The Ministry of Education’s contingent from Sports School Brunei Darussalam returned home victorious after an impressive performance at the 2nd Kinabalu RS Athletics League 2024, held from August 31 to September 1 at the Keningau Sports Complex in Sabah.
The contingent, comprising eight student-athletes, secured a total of four medals—two gold and two bronze.
Among the standout performers were Nurazizatul Shareena binti Ashari and Nur Afroz Dameea binti Md Zainal Areif, who, along with their teammates, clinched gold in the Girls’ 4×100 metres relay for the Under-18 category.
Nurazizatul Shareena (R) and Nur Afroz Dameea (L) in the interview. PHOTO: FADLEY FAISAL
The duo attributed their success to rigorous training, disciplined diet, and consistent prayers. They expressed their aspirations to represent Brunei Darussalam at national and international levels, including the Asian School Games and possibly the Olympics.
Another gold medal was won by Qurratul Ain @ Nur Aida binti Irwan in the Girls’ Long Jump Category for Under-18. She also set a new personal best with a leap of 4.45 metres.
Quratul Ain during the interview. PHOTO: FADLEY FAISAL
Additionally, Qurratul Ain bagged a bronze in the Girls’ 200-metre Under-15 event with a time of 30.39 seconds. She described the experience of competing against over 2,000 athletes as overwhelming and shared her hope to participate in the 2025 Asian School Games, aiming to win the Brunei Darussalam School Games this year.
Norjoleha binti Johari, who was also part of the gold-winning 4×100 metres relay team, won another bronze in the Girls’ 200 metres Under-18 category, finishing with a time of 30.38 seconds.
The athletes’ achievements were celebrated upon their return to Brunei Darussalam.
Group photo of the returning athletes with MoE and school officials. PHOTO: FADLEY FAISAL
Present at Brunei International Airport to welcome the team on Tuesday were Acting Assistant Director, Head of Student Affairs Section, Department of Schools, Ministry of Education Pengiran Ali Shafie bin Pg Haji Abas; Principal of Sports School Hajah Nor Aisah binti Haji Mohd Salleh; Deputy Principal of Sports at Sports School Haji Mohd Azrin bin Haji Aji; and Deputy Academic Principal of Sports School Norjalina binti Haji Jaafar.
The Kinabalu RS Athletics League is one of Sabah’s largest and most prestigious athletics championships, with 2,424 participants from 70 teams across Brunei Darussalam, Sabah, and Sarawak. The Brunei Darussalam Sports School contingent was led by Coach Mohd Yussof bin Yaakub. Their outstanding performance, highlighted by nine personal best records set by six students, has brought pride to Brunei’s athletics community. – FADLEY FAISAL
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger introduces Intel Foundry during the Intel Foundry Direct Connect event in San Jose, California. PHOTO: INTEL
ANN/THE KOREA HERALD – Facing its worst earnings crisis in its 56-year history, Intel is reportedly reconsidering its lackluster foundry business, where it has set the goal of beating Samsung Electronics to become the industry’s No 2 by 2030.
For Samsung, which is seeking to carve out its share in the foundry market dominated by TSMC, Intel’s exit could be beneficial, removing a potential threat, according to experts.
On Sunday, Bloomberg reported that Intel, the world’s leading chipmaker, is reviewing various scenarios to recover from losses, including a potential separation or sale of its foundry division.
In the second quarter of this year, the company reported operating losses of USD2.8 billion in the foundry business alone, and it is projected to have an even worse year.
The company restarted its foundry business in 2021 under incumbent CEO Pat Gelsinger, after having previously withdrawn from the market in 2018. With the company taking over 70 percent share in the global central processing unit market, it would be able to secure orders to match those of Samsung merely by making its own chips, the company leadership believed.
Despite its small market share, the company has been aggressively investing in the foundry business, reportedly acquiring all of ASML’s stock of the most advanced High Numerical Aperture NA Extreme Ultraviolet chipmaking equipment manufactured this year.
In January, it also announced it will be building the world’s most advanced chip production facility with a 1.5-nanometre process node in Germany.
But the high cost of chip manufacturing and with their CPU sales shaken by surging demand for graphic processing units in the era of artificial intelligence, the company has been reporting consecutive losses.
