World View: Garbage piles up in Paris as protests extend into their 17th day

I'm now for worldview with Ines de la Quattara. Garbage piles are growing on the streets of Paris, amid strikes over a plan to raise the country's retirement age. Protesters in their 17th day after French President Macron's government narrowly survived two no-confidence votes. Ines is in Paris with more on that and some of the day's other international headlines. Hi, Ines. Hey, good morning, Diane. Yeah, quite a bit of political turmoil here in France right now.

So we are seeing thousands of workers taking to the streets to protest pension reform. Millions have been taking to the streets across France since the law was rolled out in January. We're seeing demonstrations all across the country. Here in Paris, they're turning quite violent. So we saw protesters clashing with police. They're setting fires right in the heart of the city and more and more arrests are being made. We're also seeing thousands of workers across many different industries going on strikes, and that's having an impact on pretty much every aspect of society.

So it's affecting public transportation, with trains and planes being delayed, and it's also having an impact on sanitation. So here in Paris, garbage workers have been on strike for over two weeks, and we're seeing mounds and mounds of trash piling up across Paris city streets, with some residents even starting to complain about the smells. Over 10,000 tons of trash are piling up in Paris. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, he survived a no-confidence vote on Monday. He was expected to survive that, but I think what came as a surprise was the narrow margin by which he survived that vote of no-confidence. 278 members of parliament voted in favor of the no-confidence vote, and 287 votes were needed to topple the government. Macron has been facing criticism, so for his reforms, he's trying to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.

He's facing criticism for the way he's going about it here. So he's been trying to get his law through using a procedure that is similar to executive action in the US, where he was trying to get the law through without a vote from parliament, and he's also facing criticism for really being upset from the public eye, for not engaging in more conversations with these union leaders. Today, Macron did speak to French television. That was the first time we've heard from him in a while. He talked about how crucial these reforms are. He's been talking time and time again about he's pointing to the changing demographics, the fact that people are living longer. He argues that if the system stays as is, the government will go in the red.

He says he hears the frustration. He says he regrets not being able to convince more people of why this reform is needed, but he is pushing ahead with it and hopes it will go into effect by the end of the year. But it's not all bad news. There is some good news coming out of France as well. So we heard that Olivier Dubois, who is a freelance journalist who had been in Mali since April, 2021, he'd been in captivity held by Islamic militants. He was released. He returned to France on Monday.

He was greeted by the French president and ended by his family as well. He was also released alongside a US aid worker, and he was actually the last French citizen to be detained. So some good news there. We should point out, we don't quite know the details of how he was released and what the French government might have negotiated. But some good news there. And then some good news as well when it comes to Notre Dame. So workers there continuing to make steady progress on rebuilding the famous cathedral.

Our team got to head up to northeastern France to see the progress being made. Right now they're focused on the spire. You'll remember that infamous spire toppling down when the fire ravaged the cathedral back in 2019. So they're focused on building the base right now. They're using techniques that are really hundreds of years old. They're trying to build this spire, make it as close as possible to the original thing. They've been sourcing wood from across France, oak trees.

The spire will be over 300 feet tall, and they are making good progress. They're, the challenge now is gonna be, so once they've set it up in northeastern France, they're gonna disassemble it, transport it to Paris, and then reassemble it on top of the cathedral. They're hoping the spire will go up by the end of the year, and Notre Dame should be reopened to the public in December 2024, Diane. Right, and as Delacuatara in Paris, thank you.

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