Parisians are examining the full extent of a massive fire at Notre-Dame cathedral.
The fire, which brought down the spire and roof, was declared under control almost nine hours after it started.
President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to rebuild the 12th Century cathedral, describing the blaze as a “terrible tragedy”. Hundreds of millions of euros have already been pledged.
Images from inside and outside the cathedral show the extent of the damage.
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A file photo of the Senate during plenary at the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly in Abuja on December 18, 2018. Photo: [email protected]
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Act 2010 (Amendment) Bill, 2019 has passed the first reading in the Senate.
This bill was read for the first time on the floor of the red chamber on Tuesday after it was presented by the Senate Committee Chairman on INEC, Senator Suleiman Nazif.
Senator Nazif presented the bill following the conclusion of the keenly contested 2019 general elections.
READ ALSO: Senate Passes Power Sector Reform Act Amendment Bill
In December 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari declined assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill, 2018, for the fourth time.
He had explained the reasons for his decision in letters sent to the leadership of both chambers of the National Assembly.
Also during Tuesday’s plenary, the Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekewremadu, presented six bills on the amendment of the Constitution.
They include, Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 8 (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 728), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 15) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 729), and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 20) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 730).
Others are Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 22) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 731), Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 24) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 732), and Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 28) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 (SB. 733).
All six bills were read for the first time.
Similarly, the Industrial Development (Income Tax Relief) (Amendment) Bill, 2019 by Senator Sabo Mohammed scaled through the first reading.
Police log books for the officers who protected The Beatles from hordes of screaming fans on their first visit to the US have gone on display.
The records list the names of the officers who guarded the band in New York as they prepared to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.
The visit saw the Fab Four followed by huge crowds wherever they went.
NYPD officer Patrick Cassidy, who found the logs, has donated them to Liverpool’s Magical Beatles Museum.
Detailed as the “visit of Beatles singing group”, the handwritten police blotter lists Sergeants O’Shea, Jones and McAuliffe, with officers Delgado, De Angelo, Lucarelli and Madden among the NYPD detachment looking after the band.
The records also mention The Beatles’ show at Carnegie Hall on 12 February 1964 and an incident where an officer was “knocked off balance” and injured outside the Plaza Hotel while “attempting to restrain the surging crowd”.
Mr Cassidy, whose father Edward also served with the NYPD, said he found the logs while searching in police records.
“The Ed Sullivan Theatre is in the confines of my precinct, so one day in 2013, I went into the storage area that holds these books.
“After 50 years, they clean out and destroy them, so I looked up February ’64 and found the book, which would have been destroyed the following year.”
Mr Cassidy said his father had told him he found The Beatles to be “well dressed and well behaved”, adding that the band had modestly assumed “the crowds outside the hotel were for someone else”.
The Beatles had already hit number one in the US charts when they arrived on 7 February 1964 and the levels of anticipation surrounding their arrival had not been seen since the days of Elvis Presley in the 1950s.
Throngs of screaming fans and reporters shadowed the band’s every move, with police on alert for anyone posing as hotel guests or other disguises trying to get close to them.
Their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, which marked their US TV debut, was watched by a then record 73 million people, with 60% of televisions in the country tuned in to the show.
Thais are celebrating this year’s Songkran festival, also known as the Buddhist New Year.
The festival, held between 13 and 15 April in Thailand, is also celebrated in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Songkran is often referred to as the biggest water fight in the world.
Images from across Thailand show large crowds of people taking part in festivities.
The holiday was traditionally marked by visiting family members and pouring water over Buddha statues.
In this image, people sprinkle scented water over a Buddha statue.
Throwing water is meant to wash away bad luck from the previous year.
In this image (above) elephants and people can be seen spraying water.
Hundreds of thousands of tourists head to Thailand every year, mainly to Bangkok and larger cities to experience Songkran.
Many people can be seen in bright floral clothes as they take part in the celebrations. In this image (below) a young boy sits on a person’s shoulders as he is sprayed with water.
On 15 April, the first day of Thai New Year, people gather at temples to offer food and new robes to the temple monks.
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When you are seven, have had treatment for brain cancer and flown 7,500 miles to meet the man who helped you through it, little things like winning and losing are irrelevant.
But, boy, did little Bella cheer when Aaron Mooy scored his penalty for Huddersfield in their 4-1 defeat to Leicester on Saturday.
One arm raised, Bella, from Dallas, Texas, jumped in delight before getting a cuddle from her dad, Scott.
“We never get penalties,” said Mooy. “She gave us that luck today. I am glad she was happy that I scored.”
Bella met midfielder Mooy for the first time on Friday at Huddersfield’s Canalside training ground, just over nine months after she saw him on TV at home in the US after waking up in her father’s arms on the sofa.
She had fallen asleep watching Disney movies. Her dad Scott had switched channels as Bella snoozed, landing on a World Cup match involving Australia and the shaven-headed Mooy.
“I like him. He is like me,” Bella declared, pointing to her own head, shorn of what had been long, beautiful curls by powerful chemotherapy treatment.
Bella and Scott monitored Mooy’s fortunes in Russia, then, after Australia were eliminated, searched for his club team. It led them to Huddersfield, and interest turned to obsession.
It is fair to assume there are not many replica Huddersfield Town kits among the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks gear in the city’s sports shops.
Bella has one, though. Her story was posted on Instagram and the power of social media did the rest.
“It got blasted all over the world and found its way into Mr Mooy’s inbox,” said Scott.
“What has happened since is truly remarkable. I don’t know if words can fully express how much seeing Aaron helped her.
“At the time, we were wig shopping and we were worried about the self-consciousness of our little girl. Completely unbeknown to him, he helped her get to the point where she felt she didn’t have to wear a wig.
“He and Huddersfield have made a little Texas girl’s dreams come true.”
After seeing her story, Huddersfield got in touch with Bella’s family, and with the involvement of a local West Yorkshire-based company, it was arranged for her to fly across the Atlantic to meet Mooy and see him in action.
Bella will stay in Yorkshire for a couple of days before returning home, but the memories will linger.
She walked out with the bald midfielder before kick-off, holding his hand tightly as they strode across the turf, with other Huddersfield players offering her reassurances that everything was OK.
She was carried off in the arms of a club executive, waving as she went to join her family in the main stand, from where they watched the game and Mooy’s goal.
Huddersfield lost. It has been a depressingly familiar feeling this season at a club destined for the Championship.
But what the Terriers have lacked on the pitch, they have made up for with generosity and human kindness. This showed the impact of the Premier League’s global reach in the most positive form imaginable.
“This is the privilege of the job,” said Mooy. “You can help in a lot of different ways.
“She got some sort of joy out of watching me play at the World Cup. Now she is a Huddersfield fan and she came to the match, which is amazing.
“This season has been tough for the club, but bringing Bella here has picked everyone up a little bit. That is the thing that made me happy today.”
Watch five great FA Cup semi-final goals scored at Wembley, including strikes from Didier Drogba, Tom Huddlestone and Olivier Giroud’s sublime effort from 2018.
Watch live coverage of Brighton v Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals from 17:10 BST on Saturday, 6 April live on BBC One.