In 2021, Intel posted operating losses of USD2.1 billion, followed by USD7 billion in 2023. In the first half of this year, the accumulated operating losses amounted to USD5.3 billion.
Intel is also struggling with securing big tech clients. Its biggest client remains Intel itself.
According to Counterpoint Research, Samsung Electronics took 13 percent of the global foundry market to stand as the No 2. TSMC maintained its dominant lead with 62 per cent. Intel is out of the top 10.
With TSMC having ties with major tech giants, Samsung also faces similar difficulties in attracting new clients for its foundry business. The company is seeing increasing orders from startups and automotive firms, but not big tech firms.
One breakthrough could be AI chips, experts say.
On August 26, IBM introduced its new AI chips for servers – the IBM Telum II Processor and IBM Spyre Accelerator – and said the upcoming chips are to be manufactured by Samsung, at Hot Chips 2024. The chips will be built on Samsung’s 5nm process node, IBM said.
“It is not easy for Samsung to catch up on all fronts of the logic chip sector. Instead of overtaking TSMC’s clients, it would be better for the company to identify the potential clients in the AI sector and secure their orders,” said Kim Yang-paeng, a researcher at the Korea Institute of Industrial Economics and Trade.
In the event that Intel decides to sell its foundry business, Samsung could expand its foundry business as the buyer. TSMC and Samsung are viewed as likely potential buyers, given they are the only firms capable of handling the microlevel processes in advanced chip manufacturing.
Being an Integrated Device Manufacturer, doing both design and manufacturing in chips, some industry observers say Samsung’s goal to beat TSMC by 2030 is an unrealistic goal.
Samsung has been seen slowing down investments in its foundry business and concentrating its resources to boost its footing in the memory chip sector. The company is expected to increase memory chip production facilities at its plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, scrapping the original plan to build a foundry facility there.
Indian National Congress (INC) party workers wear masks of celebrities from the country's Kerala-based Mollywood film industry during a protest against the government's action over alleged sexual allegations within the industry, in Kochi on August 30, 2024. Terrified for her safety, Indian actress Sreelekha Mitra remembers pushing chairs and a sofa against her hotel door after she said an award-winning veteran director sexually harassed her. (Photo by Arun CHANDRABOSE / AFP)
NEW DELHI (AFP) – Terrified for her safety, Indian actress Sreelekha Mitra remembers pushing chairs and a sofa against her hotel door after she said an award-winning veteran director sexually harassed her.
Mitra waited 15 years to speak out about the incident, one of several cases exposing the dark underbelly of India’s Malayalam-language “Mollywood” film industry that has won awards at Cannes.
Her revelation was spurred by an explosive government report documenting widespread sexual harassment in an industry dominated by powerful and wealthy men who believe that an actress willing to kiss on screen would do the same in real life.
“That entire night I stayed awake,” Mitra, 51, told AFP.
Mitra was invited to a gathering at the director’s house, where she said he lured her into his room for a phone call with a cinematographer.
“He started playing with my hair and neck… I knew if I did not say anything then, his hand would roam around other parts of my body,” she said, describing events from 2009, when she was 36.
She left and returned to her hotel.
“The intentions behind his moves were pretty clear to me… I was petrified.”
Her case and close to a dozen others have triggered a MeToo reckoning in the industry, with at least 10 prominent figures accused, according to Indian media.
Kerala-based Mollywood is known for critically acclaimed movies with strong and progressive themes, a change from the big dance and song numbers of India’s giant Hindi-language Bollywood in Mumbai.
The industry is prolific, producing up to 200 films a year, loved not only by southern India’s 37 million Malayalam speakers, but also dubbed and streamed across the rest of India — and abroad.
Internationally, its films have won awards, including the 1999 satire Marana Simhasanam (“Throne of Death”), winner of the Camera d’Or at Cannes.
This year’s “Manjummel Boys”, a survival thriller, took USD29 million at the box office, the highest-grossing Malayalam movie ever and the fifth-most successful in India this year.
