Clipped to the end of a giant red crane, the 25-ton panel–a marvel of stone and steel–begins its slow ascent. For the tourists gawking from the Barcelona street below, it’s an astonishing sight, this massive, chiseled slab dangling from a cord as it rises up the side of one of the world’s best known monuments. But it’s even more amazing for Jaume Oromí. As one of the heads of construction for the Sagrada Familia, Oromí has watched for months as, piece by piece, the towers that will one day remake the Barcelona skyline gradually rise into the heavens. “This is always the moment of maximum tension,” he says, gesturing to the panel as it sways 100 ft. above his head. “Intellectually, you know how it works, but there’s still something about getting that many tons in the air that seems miraculous.”

The same could be said for the Sagrada Familia as a whole. More than 130 years after the first stone was laid–and with the proper building permits finally in place–the end is in sight for the Ba..

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared unsteady and was seen shaking for the second time in just over a week at a ceremony in Berlin on Thursday.

Merkel, 64, folded her arms across her chest while her body trembled for around two minutes as she stood alongside President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at an indoor event where Germany’s new justice minister was being formally appointed.

The chancellor was handed a glass of water but rejected it. She appeared fine when she arrived in parliament half an hour later.

Merkel set off to Japan a few hours later for the annual summit of the Group of 20 global powers.

Her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told news agency dpa that “everything is going ahead as planned. The chancellor is fine.”

Merkel’s office wouldn’t comment on the cause or otherwise elaborate. It is not publicly known if Merkel has any health problems. German privacy laws are very strict on that type of information.

On Tuesday last week, Merkel’s whole body shook as she sto..

PARIS (AP) — A preliminary investigation found no evidence to suggest that a fire that gutted large parts of Notre Dame Cathedral was criminal, the prosecutor’s office said Wednesday.The prosecutor’s office said in a statement that several hypotheses about the cause of the April 15 blaze include a malfunctioning electrical system or a smoldering cigarette — to be further investigated in a new probe.The prosecutor’s office announced the opening of a judicial investigation led by three judges for “involuntary degradation by fire through manifestly deliberate violation” of security rules or simple imprudence. It targets “X,” meaning anyone or any entity suspected.
The 13th-century cathedral was under renovation at the time of the fire and scaffolding crisscrossed the back of the edifice where the spire was once located.

The fire tore through the roof, destroying the spire which toppled in flames and vast sections of the interior. It has left the crippled monument, once a major tourist at..