testable which it was it was not just it was it was all paid to the faces were painted it clearly looks painted in the traditional colors of the crew of the characters a couple using the christ to go to the red and blue. well that was entirely pink couldn't polychrome and that was what you looked at the stuff you dislike you could be crazy because the state screwed up and of course christou was very very careful to create stuff without making them straight it was great. but all it was just to to clean the dirt. that was painstakingly by people with equipment but probably would have added to the plague. and i want to ask you about the timing of this

disaster because it does come at an interesting time for the country we have seen months of. demonstrations on the streets of paris it does you know there have been questions about the country's. national identity perhaps in some ways that have been questions about the way in which the country has been governed about those that have been marginalized it just it feels as though it has come a quite quite a difficult time. well i don't think we had too many questions about the country's identity crisis we had at the time of the burghers of the fact. but we we don't read about the spiritual we. may disagree with them but they are more than before and they have existed in all history so the question of identity that this comes at

a time of political it's up. to things to do it or it can bring people back together to say this is how we go how we must because it can be destroyed and it could be destroyed it can be destroyed by but you do. know how actually but it can also be destroyed by accident it's not something that's guaranteed all the way to a power trip so we've got to work at it and i don't know which which which fight the whole thing will fall what's interesting is tonight a pretty don't like to make some of the great debate kind of town hall meetings that he's been taking plotted and there were thousands he didn't take gotten all of them in the last three months. but what kind of ripple effect bring to the country but he decided not to make a speech by to find. you the flames. again

the current novel are a good politician would do it well and you would say that the butler who. worked. for the for all the production i think it would be heard but it will be what you. who are indeed the we have seen interesting times in france over the past few months and there is a sense that there's a lot of divisiveness but it will be fascinating to see the response that emerges from this and whether it does serve as a rallying point and whether or not it brings people together for now i'm elizabeth appreciate you taking the time i just want to turn to international reaction that's been coming in to what has happened. to thank you situation in in paris. the. u.s. president donald trump was the first to twitter saying so horrible to watch the massive

fire at not true don cathedral perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out must act quickly. the u.k. prime minister to resign may also weighing in she tweeted that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of france tonight and with the emergency services who are fighting the terrible blaze at the not freedom cathedral german chancellor angela merkel also speaking out saying that she was deeply saddened and sorry to see the images of fire devastated not saddam cathedral which she described as a symbol of france and our european culture so there is a sense of the international reaction coming in the world leaders and particularly those in europe watching these developments very closely in paris tonight as natasha. joins us live now from paris natasha can you give us an update as to how the operation is going. i'm standing

just in front of the facade of notre dame cathedral where you can see the two aspies it's very dark so i don't actually know if you can see behind me but there are firefighters in not building you can sort of glimpsing their torches in and out of targets around the spires and the front doors of the cathedral the huge front doors are open and you can see just about see inside of it's a little bit lit by the firefighters it is thick with smoke in fact i'm standing now you can really smell the smoke very heavy in the air and the firefighters have been working very hard since about seven o'clock this evening local time when this fire started they have been trying to put out the flames they are using a water cannon there on trucks with cranes they are inside this cathedral trying to put out this fire which is devastated such a large part of it the whole of the roof section has gone it has collapsed and we know that the next hour also ahead is extremely critical because they're very

worried that they won't be able to save this cathedral atoll and that would just be simply devastating not just for prisons but for those who who love this sort of architecture around the world this gothic cathedral which is so cherished a symbol of powers. well obviously the emergency crews are doing everything they can to save the cathedral indications are that they might not succeed the french interior ministry official saying that firefighters not might not be able to save not. that is the view from authorities and actually just before that announcement french fire services also saying that they were not sure if the fire could be stopped perhaps trying to prepare people for the prospect that the cathedral might not be salvaged certainly a significant part of it. might be permanently destroyed and that would be quite

difficult for the people there to accept. unimaginable for anyone who knows paris always visited paris who lives here you know is not a time cathedral is a part of the landscape it's a power for cultural identity it is as familiar for those of us who live in paris as the eiffel tower the idea the notre dame wouldn't exist even though it's been standing for more than eight hundred years is as i said simply unimaginable for so many people and i think that is why so many members of the public have gathered around here they are as close as they can be because of course the emergency services are trying to keep them back for their own safety so many people here know lining the streets there lining the river which runs just next to notre dame cathedral the river sandwich cuts through paris and they are shoulder to shoulder just simply staring transfixed i what they're seeing in front of them which is not true down cathedral the united probably would cost

a million times without really thinking about it is simply a blaze and possibly might not be able to be saved i mean at this point people are just really hoping that that is not the case in the focus very much on those firefighters who are doing their best you must be absolutely exhausted trying to save not just the structure of the building but anything inside it the paintings the arts works the furniture i mean it's hard to imagine when you look at it when i look inside it really is hard to imagine that anything could be left because it would be damaged by fire by poles that collapsing roof or smoke. yes and firefighters at the scene of been saying that they're concentrating their efforts on preventing the collapse of the northern tower and that also efforts are being directed at saving the artwork at the back of the cathedral bought over three hours later the fire is still raging it has not been extinguished perhaps it's under some control but really it's not clear it's if the fire is still blazing inside then i

think it's safe to assume that there is work there are precious artifacts that probably have been completely destroyed and. also to tasher this comes there is perhaps a tragic poignancy to this and we're just looking at what i can see images. of people who are watching what's happening dozens of people possibly hundreds of people just behind a cordon some distance away from not true but i suppose on able to leave because they're desperate to see what's happening and whether the cathedral can be saved but there is a tragic poignancy to this coming at the beginning of the holy week coming just before easter. yes indeed and i mean even to be only is coming at any time because it's just simply not the sort of

thing the people in the city would imagine saying not to turn cathedral oh a lot many people would be wondering how on earth could this have happened and of course we don't know exactly what might have happened there are indications from some sources that perhaps it was an accident that happened whilst the cathedral is being renovated over the roof was being done but there's no confirmation of that yet but people be wondering how on earth could such a national monument catch fire and then and then just suddenly be destroyed in seemingly before their very eyes and i can tell. do that you know we saw all the cathedral from the other side of the city it was around seven o'clock that the the smoke of the fired really just started at that point and we spotted it from where we were at that moment she rushed across the city in a taxi and everywhere in all polls the city between there and here people were stopping their calls their bicycles getting out using their cell phones to take photographs they were simply stunned to what was happening this huge cloud of smoke

was going on over the city thesis you know just not scenes that people could ever have imagined would have happened because our sources said this is a cathedral that has been standing for hundreds of years it is survived all sorts of things that has survived paris being bombed during the second world war yet here it is a blaze with parts of it collapsed on firefighters now saying they're not sure if they can save it. right it does seem as though authorities are trying to prepare people for the prospect that this building that has. been standing for eight hundred fifty years this twelfth century building. can be saved so we're just looking at images of firefighters there continuing their work with the water cannon but the fire is still raging we know that there was a major renovation project on the way to restore a part of the church. this is a very old building and. presumably there are parts of it that would be

weak structurally weakened and that would perhaps affect the building's ability to withstand a fire of this proportion we know that there will be an investigation attash of the paris prosecutor's office saying that an inquiry is already under way they want to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible. yes you can imagine the questions earlier. being all still as to how on earth this could have happened so that's why that inquiry will be launched no doubt investigators will be trying to find clues as to the causes of this fiber right now i mean it's hard to imagine how they're going to do that because this building is simply filled with smoke the fire continues to bourbon and firefighters where we can see them in there but what exactly the visibility must be just

terrible so be very difficult indeed to find out exactly how it started but there's no doubt that it will be as thorough an investigation as possible because not to john cathedral burning is simply something that that is unimaginable for so many people and they will be questions as to how such a thing could have happened if it was linked to the restoration because that has been the implication by some sources in the fire brigade there then there'll be many questions as to how such an accident could happen with a mole special a safety checks or protection measures in place but right now of course the focus is on just trying to stop this fight because that really is that really is the critical question now can it be stopped can not be saved and that is why people continue to be in the streets shoulder to shoulder watching transfixed riveted on this cathedral hoping that so this will be the end of it hoping that notre dame will remain a symbol in paris even though it will stay we don't know because even if it does

survive of course renovating or rebuilding it in some ways going to be incredibly difficult and costly is going to be incredibly difficult and expensive i suppose as well natasha we will touch base again very shortly though a short time ago i spoke with him a theme. found out about the fire while he was at home. i turned on my to the six thirty just because i heard that there was a fire and i discovered the immensity of it and and the problem that we had and so i watched for like half an hour and i saw the roof collapsing up by collapsing i was really shocked and so i did and so i went out just to watch it by myself because i didn't believe it so i saw the i saw the flames from the hill and you had many people here watching tourists but also the regions just watching in shock

. because it's really hard to believe what is happening with. the inside of the cathedral from where i was from where i was standing i could see that the inside of the cathedral was burning and all the sin there is going to be lost and there is apparently there is a fear that the fire might extend to the towers you're going. to be wonderful are words the statues that are here. i don't know i don't know i don't know what to say it is just so hard to see everything go off the smoke how did the building of the cathedral was achieved at the beginning of a live version centuries forty century i think it's been there for almost a hundred years. i just i just tell you to do all that it means for everyone in paris and even. for just human history to it's bearable the

other thing is that i grew up near that could see the cathedral. in the on the left bank of paris right not far from it and. you pass near the cathedral every week or every every two or three days and you just watch it and you have this sense of stability and you have the feeling that it shows to continue in your city of your i don't know your country or i don't know about that but it. represents so much to well to me but i think to other people in paris you know it's not surprising that everyone is in shock it's really when you watch nelson done you had the feeling that it was it was going to be there forever. and this is the scene now at the historic not true down cathedral in paris a major operation underway to try and extinguish a fire that has been blazing for over three hours now firefighters and emergency

crews are on the scene they have deployed water cannon fire hoses but it has proven extremely challenging to extinguish a fire of this proportion in a building on this scale we do not know the cause of the fire official sources suggesting that it was probably an accident linked to renovation work that's been going on at the cathedral you can see part of the scaffolding there renovation work that was costing millions of dollars we don't know about the strength of the structure of a building like this but it is a very old building some eight hundred fifty years old and whether that would mean that there was some structural weaknesses there that would possibly impact its ability and its resilience in the face of a fire like this but we have been watching scenes of this fire lighting up the

night sky in paris some of the eyewitnesses we've been speaking to describe the air being thick with smoke and ash they were saying is difficult to breathe but essentially people have been watching these scenes in paris with sadness shock and disbelief that such an icon and a fixture of french life parisienne life that a building of such historic significance could possibly be completely destroyed and irreparably destroyed because indications from the authorities at this point are that they might not be able to save they're not true don cathedral we heard from the deputy interior ministry earlier saying that it is by no means guaranteed that they will be able to preserve the not saddam could see. drill. french junior interior minister also saying the cause of the devastating fire at the cathedral is not known obviously there has to be an investigation and an inquiry will be carried

out but also in an announcement from the fire services department saying that a recent announcement saying that the next hour and a half would be crucial and i think we're just approaching the end of that window possibly in about twenty minutes they were saying about an hour and a half ago let's say about an hour ago they they were saying that they were entering the critical period in terms of their ability to try and preserve and salvage some part of the cathedral the roof has collapsed the spire has been destroyed they are trying to save the part of the cathedral. at the back the northern tallis firefighters are working very hard now trying to preserve the northern talent but also it's not just about the structure of the building that there are many invaluable aunts statues stained glass windows

that will probably have been destroyed in this fire because it's at this point we don't know the extent of damage but it is safe to assume that a fire on this scale will have destroyed much of the contents of the cathedral as well earlier i spoke to. a professor of theology and religious studies at another university he explained to us the deep significance of not to down with n. christianity. it's a devastating e-mail because. there is friend. here old. stand. your peer group. that is second only to wall to back you can. friend was always called the eldest daughter of the church and so this is really

a fire at the heart of. well there is in the capital standards of continental standards you think you can see for many many centuries where roles and even the math again became where they were. they were friends and various were the center at least until the plane to. a french martyred. galley can all be very particular i can get you cage to catholicism the french culture at least until the end the love you centurion has no credible. one of the year. country lovers years and. either. perry's many events all modern history all brands. or just learning. of the blue and made feel

fuller celebrates yet in the world to me all of those one hundred forty four hours still evey's explain that each of. the symbolic the loose and much more than a cathedral is shirt and much more than just for catholics. and we spoke to find jonathan and elizabeth who live nearby she says it's difficult to overstate how much the not tradin means to the people of paris. people are in shock i think. it's cool though. it's really something. same time. all the way we live in the city you. wait to see. the most of us catholics it's also something that happened during easter week the who used to weaken. the catholic calendar. to dissolve

all of this is mixed together you know we think of the first book and we think about moving pictures and we think about. the cathedral as being this. sort of bringing in people into the city forward so then you know. it's very difficult to overstate this you could say that this meeting is a kind of nine eleven happy without death but. two for among you good that is a historic monument. i've been finding it difficult to find well but the previous attempt to we were saying quite the same thing you know that we have a punk overlay touch it with the city and even calling it will be there and it will outlive. the field are it hunky disrelated and it is coming. if you puberty it. sort of.

sort of pretty shocked. but we have to sort of raise a populism if you're. going to leave your election. sort of show interview to i think this great temple of faith out of charity is something that does appear in if you do lose those of us who were not especially the spiritual in turn away from it with the rest of us. it is it's part of the structure of courage. you know paris was not destroyed by the nazis paris was not the story of a truck pulled or. i think the fire was. born to the day all happening but. there is the possibility what the end of the world may happen but i would take if i could quote. very seriously

well there has been international reaction to what's been happening in paris this evening we've heard from a number of wild leaders in europe but also from the u.s. president donald trump expressed his horror at what's been happening at the fire that they're having at the notre dumb cathedral is something like few people have witnessed. when we left we had a whole group of your great representatives and when we left the plane it was it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burned. it's one of the great treasures of the world. the greatest artists in the world probably if you think about it i would say job it might be. greater than almost any museum in the world and it's burning. very badly looks like it's burning to the ground. well these are the pictures that continue we continue

to see from paris the flames engulfing the historic not true dom cathedral lighting up the night sky we know that fire crews are battling this blaze it's coming up to about four hours now of trying to extinguish the fire but it has proven extremely challenging to bring it under control the roof of the cathedral has collapsed we know that the firefighters are working hard to save the nor than tower of the cathedral and of course first responders are on the scene to try and a salvage artifacts inside but there are also risks to their safety in this because clearly parts of the building will be extremely unstable and it will be difficult for them to try and bring this situation to a safe conclusion and that it will affect perhaps what they are able to achieve but the announcement from the fire services department

a little bit earlier on and this was about an hour and a half now saying that that we were entering a crucial period and we are just coming up to the end of that window i think in about ten minutes time. saying that it would prove crucial as to whether or not the cathedral could be saved and presumably the implication there that if the fire was not extinguished quickly that the cathedral could be completely lost but already we can see the fire has torn through significant parts of the cathedral and it's not clear whether this can be replaced there might be there might might well be now a process of reconstruction and rebuilding but that is likely to prove it stream lee challenging and expensive but for now the people of paris are transfixed to their screens there are people also out on the streets not in the immediate vicinity of. cathedral because fire crews had to evacuate the area in

order to do their jobs in order to facilitate their own access to to try and put the blaze out the area has been evacuated but that has not stopped hundreds of parisians and tourists gathering on bridges in the surrounding area and we've been seeing images of people watching these scenes with shock disbelief their upset tears streaming down their face we've been speaking to eyewitnesses saying that they just they can't believe that such a symbol of strength and continuity and history in this city could be destroyed but at least this is the scene now as water cannon is deployed to try and bring the blaze under some control that has been reaction from the international community from u.s. president trump we were hearing his reaction just a couple of minutes ago but we have also been hearing from the london mayor can expressing his sorrow the british prime minister to resign may expressing her

sympathy with what is happening and also the german chancellor angela merkel expressing her solidarity with the people of paris saying that this is a very sad event a very sad night for not just for france but for europe as a whole. joins us live now from paris an attacker what's happening where you are. who are far far it's a result continuing to try and block all the plays and days for a dog beyond you so i don't know if you can really see but they are using water cannon on the side several water cabin now mean much more the before because we know that this is a really critical phase with several sources in the fire brigade saying you know unless they manage to put out the fires soon there is a risk that they would be saved. building and we've also. if they are unable to use

for example a water that could be dropped by helicopters from the air because some people would say we're wildly throwing water from above using a special aircraft when in fact they call do that because that would be too heavy and it would make our the parts of the building collapse further the roof was already collapsed the flames are continuing and it really is a race to try and prevent any further damage and save. this symbol of paris now the french president tomorrow mark always here he was meeting of firefighters trying to keep up morale of course and trying to find out exactly what the situation is more we understand disease returned to the lease a palace for now but is expected to come back here to motor down to address the nation a little bit later it is ironic in a way that of model marco was supposed to be doing just that but for another reason he had a televised address showed you all for eight o'clock local time this evening he was

supposed to be talking about his response to the yellow vests a protest he was going to offer some new policies but instead he canceled that and he's finding himself instead dressing the nation about the fact the not for down one of the symbols of french culture a symbol of the french identity if you like is a blaze and possibly can't be saved. possibly can't be saved certainly a significant part of it has been destroyed and we're just getting some more announcements natasha french actually one a french firefighting official says that one fireman has been. there is one fireman who has been injured in this blaze and i suppose that's not surprising because though they these individuals are very well trained and they have the right equipment there are enormous risks in undertaking an operation like

this a fire of this proportion and on this scale so one five one fireman has been seriously injured also a few other announcements the junior french interior minister saying that they are actually more optimistic than a few hours ago that they can save the not true dom so perhaps a sense coming through that certainly part of the building and it is a huge building a very large building that part of it will be saved by not say minister also saying that another three or four hours is required to contain the fire and if the fire is allowed to rage and engulf the building for another three or four hours natascha that means further destruction. yes and i mean i think well walt in a way you want to line is just how unpredictable this whole situation is and just how critical it is as well because you know when we first arrived here that was

very soon after the fire began around seven o'clock local time here in paris you know the flames would need bring out of the group there was huge you know balloons a few chip plumes of smoke i should say over the city but then it looked as if before i was dying down it looked as if perhaps there's been some response for firefighters but now it seems that that is not the case of this fire simply continues to rage and each moment the paul says it gets harder and harder not only to put it out but to actually save what is left of the structure because in terms of what's inside the cathedral we know there's so much oh has already been lost paintings all took part sculptures furniture you know many of the things which are inside this. the two of the people from all over the world came to see the president a cherished of course by the corner up in flames or are underneath poles that collapsed roof or simply being too damaged by smoke so this is really incredibly a hall breaking scene for many people who care so much about this building and

wonders just simply unimaginable for so many parisians who are used to seeing more time cathedrals part of the landscape and really hoping to see evening that it continues to stay that way part of the landscape even if god does mean in some way parts of it will need to be rebuilt yes that's right one has such an image of the not true dom cathedral standing tall and proud it's such an important part of the landscape of the city but it does seem that that has been clearly the. part of that has been destroyed it is going to impact the landscape of the city just looking at a few reports that are coming through here the mayor of paris who was speaking earlier asking people to respect the evacuation procedures and to stay away from the area has said that those living close to the cathedral have been evacuated in case of a possible collapse than it was saying earlier natasha that one firefighter has

been seriously injured there are enormous risks to them in tackling a blaze on this scale we're talking if you just think about the size of the cathedral and its dimensions and we know that hundreds of firefighters have been deployed some are outside some are on the inside i mean there are enormous risks to safety here for both the firefighters and possibly people in the area if any further any more of the building collapses. i mean huge risks to the firefighters i mean you can only imagine it must be quite an ordeal for them as they pick their way through the smoke are inside this building now as you. said the french or the paris man i should say to our new dago talking about people being evacuated from the area was no surprise because you know this is a very old parts of paris is one of the oldest parts the buildings are very close together the streets are very small so any buildings and in no time cathedral would

need to be evacuated in case of the building in case the cathedral did collapse and in fact earlier there were real scenes of you chaos in a way as police were trying to get people to get back from the building to get away from the building because each time part of the roof collapse there was this huge cloud of smoke and. burning ash kept falling down and people were very wide the police were very worried that that could cause other far as it could cause injuries to people so people being kept at a safe distance emergency vehicles being given all the access that they need to reach this cathedral to continue to work for there during which it's certainly been several hours now and there's no doubt it will continue into the noise one way or another. yes and i'm not sure what you can see in terms of who might be else on the streets but perhaps that will be many people residents to. stay up tonight even if it means staying out to watch how this unfolds.

absolutely you know out and as it happens as i mentioned before you know mount omar cole was supposed to be addressing the nation about his response to some of the yellow vests protests and the findings from the grand debate initiative he moved to allow people to air their grievances while he was supposed to be addressing the nation mirandize o'clock local time leaving here in paris so many people would have been in front of their television sets waiting to hear what the person that had to say instead they found themselves watching images of notre dame burning and i think people also be transfixed they all standing on both sides of the river send a myth. more time cathedral they are packed on to some of the ancient bridges which is the river they have been taking photos all along and people really don't want to leave because nobody. is going to march thank you very much indeed natasha you have been watching al-jazeera live from london with extended coverage of

a major operation underway in the french capital as historic not true don cathedral is engulfed with flames there have been no deaths or injuries from this one firefighter one fireman is seriously injured but efforts continue to try and bring the blaze under control after the roof collapsed we were hearing from the fire services department earlier saying that they weren't sure if the cathedral could be saved the officials sounding more optimistic notes now about whether part of it can be salvaged. hello i'm more he'd seen and this is a special use our live from door in the next sixty minutes we'll bring you more of our continuing coverage of the fire at the iconic not should i'm cathedral in paris as far fighters remain on the scene and on the crews mourn the loss of a structure with

a storied history. getting back from work and there was a walk in and everyone who were around was shocked. some people cry in. a large is still burning in one of the world's most famous landmarks the medieval notre dame cathedral has been burning now for more than four hours while the cathedral spire and roof have collapsed french firefighters have been using water cannon to battle the massive clean blaze at this stage of the cause of the fire is unclear but officials say it may be linked to see when a vacation work that is currently underway there and their great emphasis has been puts on saving the artwork which is inside the building when they witnessed the fire from the streets of paris she describes what she saw unfold.

well i was going back from work and we noticed from the best lot of people taken cell isn't bhutto's and then we saw huge amounts of smoke in the sky and we were wondering what was going on and someone on the bus told me not to them is on fire i was all shocked we were all shocked and. as we walked we we could feel ashes on our faces everyone was really shocked by this it's a huge moment and it's been there since forever and it's a huge part of paris history also it was very strong and we could see from far away from plymouth which is really we can see all the room on fire and we could see all the building collapsing and nobody would do anything we were wondering what where they were in and according to the traffic we could easily understand that.