A man rides past posters of regional movies from India’s Kerala-based Mollywood film industry, displayed along a street amid protests against alleged sexual allegations within the industry, in Kochi on August 30, 2024. PHOTO: AFP
‘Worst evil’
The industry report, released August 19, said women actors faced the widespread “worst evil” of sexual harassment.
The report was released by the Hema Committee, headed by a former high court judge, set up after a leading Malayalam actress reported she was sexually assaulted in 2017.
Gopalakrishnan Padmanabhan, a prominent Malayalam actor better known by his stage name Dileep, was arrested for allegedly orchestrating the assault.
He was imprisoned for three months before being released on bail. The case continues.
But the release of the report has opened discussion on the far wider issue of chronic violence against women, encouraging people like Mitra to speak out in public for the first time.
It said that women who considered speaking out about sexual assault were silenced by threats to their life, and to their families.
Indian National Congress (INC) party workers wear masks of celebrities from the country’s Kerala-based Mollywood film industry during a protest against the government’s action over alleged sexual allegations within the industry, in Kochi on August 30, 2024. PHOTO: AFP
Award-winning actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, 36, called the investigation a “game changer” and a “historic moment”.
“There was this idea that women working in the industry should feel grateful for having been given an opportunity by the men who were hiring them,” said Thiruvothu, a member of the campaign group Women in Cinema Collective.
‘Shaking everything’
Allegations of abuse in Indian cinema are not new.
It witnessed a wave in 2018, shortly after the 2017 MeToo movement erupted in Hollywood against disgraced US movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
But Thiruvothu called the latest allegations more than “MeToo Part Two.”
“It’s shaking everything,” she told AFP.
“It isn’t an individual-to-individual complaint anymore. It’s about a systemic structure that has continued to fail women.”
Since the report, several top actors have been accused.
The Association of Malayalam Movie Artists was dissolved following the resignation of its chief on “moral grounds” with some members among the accused.
Ranjith Balakrishnan, 59, chairman of the state’s film academy, has also quit.
Balakrishnan, who denies any wrongdoing, was the man Mitra accused of sexual harassment.
Police have filed a case against him for outraging a woman’s modesty, a non-bailable offence.
Mitra, who until the release of the report had only mentioned the incident to an industry colleague, told AFP that Balakrishnan had misused “his power”.
Thiruvothu offered a message to all women in the film industry who have survived sexual assault.
“You are a skilled artist… do not listen to anyone who tells you to find another job if it is so difficult for you,” she said.
“This is your industry, as much as it is anybody else’s. Speak up, so that we are taking the space that is rightfully ours.”
An illustration shows a scammer in a hoodie working on a computer. PHOTO: ANN/PHILIPPINE DAILY INQUIRER
ANN/THE STAR – The actual number of children being sexually exploited, abused and bullied online is much higher than the numbers highlighted by the authorities, says a non-governmental organisation
Childline Foundation executive director Datin PH Wong said the figures that the authorities currently have represent only a small fraction of the reality.
The Childline Foundation, in partnership with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) UK, tracks online cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation.
According to Wong, the IWF reported over 4,000 cases in 2023 and around 8,000 cases in the first three months of this year alone.
“Online child sexual abuse and exploitation is on the rise,” said Wong, adding that such cases are a form of cyberbullying.
She emphasised the importance of raising awareness among parents and children, who often do not realise the dangers lurking online.
Wong called for both the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry and the Communication Ministry to sit together and come up with a national plan of action and policies to tackle the issue.
“There needs to be leadership in tackling this problem, which will only escalate.
“There also needs to be more consultation with non-governmental agencies,” said Wong.
Ivy Josiah of the Women’s Aid Organisation said since young people spend a lot of time online, it gives rise to young girls, who are more vulnerable, becoming victims of cyberbullying.
This includes them being sexually harassed, from grooming, non-consensual sexting, cyberstalking, to revenge porn.
“We need to teach young people and this must be part of our curriculum to recognise bullies and sexual predators, and encourage the use of blocking features on social media.
“We must establish safe, anonymous reporting channels within schools or communities where victims can report without fear of retaliation,” added Josiah.
Recent incidents underscore the urgent need for vigilance.
A few months ago, two teenage boys were allegedly cyberbullied with vulgarity and sexual innuendos on TikTok by the man who was arrested and charged for cyberbullying the late Rajeswary Appahu.
