The spire and roof of Notre Dame Cathedral were reduced to ash Monday, as a catastrophic fire spread through a building that has embodied the heart of Paris for more than 800 years.
The fire, which was apparently accidental, left a smoldering stone shell where there had once been a peerless work of architecture, engineering and craftsmanship.
Cathedral spokesman Andre Finot told reporters that the building had sustained “colossal damage” and that the medieval wooden interior – a marvel that has inspired awe and wonder for the millions who have visited over the centuries – had been gutted.
“Nothing will remain from the frame,” he said.

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U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who has compared retaliatory Israeli actions at the Gaza border against demonstrators urged on by Hamas to a “massacre,” said on Sunday that decreasing the annual $3.8 billion in U.S. taxpayer assistance to Israel should certainly be “on the table.”
When asked on Yahoo News’ Skullduggery podcast, “Would you be in favor of reducing military or economic aid to Israel,” the congresswoman answered, “I mean, I think it’s on the table. I think it’s certainly on the table, and I think it’s something that can be discussed.”

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin is expected to select Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to form the next governing coalition.
On Monday, he met with the leaders of the parties elected to the Knesset in last week’s election. They include the prime minister’s Likud Party, set to have 35 seats, and United Torah Judaism.
Once Netanyahu is selected, he will have 28 days to form a unity government. The president may grant a 14-day extension, if necessary.
Netanyahu’s re-election to his fifth term makes him Israel’s longest-serving prime minister since founding father and first leader of the Jewish nation, David Ben-Gurion.
(JNS)
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Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin met with representatives of the Yisrael Beytenu faction, which recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be appointed to form the government.
MK-elect Yulia Malinovsky told Rivlin: “We are in a complex situation, it is our duty to maintain a delicate balance between religion and state. We as a faction take upon ourselves to be a defender of the secular public, alongside respect for the religious public. In forming the coalition, too, it is important that the balance be maintained.”
Read more at Arutz Sheva.
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Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has received the backing of an absolute majority of the incoming Knesset Tuesday, effectively ensuring he is tasked with the formation of the 35th Israeli government.
Netanyahu, who received the backing of his own Likud party, the Shas, and United Torah Judaism factions yesterday, earlier on Tuesday got the support of Yisrael Beytenu’s five MK-Knesset delegation.
Later on Tuesday, the Union of Right-Wing Parties, a joint ticket of the Jewish Home, National Union, and Otzma Yehudit factions, endorsed Netanyahu, pushing him over the top to 61 MKs, paving the road for President Rivlin to task Netanayhu with forming the 35th Government of Israel.

In a statement, the European Union denounced Israeli “plans for more than 4,600 new housing units for settlers in the occupied West Bank, including the legalization of an illegal outpost.”
The plans were announced last week by the Israeli Higher Planning Council of the Civil Administration.
“The European Union’s position on Israeli settlement policy in the occupied Palestinian territory is clear and remains unchanged: All settlement activity is illegal under international law,” an EU spokesperson said on Friday.
“It erodes the viability of the two-state solution and the prospects for a lasting peace as reaffirmed by UN Security Council Resolution 2334,” the statement said.
EJP / JNS.org
{Matzav.com}

On Sunday, SpaceIL president and main investor Morris Kahn held a first meeting for the Beresheet II project, which aims for a second Israeli spaceship and a soft moon landing. While representatives from SpaceIL, the nonprofit organization behind the development of Beresheet, attended the meeting, a major partner was missing: there was no representation from Israeli state-owned defense contractor Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which partnered with SpaceIL to construct the spacecraft.
IAI is proud of its contributions to the Beresheet project and would gladly take part in other space-related projects in partnership with SpaceIL and Kahn, a spokeswoman for IAI stated Friday.

Israel may soon have to take sides between the US and China, and technology will serve as a weapon in this struggle, CEO of LeumiTech Yifat Oron said Thursday, speaking at Calcalist’s Mind the Tech conference in New York. “In terms of the Israeli tech world, we are exactly halfway between the US and China,” Oron added.
“I’m not sure that we Israelis can actually stay ambivalent in terms of where the money comes from,” Oron said.
Leumitech is the technology banking arm of Israeli Bank Leumi.
The Israeli tech ecosystem was lucky to have US investment flowing for many years, Oron said, “But guess what? China did exactly the same, although about 15-20 years later.”
Adi Pick / CTech
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Israel‘s president began post-election consultations on Monday with political parties that will lead to his appointment of a candidate to form a government.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nomination seemed virtually ensured after his right-wing Likud won the largest number of parliamentary seats in Tuesday’s ballot, and his closest rival, Benny Gantz of the centrist Blue and White party, conceded defeat.
The president, Reuven Rivlin, said he would announce his choice on Wednesday after meeting with all of the parties that captured seats in the 120-member Knesset.

Freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) asserted in a media interview over the weekend that cutting military and economic aid to Israel should be “on the table.”
“I think it is certainly on the table. I think it’s something that can be discussed,” the prominent progressiver lawmaker said on Yahoo’s “Skullduggery” podcast on Sunday.
Ocasio-Cortez said that newly re-elected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s pledge to annex territory in the West Bank should be opposed by the US government. She also criticized Netanyahu as a “Trump-like figure.”
“I think these are part of conversations we are having in our caucus, but I think what we are really seeing is an ascent of authoritarianism across the world,” she said.