by a man could have troubles get into the building because there was a lot of traffic. well just seriousness hash poplar as the scene as she joins me now live from paris and that's ash of the images that we have been seeing over the last few hours have shocks and horrifies people watching from a right in the world give us a sense if you will of the atmosphere in paris right now it. was you can imagine people all over watching this scene unfold motor down cathedral flames coming out of it with a sense of disbelief it is not something that they would expect to see in the city prisons of course no this building well it's as iconic as the eiffel towers a symbol of france and french identity if you like but we have had it in. last

a few minutes perhaps a glimpse of hope for the future of this building because it seems we've heard from the deputy interior minister who has said that so he's spoken to firefighters and they are saying that they have managed to contain or control the fire that has diminished in intensity and they are hoping that that means that the building could be saved now that's very important because until just moments ago it was uncertain whether or not not you down could be saved or not some firefighters were saying that it could possibly collapse in fact we know that the area all around notre dame cathedral has been evacuated residents have been told to leave their homes and people are being kept far away just in case the worst should happen but perhaps a glimpse of hope there from the deputy interior minister as i said is saying that it seems that the fire has diminished in intensity well that is a glimmer of hope as you say natasha and certainly the structural integrity was one

of the concerns when this fire broke out. another concern perhaps was the sheer the sheer volume the wealth of cultural heritage within that building has there been any indication of the extent of the damage has anything managed to be saved in terms of the art works in terms of. the heritage within. well as you say you know the structure of a not a dam is one thing but of course this is a. more than eight hundred years old it is rich in cultural heritage it is full of paintings of furniture tapestries it has amazing stained glass windows which are ancient and cherished and people from all of the world come to see them now as far as we know much of that will have been destroyed i mean either from parts of the

groove collapsing all from the fire damage directly over from smoke damage because the smoke is very intense and you probably can see behind me but the huge doors on the facade of the cathedral are open and you can just about see inside you can see the lights from the firefighters and the smoke is very thick it's very thick in the air where i'm standing now so it's pretty hard to imagine that much could have been saved we know the firefighters were doing their very best of course it's an incredible task is a huge task because the building is so vast everything would have been so spread out inside of course they are just focusing on making sure that this building doesn't burn down completely. another focus obviously will be ensuring that people are safe this was a devastate still is a devastating fire has there been any words on any injuries or any casualties when the far broken.

well as far as we know we understand that we think that's a firefighter may have been injured but we're not aware of any other casualties and that i have to say seems quite extraordinary when you look at the extent of the damage when you look at the huge fast areas of the roof that have collapsed to the ground but you know it could be that there are casualties that we don't know about . because perhaps there were people inside people need this building they simply haven't been identified but for the time being we understand that there have been no fatalities linked to this now the focus was also very much to what's happened how was it that this ancient building that is so looked after in so many ways could have suddenly become come ablaze now what we understand from firefighters is it's possible that we're looking at an accident linked to the renovation of some of the

roof or the cathedral close to one of the towers at the front of if that is a case i mean what a terrible accident the outcome is absolutely devastating as we watch firefighters trying to save this cathedral because even if they managed to save the structure so much of it has been damaged what happens next is again rebuilt does it you know do the will they be able to in some way renovate this building it would take years it would cost millions of euros but you know that's all for the future and as i said we don't know why it happened just some theories from the fire service that perhaps it was not accidents and certainly we did not know yet we understand the paris prosecutor is going to launch an inquiry into this the the priority now for the moment one must assume is to bring the fire under control and save what they can but nonetheless this fire which has captivated audiences around the world really

struck a chord with many people because. very much a symbol of paris is something that we have come to identify with paris one of the most visited land barks in the world for parisians themselves to see this the reaction must be a horror really when the fire broke out there were so many people who crowded the streets to get a chance to speak to any. what were they telling you natasha. yes absolutely i mean a little earlier we were on the other side of notre dam and people there was simply where they were just looking or not i mean in absolute shock you know there were moments where there was just silence because people were just watching this drama unfold before their eyes these flames coming out of molten cathedral it is unimaginable when you live in paris that this is something you would see you know

there were people with two news rolling down their face saying that they were absolutely devastated to be watching this beautiful building possibly on the point of collapse you know people were very emotional indeed i mean it really was the sense of you know how could this be this building and they just couldn't simply believe there are is and people were standing shoulder to shoulder all along the riverbanks there's still many people out around me now transfixed not far from this cathedral with their cell phones taking pictures talking to each other you know people who probably would have gone home normally a long time ago but they simply want to stand here and wait to see what happens and i think that probably be the same across the country because many people would be in front of the television set watching the images that we're watching this evening there will continue to bring viewers these images for now thank you very much indeed for bringing us the very latest there we are of course bringing you live pictures of the ongoing efforts to bring that fire under control the fire which has

ravaged the eight hundred and fifty year olds cathedral notre dame is one of the finest examples of french girl thick architecture let's take a look at the bill to get more detail it was constructed during the the twelfth and thirteenth centuries essentially built a pagan roman city called lateesha the last time the city. suffered major damage was of course during the french revolution no two terrorists make up the building there sixty nine meters high this was the tallest building in paris until the eiffel tower was completed in a scene ac nine and of course it's a phenomenally popular building nearly thirteen million people visit the cathedral every year nonetheless it's a building that has been in dire need of restoration restoration we understand that

was underway when that fire broke out it's a fire that is lighting up the skyline of paris and has been for the last several hours let's see if we can bring in some more thoughts on this father christopher jamieson is a better sixteen monk the rector or the woman catholic national office for vocation he joins us now from london that you so much father jamison for speaking to us. this evening just we're showing viewers these images of this iconic cathedral open flames can you just give us your initial reaction when you heard this when you when you saw the pictures coming out of paris. well the first reaction was a girl's disbelief when somebody told me they said switch on your computer and have a look at the images which i did but then a great shock because it represents so many things to so many people this great

beautiful building it's first of all the center for the catholic community of paris and it's the seat of the archbishop of paris so shock for them as a community then it also is a place of sanctuary for all the people of paris and the people of france a place where they go in times of crisis or times of jubilation so for example at the end of the second world war when there was the liberation of paris in one nine hundred forty four general the goal went there for a mass to celebrate the liberation and then of course it's a treasury of great art some of the greatest art in the world's stretching by eight centuries so all those three levels it's a shock. and i think the greatest shock there were probably before the archbishop of paris himself the archbishop over tea who's just been in the job now for about eighteen months and he must be completely stunned and wondering what to do next because he would be expecting to celebrate the great easter ceremonies there

starting on thursday. and he must wonder what am i going to do now where i'm going to celebrate these great ceremonies of absolute they for many people watching this the what we tend to think of notre dame is a a tourist attraction it's one of the. the iconic sights of paris but it's often easy to forget that this is a functioning church it is a functioning cathedral where you live and. this you know it's a very very lively cathedral too i mean when you go there's the services every day which you will attended then on sundays there's usually an organ concert there's always a priest on duty to offer people counsel and support many people go there just to light a candle and seek sanctuary even if they're not catholics it's a place to go to for uplift and for personal sorrow as well so yeah it's it it let's not forget it isn't just a great tourist sim site it is

a functioning building for a great community and that community so my first thoughts go up to that community and to the leader of the community archbishop over to there is of course the terrible irony about the east the ceremonies which is that the climax of the east the ceremonies is midnight on the saturday before easter sunday the cathedral is put into total darkness and then the archbishop and the people gather outside on the part of the on the square in front where there is a fire burning and from the fire a single candle is late to the great east the candle very large candle and that single candle is carried into the church into the darkened church and then they sing the light of christ to show christ overcoming the darkness by the power of this single flame and it is surprising how much a single candle from flame can illuminate the interior of a darkened church but what an irony that the great climax of easter is the is the

fire and it's the fire now that's destroying the church it certainly is and as you say father jamison this this comes at a time a very important time for. for catholics and christians on the whole the easter service is very much a focal point of the calendar this tie in your community must. the in great shock the more meant but surely you will be able to count on on members of the wiser community pulling together one might assume to get help and support in this time what would you do what would you say to people who want to reach out if there's anything they can do to. provide support trying. well i think the first thing is that the church of paris will be wondering you know

which church can they use for the easter services for the archbishop because the cathedral the word cathedral comes from the word cathedral meaning seat and it is the seat of the archbishop and so the ceremonies there for example include very often but thais ing adults who wish to become catholic that be a fair number of those in fact that the numbers of those have increased in recent years so there's a great logistical problem and i'm sure that the churches of paris and the catholics of paris will be rallying round to to re house all of that which starts with the the great thursday night ceremony of the washing of the feet remembering christ washing his disciples feet at the last supper then the great ceremony of good friday remembering the crucifixion the desolation of crucifixion learn as i said the easter vigil symbolizing the resurrection of christ with the easter candle coming into the darkened church so all of that plus the people who are going to be

baptized during the ceremonies will all have to be re how's that i should think it's quite a logistical challenge because each local church will already have made arrangements for themselves but i'm sure they will rally around to do that i think looking beyond that. the support of all the catholic community in prayer will matter very greatly to that community in paris because anybody who's been ill and who's had people praying for them will say they can always feel the people praying for them and i think the support in prayer of other people will be seriously asked for and felt by the paris community and i think then obviously there are huge questions around finance but the good news is that people are often very unaware of this since one thousand nine hundred five the french church in the french state of been said. there is a separation of church and state in france goes by the name of

a layered layer so is ation in that sense and this means that since the revolution the french state has owned all the church buildings so that building actually belongs to the french state not to the catholic church and i think the french state would have been paying for these repairs sometimes the catholic church pays for them but very often it's the state that pays for them so the french state has a great stake in this and they will surely be having to provide a large part of the funding both as a building that they own and as part of what they love to call their patrimony this is part of the french state's patrimony and i think so but beyond that there will also be i'm sure opportunities for funding from other catholic communities both in real terms and in symbolic terms to restore this great building because surely this is not going to be the end of not for them to party we are celebrating the

resurrection of christ at easter and i think the resurrection of this cathedral into course will come even if it takes many years it's in must be heartening to hear so many people that we were hearing from you know a score also that they are committed to help bring. back for neither father christopher jamieson thank you very much indeed for for sharing your thoughts to share your insights it's a just what this cathedral means to the catholic community thank you very much share we are bringing you continuing to bring you live pictures of the efforts to contain and control the devastating fire which has broken ites at the cathedral in central paris very distressing pictures for many. many people to watch many people who have visited the city you have any kind of connection to

paris and to the cathedral itself paris on the world of course watching this this structure go diving in flames though in a statement the vatican says it's watching what it calls the symbol of christianity in france and in the world with shock and sadness and says it's praying for the far faces facing that blaze more reaction from around the world german chancellor angela merkel says she is deeply saddened by the events in paris and that her thoughts are with the french people britain's prime minister to resign may has offered her supports to the people or france and london's mayor says he stands in sorrow with paris and of course the u.s. president says not saddam is one of the greatest treasures of the world's strong says that it's not. it's a country's it's parts of world's culture it's one of the greatest treasures of the

world's according to donald trump. and i've been there and i've seen it and there is no cathedral i think i could say this probably no cathedral in the world like it it's a it's a terrible scene they think it was caused by at this moment they don't know but they think it was caused by renovation and i hope that. there is a renovation you know what's that all about but it's a terrible sight to behold. a terrible sight super holds indeed you are watching al-jazeera we're bringing you live pictures from the french capital where the noted them cathedral in the center of paris has been burning for four hours at least a preliminary investigation is underway of course the paris prosecutor has just recently spoken and has said the fire appears to have been

started accidentally that's according to the paris prosecutor's office that's based on an early investigation of course the fool investigation into that bullies will of course continue as our efforts to bring that fire under control let's see if we can get some more thoughts on this course night tuesday morning in iowa where thomas. is the assistant professor of medieval history at the grand university french american citizen. mr kerik is you watch these pictures as a franco american give us your reaction how does this feel to see the fire on ford and before your eyes. it's been heartbreaking i have been glued to

my screen for hours now going in and out as the school in progress is here. i have so many memories of not saddam not not even as a as a historian just as a kid going back to paris it was the one place in the city that i would always go to whether or not i was there with my family or there on my own. it is the heart of the city but metaphorically and literally any kind of walking itinerary takes you by and through it and across the river go passing across the plaza looking up at the towers even if you don't go in. it's a huge blow for the city in a way that. it's just incredible how we're going to deal with this kind of loss. thinking about it as a physical monument to the history of paris and the roof was made of twentieth century timbers stained glass windows in addition to being from the most exquisite example of stained glass in the world we're from the thirteenth century the flying buttresses were out in the fourteenth century renovated in the seventeenth and eighteenth under the fourteenth and fifteenth you have destruction during the

french revolution that gets repaired after victor hugo repopulate the us and. rebuilds it as this kind of pristine example of his imaginary mill there's a reason why it is the most visited place in paris and the idea that it's not going to be there anymore i know that they declare that they save the towers and i can't even begin to express the joy that i felt when i heard that part was when to be there but yes the idea of creating this place that so important being gone it's just hard to imagine it certainly isn't we've just had a line coming in from the associated press that paris fire chief has said that the structure of not sure damn cathedral has been saved the fire has not spread to the northern belfries so this is another another part of the the cathedral that. has perhaps escaped the worst but give it give us a sense of the the building itself we've heard about the significance from a religious point of view but certainly from from a from

a french cultural point of view as you say this is the beating hearts of the city but in terms of the cultural. the petrine one the patrimony the cultural heritage itself this is a structure that dates back centuries and it contains artworks that date back centuries as well give us a sense of just how much history there is in that building and how much potentially has been lost. well it's eight hundred fifty year old people built that kind of the point where france is becoming the predominant power of europe i suppose you could argue whether or not the way the claims of by the time it's completed the kingdom of france is one of the predominant powers in europe it is a building in from the height of the french kingdom walking into your struck by your relative size in the universe to this incredible monument to medieval france

you feel small and not in a bad way but in this kind of moment of stillness and reverence even though the cathedral is always full blown there is always noise it is so vast the kind of echo of space around you you feel very very small and as you walk through and you you feel the centuries around you are not in a kind of oppressive way but in a sense of majesty and wonder standing on a sunny day in most of them watching the light coming through one of the rows windows is to experience the heart of everything that could be good about medieval christianity the idea of kind of light and stillness and being part of something bigger and more magical than yourself and the fact that those windows alone i mean that's something i keep coming back to the idea that those glass windows are gone is really hard to deal with because there is an experience of being in the heart of the look at the watching the light come in and seeing as if for a moment the centuries are rolling away absolutely you were there and that you could turn around and be in the fourteenth century and for those that for those of

us who have had the pleasure of being in the cathedral these images you're evoking with this many people will be able to relate to them but even those who have not been to paris those of us who have not. been able to visit the cathedral it's still very much in multan popular culture even the gargoyles the top the tires these have been. they brought in support a culture of a much more recent times this in the cartoons for example it has been immortalized in popular culture as an arts. yes absolutely it's kind of the quintessential medieval cathedral in many ways both because of how photogenic paris is but it's also it is such an impressive structure it has become a stand in for what we think about a medieval cathedral looking at the gargoyles the towers the bells ringing the

stained glass windows the flying buttresses part of the nineteenth century work done on it was true re store it and then kind of imaginatively turn it into this idealized medieval cathedral and it's very much work it is the image we have of what this particular period of the past looks like whether or not we've had the opportunity to be there and the disney's hunchback of notre dame the opening song is all about the cathedral this kind of going through this theoretical fifteenth century paris to the cathedral standing up over everything else and it still i think very much that resonates in contemporary culture even though the buildings are much taller around and we are no longer in the time it still has that kind of potent symbol as i'm. absolutely and certainly one of the. very much and they are these days firefighters are still trying to save what they can of this of this cathedral this beating heart of paris as we've heard people refer to

it the cathedral has me damaged in the past though has it not and it has been a build it has developed in size of in the past is there's still hope that the cathedral could rise again. yes it clearly won't be the same the materials that have been lost the stained glass windows the roof timbers these these are literally irreplaceable things these are things from the original construction can the cathedral be rebuilt the cathedral can be rebuilt i have concerns about the financing i remember that there was a twenty seventy new york times report about the problems the cathedral is experiencing and the amount of money needed to restore that and that it was not able to obtain so i have some concerns about whether or not we will see people be willing to put in not only the money but the time i mean to rebuild a medieval cathedral is a long term project and i know that because it's not called on that but he you're going to have more of a buy in of the population for the time for the expense. because it is such

a bloated site and i am hopeful for that but i would like us to get to a point where it's not only after these incredible sites burned down right now the national museum in rio de janeiro and twenty eight thousand i would like it if we if we figured out a way to fund these kinds of renovation before tragedy strikes that we don't have to figure out how we're going to rebuild in the aftermath. thank you very much for joining us to share your thoughts as this tragedy continues to unfold says to me that that assistant professor of medical history at ground university speaking to us from des moines in iowa for viewers who are just joining us here on al-jazeera we are bringing you special coverage of the fire which has taken hold of not sure them cathedral in paris paris prosecutors believe the huge fire burning in one of the world's most famous landmarks was started accidentally that's based on a preliminary investigation our faces say the structure of much of notes for them

has been saved from destruction of the medieval notre dame cathedral has been burning now for well over four hours the cathedrals spire. and roof house collapse firefighters have been using water cannons to tackle the massive blaze and the cause of the fire is still unclear at this stage prosecutors do think it will star says accidentally and officials have said that it may be linked to renovation work that is currently under way now as we have been hearing over the past few hours great emphasis has been puts on saving the artwork in the building let's hear from some of the witnesses over the fire team murphy he found out about the far at home but went to watch the flames from the street. i turned on my t.v.

at six thirty just because i heard that there was a fire i discovered the immensity of it and and the problem that we had and so i watched for like an hour and i saw the roof collapsing i saw this bike go up thing i was really shocked and so i i didn't you know mark and so i went up just to watch it by myself because i didn't believe it so i saw the i saw the flames from the from that hero and you had many people here watching tourists but also regions just walking in i don't. well the first message i got was from the great battle of france who said to me not for you had to submit your product well it's a place where you want to be as you say crying with you and i thank the power to cato who every time risked their lives. and they show

enormous courage and professionalism and i thank. the president and madame de mer that have come and for everyone to have contributed so. all the churches are open and are praying that hundreds of young people who are praying and we are united in this terrible disaster and beyond france and the whole world thank you thank you everybody. good evening. it was what has happened this evening in paris in our country trial not for thomas of course. a terrible drama and. for everything i'd like to say but i express my thanks for the fire brigade of paris. almost five hundred of them have been fighting and are still fighting against the

flames and are continuing and will continue having. done it with extreme courage. enormous professionalism and it's an enormous amount of determination. thanks to their leader and i'd like to say it will suppress to them the gratitude of the whole nation. janie's our syntax their commitment to the commitment of all of the services of the state the. mayor of paris the staff and not. the worst has been avoided even if the palatal has not been fully won. over the next few hours will be difficult. but thanks to their courage and the facade of not been damage to the two towers and the ceiling i would like to of course before anything else have a thought for. the catholics of france and throughout the world to name

a particular in this saintly week. and what they feel and we are with them i was so would like to have. expressed my thoughts for presents men and women not to dump the party. and that cathedral. was with us over the last few hours right from the start and. showed emotion and the motion of people like to have thoughts with the all our compatriots because not to dump the party is our history it is our literature literature the place where we have lived on all the great moments dollars. and liberation it is the very center of our lives. the strongest and.

it is. we measure ourselves from paris the center don't you the place the books of painting it is a cathedral. which is that of all frenchmen where men even know who have never come here. often this history it is ours and it is burning it is burning and i know the sadness. this internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens and the ceiling i also would like to have express words of hope for all of us it is this hope for you it is the pride that we must have you see the pride of all those who have fought. the worst does not the place the soldiers at the front get it right because this cathedral more than eight hundred

years ago we have known how to fight and through the sentry trees to make it bigger than improve it and i say to you very solemnly the sebring is the troll we shall rebuild it all together and it is us it is no doubt part of french destiny and the project we will have over the coming. years and i'm committed to it from tomorrow there will be national subscriptions that will be announced well beyond our borders that will call. on the greatest talent and there are numerous that will come and contribute and we will rebuild it we will rebuild not. because it is what french people expect it is what our history deserves because it is our deep destiny thank you very much.

well that was the french president's americano addressing addressing the nation after the fire broke out he also followed the archbishop of paris. opiates here the man who was being embraced by the french person earlier just a few key points of what president make or had to say the the over arching message of that speech is that france shower rebuilds noted he was very insistent that. rebuilds the cathedral together saying that this was france's destiny he also recognized what he called the internal tremor that was felt by so many of his french compatriots then referencing the deep sadness that we have been hearing from our correspondents the the deep sadness felt

by people in paris he rushed on to the streets as soon as that fire brought. him out on micron also seeing just giving a sense of scale of the fire saying some five hundred firefighters have been and continue to tackle that blaze which ripped through not cathedral around four hours ago and as you can see the damage to the cathedral has been extensive but the french president says he recognizes the sadness but insists there is hope and prays and has voted to rebuilds nurtured and insisted the french people share rebuild it together because that is what the people expects and what french history deserves well let's say cross back sue our correspondent attash a butler hugh is in paris for as we have just heard from. friends

president emanuel my craw addressing the nation a very different speech than the one he was perhaps intending to give many hours ago but he's insists the worst has been avoided in that fire what more can you tell us. that's right it was a very poignant speech by a man or mark all he underlined that this was a great drama in french history because this building is so symbolic he said not just for parisians but people around the world particularly he said catholics who cherish. cathedrals there no matter where they are and as you say it he did say that perhaps the worst have been avoided and what he means by that is that the facade of this cathedral the two main spies that you see that make this cathedral this gothic building so iconic remain standing now a few let's say less than an hour ago i should say it wasn't entirely clear whether

or not that would be the case because firefighters had said earlier in the evening that there was a risk there was a chance that the building could collapse that the firefighters simply could not contain this blaze and would be left with more damage being done now the back of the building has pretty much collapsed certainly the roof but firefighters have been able to minimize the fire they say it has diminished in intensity and you can feel that actually because before the air was very thick with smoke but much less now and we know that the structure the facade will be saved so that is what emanuel mark was talking about and then he was drawing to the future in a way saying that you know for frauds this is the kind of thing that they will overcome that they will want to rebuild this cathedral and he was ready talking about trying to get some of the you know the best creators the most creative people on board to perhaps think about renovation i mean that seems a long way off right now because what i can tell you is those firefighters are

still tackling the fire even if he has diminished in intensity some five hundred of them busy and i'm sure they will be busy during the night because we understand what they're trying to do is cool some of the areas where the flames have finally been extinguished. the numbers. were quite striking in terms of the sheer manpower it has taken to bring this on their control you were. you were at the cathedral earlier on a few hours ago you've been pushed back quite significantly surely gives a sense of just how powerful this fire has been and certainly the damage that it must have done. well that's right you know we arrived at the cathedral very soon after a fire was around seven o'clock local time and even in fact we spotted it from the

windows of the building in which we were standing we suddenly saw this enormous pollution of smoke over paris and thought it can't be not a time cathedral on fire surely not a non-sugar that is something that many people felt across paris when we raced here and all along our route people were stopping their cars getting off bicycles stopping on the sidewalk and taking out their cell phones taking photos of this smoke over the city as the really big you know people started to absorb the shock of what has happened because it is so shocking to see this building which is part of the landscape part of paris's identity in flames so when we were here a bit earlier on the other side there was a moment in which you managed to get quite near but of course those flames suddenly really overtook the back half of the cathedral part of the roof collapse there was enormous noise a huge cloud of very black and thick smoke came over us very very fast and it started raining down multination police really push us in the crowd around us royds

back everybody had to run because there were concerns amongst the police and emergency services that another fire could be lit accidentally or that people could be injured several scenes of chaos and panic a little bit calmer now but there are so many people in the street watching avidly . wondering when this will end uncertainty they'll be relief is news goes around at the least the front half of this cathedral has been saved it's a has that will leave it there for live thanks very much for for bringing us those updates from paris more from the trash of course as we progress throughout the evening for no let's let's stay with this father christopher jamieson he's a benedictine monk to rector of the roman catholic national office for vocation and joins us now from london thanks so much for staying with us father jamison

we've just heard from the the french president's emmanuel mccraw he referenced certainly his grass achieves to the firefighters the gratitude to the nation but also reached out to the the catholic community very much aware that this is. a functioning church a functioning cathedral in this fire has come at a critical time one might say one of the worst possible times for catholics coming just in the run up to easter. yes indeed and he came before him we heard from archbishop the open t. the archbishop of paris who would be looking forward as you say to celebrating the great east the ceremonies in this magnificent cathedral and he must be wondering now you know what he's going to do with these ceremonies that start on thursday evening with the symbolic washing of the feet remembering christ at the last supper through good friday remembering the crucifixion and then the great easter vigil on

