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CRIME

Driver stabbed in Paris for beeping at red light

Parisians are known for their impatience when they get behind a wheel but for one driver in the French capital his irritation at being held up at a red light has left him fighting for his life.

Driver stabbed in Paris for beeping at red light
File photo: Joybot/Flickr

A motorist was knifed in the 16th Arrondissement of Paris on Monday after beeping his horn at a fellow driver at a red light.

The violent confrontation took place on Rue Daumier just before 6pm.

A police source told AFP that the victim became impatient whilst waiting at a red light at honked his horn at the driver in front.

The other driver took offence and got out of the car to confront him and “at this point the situation degenerated”, the source said.

“The victim was stabbed with a knife four times, to the face, the abdomen and the knee,” the source said.

He was rushed to a nearby hospital where his condition has been described as “critical”.

His attacker tried to flee the scene but was arrested a short while later near his home, French TV TF1 reported.

Police were able to track him down thanks to the registration number on the car.

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PARIS

Notre-Dame rebuild ‘meeting deadline and budget’

Paris's Notre-Dame Cathedral, ravaged by fire in 2019, is on track to re-open on time on December 8th, the head of the reconstruction said on Wednesday.

Notre-Dame rebuild 'meeting deadline and budget'

“We are meeting deadlines and budget,” Philippe Jost, who heads the public body overseeing the project, told a French Senate committee.

The fire at the UNESCO-listed cathedral, which welcomed 12 million visitors a year, shocked the world on April 15, 2019.

Jost praised the work of the 250 companies and artist groups involved in the reconstruction, which began in spring 2022 after rubble had been cleared and the foundations secured at a cost of €150 million.

He said the budget for the reconstruction phase was expected to stay below the foreseen €550 million, leaving another €150 million unspent from the huge pot of donations that poured in after the fire.

The surplus will go towards “urgent” restoration of the cathedral’s stone exterior to be carried out from 2025, Jost said.

The spire, which dramatically collapsed five years ago, is once again visible on the Paris skyline following the recent removal of its scaffolding.

The installation of the lead roof is ongoing on its solid oak frame, rebuilt with doweled wood and no metal bolts according to techniques dating back hundreds of years.

“The restoration will last for at least 860 years,” said Jost, referring to how long the cathedral had survived from its initial completion in 1163.

In addition to sprinkler systems, each section of the wooden frame has been “compartmentalised” to prevent any future fire from spreading, Jost said.

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