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No, the Eiffel Tower is not on fire

A fake video appearing to show the Paris landmark ablaze has now been viewed millions of times on social media, with many users apparently believing that the Eiffel Tower is on fire.

Published: 24 January 2024 16:30 CET
No, the Eiffel Tower is not on fire
A screenshot of the AI-generated video showing the Eiffel Tower ablaze.

The AI-generated footage was posted on the social media channel TikTok last week, and since then the footage has received 4.7 million likes and has been widely shared online.

While many users realised that the images were obviously fake, thousands did not, with people using the hashtag ‘pray for Paris’ in response.

A search on TikTok for ‘Eiffel Tower’ brings up ‘Eiffel Tower on fire’ and ‘Eiffel Tower 2024 fire’ as the top results. 

As is hopefully clear by now – the Paris landmark is not on fire and on Wednesday continued to welcome tourists. 

The tower was the most-visited tourist spot in Paris in 2023, welcoming 6.3 million visitors.

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CRIME

One dead, several injured in Paris suburb shooting

One person was killed and six injured overnight in a gritty northern Paris suburb in a shooting likely linked to drug trafficking, prosecutors and the mayor said Saturday.

Published: 4 May 2024 10:05 CEST
One dead, several injured in Paris suburb shooting

The attack in a parking lot near a cultural centre at Sevran, which lies between central Paris and the city’s main airport Charles de Gaulle, took place around 11:45 pm (2145 GMT) Friday, prosecutors said.

Upon arriving on the scene, police found four injured people strewn on the ground. One died soon after and the three others were taken to hospitals in a serious condition, a police source said.

Three more people injured by bullets were later taken to hospital, the source said, adding that two men had arrived in the parking lot in a car and one of them got out and opened fire.

The attackers then fled.

Sevran mayor Stephane Blanchet told AFP “it was clearly a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.”

“There is a need to establish order and eradicate trafficking,” he said. “Those idiots fired live bullets and did not heed appeals for calm”.

Police have opened an investigation into intentional homicide by an organised gang, they said. No arrests had been by Saturday morning.

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