saturday night when the cathedral is in darkness completely shut down with any light and everybody gathers outside the cathedral with the archbishop of the of the the square in front and then there is the east of fire there's the great irony that there is the east of fire that's later from the east the fire a small candle flame on a very large candle is carried into the cathedral darkness and illuminates the interior of the cathedral as the people seeing the light of christ symbolizing christ rising from the dead all of that will now have to be put on hold and celebrated elsewhere but he was reflecting on you know the great faith of the people of paris who are now in their parish churches praying and that will be a great consolation to him president backroads contribution was particularly fascinating because as you know there is

a separation of church and state in front since one thousand nine hundred five and yet in the midst of this crisis the the soul of a french nation is still found to be living if you like in the cathedral of not a dumb and so it's as if the soul of the nation and the official status of the church in the state are quite different and president marco himself expressing in a very heartfelt way his own identification with not damas the spiritual home of the french nation in a very moving and i think very sincere way. there is another fascinating connection between president mccraw and cathedrals which is that the cathedral of rose is knots and peter is the great was a looker but actually the cathedral of st john lateran and president mccraw is as every head of the french state has been since the seventeenth century he is a canon of the cathedral of rome and many of his predecessors have never bothered

to go if you like to take possession of his choir stall in the cathedral but president grant did that last year showing i think his great affinity with the cathedral of rome and with the catholic church so even in that way we see i think in sincerity of the person crop about the way he values the position of the church in france and i think we're seeing and feeling that the ceiling in the way he spoke it is indeed seen as as he pointed states france does have this very let's say tense relationship with religion and the states there is that concept of law e.c.t. the absolute and distinct separation of church and state even though there are a great many catholics a great many muslims a great many jews you who make up the french population but this fire. cathedral does seem to it does appear to have brought people together not just in

paris not just in fronts but certainly a rise in the world this is a testament for the to the states is that this cathedral has certainly in the minds of of many people be they religious observers be they'd simply tourists to the city the cathedral has an incredibly special place in many people's hearts does it not yeah absolutely and it's a it's a phenomenon across europe that as people feel less institutionally attached to the church maybe they go to church as often. or they don't go to the most go to synagogue as much as they used to people find in the beautiful cathedrals of europe a place of great consolation a place of great beauty a place where they can feel part of something bigger than themselves and the sheer scale of beauty in the history. you know the sense that something is happening

inside this building which i can't quite name but which i value and i want to be part of it so it's this phenomenon of the rise of the cathedral as the spiritual home of anybody and everybody not only of catholics but of anybody who senses that there is more to life than just the material that there is a spiritual dimension of life and i think that's what president micro was referencing that the people of paris and friends of people of the world who've been into that great building sense there's something of great value which even if they don't see themselves as signed up members of the catholic church or indeed of any church they sense nevertheless that this building is a very important place for what it means to be a fully alive human being and therefore devastated at the thought that this great place which that can give them so much is now destroyed will have to be rebuilt and that was another pledge that the french president made he said this several times

we shall rebuild not for them we shall rebuild it together it is our destiny he also. he said he would seek international help to do so no given the states of the the devastation which is unfolding on our screens the pictures that we are bringing you this is going to take an enormous commitment from people around the world do you think that they will. the people will step are they will help to contribute to the rebuilding of this cathedral. oh yes i'm sure that catholic communities and indeed christian communities around the world of all kinds will feel they want to contribute to overcome the distress of the catholic community in paris and the distress of the

people of paris and losing this great sanctuary of theirs and i think that there will be an upsurge of support in that way which will be very important both spiritually and materially but also let's not forget that in of again this very strange relationship between the french state and the french church the french state owns not a damn cathedral so since the time of the french revolution the government took over control of all french churches now even after the restoration of the monarchy after the battle of waterloo in one thousand nine hundred fifty. the french state did not hand back the churches to the catholic church now in the opinion of some of us this was an extremely good deal because the french catholic church got back the use of the churches but the french state continue to own them and the way that they maintain them is that the local commune in this case the the the community paris

pays for the upkeep so there is a sense in which the french state is constitutionally committed to paying for the upkeep of the church and hence the rebuilding of it but obviously they will be looking for other people to provide resources and i'm sure the catholic church would want that as world contributions from french catholics and from others around the world who value this as a sign of those spiritual and material support there is a sense of communion between all people around the world in the catholic church and all people of goodwill to want to restore order is a place of great spiritual importance to so many people it's a place of great spiritual importance to many people not just people who are religious but certainly those who who live in paris who live in france you choose to visit paris see she's to spend time there everyone will have their own individual relationship with this. magnificent structure which is now

in flames tell us. about your your own relationship with this building oh yeah madge and you will have been to notes for them several times so tell us about your i ask you many times or thought you and your thoughts of the cathedral how will you remember it. well for me the most special moment was when i was headmaster of the school that one of our monasteries runs and the school choir went to not to done and they sang there during the main sunday mass that was an extraordinary experience and they sang some classic english church music there which was a great surprise to the french but they hugely appreciated it and we had a strong sense through that that this was an international place not only a french place but an international place and they were so appreciative the clergy was so appreciative of an english choir coming to sing during their mass and that

for me is a high point i think and they even let me read out the gospel in french which was probably a personal point as well since the french don't easily allow someone else to speak their language in such a setting so i have very strong memory of being welcomed there and i think that's one of the things that many visitors will remember being welcomed into this great space and the clergy there having a sense that this is not ours it's something that we we don't own it but we are guardians and stewards of it to share with other people and i think that sense the cathedral remains with me very very strongly. ok thank you so much father christopher jamison for bringing us your your own personal thoughts and personal recollections and also for outlining the significance that this place has for members of the catholic community as we bring you this live coverage of the

devastating fire of notes thank you so much christopher jamieson from london just to recap we have heard from the french president sears' express the the sadness of the french people feeling after this fire but he has pledged that france show rebuilds cathedral and show rebuild it together he has banks the emergency services who are still on the scene some five hundred firefighters who have been tackling the blaze the cause of the blaze still unknown at this time but an initial statement from the paris prosecutor says they believe that ball started accidentally they have managed to save some of the cathedral the fires not managed to save the structure but the efforts to bring that police under

control to continue that is it for me for this news are we going to hand you back to london where mary i'm standing by she'll bring you the very latest on that devastating fire at notre dame cathedral to stay with us here and i'll just for all the latest. fake news is a global virus but an indian politics is becoming a cancer on the up and stopped. the with the with the body just the sort of it can skew the put steps in all three hundred dealers pacific rim if you're bombarded with pete. as the world's largest democracy goes to the polls vulnerable to malicious disinformation. investigates india fake news and agitprop on al-jazeera business updates brought to you by qatar airways going places to get our

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a training exercise the dangers are real because the situation is slowly deteriorating with detailed coverage and the donald tossed to reason may makes it clear that the current political impasse simply kongo all news from around the world aid agencies are warning people of the dangers of cholera and distributing vaccines many are still using rubbers from thing and. continue that battle against the flames at the. cathedral in paris. large sections of the cathedral have been destroyed but the french president says the worst has been avoided.

hello i'm maryam namazie this is al jazeera live from london will also be bringing you some other stories this hour groups speaking for protesters in sudan push back against what they call the backstage manipulations of former regime. and former leaders and diplomats urged the e.u. to reject the u.s. president's middle east peace plan before it's even been released. we continue our coverage of developments in paris tonight where authorities say work to contain a major fire at the historic not true don cathedral could run into a number of days the building has been devastated by the blaze which started several hours ago about seven pm local time well this is the moment the cathedral spire collapsed firefighters say they have managed to save its two towers and have stopped the blaze from spreading to its northern belfry the twelfth century site is

currently undergoing renovation it's believed the fire was started accidentally but investigations are ongoing. on the french president emanuel page to rebuild the not true dam and says he will seek international help to do so. we shall rebuild it all together. french destiny the project we will have over the coming year and i'm committed to it from tomorrow will be national subscriptions that will be well beyond our borders on the greatest talent and there are numerous that will come. contribute we can we will rebuild it we will rebuild not. because it is what french people expect it is what our history deserves because it is our deep destiny.

attash about that has been following the story throughout the evening and joins us live now from the capital paris tasha any update on how the operation to extinguish the fire is going. well we heard from a short while ago from the french president eman on my call and as you as you heard there in the clip that you played he talked about the drama that's been unfolding in paris the historical theater notre dame on fire he said look this is one bit of french history that we are seeing here collapsing but what he did say was one more positive note that it does seem as if there is hope because he said the facade of this cathedral its famous spires that make such an iconic image have been saved even know much of the back of the cathedral the roof has collapsed now we understand from firefighters that is the case and that is certainly good news because about an hour ago we were waiting to hear whether or not firefighters were

going to be able to save the cathedral because there were fears they did say that it might be possible that they would be unable to contain this blaze that it would simply cause the whole building to collapse but what they're saying now is the fire has diminished in intensity they've been able to control it and there's no doubt that around may the air there was very thick with smoke before it's certainly a lot clearer you can feel that this fire has perhaps been tempered some more so we understand the firefighters are now trying to cool parts of the cathedral and that way they'll be able to access areas and see if there's anything left to be saved yes. that will be the priority once the fire is completely extinguished to actually assess the damage on the inside and a first responders were already on the scene trying to salvage whatever artifacts and precious works of art that are inside but they in the immediate aftermath of

the fire those efforts will no doubt continue. that's right i mean because at this stage of course the focus is on just trying to extinguish this fire because it does continue it is by no means over and it must be an exhausting task for the firefighters some five hundred of them and you know i don't know if you can see behind me because it is very dark but every now and again we can see their torches we can see the light from the torch is in between some of the towers the knowledge tools of not just on cathedral the front are open and it's thick with smoke inside but you can see it's like a list of the firefighters try to pick through at least the interior and what we're really wondering what many people have been all skiing of course in paris this evening is just why did this happen the how did this fire started such an historical monument in the more humans which of course is so fiercely protected by

the french state well at this stage all we know is there are so far fighters are indicating that it could have been an accident it could have been linked to some renovation work which were happening underneath the roof near one of the main spires towers at the front and if so i mean it's extraordinary to think that an accident could lead to this sort of damage and really incredibly sad too for parisians and and people around the world watching this beautiful gothic cathedral go up in flames really first sight of this significance even if there is renovation work taking place you would think that there would be very straight guidelines and procedures in terms of how workers at the site are deployed what materials they use what equipment they have the. a in which they were indications of the investigation according to the paris prosecutor is that it was started by accident we have to wait and see what the investigation concludes concludes and any findings that emerge but there will have to be some serious accountability for this.

well you would think so i mean certainly whoever's up to doing these renovation works will certainly be held accountable you would imagine but as i said for now i mean that investigation is ongoing it's going to be very hard indeed to really like try and go inside and find the sort of clues that might be needed for such an investigation because it is such a difficult location it is a cathedral filled with smoke where there's a fire is still going on and of course firefighters are spraying water cannon inside as we speak so it's a very these are very difficult conditions indeed for firefighters and of course they will be for investigators and i think right now the focus is on trying to extinguish this fire and for people in the city they are simply still standing shoulder to shoulder many of them by the river many of them in some of the streets the still not far from notre dame cathedral have been kept back of course for

safety sake but people continuing to watch transfixed riveted at the sight of this cathedral burning i'm sure many of them will be so you very relieved as the news spreads that least a good part of it has been saved but i mean people have been terribly shocked telling us that they just can't believe that they're seeing this with their own noise this cathedral more than eight hundred years old and parts of it simply collapsing within moments. yes i think anyone that would be watching this whether they are there on the streets watching it happen in front of their eyes or whether they're home watching it on the television it is. tragic and compelling and is clear that it's this has been a very traumatic evening for the people of paris but we have also seen a positive side to this if you can call it that we have seen scenes of people

coming together in song. pictures of people standing outside singing hymns and of church bells ringing out in paris out of respect for just happened i would you describe the atmosphere there. i think it's these sort of times which are very poignant there's no doubt that people do tend to come together you know there is often a sense of national unity or collectiveness in some way you know we've seen that in paris before recently in different circumstances with a series of attacks where people will come together and they're joined in some way by the drama that unfolds in front of them and i think that's what we've seen this evening people really standing by side by side riveted by this and everybody feels in some way connected to it particularly parisians because this cathedral is so why connick it's so much part of the cultural identity of france of this city it is

famous for many people as the eiffel tower and it is also cherished by people around the world because it has some twelve to thirty million visitors a year who go inside to look at the beautiful art works to look at the amazing gothic architecture and many of the stained glass windows and we understand that some of those stained glass windows have actually collapsed in the far so that would be very sad news indeed thank you for now appreciate it there for us in paris thank you natasha joining me in the studio now is father christopher jamison a benedictine monk thank you for taking the time to speak to us i'm not sure if you have visited the not true don cathedral but just describe for me what the cathedral means to you your i have visited it on several occasions and it exists really at three different levels it's first of all the center of the catholic community of paris and from its secondly it's a place of great spiritual importance to all french people and finally of course

it's a great center of all so all three of those look at what's happening now is a negative and i think that's why it's having such a negative effect on the whole french nation i mean president micro. obviously very emotional in the way he spoke about the cathedral its meaning and how the french and nation must rebuild it so it's those three levels or it's operating on a for me personally what i think of most at the moment is that archbishop over to the archbishop of paris would be expecting to celebrate the great east the ceremonies there starting on thursday and of course now that's not going to be possible so he poor man is now without a church because the cathedral is his seat cathedral means seat it's the seat of the archbishop so he's got and bottoms that many of you know that's right in water or the sea to hold it is important to remember that it's not just a site for terrorists and visitors as we've been saying it is also

a place of worship tell us more about the services that would have been planned as we approach this easter week but of course the climax of the east the celebrations is the great vigil on saturday night when the church is in darkness and people gather with the archbishop on the the square outside the cathedral and what they gather around with the terrible irony is they gather around the fire the east the fire is lit from the east the fire a candle is that the east the candle is lit just the one candle is carried into the darkened church to symbolize light overcoming darkness and the people seeing the light of christ symbolizing the resurrection of christ so have you attended a service and i mean this before i have attended these the service there but it's these the service that's repeated in the catholic church yes so but in the cathedral it has particular importance because there for example is part of that

service adults who wish to become catholic would be baptized as part of that so there is a great sense of loss but also a great sense as i said of of paradox that the east the fire is the center of these the sort. aberrations that it's another fire that is destroying it but at the same time you could say well that is the fire leading to the light of the candle of the light of a coming out this is a sign of hope that actually there can be resurrection to us and i want to ask you about that because obviously the cathedral has survived so much history it is shocking to see scenes like this in place time that it's come through the violence of the french revolution of the bloody wars of the twentieth century and. now i suppose what we see that just brings a tragic irony to the whole thing do you think that it can be restored that it can

be rebuilt in the way that it was well little doubt was now we great controversy about how to rebuild it it looks as if the great bell towers have been saved and the outer walls have been saved although that will require a lot of work because often the wooden structure of the roof is what's holding the walls as well as the buttresses so but if if the walls can be saved and the towers can be say then you've got the challenge of how to rebuild it in the old style or an adaptation of the old style or a bottom style is a lot of debate i'm sure will go on about that but president made it very clear that the french nation will rebuild it he said it is our destiny to rebuild it that's a very strong word and so i think it will definitely be rebuilt yes that is definitely the sentiment we've been getting from president emmanuel on tonight he has pledged to rebuild or not to down cathedral and he is just looking at a quote from him here he said that is our history it's our literature part of our

psyche the place of all our great events our epidemics our wars our liberations he says and of course he visited the site but i suppose this is not just a. that belongs to france it's also has connections with with british history with scottish history of the european history it feels as though this is a monument that alongst to all yes it's partly because it was the first great gothic cathedral to be built in europe it represents the start of a whole new style of architecture which is easy to forget because that gothic style has become established as the the great design style for many many churches and most of the great cathedrals of europe a built in that style so that it alone gives it great significance but then also it's a place where many nations have been welcomed by and experience has been there to take a choir there and to sing at the sunday mass there and to be warmly welcomed and we

sang english music there which they hugely appreciated so it's not a a narrow place it's a place of great welcome to many many nations yes and that is reflected in the reaction we've seen from the international community tonight with world leaders expressing their sympathy and solidarity with france and the macron pledging to rebuild not to die we were saying earlier and he is he will seek international help to do so this is likely to be a long and difficult process but what challenges do you foresee in terms of reaching a consensus on on how it should be rebuilt and what constitutes artwork and these various things well of course that the great underlying reality which hardly anybody has been talking about is that the church actually belongs to the french state are at the french revolution the french they nationalized all the churches and even after the restoration of the monarchy in eight hundred fifty they did not give the churches back but they let the church the catholic church use them and

some people said this is the best deal the catholic churches have got because the french state pays for the upkeep of the churches and the catholic community uses them because they have a great sense that this is this is the nation's patrimony not just the property of the catholic. church so i think that in the year the french state will have a huge say in how this is done even if funds come from elsewhere and i'm sure that will be in dialogue with the archbishop powers but it is viewed as we heard from prison michael and the french patrimony and so i think that will be the key factor thank you very much for now father christopher jamieson. well in terms of just giving you a few basic facts and some context to this morning with the not yet on cathedral as we've been saying is one of the oldest and most recognizable buildings in paris it's so much a part of the landscape of the city it translates to our lady of paris work began on the cathedral in eleven sixty three and the original structure was completed

nearly two hundred years later in thirteen forty five it's the most visited landmark in paris receiving some thirteen million people every year which is more than thirty thousand people every day people who live in paris say they are heartbroken. so you are false with someone else we're not going after it's france the national symbol of france that's been damaged it's a powerful symbol for us christians since it's holy week in the coming up to easter we're completely destitute not saddam is also a huge historical site for me it's false it's been touched france is burning i never imagined before i can't give you. an iconic of paris it's a destroyed is a fire i can't believe i'm really so sad and i was really just a grain just to before i die. i feel like various is this is crying now is it not just to me. it was enormous and what's more there was

a lot of wind the wind and fire were changing direction all the time after that we saw the roof collapse where shocks it's a hundred fifty years of history it really hurts we're sad. earlier we spoke to nigel and she described what she saw as the fire unfolded. i was going back getting back from work and i was walking and everyone who were around was shocked and i could see some some people cry in a lot of tourists we could see you we could hear different languages and. which it which was notable is that you could hear the same total tone with different languages everyone was shocked and one was wondering what was happening everyone was asking why you are how i are to begin in the building oh i don't think i would go out because you know it is really

crowded outside and that we can really feel the ashes and smell the smoke which is really bad for us and i think i would just rather stay home and watch was going on hoping. that something could be done every night i post from that and it reminds us of paris and how huge this cathedral is and. how much it is like the main cathedral in the dollar goes books and in paris history. i've been there twice and. i think when you leave near you can see all you can see the cathedral it opens really often for example for greece christmas or easter you can see the door opened and people get in there and it's really

beautiful but i've been there twice on the. there was always a huge queue with a lot of people. wander in to see the and every day everyone. hasn't stopped. today. turning to the international reaction that's been coming into this the vatican has released a statement saying that it's watching what it called the symbol of christianity in france and in the world with shock and sadness it says it's praying for the firefighters that are battling the blaze. the u.k. prime minister to resign may have spoken out my thoughts are with the people of france tonight and with the emergency services and the german chancellor angela merkel said she was deeply saddened and sorry to see the images of fire devastating not to dump cathedral which she described as a symbol of france and our european culture. well also some reaction

from the u.s. president donald trump expressing his horror as happened. the fire that they're having at the. notre dumb cathedral is something like few people have witnessed. when we left we had a whole group of your great representatives and when we left the plane it was it was burning at a level that you rarely see a fire burned. it's one of the great treasures of the world. the greatest artists in the world probably if you think about it i would say job it might be. greater than almost any museum in the world and it's burning. very badly looks like it's burning to the ground. well it's worth recapping the sequence of events as the fire ripped through a significant part of the cathedral according to firefighters the blaze started at around six fifty pm local time fifty minutes later the fire had spread to the giant

spire of the cathedral just before eight pm local time the cathedral spire collapsed six minutes later the french president's office said. rushing to the scene at eight o seven pm the entire roof of the not true don collapses this according to a reuters correspondent who was at the scene. i spoke to timothy a paris resident who told us about how he discovered the news of the fire. i turned on my t.v. at six thirty just because i heard that there was a fire i discovered the demon city of aids and and the problem that we had and so i watched for like half an hour and i saw the roof collapsing i saw the spike collapsing i was really shocked and so i i didn't know moment and so i went out just to watch it to see by myself because i didn't believe it so i saw the i saw the flames from the from the hill and you had many people here watching tourists

but also to regions just watching in shock. because it's it's really hard to believe what is happening is the tragedy. of the inside of the cathedral from where i was from where i was standing i could see that the inside of the cathedral was burning and all that scene there is going is going to be lost and there is apparently there is a fear that this fire my sixth sense of the towers so it means the organ that i mean. the wonderful artwork to see the statues that are here and. i don't know i don't know i don't know what to say it's just it's just so hard to see everything go up in smoke like this the building of the cathedral was as she said at the beginning of the of the thirteenth century forty century i think it's it's been there for almost a hundred years. i just i just can't tell you the loss that it means for

everyone in paris and even for just human history it's it's unbearable the other thing is that i i grew up near a ticket to the cathedral i i grew up in the on the left bank of paris right not far from it then you go you past near the cathedral every week or three every two or three days and you just watch it and you have this sense of stability and you have the feeling that it shows you continue with your city of humor i don't know your country or i don't know about that but it's it represents so much to well to me but i think to other people in paris it's not it's it's not surprising that everyone is in shock it's really when you watch not saddam you had the feeling that it was it was going to be there forever on tash about

a joins us live now from paris and natasha we've just been listening to some clips all three of it prisons you've been speaking to through the course of this evening and caylee has been a very traumatic nights of people can you describe the reaction that you have seen from crowds from from bystander as who watched the fire and gulf the cathedral what was it like for them to to see the not trade on. well very traumatic as you as you explained there but i can tell you they're still watching because there are crowds of people at the end of streets all around this area clustered around shoulder to shoulder with their cell phones taking pictures and they're still riveted at this drama has been unfolding before them in the center of the city i mean unimaginable scenes who would have thought that see flames coming out of not to damage the scene parts of the roof collapsing and then hear the firefighters who are struggling to save this building this building which

has been here for more than eight hundred years well the good news is that this building will be saved at least the facade of it even if much of the back half was been lost and many of the artifacts inside have been lost but the people it's incredibly shocking to see and it's very sad because for them you know not to get the jewel is part of paris or parisians it's part of their city is part of their landscape their french cultural identity it is a french icon very much like the eiffel tower one of the most recognizable buildings in the world and for people who come to visit this city some thirty million visit not true each year it's one of the most visited buildings in the years so it gives you a sense of how cherished it is by people both in the city and around the world so for those here who saw the scenes of well in a sense it's a form of violence in a way to see these flames basically tearing apart this ancient building you know i

saw i saw people with tears in their eyes and tears streaming down their faces they simply couldn't believe it indeed president emmanuel described and nation in absolute shock at what has happened we also know natasha that people living in the area close to the cathedral were evacuated because of the risk that the building or at least part of it might collapse what do you know about that is it still a possibility. well no in fact we heard from the french president emanuel mark all saying that the worst is be averted thankfully and what he meant was that for several hours after this a fire broke out and not to don cathedral there was there was a point at which firefighters really believed that the whole building could collapse because of these flames that they simply won't be able to contain all control the fire while it was just a short while ago i'd say about an hour ago that we learned that that was no longer

the case that the fire has been controlled to a certain extent that the intensity of the flames has diminished even though it is by no means extinguished and you can really feel it as well in the air because before it was very thick with smoke and very heavy you could sense you could even feel the ash falling down upon you but now the air is much clearer so we know that the worst has been diverted verted in that sense but you still have a good part of not to die because the jewel which is simply vanished it is it is collapsing all those artworks inside many of them will have gone to so what lies ahead will the french president said we will rebuild he said this is what the french nation daws rebuilds it looks forward to and i'm sure many people will want that but it will cost an awful lot of money and it will take a very long time he's talking about getting some of the best designers and creators on board he's obviously thinking ahead in that way but right now i mean it's hard to imagine just what an enormous task would lie ahead in terms of trying to rebuild

and renovate this cathedral indeed challenges still lie there and of course they also need to look at the extent of the damage because operation is still ongoing and of course there will be an investigation as well into what started the fire and how this happened and tasha thank you very much natasha in paris. we'll continue to bring you coverage of that story in france but also want to bring you some of the day's other international stories. on wednesday jakarta where indonesians are preparing to vote in an election that for many will be about the economy and trying to decide whether the current president has done enough to improve their lives. and central london is brought to a standstill by climate protesters demanding government action to tackle global warming.

