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"Israel should stop all incitement and provocation and avoid any unilateral actions that might lead to aggravation of the situation," the Chinese diplomat said at a joint press briefing on Sunday with Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry. Qin also called for "maintaining the status quo" at Jerusalem's most important holy site - after an ultranationalist Israeli cabinet minister visited the site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary - or the Al-Aqsa Mosque - Islam's third holiest shrine. The visit by Itamir Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister, was seen by Palestinians as a provocation...

Social media users were shocked and outraged over a recent anti-Israel rally put on by pro-Palestinian protestors at the University of Michigan this week. Clips of the protest depicted marchers, chanting “Intifada, Intifada! Long live the Intifada” a call to violent overthrow of the Jewish state inspired by Palestinian riots and rebellions against Israel in the late 80s, early 90s, and early 2000s. “There is only one solution!” a female marcher was seen chanting, as the crowd behind her responded, “Intifada! Revolution! Marchers, seen walking around the Ann Arbor campus screaming into bullhorns and waving Palestinian flags, were also heard...

While turning a blind eye to the starving Afghan population, on Jan. 4, a Taliban senior leader professed the group has an "obligation" to protect Chinese nationals looking to invest in the country’s mineral and oil wealth. The comment comes on the heels of a December attack that targeted Chinese investors who frequent Kabul’s Longan Hotel. The Islamic State – Khorasan Province, ISIS-K, claimed responsibility for the assault. On Jan. 5, the Taliban announced it had killed eight ISIS-K members, including those responsible for the hotel attack. The following day, China’s Xinjiang Central Asia Petroleum and Gas signed a significant...

As the world watched in horror at pictures of the Notre Dame burning, some in China saw another story in the flames: that of retribution. While the overwhelming reaction in China to Monday's fire was one of sympathy and shock, some could not help but point what they saw as historical parallels, even a bit of justice. I might be sympathetic to refugees in Lebanon, but the blaze of the Notre Dame only reminds me of the flames of the Old Summer Palace," wrote one user on social media. "Everything has consequences, heavenly cycles, retribution. This applies to both people...

Chinese experts will participate in the restoration of France's Notre-Dame cathedral, state media reported on Wednesday, following a meeting between the two countries' heads of state in Beijing. The 850-year-old cathedral, which was scarred in April after a fire tore through its roof and toppled its spire, was the most visited historic monument in Europe. Since the blaze, which took 400 firefighters to control, Chinese and French authorities have been in touch about cooperating on restoration efforts, reported official news agency Xinhua. "China has a great deal of experience in renovating ancient buildings affected by fire, especially ones made of...

Moscow, April 19, Interfax - The Notre Dame fire is a sign not only to Europe, but also to Russia, and therefore what happened cannot be perceived as someone else's trouble, priest Alexander Volkov, press secretary of Patriarch Kirill, said. "Speaking about the spiritual aspect of this story, it is a horrible and menacing sign to our entire European civilization, not only to the Parisians, who have let Muslims come to live with them. It seems to me that God doesn't act locally, he loves all his children and calls on everyone to come to reason," father Alexander said on...

Moscow, April 16, Interfax - The Russian Culture Minister will encourage Russian museums and citizens to arrange a fundraiser to help rebuild the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris that has been devastated by a fire, the director of the ministry's museums department, Vladislav Kononov told Interfax on Tuesday. "We will invite museums and all citizens who are not indifferent to what happened to organize a fundraiser to support the restoration, the rebuilding of Notre-Dame de Paris. I think it will be right. We will hold consultations with our museum institutions, and I think that they will support such an initiative....

St. Petersburg, November 14, Interfax - Specialists from Russia will participate in the restoration of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, the Russian president's envoy for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy said, adding that a final decision on this issue will be made in January. "We will make a final decision in January because we are now awaiting an official request and an official invitation from France. I hope this invitation will arrive before the New Year. And in mid-January, we will meet with the special ambassador of France who is in charge of recruiting foreign specialists to work on...

Moscow, April 16, Interfax - Russian specialists with an extensive record of restoring medieval monuments may help rebuild Paris' Notre Dame Cathedral devastated by fire if necessary, the Kremlin said. "It's true that we have some of the world's best specialists who have a vast record of restoring medieval monuments. Therefore, should such a need arise, we will be ready to dispatch them," Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday. When asked whether Moscow is considering extending financial assistance to France or providing timber to help rebuild the cathedral, Peskov said, "I don't doubt that, if any...

As reconstruction work advances, the cleaning and restoration of Notre-Dame’s famed stained glass, which survived the heat and the flames, also goes forward.Notre-Dame de Paris has been closed for restoration since April 2019, after a massive fire destroyed its roof, which crashed through the vaults below. As reconstruction work advances, the cleaning and restoration of Notre-Dame’s stained glass windows, which survived the heat and the flames, also goes forward. Almost three years after the tragic blaze, eight French glass manufactures are currently cleaning and restoring around 40 windows in the main nave, the choir, the transept, and the sacristy of...

