News Headlines - 14 August 2019
▽Notre-Dame cathedral 'still at risk of collapse' after fire
Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris is still at risk of collapse after being gutted by a fire in April, with more stonework falling during the recent heatwave in the French capital, the government said on Wednesday.
France's culture ministry insisted that the urgent need to make the cathedral safe had dictated the pace of the works, following criticism that it had ignored the risks of lead poisoning.
Work to secure the cathedral was suspended on July 25 to allow for decontamination of the lead that had spread during the fire. The work should resume next week.
▽Russian Fighter Jets Push NATO War Plane Away - The Moscow Times
A Russian fighter jet saw off a NATO warplane after it approached a plane carrying Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu over neutral waters in the Baltic Sea, the TASS news agency reported Tuesday.
Shoigu's aircraft had been returning to Moscow from the Russian Baltic region of Kaliningrad - which is surrounded by Poland and Lithuania - and was carrying a TASS reporter on board, the agency said.
It said a Spanish F-18 jet based in Lithuania had tried to approach Shoigu's plane, prompting one of two Russian SU-27 fighter jets accompanying him to see it off.
▽Greta Thunberg: Climate change activist sets sail from Plymouth - BBC News
Environmental activist Greta Thunberg has set sail from the UK, bound for UN climate summits in New York and Chile... The 16-year-old made a speech ahead of departing from Plymouth on the Malizia II, a solar-powered racing yacht with underwater turbines.
Greta said she was dedicated "to do everything I can" to tackle climate change which was a "very big problem".
The teenager, who refuses to travel by air because of its environmental impact, said of climate sceptics: "There's always going to be people who don't understand or accept the united science, and I will just ignore them, as I'm only acting and communicating on the science."
Japan was bracing on Wednesday for a severe tropical storm expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds during the peak holiday period, with dozens of flights and bullet train services cancelled.
The storm, named Krosa, is expected to churn slowly over western parts of the country, potentially affecting millions of people returning to major cities from their hometowns after the traditional “Obon” summer holidays.
Japan Airlines scrapped 62 domestic flights to and from airports in southern Japan for Wednesday.
▽Artists Demand Removal of Work from Aichi Triennale Following Censorship Controversy -ARTnews
In an open letter sent to ARTnews on Tuesday morning, a group of artists called on the Aichi Triennale in Nagoya, Japan, to remove their work from the show. The open letter comes a week after the triennial took work off view, in a controversy that some have alleged is censorship.
The letter is signed by Tania Bruguera, Pia Camil, Claudia Martínez Garay, Regina José Galindo, and Javier Téllez, as well as an artist who served as a curator to this year’s Triennale, Pedro Reyes... In an August 6 open letter posted to Facebook, 72 of the over 90 participating artists decried the decision to close that show, deeming it censorship. A week later, nine of the artists have called for the removal of their artworks in the Triennale for as long as “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’ ” remains closed, “as a public gesture of solidarity with the censored artists.”