Besides the man, there were five other men present in the live session – which took place at about 2am.
Lawyer Mohan Ramakrishnan said witnesses of the cyberbullying incident should lodge police reports as it involved underage children.
Mohan also advised parents to monitor their children’s Internet usage closely to prevent incidents of cyberbullying.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. PHOTO: MDDI
ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Prime Minister Lawrence Wong reaffirmed Singapore’s continued, strong support for the United Nations, including its upholding of multilateralism, during a visit by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“Singapore is committed to strengthening the UN. We will continue to do whatever we can to support your leadership and the UN’s mission,” Wong said in a toast at a lunch he hosted for Guterres on September 2.
“The rules-based multilateral system is crucial for preserving our sovereignty,” said the Prime Minister.
Wong also lauded Guterres for his exemplary leadership in steering the UN during “troubled times”, with the international body helping to forge multinational solutions even as global trust has been eroded by deepening conflicts and geopolitical tensions.
Guterres ended a three-day visit to Singapore – his first – on September 2.
He had wide-ranging discussions with the Singaporean leaders on global and regional developments, according to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Visitors are attracted by a humanoid robot during the 2024 World Robot Conference in Beijing, Aug 24, 2024. PHOTO: XINHUA/CHINA DAILY
BEIJING (ANN/CHINA DAILY) – China’s robotics industry is experiencing a period of rapid growth, as demonstrated by the wide array of innovative robots showcased at the 2024 in Beijing from August 21 to 25, according to a report by Xinhua.
The event drew over 400 experts from around the world to discuss cutting-edge technologies and the future of the robotics industry. More than 600 innovative products from 169 companies were exhibited, with over 60 new products launched during the conference.
Visitors are attracted by a humanoid robot during the 2024 World Robot Conference in Beijing, Aug 24, 2024. PHOTO: ANN/XINHUA/CHINA DAILYHumanoid robots on display during the 2024 World Robot Conference in Beijing, Aug 24, 2024. PHOTO: ANN/XINHUA/CHINA DAILY
According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of July 2024, China holds more than 190,000 effective robot-related patents, representing about two-thirds of the global total. China has maintained its position as the world’s largest industrial robot market for 11 consecutive years, with newly installed capacity accounting for more than half of the global market over the past three years.
Service robots have seen widespread application in areas such as home services and medical care, while specialised robots have played critical roles in air and sea exploration and emergency rescue operations.
(FILES) Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate for the Plataforma Unitaria Democratica party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, poses for a picture during an event with the Voluntad Popular opposition party in Caracas on May 23, 2024. Venezuelan prosecutors sought an arrest warrant on September 2, 2024, for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who claims to have rightfully won a July election that authorities gave to incumbent Nicolas Maduro. (Photo by JUAN BARRETO / AFP)
CARACAS (AFP) – A Venezuelan court granted an arrest warrant on Monday for opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who claims to have rightfully won July elections that authorities awarded to incumbent Nicolas Maduro.
The court, the prosecutor’s office said on Instagram, had granted its request for a warrant for Gonzalez Urrutia for “serious crimes.”
Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate for the Plataforma Unitaria Democratica party, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia. PHOTO: AFP
The office had earlier published its request to the court on social media, in which it listed the alleged crimes that stem from the opposition’s insistence that Maduro and his allies stole the July 28 presidential vote.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), most of whose members are friendly to 61-year-old Maduro, declared him reelected to a third six-year term – an outcome disputed by the opposition and much of the international community.
The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognize the result without seeing detailed voting results.
The CNE has said it cannot publish the records as hackers had corrupted the data, though observers have said there was no evidence of that.
Gonzalez Urrutia, a retired diplomat who replaced opposition leader Maria Corina Machado on the ballot at the last minute, has been in hiding since shortly after the election.
Maduro has called for his imprisonment and that of Machado, who was barred by Venezuelan institutions from seeking election on charges widely dismissed as trumped up.
She, too, has been mostly in hiding since the vote, though she has led several organized protests against Maduro.
The opposition published its own polling-station election results, which it says show Gonzalez Urrutia won the race by a landslide.