hello the temperatures in adelaide are really quite surprising though because of the wind coming out of the interior that's not unusual in a cold front on its way through but what is actually going sure it is quite unusual that's the picture where the cold front is satellite evidence proving the point it keeps going eastwards but it hasn't really changed the wind direction so drawing up north up to thirty two way down late on tuesday records about thirty six the are just twenty two years is well above where it should be fairly warm throughout the rest of new south wales a.c.t as well as you can see the temps in the middle twenty's typically for melbourne sydney and indeed hobart perth is cooler the winds the wrong direction the clouds slowly thickening thieve you're probably missed most of the rain still thirty's rain as spring and only down to twenty eight in adelaide come wednesday he's got to feel like summer for new zealand apart from us wandering

around the coast i think it's a lot of sea fog here and low clouds it's looking quite settled that means sunny by day after the thing in the morning has been lifted strengths of weak sun i mean morning mist and morning fog and they've given mid teens for the south island nearly twenty in or clint the heavy rain has been showing itself around fijian tongue or in the last couple days slowly now dispersing. we live in a digital well out where even the remotest communities have access to mobile phones . but look in this technology bring to an unmedicated system. life apps travels to the media and gives the software design are the ultimate challenge to design a map to help to him to try in their daily lives can you really be done.

fly facts one from nomad on al-jazeera. welcome back a look at our top story this hour firefighters in france are working to contain a major blaze at the historic not tradin. building has been devastated by the fire with the spy and the roof both destroyed. the french president visited the scene and pledged to rebuild the cathedral he said not true don was part of france's history literature and a place of all the country's great events from wars to liberations.

now and always stories we're following political in protest groups in sudan continue to push for a civilian government to be installed as soon as possible and for links to the former president to be severed a concerted a model bashir still has influence over political life in sudan the protesters demanding independence in state institutions and they've called for the head of the judiciary and the attorney general to be replaced in the it was going to be objective that the revolution cannot be achieved completely in the face of the backstage manipulations of the remnants of the regime or key demand that the formation of a civil council to guarantee the revolution is safeguarded at schools achieved with the technocratic provisional government with executive powers must be formed with the consensus of the people first the national congress must be disbanded and that's put under administration to the head of the judiciary must be sacked and the replacement be appointed third the attorney general must be sacked and replaced by qualified professional the national security apparatus must also be disbanded.

adam is a research associate at the school of oriental and african studies he says the sudanese wanted democratic transition of power. this historic moment you know for the all of the political party they have to assume their historical responsibilities they have to unite themselves they have to be up to the challenge because otherwise the military rule actually that one picks approved their division disappeared that in action or something like that to descend to point to empower and that actually we don't you know make sure that descent into chaos and descent into some sort of torture or something like that so civilians i think the political parties and and the agents of change actually special youth and other they have to hide themselves and actually determine that you know to unite them safe and to have some sort of you know civilian government to take over this is that we think because these had deep mistrust actually between the protests right now and this new military gunter and they shouldn't be given just you know by instrument or something like that if they really have political will and they actually the they

they are in themselves to the people i'm actually took power because actually they said that the people and the protestors if they really that their intention they should actually you know be pressurized or not is kind of thing from the beginning i think they should you know put the country on the track of a meaningful to lead the country for a democratic transition but actually what for them what they see right now and playing tactics and that actually bang bang and this is dangerous not good and then good for them these are the nice people for the entire country because because that means actually the under continue with the bitterness of continued the mistrust actually beat we've given and that actually this is struggling to the point you know the use groups are so beat up might now and they have sort of him actually you know to or you know to to depart from the polls we give to a new to give a fresh kind of time to going to something that if there is any kind of you know playing papist actually from the military jets or something that means confrontation that you have to look at any look like it's not good for the future of this country and even for the selves. meanwhile in western sudan at least

fourteen people have been killed in clashes at a displacement camp this according to sudanese state media more than a million people have been displaced in darfur since conflict began in two thousand and three between the government and rebel groups well we go to events in libya now protesters in the capital of call for the withdrawal of the country's ambassadors in egypt the u.a.e. saudi arabia and france they are angry at those countries for supporting forces loyal to the east and. is leading an offensive in tripoli demonstrators say libya's representatives to the u.n. arab league an african union should take legal and diplomatic measures against hafta and it comes as a number of have to as fighters have reportedly handed in their weapons and trucks to u.n. backed government forces in tripoli the two sides have been fighting for control of the capital since earlier this month. nearly one hundred fifty people have been killed in the recent conflict and more than eighteen thousand others displaced according to the latest numbers released by

the world health organization mahmud abdul wahid has more from tripoli. displaced in their own country this is one of the many offices in the libyan capital where people affected by the latest fighting have come to register their names they were promised food and shelter for hamad left his home in where the ruby area south of tripoli after random gunfire hit their house he says he and his family narrowly escaped death. of our house was in the crossfire from three directions so i gathered my family and took shelter in one room five minutes later a rocket landed and exploded in the house it destroyed three rooms. fighting has intensified near civilians areas since the forces loyal to the family for have to launch an offensive to take control of the capital tripoli on the fourth of april.

and back to police the government has launched a counter offensive to defend the capital the fighting soon currently extends to around one hundred sixty kilometers south of tripoli it includes the areas of gaza would be no shared the disused international airport also one e. so for me some say hell where they will be and ends are several occasions in and around tripoli have been also hit by a restrikes the united nations says more than one thousand people have left their homes to escape the fighting on the southern outskirts of tripoli government officials here say that number continues to rise and there and back the government is accusing have those forces of targeting civilian areas with heavy weapons mohammed says he saw dead bodies near his house and one of his neighbors was killed by a random bullet here and his family hardly had any chance to collect their blooming

so. we don't know where we should go wife has been destroyed in our area it's caves there and we left everything behind including our livestock. they're being provided with food and blankets by aid organizations but municipal council members say they don't have enough shelters to accommodate the groomed number of displaced people. that five hundred families have registered only in the center we are getting more people but the problem we face now is that we don't have enough shelters we have even used state hotels and hospitals to lodge them some of these people have been provided to improve houses by local do notice others hostage by their relatives but has it own neighborhoods have turned it into a battle zone they're worried the houses they've lived to be behind could be destroyed in the fighting. and tripoli.

well officials and humanitarian workers bracing for a possible influx of refugees fleeing the fighting in libya dozens have started to arrive in the northern region of joining hundreds of migrants already stranded. reports now from central asia. a small convoy of migrants makes its way into the city of marketers many of the passengers are fleeing the latest round of fighting in neighboring libya as well how much money brian gaddis is few possessions he considers himself lucky to get out alive. there is no peace in libya this fighting everywhere few days ago they took my brother and shot him they came and took another that was when i decided to flee. he knows he's home but not sure where or how to start. long after she left libya this refugee from

darfur is still haunted by the violence she experienced in the hands of the police traffickers and libyan officials. a husband was kidnapped four times and tortured my sisters and i want of them pregnant was thrown into a fire and the only one that survived and have been marks. as fighting intensified she fled to what she and hundreds of others and all struck the city of a good as is a transit point for migrants and refugees from across africa for decades thousands of african migrants pass through here across the mediterranean and into europe but people are not going to is hearsay because of the fighting in libya that flow has slowed down and now reversed but many africans have not given up on their hopes they just waiting for the right moment to go on with fighting in libya in mali and the political uncertainty in algeria these areas bracing for a wave of people we are in the worst case scenario planning.

likelihood for a massive movement from libya into the share today. i don't see however. everything is possible and we must not be caught off guard the possibility of an influx to a region struggling with a point kind of me is creating panic among locals in france is today ok move them apart from infrastructure there are concerns about the proliferation of small arms in addition to human trafficking and other illegal activities have increased but we've taken steps to try to address these concerns. many here feel the country has been left with a burden it has neither the resources no capacity to deal with with more people coming into the country they're worried about the impact it will have on their lives i'm a decrease al-jazeera i get is no the new chair. well we just want to take you

back to paris to see what the what is happening there certainly water cannon is still deployed firefighters working to extinguish the blaze they are the operation is definitely making progress the scene is definitely more subdued than it has been over the past couple of hours but it has certainly taken some time to get to this point and to bring the fire under some control this one of the most visited and really one of the most beloved landmarks in france and in europe it has been a traumatic night for the people of france as they have watched this cathedral burn we have heard people saying that they are in shock they're in disbelief we've heard from international leaders the british prime minister to resign may angela merkel all expressing their solidarity and sympathy at this time the operation to

end the fire is still underway but we understand that it broke out at the cathedral in central paris at about seven pm local time and it started at the back of the cathedral and then very quickly engulfed the upper part of the cathedral and it caused this fire and the roof to collapse and we have for much of the evening been seeing flames and smoke billowing into the skies above the french capital now the attention turns to rebuilding and reconstruction the french president emanuel on pledging that he will rebuild this great monument and try to restore it to what it once was and he has already started raising funds and he has pledged to do that also an investigation will be underway to get. at the

heart of what started this and to establish the cause of this fire. well to some other news now and twenty five senior international figures have signed an open letter to the guardian newspaper urging european nations to reject any u.s. middle east peace plan that's unfair to the palestinians the u.s. is preparing to announce its so-called deal of the century those who signed the letter say this is a critical moment in the middle east and europe they use the white house of departing from longstanding u.s. policy and distancing itself from established international legal norms by recognizing only one side's claim to jerusalem they say the u.s. has demonstrated what they call it disturbing indifference to israeli settlement expansion european nations the let it goes should back a plan that requires the creation of a palestinian state alongside israel on board is based on the pre nine hundred sixty seven lines and with east jerusalem as its capital they say that any plan

that reduces palestinian statehood to an entity devoid of sovereignty territorial contiguity and economic viability would fatally damage the cause of a durable peace for palestinians and israelis alike with the palestine liberation organization has called on europe to implement existing un resolutions the european union needs to know who denies the state of palestine what is do some of its government on the night in six of the mines and the need to implement seriously. resolution twenty three thirty four of security council two thousand and sixteen that's a belated between israel and the settlements dealing with settlements in any way the calling the settlements in the occupied state of palestine just daughterly illegal and against international law that's what's required from europe now. well earlier we spoke to one of the six former prime ministers who signed that open letter sweden's called bill says a two state solution is the only viable way forward. or tried of solution to the

hep permanent occupation that would be to the detriment of the if there is to make . a one nation solution with rights for everyone to be clearly unacceptable to a lot of the better an apartheid state would be unacceptable to the outside world but if the good with the jews the based solution politically in view of what's been happening with settlement policy and all of that but if you look at the alternatives i think you find that this is the only only avenue that you're bringing both peace. to israel and recognition by the rest of the arab world and yes just news and peace to the palestinian people there is no other way to trumpet mr he wakes up to the realities of what is it she evil when it comes to the beast in the middle east they would eventually find a solution among the long of the lines that has been indicated by the european union for a long time is only viable solution that has any possibility of weed success. seven

children have been killed in ten on his wounded any in an explosion in afghanistan's east and a lot of them and province children are playing with a mortar when it exploded a tragic consequence of living on the taliban's front lines charlotte ballasts reports from kabul. in the small village of lanky toe in eastern afghanistan hundreds of men gather to pray for the seventeen young boys. there procession through the cemetery is because of a single mortar as a sunset on sunday the boys found us and played with it exploded in. this community is on the front lines of the war in an area how'd by the taliban it's so to say fighting has peaked in the last year out jazeera couldn't enter so one of the mourners filmed for us recording on his phone screens grapple with losing the sun it's a call in you know you know you were. ten boys who. did in the blast most were

brought here to loveman hospital they tell us how they were all of history fishing when they found the water it was thirty metres from an army base they were going to put it in place that we threw the mortar in the potato field the other boys came and threw it in the stream we were there because we wanted to catch fish. because some children put the mortar in a potato field then in the evening other boys came and they wanted to buy the rocket or scrap metal they were fetching it and we run away and then they threw it in the stream and it exploded. these boys avoided serious injuries and amputation saved by the distance to the explosion last year and nearly fifteen hundred civilians were either killed or hurt by land mines and unexploded munitions that number has tripled since twenty twelve and it's children who were hurt the most of those killed by unexploded bombs or rockets eighty percent of children who think

they are playing with a toy. and there's nothing and this is the result parents warning their children the un started a mine clearing program thirty years ago and in that time has removed eighteen million unexploded munitions for the boys of blank took just one to in seven young lives charlotte dallas al-jazeera kabul. the u.n. envoy for yemen says the internationally recognized government and who the rebels have accepted a plan to pull back their forces from the port city of her data the redeployment was acquitted in december under a cease fire deal but has been repeatedly delayed both sides have said they'll pull back several kilometers in the first voluntary withdrawal of the conflict. is the president my primary primary responsibility excuse me in the next few months will be to winnow down the differences between the parties so that when they meet they can we are asked to answer precise questions about the nature of the arrangements

in an equitable fashion according to the resolutions of your council this conflict i seek the support of this council for this approach and let us together require those who can help us towards peace encouraged and the skeptics so to side while we work to make our case some years from indonesia the presidential challenger there is promising to take the country's economy in a new direction probably is running against incumbent djoko we don't know is overseen solid growth in his first term but his rival in wednesday's elections says many indonesians are gaining from its benefits when hail reports from jakarta. in indonesia's capital jakarta drivers of three wheeled taxis have more time than they used to to talk politics the president djoko widow though has encouraged other modes of transport that can be ordered online meaning business has reduced

dramatically for these workers they say they'll vote for change in wednesday's election in the hope it will improve their economic situation are you so good these days it's so difficult for me to make a living we don't have enough money for tomorrow's food if we don't work today i need to say three dollars a day or. the economy has been one of the main points of debate during this six month election campaign it's growing at around five percent which is short of what the president was aiming for body enough he says to earn a second term in office. we want to continue our effort to develop the economic independence of indonesia jacoby's main focus has been on infrastructure development like the opening of an underground train line in jakarta which was first proposed more than thirty years ago. on the campaign trail joko widodo has spent much of his time trying to sell voters on the economic achievements of his government over the past five years which he says have led to the lowest

unemployment rate in twenty years his opponent has opted for a much more populist approach. like the last election in two thousand and fourteen the other choice for president is former army general problem. he says he'll lower the cost of living and he has also promised create more jobs through a boost in the manufacturing sector did. our nation has long been running in the wrong direction if this direction is continued it will not provide welfare for the indonesian people. there is concern among some economists that indonesia can't afford many of the measures prabhu is promising but they agree there should be a greater focus on manufacturing in the last thirteen years in an experiencing. premature the industrialization switch means that the growth of the manufacturing sector is. below or lower than the. g.d.p. growth campaigning for the election has come to an end now many indonesians will be

asking themselves if their lives have improved over the last five years or that they and their country need a new economic direction when hey al-jazeera jakarta. thousands of protesters a blocking roads in some of london's busiest areas demanding action on climate change the demonstrations are being led by the environmental group extinction rebellion it's planning rallies in thirty three countries across the world in the coming days but its myth was among the protesters in the british capital. this will perhaps be the generation that really notices the effects of climate change the parents frustration of the lack of action on the environment is they say what's forced them to take part in peaceful civil disobedience even the cars as we go past the gang leaflets and you know some people look at it and they don't like it makes them angry that it really they but others agree and others are worried about climate change and they see what we're doing and we're like the eye of the storm

and i'm getting sucked in across central london files of protesters moved to block traffic they've set up camp sites and waterloo bridge was one of five locations turned into a car free picnic site the government aren't talking about this crisis as if it is emergency they are mobilizing all of our systems in order to serve just this crisis and it's not just the government immediately at the center as the biggest emergency we're facing i needed to teachers because and i will say this is not within the curriculum with traffic diverted a major shopping streets empty of vehicles this was oxford circus not everyone was persuaded by the protests this is for the truck so i'm putting it off to the trying to make everybody was looking like it was the day i'll show you how the officers in the movie i was in the village extinction rebellion says these protests will be repeated in more than eighty cities across the globe here in london time to keep roads blocked day and night. for protesters of mannish bring much of central london

to a standstill in what they're saying is a new form of civil disobedience to force people worldwide to pay attention to climate change they say they're going to be doing this for the next two weeks bernard smith al-jazeera london. just want to bring you some more scenes from the french capital paris of course we've been following developments here throughout the evening where fire crews have managed to subdue the devastating fire at the not true don cathedral it started over five hours ago at the back of the cathedral we understand where restoration work was underway but then rapidly spread causing the on the roof to collapse all this to the horror of bystanders who have described a deep sense of shock loss and sadness at the destruction of this most beloved monument which has survived through so much in history but is now suffered possibly irreparable damage. but of course as we see it tomorrow morning when

there is the light of day will be able to get a better sense of the extent of the damage cause now attention turns to the investigation the cause of the fire is not clear. jesting that it was an accident possibly linked to renovation work though it french president on has pledged to rebuild. al-jazeera as i would winning investigative documentary program for our meillard or native women going with him or being murdered what's the reason food lines goes beyond the headlines holding the powerful to account have you heard of the story not involved in the examining the u.s. and its room while someone has to get to go on i'm shooting people right now. with a new series that's the reality that we live in coming soon on al-jazeera. the place where decision makers opinion leaders and journalists come together every

year. on his conversations on global affairs and the future of the region. the thirty al-jazeera for. in a region full of contradictory agendas and deepening decides. with an arms race loosely. where is the gulf headed with the rainy an influence on the rise of saudi influence on the decline. and the khashoggi crisis. the gulf from crisis to decline of strategic influence this april twenty seventh and twenty eighth in doubt. in australia more women a big locked up than ever before but what's driving this alarming development one of many states to x. inmates who believe laws behind bars on al-jazeera.

al-jazeera. where every. al-jazeera. hello i'm how long he is in this is the news our life from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes our continuing coverage of the fire at the iconic not cathedral in paris as far pfizer's remain on the scene of what's left of the burned

tired structure. that was just hours ago the spire fell into the fire and the impact was felt around the world. this history it's owls and it's burning it's burning and i know the said nurse. will also continue our coverage of the political crisis in sudan where protesters refuse to back down for their demands for civilian government. while the world has watched one of its most famous treasured monuments go up in flames the centuries old notre dame cathedral in paris was engulfed by a massive fire on monday you evening it spread quickly and it suit hundreds of firefighters hours to control the blaze we're told they've managed to save the

structure. all of the gothic monuments but the spire and the roof have collapsed was undergoing major renovation work and some foreign fighters say that may be the cause of the fire president emanuel has promised to rebuild the symbol of paris and the french culture. not to perry is our history it's our literature the place where we've lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here this history it's ours and it's burning it's burning and i know the said internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens. joins me now live from paris. the french president there echoing the shock that parisians. french people have

felt so what's the latest with the situation. yes the french president tomorrow mark or he was here earlier talking about the drama that had been unfolding and that's exactly what it has been there's been an enormous sense of drama across the city as people have rushed to not turn and seen the flames coming out the top of this medieval cathedral this historic building this symbol of paris it was something that people really couldn't have imagined seeing with their own noise and i think the french president really some bad up when he said that sinatra time cathedral is a building that is cherished by so many people not just parisians but people around the world and he is saying that he is vowing to rebuild it because he said the facade of the building has been saved the back of it much of it has been destroyed the roof is certainly collapsed and a lot of the interior has been damaged but he said we we will rebuild this is the

sort of thing that french people do and i think that he summed up that sense of trauma if you like the people felt because it is just a building in many respects but it is one that has stood in the center of the french capital for more than eight hundred years it is visited by some thirty million people each year it's one of the best known buildings in the world as iconic for france as the eiffel towers so the sight of it being destroyed so quickly so rapidly has really left many people deeply saddened this evening there it certainly has the firefighters are still on the scene we heard from the french president some five hundred of whom have been tackling map pleas for hours but appear to is is the before under control and can you give us a sense of just what remains of the building this hour. well i'm standing in front of the facade the main face of the building the one the

very recognizable. with the two towers standing high end and that is pretty much intact of course there is some smoke damage but behind that much of the middle section of the roof is actually collapsed because of the fire and one of the spires there's also collapsed and what we understand from inside and we're seeing some of the first photographs from inside the cathedral is that the damage has been extensive the fire damage the smoke damage many of the paintings of the furniture the tapestries are inside have simply disappeared vanished under the flames and as well as some of the stained glass windows which are extremely famous that people around the world came to see so the building at the moment is well it's still very fragile because the flames haven't been completely extinguished those hundreds of firefighters the spoke about continue to work they are still spraying the building with water because even though the fire is certainly been stabilized and controlled

what they're trying to do is cool down all the areas of the building. and so were the french president when he made that statement he did pledge that the cathedral would be rebuilt what imagines this would be quite the job he has launched. an appeal so that they would seek. help to do so would just give us a sense of the enormity of the task that lies ahead. well here it would be an enormous task this is a building which took hundreds of years to complete i mean goodness knows how long it would take to renovate it i mean even trying to clean it up i mean that's a mind boggling idea at the moment as i said the fire continues so even being able to go inside assess the damage look at what can be salvaged will take a long long time and then of course the process of renovation what do you do do you

rebuild it do you come up with something creative and different and and modern or do you try and restore it to how it once was i mean those are questions that of course will be answered at some point in the future but there's no doubt the water man or markov is saying that this fire in a way won't to defeat this cathedral and i think he's probably using it as a bit of a symbol you know that france won't be defeated by this that people are going to be standing together united in around in a way this symbol of french culture history and identity and tradition and of course nobody wants to see that destroyed he is saying in fact that is why it will be rebuilt and he talked about how that is the french spirits and he said you know not just on cathedral has withstood for example bombardment by german forces during the second world war and it will withstand this fire as well and sasha butler joining us from paris thanks so much for bringing us the very latest there let's take a course at the building itself the eight hundred and fifty year old cathedral

is one of the finest examples of french go for it architecture it was constructed during the twelfth and thirteenth century and it's said to be built over a pagan room and city called lutetia the last time the cathedral suffered major damage was cheering the french revolution terms of the structure itself the two towers are sixty nine meters high the toler the tallest building in paris really until the eiffel tower was completed in eighteen. eighty nine and it so has an incredible appeal nearly thirteen million people visit the cathedral every year that has been in dire need of restoration while paris and the world are watching as the popular structure is and golfed in flames in a statement the vatican says it's watching what it calls the symbol of christianity in france and in the world the shock and sadness that says it's praying for the