Good Friday of this year also marked the third anniversary of the terrible fire that inflicted so much damage on the cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris. The English-language YouTube channel of the news service France24 has done annual updates on the progress of the restorations, which are quite interesting: in this year’s, we get to see among other things the internal workings of the church’s famous organ, being fixed by restorers located quite far from Paris, and the recent discovery of both a tomb in the floor and some parts of the original roodscreen, which was demolished in the 16th...

Archaeologists working to restore Paris’s fire-damaged Notre Dame cathedral have discovered something remarkable: previously unknown tombs hidden beneath the 850-year-old Gothic church. Workers made the discovery while installing ground-level scaffolding to help rebuild the church’s fallen spire, according to a statement from the French Ministry of Culture. When they realized that there was something buried at the spot where the transept crosses the nave, the cathedral called in the Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research to investigate. What they found were several tombs and a leaden sarcophagus, probably dating to the 14th century. “The floor of the transept crossing has revealed...

France’s heritage authorities approved on Thursday controversial plans for the interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.Members of the National Heritage and Architecture Commission backed the proposals during a closed-door meeting on Dec. 9 amid an outcry over the restoration of the cathedral badly damaged by fire in 2019. French media quoted the Ministry of Culture as saying that “the experts gave a favorable opinion on the interior refurbishment program.” The commission expressed two reservations about the plan. The first concerned a proposal to remove saints’ statues in the chapels. The second related to plans to install moveable pews. AFP reported...

Destroying Notre-DameThe restoration plans will make the great church, like the civilization that built it, a shell of itself. “Vandalism has its newspapers, its cliques, its schools, its chairs, its public, its reasons. Vandalism has the bourgeoisie on its side. … There is nothing less popular among us than these sublime edifices made by the people and for the people. We hold against them all the crimes throughout the past to which they have been witness. We would prefer to erase our entire history. We devastate, pulverize, destroy, demolish out of national spirit. By being good Frenchmen, we have become...

The man who is creating the blueprints for Notre Dame’s makeover, Fr. Gilles Drouin, is a teacher of liturgy and an enthusiastic detractor of the traditional rite.(LifeSiteNews) — When the London Telegraph published an exclusive story last Friday about the “woke ‘Disney’ revamp” that is being planned for Notre Dame cathedral in Paris after the destruction of its roof and spire by fire on Monday of the Holy Week of 2019, it came as a complete surprise to most. Incredulity was probably the dominant reaction — however, a few days later, the Telegraph’s story, tragically, appears to be only too...

Renovators Hope to Turn the Historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris into Woke Theme Park with Emphasis on Africa and AsiaFollowing the disastrous fire on April 15th, 2019, modern architects started making plans for the new and updated Notre Dame Catholic Cathedral in Paris, France. Proposed plans included a giant glass spire to signify secularism or an Islamic minaret to respect the growing Muslim population. Another idea included a glass swimming pool on the roof of the cathedral.This came after President Emmanuel Macron’s prime minister announced there would be a competition in design to rebuild the infamous cathedral.The alter Crucifix...

Paris’s fire-ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral risks resembling a “politically correct Disneyland” under controversial plans for its renovation seen by The Telegraph. Critics have warned that the world-famous cathedral will be turned into an “experimental showroom” under plans to dramatically change the inside of the medieval building. Under the proposed changes, confessional boxes, altars and classical sculptures will be replaced with modern art murals, and new sound and light effects to create “emotional spaces”. There will be themed chapels on a “discovery trail”, with an emphasis on Africa and Asia, while quotes from the Bible will be projected onto chapel walls in...

France’s Notre Dame Cathedral is finally stable and secure enough for artisans to start rebuilding itPARIS -- France’s Notre Dame Cathedral is finally stable and secure enough for artisans to start rebuilding it, more than two years after the shocking fire that tore through its roof, knocked down its spire and threatened to bring the rest of the medieval monument down, too. The government agency overseeing the reconstruction announced in a statement Saturday that the works to secure the structure — which began the day after the April 15, 2019 fire — are at last complete. Carpenters, scaffolding experts, professional...

The new fundraiser will bring the cathedral into the 21st century. The Archdiocese of Paris is asking for more funds to help bring much needed updates to Notre Dame. The campaign is seeking between 5 and 6 million euros to help modernize the interior. Notre Dame de Paris was devastated by fire in April, 2019. Even as it was burning, Catholics around the world were pledging donations to restore the iconic French church. The Archdiocese reportedly raised over 800 million euros, but this money is limited in its use. The regulations around Notre Dame’s funds are due to a law...

PARIS — The first eight oak trees destined to replace the destroyed spire of Paris’s scorched Notre Dame cathedral have been selected from the Bercé forest in the French Loire region, church officials said on Friday. The iconic, 315 foot spire was completely destroyed in the fire that ravaged the Paris monument in 2019. It was made by architect Viollet-le-Duc in 1859. “It is a source of pride for the foresters of the National Forestry Office to participate in the rebirth of Notre-Dame de Paris,” said Forestry Office Director Bertrand Munch.