This is at the source of the charges against him, which include “usurpation” of public functions, “forgery” of a public document, incitement to disobedience, sabotage, and “association” with organized crime and financiers of “terrorism.”
Sabotage
Gonzalez Urrutia has ignored three summons to appear before prosecutors investigating him, prompting Maduro to label the opposition figure a “coward” who was “leading a coup d’etat from hiding.”
Maduro has also blamed the opposition for the deaths of 25 civilians and two soldiers in protests that broke out spontaneously after the CNE announced his reelection to a third six-year term.
Nearly 200 people were injured and more than 2,400 arrested.
Since coming to power in 2013, Maduro has presided over an economic collapse that has seen more than seven million Venezuelans flee the country as GDP plunged 80 percent in a decade.
Last week, a blackout left most of Venezuela without power for hours on end in what the regime said was “sabotage” under a US-led plot to overthrow the socialist leader.
Maduro has managed to cling to power despite sanctions stepped up after his 2018 reelection, also dismissed as a sham by dozens of countries.
The United States on Monday seized the plane used by Maduro and his entourage, citing sanctions violations.
US officials took the plane in the Dominican Republic and flew it to Florida.
“Maduro and his representatives have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory, and carried out wide-spread repression to maintain power by force,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said Monday.
The seizure of the plane “is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela”, the spokesperson added.
Maduro denounced the move as tantamount to “piracy.”
Washington has had sanctions in place since 2005 against Venezuelan individuals and entities “that have engaged in criminal, antidemocratic, or corrupt actions,” according to a Congressional briefing document.
These were expanded later under former president Donald Trump “in response to increasing human rights abuses and corruption by the government of Nicolas Maduro… to include financial sanctions, sectoral sanctions, and sanctions on the government”.
Residents protect their belongings as they negotiate a flooded street caused by heavy rains from Tropical Storm Yagi, locally called Enteng, in Cainta, Rizal province, Philippines, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A resident uses a laundry tub to protect him from rain as he wades along a flooded street caused by Tropical Storm Yagi, locally called Enteng. PHOTO: AP
MANILA (AP) – A fierce storm was blowing out of the northern Philippines Tuesday after leaving at least 14 people dead in landslides, floods and swollen rivers, disaster-response officials said.
Tropical Storm Yagi swept past Paoay town in Ilocos Norte province into the South China Sea with sustained winds of up to 75 kilometres (47 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 125 kph (78 mph), according to the weather bureau.
It was forecast to strengthen into a typhoon as it barrels northwestward over the sea toward southern China.
Storm warnings remained in most northern Philippine provinces, where residents were warned of the lingering danger of landslides in rain-soaked mountain villages and floodings in the farming lowlands of Luzon, the country’s most populous region.
Residents protect their belongings as they negotiate a flooded street caused by heavy rains. PHOTO: AP
Locally called Enteng, Yagi enhanced seasonal monsoon rains and unleashed downpours across Luzon, including in the densely populated capital region, metropolitan Manila, where classes and government work remained suspended on Tuesday.
At least 14 people died in landslides, floods and swollen rivers in northern and central provinces, including in Antipolo, a popular Roman Catholic pilgrimage city and tourism destination west of Manila where at least three residents, including a pregnant woman, died in a hillside landslide that buried shanties and four others drowned in creeks and rivers, Antipolo’s disaster-mitigation officer Enrilito Bernardo Jr. told The Associated Press by telephone.
Four other villagers remained missing after their house was swept away in the deluge, Bernardo said.
Residents ride a truck as they negotiate a flooded street. PHOTO: AP
Thousands of travelers were stranded on Monday after sea travel was temporarily halted in several ports and 34 domestic flights were suspended due to the stormy weather.
A training ship, M/V Kamilla — which was anchored in Manila Bay off the Navotas port in the capital — was hit by another vessel that veered out of control due to rough waves. Kamilla’s bridge was damaged and it later caught fire, prompting its 18 cadets and crewmembers to abandon the ship, the Philippine coast guard said.
A passing tugboat rescued 17 of those who abandoned the ship and one swam to safety, the coast guard said.
About 20 typhoons and storms batter the Philippines each year. The archipelago lies in the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a region along most of the Pacific Ocean rim where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur, making the Southeast Asian nation one of the world’s most disaster-prone.