firefighters who are facing that blaze the german chancellor angela merkel says she's deeply saddened by the events in paris and that her thoughts are with the french people prisoners prime minister to resume a has offered her supports to the people of france and london's mayor said it kansas he stands in sorrow with paris and the u.s. president says it's one of the greatest treasures in the worlds. and i've been there and i've seen it and there is no cathedral i think i could say there's probably no cathedral in the world like it it's a it's a terrible scene they think it was caused by at this moment they don't know but they think it was caused by renovation and i hope that's. the reason renovation you know what's that all about but it's a terrible sight to behold as a reaction from world leaders but local residents and tourists been reacts and also to that devastating far immediately i have run away to see what's happened and i

found. images i never imagined before i can't give you. an iconic piece it's a destroyed it is a fire i come to believe i'm really so sad and i was really just a crying just before and i. i feel like. crying and i was. in cement their mom to suggest just a week ago i passed by the notre dame cathedral i didn't go inside because i imagined something catastrophic happening especially considering the incidents that happened last year and thousands of years of history it's a national symbol of france that's been hit it's a holy symbol for christians and there you go we're completely helpless it's a cultural heritage it's very strong history for me if feels that all of france has been here it's france it's burning as it was chopped us to say it was such a shock for everybody nobody wants to live through that the fact that such

a landmark has been lost i feel really bad for all parisians and all those who live here. i'll say with this kevin i hearn is a catholic theologian he lives in paris for several hears us presidents of a catholic movements and joins us now by a skype from new york thank you so much for being with us mr ahern the first of all as a catholic give me your reaction to the devastating news today. yeah it's a real sad strategy i think for our camp like the christians and jews and really people who are our protection for catholics in particular i know you're dumb as a special cultural significance france but it's such a key role in all of them for so many centuries and this was really the heart of french. so i'm really i've been unprepared by how motional i don't. seem it's great treasure or of my my faith but also of our human civilization going

up and plains absolutely and this comes at perhaps the worst time for the catholic community as this fire is happening in the run up to easter. yeah i'm going to do france for four years i celebrate in holy thursday which is coming up here almost every year in iraq but it's a beautiful name to begin celebration with your plane and the whole building shake with that music and the celebration there but you know it's it's a time but it would have to have been any time of the year i would argue that the season of lent christians and catholics are preparing for the season good friday this is a probably one of the most significant found that happened because once it is a season to remind us that nothing is permanent or to begin the lenten season with . you would be literally burned to ashes on their forehead. signifying that

nothing is permanent so perhaps there is. that we know structure even not the greatest structure it's only perspective looking up at the out you when we tend to think of the for those who if you are not religious we tend to think of. it as as as a tourist attraction as a famous monument at the heart of paris often easy to forget that this is still a functioning church it is a cathedral or rather it was how difficult given this is to take. absolutely i think you know and remember this i first and foremost i think we as you mentioned the fact that there is no you know this is incredible to me and i think that's something really astonishing to get is that a whole community is going to be homeless now many people approach noted as

a place to go for prison and it's a tourist site as others go as programs but there are many many people from a lot of people from different countries and braided to paris who call notre dame their home parish to calm her down their church and so for them they're going to be you know looking for places that celebrate but it you know it's the heart it's literally the heart of the french the bowels of them and in many ways the french country where places their distance from paris by how far they are from the from the cathedral and so this will be a great loss of motion for a lot of people people who consider that people have had a baptism of their baby baptizer christened their marriages their funerals there will be a you know i hope and pray it will be rebuilt but the community there will have to find other places to worship and i'm sure something great it will be said ok kevin thank you so much for bringing us your thoughts and your reaction as kevin

a catholic theologian joining us from new york. well of course that fire continues to burn in the french capital we had heard from the french president's a man your microphone had spoken of some five hundred firefighters who have been tackling that blaze for well over four hours. has been brought under control but does still continue to burn the spire the famous spire of has collapsed along with the roof but the emergency services say they have managed to preserve the structure of the cathedral itself which will cover some small comfort as you will see from the the images that we're bringing you live from paris at the devastation that has been wrought on the cathedral mean that it is

a long journey ahead to rebuild but rebuilt the french president has pledged that is what happens he has said they will be launching a funding appeal that will be seeking international donors to help rebuild the cathedral of. the hearts of the french capital will stay with this story and keep bringing you updates throughout this news hour but for now let's move on see some other news and thousands of protesters incidence capital are continuing their push for civilian leadership after president omar al bashir was ousted by the military as m strangers are holding a sesson outside the defense ministry components in to on monday the men she council which has taken over leadership said it would appoint a new chief of staff of the army and a deputy or process something ongoing since december triggered by a deepening economic crisis and the will of it with me alone with the huge act of

the revolution cannot be achieved completely in the face of the backstage manipulations of the remnants of the regime arche demanded of a civil council to guarantee the revolution and safeguarded its goals achieved through the technocratic provisional government big zacky the powers must be formed with the consensus of the people. well the adam is a research associate at the school of oriental and african studies he says pay is very on the way forward for sudan is a p.r. that the civilian from which you know there is some difference with india but also there is deep differences within the army itself about the way forward especially the the again i mean if you count in the country because some of them they don't feel completely bit up with the and one of the missing that i withdrew is very important right now for children is how to deal with the order to give you a deeper state because with the presence of the past year and two or three game we don't know what's going on behind the scenes you know i just remember the current

literally you know with the leader of the military council was appointed by the machine right how money not all of you know that the district there right now but still we don't know the relationship between them or so many people they're saying that the still some of the political do already assure that history is connecting with the current you know military council and this is what are you going on so it's very important actually that you know there should be. and clear right brooke might be not to deal with the order to give you know anybody career way. well there's plenty more still to come on the news hour including a new breaks at party the man on the front lines of the push to leave the european union. and in sports the attacker really moves to saudi arabia could this prevent the defending champion from getting to the starting line. what's libby and i were two rival sides remained locked in

a battle over the capital tripoli on monday italy's prime minister met with the qatari foreign minister and here's the results of that meeting just epic on say and mohammed out on the it calls for a cease fire and the withdrawal of after is libyan national forces from recently gains grinds they also voiced concerns about the worsening humanitarian situation in libya itself both leaders urged for the immediate return to the table for talks and bring new political discussions with the u.n. as a moderator. we wish and we are working with determination to prevent the continuation of a military confrontation we wanted immediate cease fire and we wish the national liberation army the l.a. will pull back those who thought that the military option could support the stability of libya in these days in these hours were proved wrong solutions based on force linked to weapons never bring solutions never bring sustainable solutions

or mom or the other one had has the latest from tripoli. this is one of the apartments that were hit by random rockets in the libyan capital tripoli here in the neighborhood this is one of the biggest neighborhoods in the libyan capital tripoli neighbors here tell us that a grad missile came this way and shattered this wall here as you can see and inside the apartment it almost destroyed everything inside the apartment and. there are also some cars down stirred. that were also partly destroyed by the explosion now the owners of this apartment the work to fight and they left soon we had one person wanted by the explosion and it seems that this is neighbors tell us that this is the missile that hit the

apartment and exploded inside the apartment this is this seems to be a grad missile and here here in this kitchen there is a gas cylinder and. people here are very grateful that it did not explode because had it exploded it will have would have caused a huge fire in the whole bently building there's also this is also part of the the grad missile now everything here. is partly destroyed by the explosion and since the war was hearted between forces loyal to the warlord who for health and others do it to the government of national accord on april fourth civil civilian locations including civilian properties and houses have been hit by random rockets and the government of national accord is accusing have to his forces of

committing war crimes by targeting civilian areas with heavy weapons and air strikes. twenty five former high ranking european politicians have signed an open letter urging nations to rejects any middle east peace plan unveiled by the white house that's unfair to palestinians the u.s. is preparing to announce what it calls the deal of the century or those who signed the letter say it's a critical moment in the middle east and europe and they accuse the white house of departing from longstanding u.s. policy and established international law by recognizing only one side's claim to jerusalem and say the u.s. has demonstrated to courts a disturbing indifference to israeli settlements expansion the lesser goes on urging european nations to back up plan requiring the creation of a palestinian state alongside israel with east jerusalem as its capital they say

that any plan that reduces palestinian state to an entity devoid of sovereignty territorial continuity and economic viability would fatally damage the course of a journal peace for palestinians and israelis alike. the palestinian liberation organization has called on europe to implement the existing un resolutions. well european union needs to who can eyes the state of palestine what is due some on the night in six of them lines and they need to implement seriously . resolution twenty three thirty four of the security council two thousand and sixteen that's a belated between israel and the settlements dealing with settlements in any way the calling of certain months and occupied state of palestine just daughterly illegal and against international law that's what's required from europe now. well earlier we spoke with one of these six former prime minister who signed the open

letter so it is carl bildt says a two state solution is the only viable way forward. what kind of solution to the. permanent occupation it would be to the detriment of the if there is demand but history of a one nation solution with rights for everyone. unacceptable to a lot of that. state would be unacceptable to the outside world that if the good with the jews based solution particularly view of what's been happening with settlement policy and all of that but if you look at the alternatives i think you find that this is the only only avenue that you can bring both peace durable to israel recognition by the rest of their word and justice. and peace to the palestinian people there is no other way the trumpet mr hugh wakes up to the realities of what is she evil when it comes comes to peace in the middle east they would eventually find

a solution among the long of the lines that has been indicated by the european union for a long time is only viable solution that has any possibility of wheel success. the us secretary of state has wrapped up his four nation tour of south america with a brief visit to the colombian border city of cookouts are my pump ale along with colombian president ivan c.k. what's along the salmon both of our bridge where thousands of venezuelan refugees cross every day and paper says the u.s. will use all economic and political pressure to hold president nicolas maduro to account. venezuela's political and economic crisis continues to deepen water shortages and rising inflation and making life even harder for many but as well sale reports from caracas some communities arkell thing by working together. for decades many working class venezuelans have had to collect water from points like these at the bottom of the mountains that surround the valley that is caracas the

country's infrastructure has forever been underdeveloped however in recent weeks the number of those queuing up to gather water has not. increased several electricity blackouts has meant that water plants haven't been pumping to homes across the capital was business comes here once a week with her two children despite being economically secure if they wait for more than an hour with their buckets and containers. in matthew five by the hour i've been coming more often in recent weeks because there's no water when we have water in our building it's not drink a bowl we use it for other gas but we can't drink it. what's confounded the problem even more is that caracas has witnessed an unusually dry period with no rain reservoirs like this have dried up. but the government sees the main reasons for the water crisis are subject sores and the u.s. imposed sanctions aimed at turning the people against president nicolas maduro you . see that they want people to explode and turn against the government to justify

a possible military intervention and the us government spokesperson has openly stated that the purpose of these sanctions is to make people suffer. to offset this and more importantly seemingly to win people's hearts the government is providing heavily subsidized goods and services to poor venezuelans in a room on the second floor of one of the hundreds of thousands of buildings that sprawl the many favelas scattered across venezuela a group of pro-government activists old school uniforms children's clothes and other garments as part of an initiative set up under former president hugo chavez. similar uniforms are sold in the shops for around twenty seven dollars these are offered for a mere thirty cents their work orders have increased drastically since the u.s. sanctions kicked in. these activists also run a control center where they receive requests for help from local residents and monitor things like water shortages. we monitor and listen to people's needs and

with the help of the government we then provide for them it's not surprising that giovanni is a loyal supporter of the government were not for hugo chavez and his socialist revolution he would never have been able to get a university degree he tells me that the american sanctions are not headed to the government are hurting or people if america wanted to help the people the wouldn't impose those sanctions for a country with the largest oil reserves in the world you'd expect living standards here to be high but the reality is that basic things like water aren't always available now opponents of president maduro put that down through mismanagement and corruption by a socialist government that's been in power for years but there's no denying that u.s. sanctions have played their part and devastating the venezuelan economy and preventing the country from developing. well as myself come on al-jazeera including a sprint finish the boston marathon we will tell you who had their legs thanks to

in sports. the worst is over with and i all risk of tornadoes is going offshore the satellite still shows quite clearly the cause of it all and it's wrapped around what is still further north cold enough to give some overnight snow this is the picture just before dawn on monday night and then to see is more or less dispersed you also notice if you're watching close. see the potential bit of snow still around the great lakes for example is cold enough at least not for that more obvious today over the cascades you'll see snow in the telling off to rain then towards the middle of california yes it's still raining here on off which has been which means that we're just talking up the hundred percent full reservoirs even more probably a good thing however when i am watching is this development here this is now

wednesday we feeding it from the south of your code or from the north the potential for this develop once more exists going to be watched carefully i think south of all this and the tail end of that frontal system so violent of the us is this so shero to maybe develop in the bahamas and in cuba possibly down el salvador guatemala as well but those tents disappear that it comes rather dry picture dry is still rather cloudy at least in this part of the caribbean. egypt's strongman is ruling with an eye and faced and the silence from his allies is deafening the u.s. was perfectly happy to trade off the march for sea for security while western leaders turning a blind eye when even their own citizens have fallen victim to his repression executions torture or censorship is not acceptable and you won't hear such strong

words from let's say berlin or paris or london our man in cairo a on al-jazeera fake news is a global virus but an indian politics is becoming a cancer on the up and stopped and abused and manipulate them into whatever the party just based on emotion can skew the footsteps tional for the under d. list better pick really if you're bombarded with the freak news it does start to go to as the world's largest democracy goes to the polls how vulnerable are exposed is to malicious disinformation. people and power investigates india fake news and agitprop on al-jazeera.

you're watching al-jazeera a quick reminder of the top stories this hour. the centuries old cathedral in paris has been gold spike massive fire fighters have managed to save the chief structure of the world famous monuments but it's spire and roof have collapsed the french president. has promised to rebuild the cathedral and already a french billionaire francois nor has said he will donates. more than one hundred million dollars to help with that process we understand it's a private heritage foundation of. has officially launched that funds to encourage donations from around the world to help as they say rebuild our lady from the ashes. and protesters in sudan's capital are continuing very push for civilian leadership after president bashir was

ousted by the military on monday the military council said it would appoint a new chief of staff for the army and the deputy. most return to our top story the far. cathedral or the response of father christopher jamieson who's benedictine monk and director of the roman catholic national office for vocation he explains just what the last means for the church of paris with easter approaching. it represents so many things to so many people this great beautiful building it's first of all the center for the catholic community of paris and it's the seat of the archbishop of paris so shock for them as a community then it also is a place of sanctuary for all the people of paris and the people of france a place where they go in times of crisis or times of jubilation so for example at

the end of the second world war when there was the liberation of paris in one thousand nine hundred four general the goal went for a mass to celebrate the liberation and then of course it's a treasury of great art some of the greatest art in the world stretching back eight centuries so all those three levels it's a shock. and i think the greatest shock that were probably before the archbishop of paris absolve archbishop opa t. who's just been in the job now for about eighteen months and he must be completely stunned and wondering what to do next because he would be expecting to celebrate the great easter ceremonies there starting on thursday. and he must wonder what am i going to do now where i'm going to celebrate these great ceremonies the church of paris will be wondering you know which church can they use for the easter services for the archbishop because the the cathedral the word cathedral comes from the word cathedral meaning seat and it is the seat of the archbishop and so the

ceremonies there for example include very often but thais ing adults who wish to become catholic that be a fair number of those in fact that the numbers of those have increased in recent years so there's a great logistical problem and i'm sure that the churches of paris and the catholics of paris will be rallying round to to re house all of that which starts with the the great thursday night ceremony of the washing of the feet remembering christ washing his decide. was feet of the last supper then the great ceremony of good friday remembering the crucifixion the desolation of crucifixion urn as i said the easter vigil symbolizing the resurrection of christ with the easter candle coming into the darkened church so all of that plus the people who are going to be baptized during the service will all have to be re how's that i think it's quite a logistical challenge because each local church will already have made arrangements for themselves but i'm sure they will rally around to do that i think

looking beyond that. the support of all the catholic community in prayer will matter very greatly to that community in paris. and let's say with this kevin i heard as a catholic theologian he lives in paris for several years as president of a catholic student movement sounds joins us now via skype from new york kevin i heard we heard there about the logistical challenges of losing such an important feature of that this very difficult time but logistics site this represents an enormous blow not just for catholics in paris but well why it's. yeah especially and you know as we are approaching you know holy week this week and a celebration and it's a holy thursday good friday and easter. church look at the. rows of three very warm relics. the what is believed to be an hour from the crucifixion

of jesus the crown of thorns. and some fragments from across as a loser or a medieval relics that have been of venerated for years and see just the new pictures from inside because he brought and knowing how much while the these rather bizarre and house holy and sacred they are i think i'm confident that they have been saved but this is a day that catholics have tangibles or times to the crucifixion and it's important moment in their story in this building and so it touches countless in our countries around the world it doesn't do you said we had to it's interesting you mentioned those relics we had heard from the authorities in paris they said at least the crying of thorns they had managed to save they have managed to also save the the structural integrity off the building but many many more

items will have been lost including the wooden timbers which date back we step back centuries. and you figure that these. are all dreams as well so that you can further the wooden structure around me all chancel that shields in around the only baltar. recently beautiful wooden relief car. the wife of jesus and from the pictures i just. years those are those are gone but you know i keep going back to. the last there's a. better something we should all be grateful for that is there certainly is at least some comfort surgery what is a very difficult time for for people in paris and also worldwide for seeing these images which are really very distressing indeed kevin or her and speaking to us

from new york thank you very much indeed for your thoughts this hour let's turn to other news now and media organizations in france are reporting that french manufactured weapons sold to saudi arabia and the u.a.e. being used against civilians in yemen says the weapons including tanks cesar cannons and later laser guided missile systems are stations on the society yemeni front here investigation found that france assault one hundred and thirty two artillery pieces to riyadh since twenty ten between march twenty sixth in december last year thirty five civilians and creating children were killed in areas within the range of those weapons well france has always maintained that its weapons were used for defense purposes on the say the border. and staying with the war in yemen the u.n. envoy says the internationally recognized governments and he sees rebels have

accepted a plan to withdraw their forces from the port city of data the redeployments was part of a cease fire agreed in december but has been repeatedly delayed both sides have said they'll pull back several kilometers and what would be the first voluntary withdrawal of the conflicts i canna has more from the united states native nations . the parties to the conflict have agreed to a phased withdrawal from the port city of the data that's according to special representative martin griffiths who says in the past week both the yemen government and the hutu rebels have agreed to implement the two stage withdrawal that was agreed to back in february however there's been no timeline established for the first phase to begin and while the conflict continues so too does the humanitarian crisis the council was told that some seventy percent of yemen's population already need of humanitarian relief over the last two weeks fighting has forced nearly one

hundred thousand people from their homes about half of other areas in which is an extremely poor want to scarcity street and. three hundred thousand displaced people. in fact just a few kilometers from the main water source. thousand people if i actually damages or cuts off this city very quickly see a major catastrophe and the big news given to the council that the un is simply running out of money the council was told that if donor nations do not increase their contributions the u.n. will be unable to carry out any humanitarian operation. funerals have been held for the seven children killed in afghanistan when a mortar they were playing with exploded ten others were wounded in the blasts in

eastern lockman province charlotte bellus reports somehow children are the most vulnerable to unexploded munitions scattered across the country during nearly two decades of war. in this small village of lanky doe in eastern afghanistan hundreds of men gather to pray for the seventeen young boys. they procession through the symmetry is because of a single mortar as a sunset on sunday their boys found it and played with it exploded in. this community is on the front lines of the war in an area the taliban it's so to say fighting has peaked in the last year zero zero couldn't enter so one of the mourners filmed for us recording on his screens grapple with losing their son just . ten boys were wounded in the blast most were brought here to loveman hospital they tell us how they were all of history fishing when they found the

water it was thirty metres from an army base. the word for it in fact that we threw the mortar in the potato field the other boys came and threw it in the stream we were there because we wanted to catch fish. as. some children put the mortar in a potato field. then in the evening other boys came and they wanted to buy the rocket to scrap metal they were fetching it and we ran away and then they threw it in the stream and it exploded. these boys avoided serious injuries and amputation saved by the distance to the explosion last year and nearly fifteen hundred civilians were either killed or hurt by land mines and unexploded munitions that number has tripled since twenty twelve and its children who are the most of those killed by unexploded bombs or rockets eighty percent children who think they are playing with a toy. and this is the result parents warning their

children the un started a mine clearing program she years ago and in that time has removed eighteen million unexploded munitions for the boys of blank took just one to him seven young lives charlotte dallas al-jazeera kabul. new zealand as appealing for the whereabouts of a nurse kidnapped along with two drivers in syria nearly six years ago carvey was working for the red cross delivering aid when she was taken it's believed she's being held captive by isong alongside two syrian drivers because his abduction was kept secret for fear her life might be at risk. our number one priority all along has been luis the safety and as you say decisions have been taken always with that in mind one of those decisions this you keep the information as far you know out of the public eye as possible the i.c.r.c. has has taken the lead and we've worked collectively together around when is when

is there is no right or wrong time the assessment is maged that with the fall of the caliph ass that's the risk we really need to see by calling for action whether we can find out any more information at this point. and the british parliament says taking a rest from arguing over breakfast for a week but elsewhere about so has been joins with seeing those who want to abandon the idea and most determined to see it through well the u.k.'s most high profile brics it's here nigel farage launched a new political party but the sole intention of leaving the european union but honestly it's more. english seaside has always been a favorite location for brick says something about faded bori perhaps a country in need of reminding itself how great it once was and bricks it's being metaphorically undemocratically broken on the rocks. the brand new bricks of policy found an industrial estates in which to present itself to this it's the big

announcement of this former captain of industry the stand in the european elections with a mandate to create i think what i would want to do is to make sure that british interests are protected and if we can help to reform the european union the process of a great. i mean things like objecting to the european budgets and things like that would you want to do something like that but i think bearing in mind that the budget has historically not been signed off very often by the court awarded says because it's been deemed to be corrupt i think it would be my duty to actually object to the budget window. that. over the road though everything. needs to know about how divisive that has become a straight shot on seeing match develops between the pro europeans and the brits this. suggest in the euro because. that's worth. we don't know what we value for what you think of them i don't see. the.

i'm sorry i i respect their right to have a different opinion but i think obviously they're deeply mistaken and they're leading the country into chaos and trouble. so this in microcosm is the states of british politics nowadays the european elections next month effectively a sort of mini second referendum in their own terms between those people over there who don't want breakfast at all and these people over here they want to right now. because the woman cuts in pay nigel. contradiction legs sits as a member of the european parliament's u.k. council and for now it's a pain the status quo yes again never mind that his new policy has no apparent policies other than bricks it's good to know his status among this constituency is little short of both like we're living in

a country where the two quality system is no longer. and it needs to be broken up if recent history and the polls are to be believed then pharaoh's once again promises to undermine entirely the conservative party the last time you did that's the bricks at referendum have to be called very this time well it's a case. of just sure and see. that fastens of protesters have been blocking roads in some of london's busiest areas demanding action on climate change the demonstrations are being led by the environmental group extinction rebellion is planning rallies and. thirty three countries around the world in the coming days bernard smith was among protests in the british capital. this will perhaps be the generation that really notices the effects of climate change their parents' frustration of the lack of action on the environment is they say what's

forced them to take part in peaceful civil disobedience even the cars as we go past the gang leaflets and you know so many will look at it and they don't like it makes them angry that it really there but others agree and others are worried about climate change and they see what we're doing and we're like the eye of the storm and i'm getting sucked in across central london thousands of protesters moved to block traffic they've set up camp sites and waterloo bridge was one of five locations turned into a car free picnic site the government aren't talking about this crisis as if it is emergency they are mobilizing all of our systems in order to. adjust this crisis and it's not just the government immediate same epicenter as the biggest emergency we're facing needed to teachers because they're unable to it's not within the curriculum with traffic diverted a major shopping streets empty of vehicles this was oxford circus not everyone was persuaded by the protests this is pretty tough so i'm putting it off to the trying to make everybody was like it was shot in the road off which was

a movie i think it was in the pollution extinction rebellion says these protests will be repeated in more than eighty cities across the globe here in london they plan to keep road blocks day and night. for protesters of mannish bring much of central london to a standstill in what they're saying is a new form of civil disobedience to force people worldwide to pay attention to climate change they say they're going to be doing this for the next two weeks bernard smith al-jazeera london. japan's crippled fukushima nuclear plant. fuel from its damaged. it was carried by remote control a high levels of radiation the reactor was damaged in twenty eleven when japan was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami. in parts gizzi difficulties clearing. brazil proofs

that. it will have the story coming up shortly.

