At least ten people, including five children, died and at least 14 others were injured in a fire that swept a residential building in the Vaulx-en-Velin suburb of Lyon in the early hours of Friday.
An investigation into arson has been opened after a fire, apparently caused by an explosion, swept a residential building in the early hours of Monday in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Salanque, close to Perpignan, in southern France, leaving at least seven people dead, including two children, and another 37 people injured.
A joint formal legal complaint for 'placing the lives of others in danger' has been filed by Paris residents, a trades union and an anti-pollution association over the lack of action to remove significant lead contamination that fell around Notre-Dame cathedral due to the April 2019 blaze which severely damaged the landmark.
The four-masted, 75-metre, multi-millon-dollar luxury yacht Phocéa, once a prized asset of shamed French tycoon Bernard Tapie, has sunk off the Malaysian holiday island of Langkawi.
French President Emmanuel Macron has arbitrated in the year-long debate over the rebuilding of Notre Dame cathedral, which was severely damaged by fire in April 2019, with a decision to return it to exactly how it was before, including its 19th-century landmark spire that was destroyed in the blaze, after several architectural projects had proposed a modern rfeincarnation, including a swimming pool on the roof.
A fire that broke out Friday on one of France's six nuclear attack submarines during renovation in the southern port of Toulon was described as 'serious' by a French navy official after it took 14 hours to bring under control, while defence minister Florence Parly insisted 'there was not a nuclear accident'.
The repairs to Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris entered a critical stage on Monday when work began to remove the tubular metal scaffolding that melted together in the fire that almost destroyed the landmark in April 2019, an operation that runs the danger of damaging the limestone walls supporting the gothic vault.
General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who is co-ordinating the project of restoring the fire-damaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, says that delays, including that caused by the coronavirus epidemic, could still be overcome to return the building 'to a place of worship within five years'.
As repair work continues on the fire-damaged 850-year-old Gothic cathedral, Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve will be moved to the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois.
Work on cleaning up the damage to Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, which was severely damaged by fire in April, resumed on Monday after a break of three weeks due to widespread lead contamination from the building, the extent of which was revealed by Mediapart last month.
Out of 175 children so far tested after the April fire at the cathedral, 16 have levels of lead in their blood above the threshold at which an initial alert is raised, according to figures from the Paris regional health authority. Two have concentrations above the level at which lead poisoning is officially declared, though one of these cases is not apparently linked to lead from the blaze. Meanwhile the parents of one child with high lead levels in his blood have spoken of the “Kafkaesque” response of the authorities to their plight. Pascale Pascariello reports.
Environmental protection NGO Robin des Bois has filed a lawsuit claiming 'the relevent authorities, including the diocese [...] neglected to assist residents, visitors and workers, allowing them to be exposed to the toxic fallout' of lead pollution caused by the fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in April, following Mediapart's report earlier this month of high levels of lead contamination in the surrounding area.