A resident rides an old refrigerator to avoid a flooded street. PHOTO: AP
Uruguay's forward Luis Suarez gets emotional during a press conference at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo on September 2, 2024. Luis Suarez, Uruguay's all-time leading scorer, announced that he will play his last game for La Celeste this Friday against Paraguay in Montevideo, on the seventh round of the South American qualifiers for the World Cup North America-2026. (Photo by Eitan ABRAMOVICH / AFP)
Uruguay’s Luis Suarez during a press conference at the Centenario Stadium in Montevideo. PHOTO: AFP
MONTEVIDEO (AFP) – Uruguay icon Luis Suarez announced his retirement from international football on Monday, confirming that he will hang up his boots following Friday’s 2026 World Cup qualifier against Paraguay in Montevideo.
“Friday will be my last match for my country,” an emotional Suarez, 37, told a press conference.
“It was not an easy decision to make, but I do it with the peace of mind that I will give my maximum until the very last game of my (Uruguay) career.”
The former Barcelona and Liverpool striker is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation and will retire from international football as Uruguay’s top scorer with 69 goals from 142 appearances.
Suarez, who was infamously kicked out of the 2014 World Cup after being handed a four-month ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini, made his debut for Uruguay in 2007.
The Inter Miami forward helped Uruguay capture the 2011 Copa America, where he was named player of the tournament, and would eventually represent the South American country in nine major tournaments.
Suarez said on Monday that inspiring Uruguay to that Copa crown had been the highpoint of his career.
Uruguay’s Luis Suarez speaks during a press conference. PHOTO: AFP
“I wouldn’t trade the Copa America title for anything,” he said. “It was the best moment of my career. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
A dynamic, skilful attacker with a lethal eye for goal, Suarez was also never far from controversy.
As well as the biting incident that ended his involvemment in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he was also one of the villains of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, when his cynical handball on the goal-line denied Ghana what would have been a late winner in the quarter-finals.
Suarez was sent off for that offence and Ghana subsequently missed the ensuing penalty, allowing Uruguay to sneak into the semi-finals after a penalty shoot-out.
Controversy also dogged Suarez throughout his club career, notably in 2011 when he was handed an eight-game ban by authorities in England for allegedly racially abusing Manchester United’s France star Patrice Evra.
Suarez would later help Uruguay qualify for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, and also featured in this summer’s Copa America where he was used largely as a substitute by coach Marcelo Bielsa. He scored his 69th international goal in a third place play-off victory over Canada.
Roofers work on the roof of a building in Paris, France. PHOTO: AFP
AFP – The zinc covering the roofs of central Paris has given the French capital’s skyline its distinctive grey hue for almost two centuries.
Now the roofs and the workers who create and care for them are aiming to enter a select heritage club to showcase a profession adapting to the challenges of climate change.
The French Culture Ministry has chosen the zinc roofers as the country’s entry for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) list of Intangible Cultural Heritage to be decided at the United Nations body’s session in Paraguayan capital Asuncion in December.
The craftsmanship of roofers and other ornamentalists who have sculpted the capital’s skyline will be among 67 candidacies vying to join other iconic heritage sites such as India’s Taj Mahal.
According to the city’s urbanism agency Apur, Paris has 128,000 roofs covering a surface area of 32 million square metres, of which 21.4 million are of the traditional zinc-covered variety.
“Paris seen from above, it’s obvious you’re not in another city,” said mayor of the capital’s ninth district Delphine Burkli.
Burkli helped initiate the French bid and first proposed in 2014 to add the roofs to UNESCO’s heritage list. But the plan has since changed as it is “very complicated”, said coordinator of the bid Gilles Mermet.
The campaign to etch the roofs into the prestigious books of world heritage stumbled when Paris town hall withdrew its support.
Mermet said it was “afraid” of “no longer being able to build in Paris without the agreement of UNESCO”.
“In the end, it was more interesting to showcase the profession itself” – which struggles to recruit – more than the roofs as such, to protect the beauty of the urban landscape, he added.
Roofers work on the roof of a building in Paris, France. PHOTO: AFP
