Trump in Paris as Notre Dame reopens five years after blaze

Paris: US president elect Donald Trump on Saturday arrived in Paris to join other world leaders for the reopening of the French capital s Notre Dame c...

Paris: US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday arrived in Paris to join other world leaders for the reopening of the French capital's Notre Dame cathedral, celebrating its remarkably rapid restoration half a decade after the devastating fire.

Held up as an example of French creativity and resilience by President Emmanuel Macron, Notre Dame's renaissance so soon after a 2019 blaze that destroyed its roof and spire comes at a difficult time for the country.

Macron scored a major coup by attracting Trump for the re-opening, on his first foreign trip since his election.

The president-elect is to hold talks with Macron and may also meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, one of scores of other world leaders descending on Paris for the day.

But the sense of national accomplishment in restoring a beloved symbol of Paris has been undercut by political turmoil that has left France without a proper government and in a budget crisis.