time for the sport here's lia thank you so much australia have sacked their biggest rugby union star israel folau over homophobic comments that he made on social media it comes just months before the start of the rugby world cup in japan meanwhile england believe in a poll that has been formally warned about his conduct by his club saracens after he defended full oust post david stokes reports israel folau is the highest profile

and highest paid player in australian rugby union at least he was the fullbacks career appears to be over after he launched yet another homophobic attack on social media and ultra conservative christian he was wounded twenty seventeen for expressing his opposition to gay marriage but then last week posted this on instagram saying that old gays will go to hell if they do not repent. it left australia's rugby forces with little choice probably a stranger in tikrit you know james brown had committed a high level breakage of the facial players code of conduct warranting tim a nation of has employment contract thirty year old folau who is not deleted the post told the sydney morning herald newspaper it would be god's will if he never played rugby again he's been a fixture for the wallabies since switching from the rules in twenty thirteen and would no doubt have played a huge part in the world cup campaign later this year but coach michael cheika says

there's no way he could pick him now when you're playing the cultures who. were present everyone is right everyone it's not just australia facing all good questions england rugby star believe in a polo could be in hot water for publicly defending folau online as could three of his teammates who in turn like his post is set to meet with england bosses this week as for folau he has forty eight hours to either accept his sacking or take it to an independent hearing but it's hard to see a route back for him now david stokes out zero three time dakar rally champion says he's optimistic that he'll be able to participate and next year's event after organizers move the race to saudi arabia the guitar you driver told al jazeera that he doesn't yet know if he will be blocked from entering saudi arabia because of its own ongoing blockade of qatar the race is moving to the middle east after being held in south america since two thousand and nine. attalia police have detained

fifty four armed dutch football fans ahead of the second leg of the champions league quarter finals police are on high alert after fans from you ventus and i x. clashed before the first leg leading to over one hundred arrests police say the i.x. fans who were stopped on buses outside of surin were in possession of armored gloves fireworks and smoke bombs you ventus will take a crucial away goal advantage into the match after their one all draw in amsterdam i.x. are looking to make it through to the city finals for the first time in more than twenty years. barcelona go into tuesday's other game against manchester united with a one nil advantage they're looking to halt their run of being knocked out at this stage of the competition for the last three seasons in a row a look at my stepmother used to sort of speak to the idea that the thing i fear the most is the spirit they have the players they have and the power and speed they have if you give space to they play is they run very well it precise and strong and

of course the strategy we respect them as a team for what they've done the story they have behind them and because you can see the spirit in monday's boston marathon was the first time since the two thousand and thirteen bombing that the event has been held on the actual anniversary of the blasts the men's race came down to a sprint finish between kenya's lawrence cherno and ethiopia decease up the kenyan holding on for a two second when things were much more comfortable for ethiopia's work nash. in the women's race after breaking away from the field early on she cruised to victory by almost a minute. in major league baseball the boston red sox have been thrashed eight one by the baltimore orioles to white smith jr knocked in four runs including this two run homer in the fifth inning all the players wore the number forty two in honor of jackie robinson day which commemorates the first black player to break

into the majorly back in one thousand nine hundred seven australia's cricket team have readmitted ball tampering cheats david warner and steve smith into their squad for the world cup both batsman completed a year long bands and looks good in the indian premier league the world cup starts next month in england and wales. and finally if you think you've seen it all have you seen a unicorn flying down brazil streets very informed question well now you can say that you have thousands of for to safin took part in the south follow crazy heart race as the aim to get their gravity powered vehicle down the three hundred fifty meter track but as for the fries well they're left playing catch up. that's orders for now we'll have more for you later. and that wraps up this news are do stay with us here on al-jazeera they'll be back after this very short break with the latest on our top story that's the fire that has ravaged not shut down the cathedral a preliminary investigation has finds it was an accidents but that

investigation continues the french president emanuel has promised to rebuild the first donation of one hundred million dollars so it's already been pledged to stay with us and al jazeera for the very latest. al-jazeera. swear every.

this was wrong to teach children away from their appearance and herd them into a school against their will there was no mother no father figures they put is a big player and we sort of looked after so i don't remember the children's names. which kind it is dark secret on al-jazeera. al-jazeera. where every jew. in syria citizens are collecting evidence you know i want to build

a shot of crimes committed against civilians you've moved out of syria and about six hundred thousand pages of material so that one day they can bring the assad regime to justice it puts a she will face on the charges it's a dead human face but it's a human tricks syria witnesses for the prosecution on al-jazeera. the good. global icon burn spot france's president promises that it will rise again. i don't want to be closer than in most of what we will rebuild this cathedral together not just on dastardly part of the french destiny.

and how he did and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. protesters in sudan refused to back down from their demand for a civilian government. and fear and despair grips thousands of libyans displaced by the fierce fighting for control of the capital tripoli. while the world has watched one of its most famous and treasured monuments go up in flames the centuries old cathedral in paris was engulfed by a massive fire on monday you. evening far spread quickly and took hundreds of firefighters hours to control the blaze they have managed to save the chief structure of the gulf that monuments but the spire and have collapsed the thirteenth century monument was undergoing major renovation work and some far faces

say it may be the cause of that far presidents amount of america home has promised to rebuild the symbol of paris aunts of french culture. not perry is our history it's our literature the place where we've lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting phaedra which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here this history it's owls and it's burning it's burning and i know the sadness internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens. more secular could more detail but not the eight hundred and fifty year olds cathedral is one of the finest examples of french girl think architecture constructed twelfth and thirteenth centuries said to be built

over a pagan woman city called leticia the last time the cathedral suffered major damage was during the french revolution the main terrorists are sixty nine meters high and they were the tallest structures in paris until the eiffel tower was completed back in eighty nine and nearly thirty million people visit the cathedral every year however it has been in dire need of restoration that tasha butler has the latest from paris well french president about all mark or has spoken about the drama that has unfolded in paris with those with a fire that spread throughout the not to cathedral neck he has said that that fire has now been stabilized he has said that the worst has been averted and what he means is the firefighters say that he is earlier that this building would collapse if in fact been averted it's no longer the case they've managed to stabilize control that blaze and what they're doing now is firing water jets at the building

to try and cool it down to avoid any further parts collapsing but the flames continue the fire hasn't been extinguished five hundred firefighters are working. very hard this is an enormous operation and i have to say this is a city really in shock this is a building that has been here for more than eight hundred years and in just a matter of hours parts of it simply collapsed to the ground we were here a bit earlier when we saw a part of the roof crumble under the flames a huge cloud of smoke went into the sky and molten ash burning our started to rain down police have evacuated the area for people safety it will be a while until people can come back of course and people left in shock people are standing shoulder to shoulder in the streets looking at the cathedral wondering how on earth this could happen and that will be a question going forward and what we know at the moment as firefighters are saying

that perhaps this was an accident linked to some renovation work that was ongoing and not to get to not to down cathedral but it seems really unimaginable that such a national monument could be damaged so badly by fire so quickly or paris and the world's are watching the tragedy in a statement the vatican says it's watching what it calls the symbol of christianity in france and in the world with shock and sadness and says it's praying for the firefighters who are fighting that blaze german chancellor angela merkel says she is deeply saddened by the events paris but her thoughts are with the french people britain's prime minister to resign me has offered her supports to the people of france and london mayor so he can says he stands in sorrow with paris and the u.s. president says it's one of the greatest treasures of the world. a local residents and tourists have been reacting to the devastation far. immediately i

have run away to see what's happened and i found the. images i never imagined before i can't give you. an iconic of it's a destroyed is a fire i come to believe i'm really so sad i was really just a crying just before and i. i feel like this is this is crying to me as a history of justice as it was such a shock for everybody nobody wants to live through that the fact that such a landmark has been lost i feel really bad for all parisians and all those who live here. but that was some reaction from people at the scene will say some reaction from around the world kevin ahern is a catholic theologians he lived in paris for several years as president of a catholic student movement and joins us now via skype from new york thank you so much for joining us haven't i heard. heard there are people in paris speaking of

their shock that shock really reverberating around the world. yes and i think the shock is now transitioning to a little bit of a sigh of relief among many because the news of of the recent few hours is that large parts of the structure are sad to say and most interesting news for a lot of conflicts is that a priest chaplain to the french fire departments was able to go in with the firefighters and rescue several important relics and sacred are items including what is believed to be the crown of thorns that and traditionally first this week on holy in holy week and i'm good and good friday is a major place of pilgrimage because of the crown of thorns so it'll be interesting to see what the church does the local parish french church does with its our relic

in the next few days it will get mentioned there that this is a very important very important church for catholics we do tend to forget the not to doubt is it really is more than just a tourist attraction this is a rather was a functioning cathedral a place of worship for so many catholics in france how is this affecting the catholic community to see this cathedral raise to the grains. yeah i think it comes from the time of lent is in the blanks were christians begin to season on ash wednesday and litter early but he now says on their forehead reminding them that not that it is permanent except for god and guns love and so as we approach the celebration of easter which of course is a supposed to be a joyful celebration there are you know a few illogical insights we differ missed but there's also

a very practical question that emerged of a lot before christians were they going to separate those that are planning to attend service there and what about the pogroms who were going to go into venerate this crown of thorns and the other relics related to the crucifixion of jesus on friday so it has a practical but also theoretical dynamics to it and i think it's just many many people are moved by this and i think there will we will see more in the next few days prayers as we saw today even right next to paris as young people gathered in the last semi shell just across the river to pray for the for the structure and for the all that it means for people. as we are is speaking kevin i heard the efforts are continuing to continue to dice the flames over the cathedral to try and save as much as they can we have parents of several relics that have been saved the

structure of the building has been saved as well but much much more has still been the loss. you know and you see i mean what's so sad you know when you consider the the would that be amazing you would work and you could be in the room structures from the trees that were up there were cut down hundreds of years ago massive i believe oak trees are and so i just you know something where we can remember all the people that went into the building of this structure and thank goodness that no one no one has been seriously hurt in this and i hope that continues through the night because i'm sure the fire but firefighters walk along our evening and that's when they search and they will act kevin i had joining us from new york thanks very much for your thoughts that are of

course we will continue to keep on top of developments as they unfold in paris. well i'll be back in just a moments with some more of the day's news and creating. a new bracks a party the man on the front lines of the push to leave the european union. hello looks like you're not a good day off in china the spring rains come and go to really settle down to be something rather more vicious in its a few weeks time but as you can see was a cloud drifting eastwards is a bit of a gap for afterward so we do have i think some development on tuesday with maybe the centering of the heaviest rain in gorgie then moving eastwards with but leaving

hong kong out of it until after dark tuesday into wednesday i think it's all new science words you get a wet night but after that well looks quite quiet and for most of central southern china than you know if they are fine weather and lower humidity ten twenty seven also low humidity in hong kong a nice woman shanghai pretty hot i think my argument john do twenty nine degrees now that there is more cat around in southeast asia in the philippines as evidenced by the satellite picture and daily showers do grow the heaviest downpours are still showing up in west papua sort of y.c. borneo and parts of indonesia down towards jakarta in particular sumatra is also involved this is a full custody after tuesday now the green dots representing the heavier showers so singapore was in the mix column to maybe not bangkok pretty close to you really i suspect similar story for wednesday the showers and never in exactly the same place . the weather sponsored catalonians. teach it

strongman is ruling with an iron fist and the silence from his allies is deafening the u.s. was perfectly happy to trade off from arthur c. force. why are western leaders turning a blind eye when even their own citizens have fallen victim to his repression executions torture or censorship is not acceptable and you want to hear such strong words from let's say berlin or paris or london our man in cairo a on al-jazeera. you're watching all of us here quick reminder of the top stories this hour. the centuries old not sure the cathedral in paris has been engulfed by a massive far fighters have managed to save the chief structure of the world famous

building but it spiral and roof collapse french president emmanuel mccall has promised to rebuild and french billionaire all the peano says he will give more than one hundred million dollars to help with that process. or father chris richardson as a benefit seen monk and director of roman catholic national office for the cation he explains just what the last means for the church of paris with easter approaching. it represents so many things to so many people this great beautiful building it's first of all the center for the catholic community of paris and it's the seat of the archbishop of paris so shock for them as a community then it also is a place of sanctuary for all the people of paris and the people of france a place where they go in times of crisis or times of jubilation so for example at

the end of the second world war when there was the liberation of paris in one thousand nine hundred four general de gaulle went for a mass to celebrate the liberation and then of course it's a treasury of great art some of the greatest art in the world stretching back eight centuries so on all those three levels it's a shock. and i think the greatest shock that were probably before the archbishop of paris himself. who's just been in the job now for about eighteen months and he must be completely stunned and wondering what to do next because he would be expecting to celebrate the great easter ceremonies there starting on thursday. and he must wonder what am i going to do now where i'm going to celebrate these great ceremonies the church of paris will be wondering you know which church can they use for the easter services for the archbishop because the the cathedral the word cathedral comes from the word cathedral meaning seat and it is the seat of the

archbishop and so the ceremonies there for example include very often but thais ing adults who wish to become catholic that be a fair number of those in fact that the numbers of those have increased in recent years so there's a great logistical problem and i'm sure that the churches of paris and the catholics of paris will be rallying round to to re house all of that which starts with the the great thursday night ceremony of the washing of the feet remembering christ washing his decide. bill's feat of the last supper then the great ceremony of good friday remembering the crucifixion the desolation of crucifixion urn as i said the easter vigil symbolizing the resurrection of christ with the easter candle coming into the darkened church so all of that plus the people who are going to be baptized during the ceremonies will all have to be re how's that i think it's quite a logistical challenge because each local church will already have made arrangements for themselves but i'm sure they will rally around to do that i think

looking beyond that. the support of all the catholic community in prayer will matter very greatly to that community in paris. let's turn to other news now and thousands of protesters in sudan's capital are continuing their push for civilian leadership after president omar al bashir was ousted by the military the demonstrators are holding assess in night site the defense ministry compound in her tune on monday the military council which has taken over leadership said it would appoint a new chief of staff of the army and a deputy protests have been ongoing since december triggered by a deepening economic crisis in the room about it with me alone with the huge act of the revolution cannot be achieved completely in the face of the backstage manipulations of the remnants of the regime are key demand for mation of a civil council to guarantee the revolution is safeguarded its goals achieved with the technocratic provisional government with executive powers must be formed with

the consensus of the people. to libya know where two rival sides remain locked in a military confrontation over the capital tripoli a kits are a delegation has met with italy's prime minister to discuss the ongoing crisis as warlords for liver have libyan national forces fights the un banks governments its prime minister has called for a cease fire and the withdrawal of have to his forces from recently gained groans and other giuseppi kaante and qatar's foreign minister mohammed el to army discuss the worsening humanitarian crisis in the country for science urged both leaders rather as all sides to return to the table for more talks with the un acting moderator. we wish and we're working with determination to prevent the continuation of a military confrontation we want an immediate cease fire and we wish the national liberation army in l.a. will pull back those who thought that the military option could support the

stability of libya in these days in these hours were proved wrong solutions based on force look to weapons never bring solutions never bring sustainable solutions while mahmoud's of the word has the latest from tripoli. this is one of the apartments that were hit by a random rockets in the libyan capital tripoli here in the neighborhood this is one of the biggest neighborhoods in the libyan capital tripoli neighbors here tell us that a grad missile came this way and shattered this wall here as you can see and inside the apartment it almost destroyed everything inside the apartment and. there are also some cars down stirred. that were also partly destroyed by the explosion now the owners of this apartment the word

defied and they left soon he had one person wanted by the explosion and it seems that this is neighbors tell us that this is the missile that hit the apartment and exploded inside the apartment this is this seems to be a grad missile and here here in this kitchen there is a gas cylinder and. people here are very grateful that it did not explode because had it exploded it would have would have caused a huge fire in the whole bently building there's also this is also part of the the grad missile. now everything here is partly destroyed by the explosion and since the war was hearted between forces loyal to the warlord who for health and others do it to the government of national accord on april fourth civil

civilian locations including civilian properties and houses have been hit by random rockets and the government of national accord is accusing have those forces of committing war crimes by targeting civilian areas with heavy weapons and airstrikes. twenty five former high ranking european politicians have signed an open letter urging e.u. nations to reject any middle east peace plan that's unfair to palestinians those who signed the letter say it's a critical moments in the middle east and europe they accuse the white house of departing from longstanding u.s. policy and established international law by recognizing only one side's claim to jerusalem they say the u.s. has demonstrated quote a disturbing a difference to is really settlement expansion letter goes on urging european nations to back a plan requiring the creation of

a palestinian state alongside israel with history slim as its capital they say that any plan that reduces palestinian statehood to an entity devoid of sovereignty territorial contiguity and economic viability would fatally damage the course of a germ of peace for palestinians and israelis alike well earlier we spoke with one of the six former prime ministers who signed the open letter sweden's car bill says a two state solution is the only viable way forward. what kind of solution do they have a permanent occupation and would be to the detriment of the answer is to make this trip a one nation solution with rights for everyone the clearly unacceptable to a lot of the an apartheid state would be unacceptable to the outside what they did because with a two state solution particularly in view of what's been happening with settlement policy in all of that but if you look at the alternatives i think you find that

this is the only only avenue that can bring both peace durable this trail and recognition by the rest of their word and justice fairness and peace to the palestinian people there's no other way to trumpet mr hume wakes up to the relatives of what is she evil when it comes to comes to peace in the middle east they would eventually find the solution. along the lines that has been indicated by the european union for a long time is the only viable solution that has any possibility of real success. the u.n. said avoid yemen says the internationally recognized government and who see the rebels have accepted a plan to withdraw their forces in the port city of her data the redeployments was part of a cease fire agreement december but has been repeatedly delayed mike hanna has more from the united nations. the parties to the conflict have agreed to

a phased withdrawal from the port city of the data that's according to special representative martin griffiths who says in the past week both the yemeni government and the hutu rebels have agreed to implement the two stage withdrawal that was agreed to back in february however there's been no timeline established for the first phase to begin and while the conflict continues so too does the humanitarian crisis the council was told that some seventy percent of yemen's population already need of humanitarian relief over the last two weeks fighting force nearly one hundred thousand more people from. about half of other areas in which is an extremely poor want to scarcity history and. some three hundred thousand displaced people. you know actually just a few kilometers from the main water source which is about two hundred thousand

people if i actually damages or cuts off this city we could very quickly see a major catastrophe and the bleak news given to the council that the u.n. is simply running out of money the council was told that if donor nations do not increase their contributions the u.n. will be unable to carry out any humanitarian operation. thousands of protesters are blocking routes in some of london's busiest areas demanding action on climate change the demonstrations are being led by the environmental group extinction rebellion is planning rallies in thirty three countries around the world in the coming days credit smith was among protesters in the british capital. this will perhaps be the generation that really notices the effects of climate change their parents frustration of the lack of action on the environment is they say what's forced them to take part in peaceful civil disobedience even the cars as we go past

the gang leaflets and you know me will look at it and they don't like it makes them angry that it really there were others agree and others are worried about climate change and they see what we're doing and we like the eye of the storm and are getting sucked in across central london files of protesters moved to block traffic they've set up camp sites and waterloo bridge was one of five locations turned into a car free picnic site the government aren't talking about this crisis as if it is emergency they are mobilizing all of our systems in order to. adjust this crisis and it's not just the government immediately at the center as the biggest emergency we're facing needed to teachers because that enables it is not within the curriculum with traffic diverted a major shopping streets empty of vehicles this was oxford circus not everyone was persuaded by the protests this was a truck bomb putting it off to the trying to make everybody who was locked. what did they all shouted out of this in the movie i think it was in the pollution extinction rebellion says these protests will be repeated in more than eighty

cities across the globe here in london they plan to keep roads blocked day and night. for protesters of mannish bring much of central london to a standstill in what they're saying is a new form of civil disobedience to force people worldwide to pay attention to climate change they say they're going to be doing this for the next two weeks bernard smith al-jazeera london. u.k.'s most high profile brick sincere nigel farage shows launched a new political party with the sole intention of leaving the european union and it's already proving polarizing as laura sleep reports. the english seaside has always been a favorite location for brick says something about faded glory perhaps a country in need of reminding itself how great it once was and bricks it's being metaphorically undemocratically broken on the rocks. the brand new bricks policy found an industrial estates in which to present itself to this ordinance the big

announcement of this former captain of industry will stand in the european elections with a mandate to create i think what i would want to do is to make sure the british interests are protected and if we can help to reform the european union the process that would be great. i mean things like objecting to the european budgets in those things like that would you want to do something like that but i think bearing in mind that the budget has historically not been signed off very often by the court awarded is because it's been deemed to be corrupt i think it would be my duty to actually object to the budget window. that. over the road though everything i need to know about how divisive has become a straight shown sing matched develops between the pro europeans and the brits does . suggest in the euro because. we've got rather low with it we don't know what we're very good for you know what you think of them might actually. be

some i'm sorry i i respect their right to have a different opinion but i think obviously they're deeply mistaken and they're leading the country into chaos and trouble. so this is microcosm is the states of british politics nowadays the european elections next month effectively a sort of mini second. referendum in their own terms between those people over there who don't want breakfast at all and these people over here they want to right now i hope the woman cuts in pay knowledge of. contradiction the legs sits as a member of the european parliament's. internet it's a pain the status quo that's again never mind that his new policy has no apparent policies other than bricks it's her status among this constituency is little short

of gold like we're living in a country where the true quality first term is no longer. for us and it needs to be broken up if recent history and the polls are to be believed then pharaoh's once again promises to undermine entirely the conservative party the last time it did that's the bricks that referendum have to be called this time well it's a case recently. surely and since. this is al-jazeera and these are the top stories the world has watched one of its most famous and treasured buildings go up in flames the centuries old not saddam cathedral in paris was engulfed by a massive fire on monday evening it spread quickly antic hundreds of firefighters hours to control the blaze they have managed to save the chief structure of the

gothic monuments but the spire and dome have collapsed. well french president about or mark or has spoken about the drama that has unfolded in paris with those with a fire that spread throughout the not to down cathedral nec he has said that that fire has now been stabilized he has said that the worst has been averted and what he means is the fire fighters are saying that their fears earlier that this building would collapse have in fact been averted it is no longer the case they have managed to stabilize and control that blaze and what they're doing now is far in water jets at the building to try and cool it down to avoid any further parts collapsing but the flames continue the fire hasn't been extinguished. or short time ago french president emmanuel mccoy addressed the french people from the scene. not the perry is our history it's our literature the place where we've lived all the great moments and liberation the very center of our lives and we measure

ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here the sisterhood and it's burning it's burning and i know the said internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens thousands of protesters in sudan's campus or continuing their push for civilian leadership after toppling omar al bashir is long running presidency the demonstrators are holding a session outside the defense ministry conference in khartoum on monday the military council which has taken over leadership said it would appoint a new chief of staff for the army and a deputy. u.s. secretary of state might prompt a oh wraps up his four nation tour of south america with a walk across the simon bolivar bridge poses a venezuelan refugees cross that bridge every day and says the u.s. will continue its economic and political pressure on venezuela but those are the

headlines the news continues here in al-jazeera after inside story. as libya's conflict escalates a dangerous double game is emerging western and regional powers are backing wyvil sides even as they publicly call for calm will they ever corporator and help stop the violence this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm fully back t.

