Notre-Dame Cathedral, healthcare executives’ risk and Antony Blinken
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Today, Paris prepares for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral after a devastating fire and days of political turmoil. Healthcare companies grapple with potential threats to their executives. Plus, we sit down with Secretary of State Antony Blinken for an exit interview. It's Friday, December 6th. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes every weekday.

I'm Tara Oaks in Liverpool. And I'm Jonah Green in New York.

That's what French President Emmanuel Macron is hoping for this weekend. With a grand ceremony for the reopening of the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris after days of domestic political turmoil. The iconic cathedral's burning shocked the world. The restoration work after the fire has taken five years and more than $800 million to complete. It's still unclear what exactly caused the fire.

French authorities have said an electrical fault or a burning cigarette may have been responsible. The reopening has also turned into a political hot ticket, with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump set to attend.

Richard Locke is our France bureau chief in Paris. The cathedral is looking quite simply beautiful. You have to remember that five and a half years ago, this place ripped a part of the French soul apart. And there has since then been the most remarkable renovation project. From the spire to the stained glass windows, this cathedral has been transformed. And multiple A-listers are due to attend. We've already mentioned one big name.

How does this position Macron on the world stage during a difficult week for him? President-elect Donald Trump is due to attend. Other heads of state royalty have been invited. The Elysee Palace has been very close-lipped on who will attend. We are hearing of the possibility that Ukrainian president

President Zelensky may appear. The optics could be pretty interesting in the ceremony. Where will President-elect Donald Trump sit? Normally, someone who is not a sitting head of state expects to be towards the back of the ceremony. However, it is hard to imagine that that will be the case in Donald Trump. He is more likely to be up front in the prominent rows of seating.

New York police have released new photos showing the face of the man suspected of gunning down United Health executive Brian Thompson in Manhattan. The fatal shooting has sent shockwaves through the health industry in particular, and now companies are reassessing the risks for their top executives. Caroline Humer is our U.S. health and pharma editor. We've seen United Health itself pull

pulled down pictures from its website of its top executive leadership team after the shooting took place. That happened fairly quickly. And today, CBS pulled down its executive leadership team. Those companies aren't talking to us about the security measures themselves, but we've spoken with a couple of security experts, and they say that this move indicates that the companies are reassessing their risk.

What was the healthcare industry's experience with risk assessment before this shooting? So prior to this, a lot of the risk that we know of in the healthcare industry has been around hospital systems and providers. You know, in post-COVID, there's been a lot of IR, you've probably seen reports of

metal detectors even in these institutions. But the security experts said that health insurers themselves have been aware of this and that they do provide security, physical security for executives.

And security experts told us that going forward, there could be an increase in physical security. I mean, just looking at social media, X, there's obviously a lot of anger.

at this industry. We don't know yet if that was a factor in this shooting where we still don't have a motive, but it is clear that there is something there for security experts to look at and use as they assess the potential danger for their executives. ♪

South Korea's ruling party leader says President Yoon Suk-yeol needs to be removed from power for trying to impose martial law, as the government denies reports that it's preparing to issue another martial law declaration. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin no longer plans to travel to South Korea after the political upheaval, with one official saying planning had been underway for a trip in the near term, but it was determined now was not the appropriate time.

Thousands of people have fled the central Syrian city of Homs overnight as rebel forces seek to push their lightning offensive against government forces further south. Rebels have already captured the key cities of Aleppo in the north and Hama in the center, dealing successive blows to President Bashar al-Assad, nearly 14 years after protests against him erupted across Syria.

The U.S. House of Representatives has blocked an effort to expedite the release of an ethics probe into former Representative Matt Gaetz. The Florida Republican recently dropped his bid to become Donald Trump's attorney general. The probe centered on allegations of sexual misconduct with a teenage girl and drug use.

Trump himself has been busy with other appointments, saying he's appointing former PayPal chief operating officer David Sachs as his White House AI and crypto czar. And he's chosen former Senator David Perdue to be ambassador to China, tapping a former politician with business experience to help steer relations riven by deep mistrust and trade tensions.

Australian police say they're looking for two people suspected of deliberately starting a fire at a Melbourne synagogue that injured one and caused widespread damage. Prime Minister Antony Albanese condemned the attack and said there was no place for anti-Semitism in Australia. The European Union and South America's Mercosur bloc are expected to announce this week that they've finalised a free trade agreement that took over two decades to negotiate.

Leaders have touted the accord as the world's largest trade and investment partnership, bringing together a market of more than 700 million people. Economists estimate that the deal could do away with nearly $5 billion of tariffs annually, phased out over several years. But European farmers have repeatedly protested against it, saying it'll lead to cheap imports of South American commodities, notably beef, which is not subject to the same green and food safety standards as in the EU.

Antony Blinken attended his final NATO meeting as U.S. Secretary of State this week, as he prepares to hand over the keys to Trump's team. Thank you for your time. We really appreciate it. It's good to be with you. Our deputy foreign policy editor, Humeyra Pamuk, sat down with Blinken for a wide-ranging exit interview in Brussels. I think he was very much cognizant of

the end of his term. And I asked him two very specific legacy questions. One was about Gaza. Do you leave the administration with a clear conscience that you have done absolutely everything in your power to stop the killing?

Others will have to judge the legacy of the administration, my own legacy. Right now, what I'm focused on is using every minute that I have left in this job to try to bring an end to that conflict, to try to bring an end to the suffering of people. Anthony Blinken somehow became the face of Joe Biden's Israel policy, and he has faced

a lot of pro-Palestinian demonstrators. Whenever he was on the Hill testifying, there were protesters camped at some point outside his home. They would hold banners calling him the butcher of Gaza. So it is quite personal for him. It's absolutely gut-wrenching. But what I have to focus on, what we've had to focus on is how do we bring this to an end most quickly and most effectively in a way

that helps ensure that October 7th and its horrors never happen again. Did he express any concern about what happens to Ukraine under a Trump administration? I mean, I asked him that multiple times. I asked him outright, you're aligned on Lebanon, on Gaza. Are you aligned on Ukraine? He wouldn't answer. My intent and my focus, as I said, is to make sure that I hand off

the strongest possible hand for them to play. And I think that's in the interest of the country and in the interest of the administration. I want to make sure that my successor, Senator Rubio, is able to hit the ground running because the world doesn't stop just because we're in the midst of a political transition. To stay ahead in fast-moving markets, you need to transform quality data into tailored, practical, and valuable intelligence.

It's Friday, so today our recommendation is a nod to our weekend episode of This Very Pot.

Take a listen tomorrow to our special coverage on the present and future risks to NATO as Europe eyes Russian aggression with trepidation. It'll be out tomorrow, wherever you get your podcasts. For more on any of the stories from today, check out Reuters.com or the Reuters app. And to never miss an episode, follow us on your favorite podcast player. We'll be back on Monday with our daily headline show.