ball it's been eight years since the fall of libya's leader moammar gadhafi and the nation is once again at risk of an all out war wyvil forces are intensifying their fight to control tripoli troops loyal to the u.n. backs government in the capital are trying to stop the advance of the warlord honey for half talk some of his fighters reportedly surrendered their weapons and tanks on sunday after began his offensive to take tripoli two weeks ago at least one hundred twenty people have been killed and the u.n. is calling for calm saying the fighting is undermining international peace efforts but behind the scenes some western and regional countries have been giving support to have talks al-jazeera as mahmoud in tripoli explains how we reached this point. fighting intensified over the past week between forces loyal to the world holly for have turned and others allied with the in the back to tripoli base the government of national accord on the southern outskirts of the libyan capital tripoli the

government of national accord is accusing have to the forces of committing war crimes by targeting civilian areas with heavy weapons and airstrikes dozens of people have been killed so far including anderson civilians and thousands of civilians have been forced out of their homes because of the fighting now on the ground as the government forces have been gaining ground and they have launched its counteroffensive called the volcano of wrath to defend the capital city against what they call aggression by have killed forces we know that have to as warplanes have been targeting several locations in and around tripoli including the only operational air force in the city eighty get now have started met the egyptian president at the fact there has sisi in cairo on sunday we know that this comes in terms of the egyptian support to the world. has recently the government forces have

been gaining ground they are trying to push have still forces backed beyond. this used international airport on the southern outskirts of the libyan capital tripoli also military commanders with the government of national accord say that have to several military units with has to have been recently surrendering and handing over their weapons move out that was helpful inside story tripoli. well libya has had two rival governments over the last few years the u.n. recognize administration led by prime minister fayyad. is based in the capital tripoli most western nations support the unity government including italy which is worried that the fighting will force more migrants to cross the mediterranean qatar and turkey also box. in the east there is the two brew based government the center of power for highly for half time he is backed by egypt saudi arabia and the united

arab emirates france is also accused of providing military support to have to and russia recently vetoed a u.n. security council statement to condemn his advance on tripoli now protesters in tripoli have urged the foreign ministry to summon the ambassadors of egypt's the u.a.e. saudi arabia and france and they say they want libya's representatives to the u.n. arab league and the african union to take measures against have tar. the earth let's bring in our panel now joining us from london and. director of the tripoli based sadek institute in rome francesco guy head of the political risk consultancy policy sonar and joining us from oxford is oliver miles a former british ambassador to libya welcome to you all thank you so much for being on inside story ambassador all the miles if i can start with you so many countries being influential roles are outside powers worsening the conflict in libya.

yes yes they are it's a strange situation because for a long time now there's been universe for oral agreement verbal agreement international level that there should be no. military support for any of the parties in libya in fact there's a u.n. embargo on arms control but some countries have been blatantly ignoring that and the strange thing is that nobody seems to be in bulling until very recently to name them all. so do you think that this recent offensive by a highly for have to tripoli is going to change the mind of some of these countries or backed him until now into not doing so anymore. quite possibly yes certainly there was an article in the moment about the french position saying that from prison barash because they've given support in the past military support

in the past when he was damaging his control in the eastern part of libya in guardian. but they weren't expecting him it seems to launch this offensive began properly as a matter of fact i think. pretty well any observer of libya over the last to europe to has been well aware that that was his intention the timing took us all by surprise but the intention was the do you think and i thought in london that western powers like france were indeed caught off guard by early for have ties advance on tripoli do you think they had prior warnings about this offensive and they certainly did have this operation has been there for many years and if you look at the military support the sheer depth and the layers of the kind of military planning intelligence gathering that has gone on in western libya the sheer fact that half there had been met by the foreign minister of france who was the former defense minister that according to figure who had interviewed him only ten days before the offensive had said that he came here to congratulate him on his victory

so i think in that respect tough there is not the n f m a the all of the rest of the international community that they kind of make out the diplomatic level of course there's always been this surface level symbolic support of the u.n. by government but it's the really material financial military intelligence kind of support that after has received over the last four years but has it he's used to his advantage to take over as it is like but it was the like that i mean the latest move in february was the move into the south and that move was congratulated by the p three plus three that was the u.k. u.s. italy france the u.a.e. in egypt so they congratulate him on his last military offensive here illegally occupied the oil installations in the south and and then immediately gave them going to gave symbolic allegiance to the national oil corporation in tripoli is that as ok to do so and that we. specter i think he enjoys so much military support and again it's this kind of smoke and mirrors that most of the international community is engaged in they give this kind of public support to the u.n. by the government but only yesterday the minister of interior in tripoli for i had

to put in eastern libya had received an arms shipment from the u.a.e. and i think they're very very happy with what is currently going on because after it's only just arrived yesterday into cairo to go meet with president sisi after an aborted trip to russia to go in with president putin so he's engaging these international actors that have no skin in the game so avoiding deflect attention from the very very actors the real actors that have skin in the game the french or the iraqis who are certainly happy to allow others to absorb the diplomatic presence or the pressure or the at least the perception of political power right once they continue to support after on the ground so let a very dangerous work in mirrors game is going on here let's let's hear from francesco in rome francesco do you agree with and who says western powers like france separating a double game in libya and that he for have to wouldn't have undertaken this offensive on tripoli unless he had the backing of some of these powers. certainly western powers believe they are able to be framed and everyone in this very complex

cave in the case for italy for instance if the lee is certainly very close to kind of. things that have hedged itself also against the raf or say to egypt or the saudis of the iraqi but turns out that it probably had estimated its own and its own insurance policies as it turns out proximity close ties are to egypt. off a little use these days and so it believes left wondering whether it did the math properly. then obviously blaming it on france is an old italian handed especially when it comes in india but yes. there is lot of ambiguity at play these days the ambiguity ambassador minds especially from from the europeans because they clearly have competing interests in libya do you think that they can

overcome these differences are they willing to incite to overcome these competing interests is interests rather in order to find a solution to this crisis india. or i would make a distinction between both countries which are actually giving practical support to libya and those we're trying to recruit to have to articles on and those which are alleged to be supporting him politically or in some indirect way and i think the only countries that have been giving him real practical support so far are egypt and the united arab emirates what about france's leave saudi arabia those are the root. from force helping libya helping haftorah earlier on as i said in in the his earlier campaign to establish control in the east of the country but i don't think there's any evidence that they're providing practical support now. and i'm not going to get to the foreign minister has met as met after but he's also met

saraj who's the leader of the the so-called government of national accord in rain tripoli the us a lot of international leaders of met after the others as well and i don't think you agree with that you think the extent of france's support or is much bigger than what ambassador minus beliefs. i think the narrative here is important it's crucial have to establish himself a thousand and fourteen as the onset of counter terrorism he never overtly said that he want to take political power and allegedly was not part of any of the political solutions he was the scored by a member of the us administration as being toxic and thousand and fourteen and nobody wanted to meet him he briefed ability himself after a trip in may two thousand and sixteen to abu dhabi where he was tasked with missing face of ours a total break in diplomatic protocol told break in the negotiations that had been led by the un thus far and then a month later arrived in paris the first time it was at a european capital so i think this kind of joint amorality french diplomatic movement was that it was the gateway for him to establish this kind of political

ambition and without that he would not be here he would not be where he is right now so i think it's also you know it's for him you know arabs can be deployed as but so can your opinion so the idea that he can meet various presidents of ours and he can meet with her if after but when we measure tangibly what has been given to sort of ours and what has been given to have though it's a little bit and weighed on one side and is given tactical support military support intelligence gathering there is rumors now or at least online that people are saying that there were french military personnel masquerading as that limits the right to the losses that to the libyan border were stopped by because they had military equipment when they were leaving so what would that be and again it's i mean even though those things are as i think we know and the french are very open about this right they have been working with have there for many years but they were also crucial to his political transformation and general is let's that let's be honest about this and francesco just coming back to italy you talked about italy's role here and its support for the un backed government but to what extent is it doing so and what are its interests here what is italy what does italy want

out of a future libya the future of libya if i think it's really acknowledge is that what is at stake is the stability of the entire broader the need to rein in and so i don't think it is ultimately only. fixated with libya it certainly has a very strong interest in preserving saraj where he is the best i think it what it is what it looks is the broad the military and region from. almost of from the balkans tomorrow i think that what is happening in libya is perceived here in rome as a proxy fight between opposite blocs in particular between a saudi immunity bloc and turkey qatar the one so the last thing on earth that italy wants is

a spillover of these kind of conflicts to other neighboring countries that is in particular to nietzschean and gilia. and it is also fair to say that it's really is looking at the region in a way that is slightly different from the way in which the vatican is covering the same. if one looks at the latest tricks of the pontiff pope francis. pope francis has picked two destinations are the united out of any raids and and more rock which gives a very clear indication of what the vatican where the vatican stands italy's not going down the same path so for once at least this is early and the vatican are taking opposite directions at least when it comes to this we just which however is our near abroad right he's our neighbor enable that's and that's very interesting

that you talk about the the difference in visit the difference in position between the vatican any time government all of them eyes the tie ins have been warning that libya could become another syria do you say that do you and do you think of that was the case could we see another foreign military intervention in libya. well first of all can i just make a point out a bit surprised to have a count of the italian position without mentioning the question of migrants because italy is very sharp interest in libya at the moment it is the problem of the migrants who are coming through libya and most of them heading in the first place for italy but more generally are i think this this discussion seems to me to be in danger of getting slightly out of bounds because we're talking as though what is happening in libya is being determined by outside powers i don't think it is i think we're talking about a fight between libyans in which outside powers may have played some part and perhaps will play some part but which was my first question to you in fact that

which was my first question to all of our minds whether you thought that outside powers were making the conflicts worse well outside powers are they have their interests they have the legitimate or less legitimate interest in what's going on but it's no good not doing that what is going on inside libya is being controlled by america or russia or italy or from shortly what else is being controlled by the libyans ok and your thoughts is what is going on in libya being controlled by libyans or by the outside powers like. france italy we haven't talked about the americans and the russians yet and i do want to hear your thoughts about their role in this conflict. well number one if you want to ripen people towards a peaceful solution any conflict in any kind of theater in it to be ripened towards peace you have to close all of the possible doors to war and the only way to do that is to enforce the arms embargo and that's the international community's

responsibility it's not the libyans and that's not libyan citizens they can't run over to every city or border post in every single ports and see for where these arms are being delivered so i think it's disingenuous to suggest that libyans want to fight many of those libyans they have been in western libya only mobilized to counter this existential threat and they mobilized into those eleven for the very same reason so we should be clear about what the international arena is doing if they want to ripen this and they can't continue to have to they can't continue to allow the u.a.e. to violate the arms embargo to establish an air base in libya in two thousand and sixteen the very year that libya was supposed to be ready for peace that was the government of national accord that was the stalled in tripoli that time was the u.a.e. was trying to undermine that both politically and diplomatically and militarily so we should be clear about what the role of internationals are and what the responsibility of libyans are so that's number one number two there's an ideological component all of this is well because after his narrative is one that appeals to the far right in europe over the last couple of years this was an populism wants to view that it meant mediterranean especially north africa and the

middle east as being dominated by terrorist threats dominated by islamists and that's one of the offers them a very simplistic very dangerous narrative that all of my opponents are terrorists all of my opponents are extremists the world is a bit more complex than that but it certainly appeals to this summer for a big rise in europe over the last couple of years and have there is just pandering to that sentiment and it's certainly one that has found grace at least in france but it's definitely a narrative that was established by the u.a.e. at the beginning of the arab spring and that's what it all comes down to we should not wrench this from its context as something that's happening that is wider than just libya and if you look at algeria look at sedan look at tennessee or look at syria this is not just about bill it's not just about ballots it's about ideas right and ideas are much more dangerous than than the bill and let's allow all of the minds to respond to that all of a response. what well i i agree with a great deal of that i think that if you want to corruption of afters attempt to appeal to these sentiments is quite correct and there are of course people inside

libya as well who would who think that the only way that the anarchy which will prevail in libya for the last six years i can say eight years can be can be remedied is by a strongman and have to seize him self and present himself as a strong man but that's only one element in the argument but coming back to my point about the. important thing being what the libyans are doing i don't dispute that foreign assistance to after side has been has been important but if you look at for example at the question of power in libya if any foreign power with a decent fortune to be now live it would have an enormous impact on the on the fighting what is happening in reality is that both sides both people and the government of national accord managed to get a few antiquated into the air from time to time but that there was an aircraft which either shot down came down for technical reasons yesterday it's

a big twenty three and they've been in service since one nine hundred seventy so we're not talking about modern our forces which we would be talking about if there were serious intervention or for the arm of the well if we're looking about her as it were looking at that and there was the presence of tractors four of them that were the ploy to allegedly by erik prince of the frontier service group formally a blackwater there were four chinese predator drones mimics of those called wing loons that are established that they were operational and buzzie and that in a one hundred thousand people were displaced from that city where at least seventeen hundred civilians are now in jails and where that city is the city is overrun by radical salafist that are in line with others project that respond to him so i think the international element gave the ground forces on the ground a critical strategic military advantage and so we shouldn't obfuscate. should this latest intervention in tripoli from the great a war that was going on in eastern libya with so many people to be displaced without that critical as a pull that would not have happened ok gentlemen let's bring back francesco into

the conversation and get your thoughts on the extent of the role of the international community francesco in making this crisis worse and also what is the way out of it in your view if any for have to were to be successful in taking tripoli what would happen after that. i think that the at least from the intelligence standpoint the hope is that somebody is still capable of reigning in half the time and the whereas hostile obviously aims at putting everybody in front of a fait accompli. so in the end this is why the target the prime minister keeps on holding all the time and he put me twenty min gives this speech in public he always mentions all the international summits and meetings and. an occasion sold in which there was an international organization and a procedure in place just to convey the impression that there can be still order in

north kael. i think it is today at the same time is realizing that this may ultimately not work out as desired so it is trying to head a little bit and that explains. the string of tool as of tips about italian cabinet member or not today and tomorrow the leader of the five stars movement that is the prime minister luigi my you'll find themselves in the united arab emirates. but obviously at the same time there are meetings at the highest level taking place with qatar and with russia so this is a point where no china i mean it's an it cannot allow itself to a place only a single bed and it is trying to be friends everyone has in its edition and i have

been watching is someone at this stage capable of reigning in highly for have talked can he see for instance convince him to agree to a cease fire. let me give you a brief history of cliff after is a fifty year legacy of the section and defection in one thousand sixty nine he defected from the king of libya to moment at the feet in one thousand a six he was captured in chad and the fact that i said every night in a seven he went to langley virginia where he was a legacy working with the cia and then in one thousand a year he went to go and work with the libyan opposition or have them get out of who defected from to go and work with but it's worse in holland and not to know it to you than the fact that from them right and were reconciled with my look at their feet doesn't fall in egypt has a level he defected from omelets or if you went to work in the revolution he defected from the bomb the first parliament thousand and fourteen ok we're not going to deal in thousand one thousand from the un fifty years of deception of the faction who can reign on someone that is that deeply mistrustful and there is that is the main question today because the u.n. is trying to bring people back to the negotiation table to say what if we go and work out our differences how do you do that with someone with leslie distrustful

and they've been a willing surrogate and proxy literally seven states over the last fifty let's give the last word please to oliver miles in oxford the united nations is still finds itself in a very difficult position today their response has been timid do you think the u.n. can still play a role in this crisis. i don't think that that outlined powers can intervene and in this crisis i think the role that the u.n. can play is to try to reinforce the others because of the slightly during this conversation try try to make sure that they are embargo on the military support he respected because although that won't settle the matter it will it will limit the bloodshed at the moment let's be clear that the you are not talking about over one hundred people killed well it's not comparable with what's happening in syria or yemen or what happened in iraq and it's comparable let's say water in gaza if the fighting goes on if foreign powers are able to give war military muscle to the to

those parties contending and in particular after those those. casualty figures will go up one hundred fold that's what we've got to avoid ok thank you so much gentlemen we're going to have to leave it there unfortunately we've run out of time thank you for ever for a very interesting discussion and friend. and all of our minds and thank you as well for watching you can always watch this program again any time by visiting our website at al-jazeera dot com for further discussion go to our facebook page at facebook dot com for stash a.j. inside story you can of course also join the conversation on twitter our handle is at a.j. inside story for me for me back to you and a whole team thank you for watching my friend.

al jazeera stands sweat every. april on al-jazeera blogs is back with more investigative journalism and in-depth stories of the world's third largest democracy heads to its presidential and legislative elections a documentary explores how the united states and the european union a turning a blind eye to egypt's violations of human rights prime minister modi is seeking

a second time with a campaign dominated by talk of a cash man pakistan will he succeed an exclusive look at the goals behind russia's current foreign policy explained by some of the insiders who helped shape the kremlin's ideology april on al-jazeera. i'm how he seen in doha with the top stories on al-jazeera one of the world's most famous treasured monuments as been devastated by a massive fire the blaze spread quickly through the centuries old notes for them cathedral in paris our fighters managed to save the chief structure of the gothic building but the spire and roof have collapse the thirteenth century monument was

undergoing major renovation work some firefighters say it may be the cause of the far french president emanuel has promised to rebuild the symbol of paris and a french culture. not perry is our history it's a literature the place where we've lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here this history it's ours and it's burning it's burning and i know the sadness internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens whether tasha butler has the later may be the cause of the far french president. has promised to rebuild the symbol of paris and of french culture. not to perry is our history it's

our literature the place where we've lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here the sisterhood owl's and it's burning it's burning and i know the said nurse internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens whether tasha butler has the latest may be the cause of the far french president. has promised to rebuild the symbol of paris and a french call. perry is our history it's our literature the place where we have lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here this history it's aus and it's burning it's burning and i know the sadness

internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens whether tasha butler has the later may be the cause of the far french president. has promised to rebuild the symbol of paris and a french culture. not perry is our history it's our literature the place where we've lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here this history it's ours and it's burning it's burning and i know the sadness internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens whether tash about their house or later. at the building to try and cool it down to avoid any further parts collapsing but the flames continue the fire hasn't been extinguished five hundred

firefighters are working very hard this is an enormous operation and i have to say this is a city really in shock this is a building that has been here for more than eight hundred years and in just a matter of hours parts of it simply collapsed to the ground we were here a bit earlier when we saw a part of the roof crumble under the flames a huge cloud of smoke went into the sky and molten ash burning our started to rain down police have evacuated the area for people safety it will be a wall until people can come back of course and people left in shock people are standing shoulder to shoulder in the street looking at the cathedral wondering how on earth this could happen and that will be a question going forward and what we know at the moment as firefighters are saying that perhaps this was an accident linked to some renovation work that was ongoing and not to get to not to don cathedral but it seems really unimaginable there's such a national monument could be damaged so badly by fire so quickly. thousands of protesters

in sudan's capital are continuing their push for civilian leadership after toppling over all the shearers long running presidency as ever streeters are holding assists in outside the defense ministry compound in khartoum on monday the military council which shall second over the leadership said it would appoint a new chief of staff for the army and a deputy. so it's going to be objective that the revolution cannot be achieved completely in the face of the backstage manipulations of the remnants of the regime or key demand of a civil council to guarantee the revolution it safeguarded its goals achieved by technocratic provisional government big zacky to powers must be formed with a consensus of people. and it's really cold for renew its political talks libya's two rival sides remain locked in a military confrontation over the capital tripoli and so his prime minister called for a cease fire and warlord her have to libya international forces to withdraw. the

un special envoy for yemen marson gryphus says the internationally recognized government and he said rebels have accepted a plan to withdraw their forces from the port city of days are read to points was part of a ceasefire agreed in december but has been repeatedly delayed both science of said they'll pull back several kilometers of what would be the first voluntary withdrawal of the conflicts. but those are the headlines the news continues here on al-jazeera after our man in cairo stay with us.

missed any of the i mean so i may. even what i did thirty. mr. president abdel fattah el-sisi presents himself as egypt savior as the only man able to impose order in his country. there is this thing the smell of tear gas blood and bullets. really start to talk to it out all over and then tank hell don't enjoy it any. man fashion with with us now a little star struck at that all the more. despite his human rights record western leaders have embraced l.c.c. as a strategic and commercial partner so they promote feel a little question so that i meet their. c.c.

was able to say there's a threat from isis you want to defeat it give us the tools and we'll take care of this for here. we have a fantastic relationship with egypt and we appreciate what you're doing but israel sisi really such a good bargain for the west. in april twenty eight hundred egyptian president of the fatah el-sisi secured a second time in office after winning ninety seven percent of the vote yet the results were hardly surprising. there were technically two candidates but the other candidate was so much stuff i'm not certain. in fact

the supporter who had stepped into the contest at the eleventh hour to prevent the embarrassment of a one horse race. three men from within the military establishment had initially challenge how seizing for the presidency in a very short space of time told three candidates were dispensed with by at the c.c. regime sami anon i retired general was charged with breaching military regulations . on the consul was a little known army colonel was court martialed and ahmed shafik a former air force commander withdrew from the race after being held in a luxury hotel for a month. well fissioning president and sisi expressed regrets that no one was willing to run against him but the situation became increasingly embarrassing for kairos partners in the west. parts of the us government were communicating to

c.c. him to those around him that we were concerned about his efforts to drive out every credible poneman to his reelection i think it may even have been addressed by vice president and when he went to cairo earlier and twenty eight team so that message was being conveyed. with no real contest the main focus for sisi became obtaining legitimacy through a high voter turnout. people were promised that they would get to mecca or they would get an improved electricity supply in their town or they would get and use water system. to live in a little better but then. i think that this is what it. thank

you. and twenty eleven the revolution in tahrir square put an end to hosni mubarak's thirty year regime and raised hopes that egypt would become the middle east's largest democracy. but this so-called arab spring was short lived. since taking power in twenty thirty l.c.c. has ruled the country amid allegations of human rights violations as well as an escalation in armed attacks in the sinai peninsula that have killed more than three thousand people. egypt is a key u.s. ally and a major european business partner western countries are often accused of overlooking egypt's human rights record and its disregard of the rule of law because of the country's geo political economic and strategic importance.

a case in point is that of an italian ph d. student from the university of cambridge julio regime who disappeared in cairo on the twenty fifth of january twenty sixth. the young italian was found dead nine days later in a ditch on the city's outskirts his half naked body bore the signs of heavy torture . in all foster care that the letter to the. ts that i mean to that or to what ed of a. man of every dollar they come out of this on. their own that the same state that case they are.

the day regime went missing a major security operation was underway in cairo to control protests marking the fifth anniversary of the revolution. the italian authorities suspected that regime e had been arrested that night but the egyptian government denied any responsibility. there was a whole range of lurid details of a fright but jenny was the victim of a car crash and later a consummate in the press that julia or jenny was gay even though he wasn't and that he'd been killed by a gay lover and there were suggestions that he had been taking drugs and this was probably a drug deal that had gone wrong. but at the end i may get there and take him out on the shuttle italia my sing out and on every battle not every battle that kate gets any on a sort of them and they. can of the callable that are there i'm in danger and i

think that. interior minister maggoty abdullah gul father dismissed western suspicions. and yeah yeah yeahs i don't know why but she actually could be a good and done service as the more he has it i don't know most of the laws in the in this hour shift well let me answer that as. six weeks into the investigation the egyptians said they had found reaching these killers claiming that they were part of a gang they kidnapped foreigners. a group of four men were traveling in a small minivan according to their wives to do a construction job on an apartment. out this vehicle approached a police checkpoint the police opened fire and killed everybody inside. later that afternoon the police officers went. to the homes of these people and lo

and behold what they find but thought giulio jennie's personal effect. but just twenty four hours later the interior ministry was forced to admit that those men had nothing to do with regime is murder. a level of the nost investing that they have all the for some of the concept that suck it up or sonic inc i think we're. at the other foot of the command enjoy it when the other man that kicked the sauna came off a child of the necessity i documented it with young. polygamy had been in egypt researching trade unions including the use of the local street vendors. a year after his death suspicions emerged that one of the leaders of the street vendors union was

a police informant he had become convinced that regime was a spy. and surely you know that so you get down to the news down upon time into all. that he put in the right men take on. imagine. the union leader wanted regime here to incriminate himself and pushed for compromising topics like foreign funded political activism. term usually that alan starting with the news in machete yes my son but get the towel and send them up initially on the ball. with you less than a hug and see a c.s.i. back to. the college level age real can. just stick around a get up at all in on boston all terrible thought i came out of fear that. i could now be the most out of class citizen. i know it is.

hard to really commend mountainy k. now that he knew at that moment that i was ok i would imagine ek any other people feel. someone imagining. that their. the union leader reported regime new to the security services just days before his disappearance. be egyptian authorities continue to deny any responsibility for his death. so there are a journey case came at a particularly sensitive moment for aleisha as between egypt and italy because at that very moment the italian energy company annie was in the process of developing the largest gas field in the eastern mediterranean called zohar in conjunction with

egypt. went on its own is something game changing been a neat thing when she took the diminutive that was a school bag. for geology given that if i started i would want to get ways importantly the energy i want you pays if you know many people should these friday he probably does only domestically dinner just one provision of the saugus field is also a major source of profit for and worth an estimated six point four billion dollars to the gas giant it was in any use interest as well as in theses interests to achieve a rapid resolution of this case and for those on the project could go ahead. the political stalemate caused by regime is murder came to an end twenty italy sent a new ambassador to cairo. she had been shot though.

she of the moon shot a zero she. diploma i said she. politique a feeling phoned the. bench with a c. she finally passed around to the meticulous media i'm going to lunch at the mental ability that was to leave his rank and file to do anything with phantom interbank to make an idea out of them i'm going on the phone. basically did resume diplomatic relations with egypt about three or four months before the software project came online and since then you know the project has been a great success by all accounts. they go normally go. out and d.d. only g. during the alley and in the l.a. and eat it of it all with dollar cheney debit or in feet i mean

that you bought dane de de la motte of humans they thought they need. years have passed since julio regime is murder in twenty sixteen in italy and elsewhere many people are still waiting for the truth. for many egyptians what happened to the regime he did not come as a surprise human rights organizations estimate that in egypt at least three hundred and twenty three people have died in custody since twenty thirteen. sixty thousand have been arrested on political charges and over fifteen thousand civilians have faced military trials including one hundred fifty children. what has come to be called enforced disappearance is an every day occurrence. it didn't

want to be there for the yam as a bell by then his heart of any of it and in the lower myself and the her cordura adam had a black cunt and i think you're an outward in an efficient fact. of reality for the innocence of the shadow of that of our son had mad about all of europe and so on and if an insect with as it were the demanded if the media i think a city hall or a kewl couple seven a movie sets instead of feeling the corner. with me let me know if you know this but it's who i saw moment. went out there with them i didn't do it at the collateral door. lives in berlin in twenty fifty he was working in germany as a surgeon when he returned to egypt for a visit. and i can and be as my getting it done from the bottom must whiting in

a way it can miss out on a.s.s. . when i had it was hip to. neck for one to what the press and i was on a higher. command and his friends organized a flash mob in cairo with banners calling for the release of political prisoners feel like one was about what he in sharply in. any list are you typing but i'm sure that she was sold a. little but even when i shot him i had. another child will though it. took until twenty four whole prokofiev whole helena husband there what you all on the other while are in with fake a strange way are. better

off living. karabo yanni and are to know that when they leave yet and out how they get out how old they leave is and when i go work i thank them and. madge was found guilty of protesting without a permit and was sent to the infamous our lock up a prison a maximum security penitentiary reserved for so-called terrorists arguments for and mocked is a physician active in the egyptian medical syndicate and i are from the other fifty nine and i would not allow that and i'll be machine and i if i'm not they are mad bull fight the taliban. i don't think she. had bad time ali hogmanay. senate in. her is an outspoken critic of the medical neglect of detainees in

egypt missing him. in time of going faint and then method. of command lamented. the man for thinking into thier theory an intern why did they would have had the one at the head of them that had we. seen man fashion with. just two months after its arrest was also arrested. the older that anatomical image of the moon. have that more bog that all of them would have. a negative in there no more it out of them again but if you had to view how little attention norm among our. enemies but.

even one. of say and what will that along with it i mean shit. but somehow it blew up to be stolen when the home share market and out of hospital bargain. you were taught. how to feed. a limited. they also i got out of. hiking again we were going to solve it is in order and. you know what it looks. filthy one of them if that. would be too mean of the letter for you at the election one much what i bet i did then the. madam but i'll be the

high the with the ball on my you we all would we get different began the year we got a bill that will be thanks to an international campaign highlighting his case our common saeed was released after one year imprisoned he now lives in germany. the one it's in that regard most close to one of the mothers are going to have another mother shouted. on the on the floor on the money under pressure some witnesses or we're all meals ready for the infamous. mocked i was freed after seven months and now lives in france. and i breath at the mouth of a great leap make any rash and thinking i'm a fish myself mignonne i'm a thing even in billion most of what i meant in my fucked up much of the back and the out in left i knew figment in the monk and all that adam and all the apartment

. on it thought i knew a little. we became a national. whack a magazine that i had only. met internet a lot in santa. only the one i had worked. for going out on a. luckily western bank and. documenting human rights violations has become very dangerous in egypt. since twenty thirty over five hundred online news outlets have been shut down eight journalists have been killed while covering demonstrations adelies thirty two journalists and bloggers are currently detained some facing possible death penalties said the show short. lived a little b.c.

local mostly wedding of a child. that we shot it for. at the. the to say we do it you can is military and also. to say we have and then i was. and i think it's going to take this individual to be what i did him good evil bad luck if you that there are any stones or many struggle i must hold that was a day to show that. both civil and police that he did when he says he had to do other than going to do is going to pose to drill for oil for the father to pursue and you have about let them live with us into the modern and momentous but yeah them in point as well. so that if you need it they don't east. wind up with when i gave up their job i have little sympathy i mean it could well police don't perform that order.

perhaps the most famous case was the arrest of three i'll just zero journalists in twenty thirteen former b.b.c. correspondent peter greste x. c.n.n. reporter mohamed fahmy and local produce obama mohammad was sentenced to seven seven and ten years respectively on charges of aiding terrorists harming national security and tarnishing egypt's image abroad and. the international outcry caused by the heavily publicized trial eventually achieved its goal. after more than thirteen months behind bars you straightly and peter greste was deported and his two colleagues received pardons from president abdel fattah el-sisi. after for. too much time

alone in the prison it's like a dream come true. i'm very proud of every single moment i spent in prison for the sake of freedom expression i'm really really proud of. i'm goes back. i would use it experience. we live in a digital world where even the remotest communities have access to mobile phones. but look in this technology bring to a nomadic existence life apps travels to the media and gives the software designer the ultimate challenge design a map to help to him the tried in their daily lives can you really be done. fly fabs one for nomad allowed to see that. al-jazeera is i would winning investigative documentary program people are for me a large i need

a woman going with him her being murdered what's the reason food lines goes beyond the headlines holding the powerful to account have you heard of the story not involved in that examining the u.s. and its role in the world someone has to get the gun i'm shooting people right now . back with a new series that's the reality that we live in coming soon on al-jazeera to me it was clear to the intelligence gathering exercise my god got back at a hood over the head off into this interrogation talked by one and he said if you speak again i'll cut your throat muslim bag tells his life story and his life changing experience at guantanamo bay. it was one. of those are pretty. the confession a witness documentary on al-jazeera. i'm

how he and in doha with the top stories on al-jazeera one of the world's most famous and treasured buildings has been devastated by a massive fire the blaze spread quickly through the centuries old notter dam cathedral in paris. have managed to save the chief structure of the gothic monuments but the spire and roof have collapsed century building was undergoing major renovation work some firefighters say that may have been the cause of the far french president emanuel mccraw has promised to rebuild the cathedral a symbol of paris the french culture. not the perry is our history it's a literature the place where we've lived all the great moments wars and liberations the very center of our lives and we measure ourselves in paris from the center the

place of books of painting it's a cathedral which is that of all frenchmen and women even those who have never come here the sisterhood owl's and it's burning it's burning and i know the said internal tremor felt by so many of our citizens tasha butler has the latest from paris. well french president or man or mark or has spoken about the drama that has unfolded in paris with those with a fire that spread throughout the not to down cathedral neck he has said that that fire has now been stabilized he has said that the worst has been averted and what he means is the firefighters are saying that their fear is earlier that this building would collapse have in fact been averted it is no longer the case they have managed to stabilize and control that blaze and what they're doing now is firing water jets at the building to try and cool it down to avoid any further parts collapsing but the flames continue the fire hasn't been extinguished.

protesters in sudan's capital are continuing their push for civilian leadership after toppling president omar al bashir demonstrators held a city an outside the defense ministry compound in khartoum the ruling military council said it will appoint a new chief of staff for the army. and qatar and italy have called for renewed political talks as libya's two rival sides remain locked in a military confrontation over the capital tripoli its prime minister called for a ceasefire and those are the headlines news continues here on al-jazeera after our man in cairo stay with us. in twenty eleven nobody could anticipate that in just two years egypt would once again be under military dictatorship.

an american egyptian citizen mohamed saltash got on a plane to cairo and quickly found himself at the front lines of the rebel. thousands of people gathered outside the presidential palace. i was crying my eyes out i thought for sure they were going to fire the thing we were going to die i'll say my life prayers later and in the fame moment. the army turns on the speakers of the announcement.

a former air force commander hosni mubarak had been the face of egypt's military dictatorship since one nine hundred eighty one man he was gone but his military regime remains largely intact. when the muslim brotherhood's candidate mohamed morsi became egypt's first democratically elected president the military worked to undermine him from day one. by concentrating power in his own hands and with the economy in freefall morsi lost the support of many egyptians. many egyptians who had supported the idea of the ouster of president mubarak suddenly turned around and said hold on this is also not what we want and suddenly you had a brand new type of conflict inside egyptian society.

when hundreds of thousands of protesters poured into the streets on the first anniversary of morsi is election the egyptian military exploited the situation to remove. l.c.c. who morsi had put in charge of the army gave him forty eight hours to come up with a political solution. both morsi himself and his senior advisers did not see this coming they knew there was opposition they knew that there was this can and but they didn't think the image option military would actually move against them in the final analysis on the third of july twenty thirty l.c.c. had morsi arrested the new military leadership suspended the constitution and also arrested three hundred muslim brotherhood party members and officials the initial attack on morsy supporters soon expanded to include all political opposition to l.c.c.

. egypt occupies a position of strategic importance for the west in the middle east it is israel's next door neighbor and controls access to the suez canal. if in a very simple bargain the united states has provided egypt with a large amount of military aid every year and in return egypt has you know kept the peace with israel has provided access to the first four american warships and has provided america with really a very strong pillar in the middle of a very volatile region. when l.c.c. to power in twenty. thirteen relations began to crack there was a general willingness to try to work with the new regime out of the interest in preserving the bilateral relationship so they were willing to give the

new military regime an opportunity to prove themselves l.c.c. soon showed the obama administration was he was capable of and the weeks after the military takeover morsi supporters had occupied two major thoroughfares in cairo they are not a square and the road in front of iraq by the we have mosque. in august the military cleared these camps with an unprecedented show of force. mohammed saltillo was there his father a deputy minister in the short lived muslim brotherhood government was amongst those addressing the protesters from the stage. here i was taking pictures come back to my phone on wait for things not a con and then tweeting taking phone calls from c.n.n. al-jazeera this and that. i mean i have time to think and if you know what though and i get hit.

there is this thing smell here again. and. you can almost taste it and. that of the bodies falling anywhere you look bodies upon moderns. human rights watch documented eight hundred and seventeen victims but the number may be as high as a thousand. united states strongly condemns. the steps that have been taken by egypt's interim government and security forces we deplore violence against civilians president obama canceled a joint military exercise and froze part of the one point three billion dollars in military aid to egypt receives from the u.s. every year. but l.c.c.

continued his crackdown undeterred. prison. this my face i say i have been a fist you've got to sleep you've got you've got to think shifts keeping with people has one bathroom for fifty plus not of course yours you're forced to strip naked except john where you're being and your head shaved is totally you really. have to go on a hunger strike because it was the only means of resistance. no hard food for four hundred eighty nine days. they would bring my dad to the next ward have let me hear his screams and. come tell me listen this is what's happening to your dad you know we can and this just break your strike. there's no law.

no law. in may twenty fifty with salt on still in prison the obama administration formally reported to the u.s. congress that arbitrary and unlawful killings were taking place in egypt yet at the same time the u.s. officially resumed military aid to egypt. l.c.c. remains them and to be reckoned with in cairo. your hearing concerns from the saudis from the i'm roddy's from the israelis that the freeze in assistance to egypt was counterproductive that they were pleased with that there was a desire to i think address some of their concerns. the united arab emirates and saudi arabia invested in l.c.c. from early on. in the weeks after his military takeover the u.a.e. alone transferred three billion dollars to egypt while the saudis gave a two billion dollar central bank deposit two billion dollars in energy products

and one billion dollars cash without the very extensive economic support that the egyptian military got from the gulf states for example in two thousand and thirteen i don't know whether they they would have carried out the coup or they would have been able to make a go of it. saudi arabia support came with a political price. in twenty seventeen l.c.c. agreed to give the disputed islands of tehran and sun a few which sits between saudi arabia and egypt sinai peninsula to the saudis. the decision was hugely unpopular in egypt and sparks the biggest protests since twenty thirty. but l.c.c. rode the storm and kept the aid flowing. egypt has

at times or saved much larger sums of money with new allies particularly in the gulf but the aid from the united states is symbolically very important diplomatically very important and it's not something they want to see she was able to say that there's a threat from isis you want to defeat it we're your partner give us the tools and we'll take care of this for you and he would make the argument that egypt is too big to fail if egypt does collapse if the islamists run amok or the economy goes down this is going to have to sastre its consequences for the region and for europe . the european union has trying to strike a balance between legitimate security concerns and respect for human rights. but many member states have adopted a business as usual policy. unfortunately we still have a very weak common ground in europe when it comes to how to deal with egypt.

a dutch member of the european parliament not each a shocker initiated a resolution that condemned human rights violations in egypt however she does that leaders of the influential member states i believe. we very much pointed out that human rights repression violations. executions torture censorship closing of n.g.o.s is not acceptable and you want to hear such strong words from let's say berlin or paris or london very much for three years shock a push to get the resolution through the european parliament besides denouncing the high number of death penalty executions and the lack of fair trials in egypt there was another point she stressed. i think we've learned some very important lessons in two thousand and eleven two thousand and twelve when we found that e.u.

made systems were actually used to track down activists in egypt and so ever since we've been pushing in the european parliament and i've been leading the efforts on the export controls of surveillance systems to make sure that human rights are criteria to measure before an export license is granted and despite this statement of principle we see that in practice such export controls are not really lived up to in fact there are serious questions whether it may be the case that julio regina who was brutally murdered may have been tracked and traced with italian maid systems and software. after the robber massacre and twenty thirteen e.u. member states agreed to suspend the exports to egypt of any equipment that might be used for internal repression. yet twelve out of twenty eight e.u. member states ignored the suspension. since twenty four to italy has

a exported weapons to egypt worth some forty million euros. germany has made deals for over one point six billion euros including light arms and onward vehicles and france has topped all the rest with over six billion euros in sales including combat vehicles like those reportedly used in that up. massacre. left positive in a possible down the egypt effect a little folly put me off when i see them to people what is it on religion city and the amount of it since she was old enough to see this as good multiphase don't let's all be like that are. they for same song called school approve of his o.c. don't. show to concede only if you take it especially as for

cost of them it is pearson it was on the temple of democracy a disease that mr centers and plate but. post the problem with the mark or the book mattie. it exists and it affects only purveyor. of you've all been into. the field is a fail because of what a disadvantage is it or you don't then i'm in for some question except the cook and not the usual modern day listen to the many other with the name of peace in on than those of simply not clearly. there were questions so that i mean they can produce an argument superman so you've got this beside the nail of democracy yet i guess you'll all city you're just sitting on the rock yelling you're manolo me say fuel additional. dancing over that's all bullet i'll celeste headlee to delusion always deadly violence has been on the rise in egypt specially in the sinai peninsula the

ne corner of this remote region has become for european leaders one of the middle east's hottest front lines against all groups the c.c. government appears to be struggling to contain this threat of islamic state militants who are based in the sinai and of course now with the effect of collapse of islamic state power in iraq and syria there are indications that at least some of those fighters are now coming from those areas into the sinai but it's hard to know what's really happening if you sign as the independent media have not been allowed into the area for years. imagine you feel for. where they just. don't back it up. for me that i did it and that's going this thing that's in the cia is that anybody but get up out of the i'm here fredricka community and you know to join a bit and. i'm confirmed leagues from the area reveal horrific pictures of the

egyptian army's brutal crackdown amid increasing concerns for the civilian population. for all the force to point out the egyptian army has yet to regain control of the area while armed attacks appear to be spreading through. to egypt in nov twenty seventh president announced the final offensive to the school. the school. for. last year but lesser. or to start. all a ship. for a ship his method is that he is the only thing that is standing between egypt becoming another province of an islamic caliphate and stability and security and safety. in twenty sixteen an attacker deliberately drove his truck into

a crowded christmas market in berlin with lethal consequences after paris and london this was yet another deadly assault inside a european capital. german chancellor angela merkel turned to reject as a partner to improve security and counterterrorism signing a cooperation in twenty seventeen. i'm gonna speak to the fact that somebody. m z had a contest to does money egging him out on. on danzig heights question i'm in i keep in psych the cyber criminality and for good sources as a till this most internet based on people mostly given fester to dust in it get. hot and in a get get minutes to oldest then man i know because it's an elemental that. germany also looks to l.c.c. to stem the tide of migrants and refugees leaving the middle east and africa for

your. chancellor merkel offered l.c.c. a five hundred million dollar aid package to essentially close off the egyptian. to get his filing. to take michelle's. underlying off us disease i think that's the underlying well first of all starts up a second this long. intense decent. critics warn that egypt may use the migration issue to exert pressure on your peers and here bit of the insider kind of good to warn. lawson of abuse here i can modest mr fire on a good note i'm impressed no corporate soon to be shoved in iraq does a good chance of you and buzz off it. just got to give

a fork so now introduced in service of hearty viewers in the name given the i know i'm working lifetime to bring all of your p.r. to have done it blow or give science missions or clout four hundred today germany and egypt have a good business relationship initial misgivings about l c c's military regime faded away in the light of a major project that egypt granted to the german companies seems a gigantic investment to build the largest gas fired power plant in the world i've seen become how to down a demon zone for mark milley garden. is only for nicky demon's own office humans that was the often example. sort of a type of the sea of marco you would important to have had to collide lawson found in p. keep. it in yes to give you the president morsi start so again inside police were added some two to four were tied. and you need to feel what an a a democracy of

a duly and it was that not enough that even a little bit was a terrible idea. it was a lot just to use an insight pulled the president. puts up the shaft heart. i'm going to demonise you one nasty political out the east. was not the comment that sitting on. the berlin press conference with the two leaders took an ironic turn. a protest by an egyptian medical student was drowned out by as he sees all two of us chanting. it is a great honor to have with us today presidential c.c.v.

with donald trump's presidency l.c.c. look forward to friendly relations in washington tunes everything that you've done . and i know you appreciate everything that we've done. it's no secret that trump has an affinity for dictatorial figures he's explicitly embraced c c in public he's called him a strong leader as someone who's really getting stuff done. at the same time russia and egypt have grown closer bloodier putin and l.c.c. have visited each other several times with financial deals and military cooperation on the agenda. what we're likely to see is that egypt is going to simultaneously pursue relations with both moscow and washington in order to ensure that they are not in a position of some serviettes to our global power while the egyptian government is looking for partners who don't ask uncomfortable questions it remains to be seen

how washington's long term priorities evolve i think for president trump he's perfectly comfortable returning to the way things used to be where the u.s. was perfectly happy to trade off the mark received for security and. that working with a dictator is completely consistent with his worldview. foreign policy is by definition the pursuit of a country's interests. as l.c.c. continues his stranglehold on power the question becomes is it really in the west's interest to continue supporting him unconditionally. on the security aspect i think it's fairly clear he hasn't delivered he hasn't defeated the isis which are the isis affiliate with in the sinai most estimates place that group up between eight hundred and twelve hundred people that's not

a very large entity yet over the course of five years he's been incapable of fully finishing off the square according to those who've seen egyptian prisons from the inside and repression torture prison conditions and the conflation of all dissent with terrorism may prove to be counterproductive in the long run. i mistrust in the brain if enough assume is a nested how would the next minute said then with the lady scilly me in this moment chafing in the highway then the meek and i guess those same prison. in the sixties seventies and eighties. produced islamic jihad movements that gave birth to that then grandfather and isis i don't even want to begin to imagine what we're going to have. in five ten fifteen years. some in europe have become complacent they have accepted that this is the egypt

will have to deal with the i think it's a mistake i think it will come back as a boomerang. there's an enormous amount of young people in egypt that don't have enough perspectives they don't have enough perspectives. for prosperous life a life they can shape the way they would like they are the future and they should be at the heart and at the core of what the e.u. does. april on al-jazeera faultlines is back with more investigative journalism an

in-depth story of the world's third largest democracy heads to its presidential and legislative elections a documentary explores how the united states and the european union a turning a blind eye to egypt's violations of human rights prime minister modi is seeking a second time with a campaign dominated by talk of a cash man pakistan will he succeed an exclusive look at the goals behind russia's current foreign policy explained by some of the insight as to help shape the kremlin's ideology april on al-jazeera. well the worst is over for now all risk of tornadoes is gone offshore the satellites two shows quite clearly the cause of it all and it's wrapped around what

is still further north cold enough to give some overnight snow this is the picture just before dawn monday night and then choose is more or less dispersed you also notice if you are watching closely the potential bit of snow still around the great lakes for example is cold enough at least not for that more obviously over the cascades you'll see snow in the telegraph to rain down towards the middle of california yes it's still raining here on and off which has been which means that we're just talking about the hundred percent full reservoirs even more probably a good thing however what i'm watching is this development here this is now wednesday we're feeding it from the sasa got colder from the north the potential for this develop once more exists when we worked carefully i think south of all this on the tail end of that frontal system so violent of the u.s. is this so a shower to maybe develop in the bahamas and in cuba possibly down el salvador guatemala as well for those tens disappeared and it comes rather dry picture dry is

still rather cloudy at least in this part of the caribbean. in australia more women are being locked up than ever before what's driving this alarming development one i want east meets to x. in my live blog behind bars on al-jazeera. al jazeera as i would winning investigative documentary program people ask me a large iranian of women going missing or being murdered what's the reason faultlines goes beyond the headlines holding the powerful to account have you heard of the story not involved in that examining the u.s. and its role in the world someone has to get the gun i'm shooting people right now . back with a new series that's the reality that we live in coming soon on al-jazeera.

this is al-jazeera. hello i'm how this is the news are live from doha coming up in the next sixty minutes. the good a global icon burns but france's president virus that it will rise again. i don't believe the president and most of us well we will rebuild this cathedral together and on advice on definitely part of the french destiny. protesters in sudan refused to back down from their demand for a civilian governments.