China, Iran, and Russia will hold joint naval drills, amid tensions between Tehran and Washington.The military exercises will take place in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman from December 27 to 30, officials in Beijing and Tehran announced.China will send the Xining, a guided-missile destroyer, to the drills, Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters on December 26. He did not give details on how many personnel or ships would take part overall.In Tehran, senior armed-forces spokesman Aboldazl Shekarchi said the drills would “stabilize security” in the region. He said the drill’s purpose was to bolster “international commerce security in the region” and “fighting terrorism and piracy.”The drills are coming at a time of tensions between the United States and Iran.Washington has proposed a U.S.-led naval mission in the Persian Gulf, following a string of attacks in gulf waters that the United States and its allies blamed on Iran. Tehran denies the accusations.Friction has increased since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran in May 2018 and reimposed crippling economic sanctions on the Islamic republic. 
…

The past year has seen a series of protests from Hong Kong to Chile and from Sudan to Iran. In more than a dozen countries, citizens have taken to the streets to air grievances and many have gotten results. VOA U.N. correspondent Margaret Besheer looks at a year of discontent.
…

Italian Education Minister Lorenzo Fioramonti told Reuters on  Wednesday that he had resigned after failing to obtain from the government billions of euros he said were needed to improve the country’s schools and universities. The resignation was a blow to the embattled government, whose ruling parties are at odds on issues ranging from eurozone reform to migrant rights. It also underscores the problems of the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, Fioramonti’s party, which is trying to reorganize amid widespread internal dissatisfaction with its leader, Luigi Di Maio. This month three 5-Star senators jumped ship to join the right-wing League in opposition. Fioramonti told Reuters he had tendered his “irrevocable resignation” to Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in a letter on Monday. Pledge to quitFioramonti said shortly after the government of 5-Star and the center-left Democratic Party was formed in September that he would quit unless education spending was raised by 3 billion euros ($3.3 billion) in the 2020 budget. Few believed him, even as the budget continued its passage through parliament and it became clear the government had little intention of hiking taxes or cutting spending to find the funds he demanded. The budget was approved on Monday ahead of a December 31 deadline. “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that a minister keeps his word,” Fioramonti told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday. Fioramonti said he would still support the government in parliament, where he is a lower-house deputy. Italy spends 3.6% of gross domestic product on primary to university education, compared with an average of 5% among 32 countries in a report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.Fioramonti, a former economics professor at South Africa’s Pretoria University, has been one of Italy’s most outspoken ministers during his three months in office. His proposals for new taxes on airline tickets, plastic and sugary foods to raise funds for education were attacked by critics who said Italians were already overtaxed. Green policiesA vocal supporter of green policies, Fioramonti made headlines when he announced Italy would next year become the first country to make it compulsory for schoolchildren to study climate change and sustainable development. Earlier this month, he said Italian energy giant ENI should halt oil exploration and focus on renewable energy. “I have sometimes felt I could have had more support from my own party over my proposals on the environment,” Fioramonti said. “5-Star was born 10 years ago with a strongly green platform, but it seems to have got lost along the way.” 
…

Mexico says Bolivian security forces have increased their presence around the Mexican ambassador’s La Paz residence, where a group of former Cabinet ministers and others loyal to ousted president Evo Morales have sought refuge.Troops gathered in larger numbers around the residence on Tuesday, the Mexican Foreign Ministry said. Maximiliano Reyes, Mexico’s undersecretary for Latin America, described the Bolivian patrols around the diplomatic property as a “siege.”Relations between the two countries have been strained since Mexico granted asylum to Morales after he resigned Nov. 10 following national upheaval over his claim of victory in an election marred by vote-rigging. Morales has since relocated to Argentina and says he plans to stay involved in politics in neighboring Bolivia, while some former top aides remain holed up in the Mexican ambassador’s residence.Willson Santamaría, Bolivia’s deputy minister of public security, said the Morales loyalists would not be allowed to leave the country.“We have taken the necessary steps so that the security forces immediately track and detect any help, any complicity in helping the fugitives flee the country,” he said.Those who sought refuge in the Mexican ambassador’s residence include Juan Ramón Quintana, the former chief of staff for Morales, and five other former ministers, according to a Mexican federal official. The official was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.Several are accused by the interim government of President Jeanine Áñez of electoral fraud or other crimes.Mexico has complained that Bolivian security and intelligence officials have surrounded both the Mexican ambassador’s residence and the embassy, recording the movement of people in and out of the facilities and even impeding the “free transit” of the ambassador.Erick Foronda, Bolivia’s presidential secretary, denied that authorities are interfering with the movements of Mexico’s diplomats. The police presence at the diplomatic facilities was increased for security reasons following reports of planned demonstrations in the area, he said.
…

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has signed into law an anti-crime bill that toughens measures to stem a rampant deadly crime wave, although he vetoed some parts of the bill, the government said Wednesday.The anti-crime package, approved by Brazil’s Senate this month, toughens laws to tackle corruption, organized crime and violent crime practiced by criminal gangs. It also simplifies sentencing in some cases.The package was a major promise by Bolsonaro, a former army captain who surged to power last year on a campaign vowing to end years of corruption and spiraling violent crime. “The final text that has been sanctioned by the president brings progress to the anti-crime legislation in the country,” Justice Minister Sergio Moro said in a statement early Wednesday.Moro, a former judge who made his name jailing scores of Brazil’s business and political elite in the “Operation Car Wash” investigation during the past five years, said Bolsonaro adopted several vetoes suggested by the Ministry of Justice.Among the vetoes by the right-wing president was a provision to triple the sentence when a crime is committed or displayed in social networks.The bill eliminates the restriction on the collection of genetic material only in cases of willful crime committed against life, sexual freedom or sexual crime.Bolsonaro, who ran on a law-and-order platform, won support from Brazilians tired of the warring drug gangs that have come to terrorize large swaths of the country.
…

Russia’s Foreign Ministry accused the U.N. secretary general of turning a blind eye to what Moscow says is U.S. delays in issuing visas for Russian officials seeking to travel to the U.N. headquarters in New York.Moscow says Washington has deliberately delayed issuing visas to Russian officials traveling to the U.N. headquarters, a move Russia has said could further damage strained relations.Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement that some Defense Ministry officials who were due to travel to the U.N. secretariat had to wait “months” for visa clearance.”It is noticeable, that all that is happening with the sheer connivance from the U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who effectively ignores United States’ breaches into the U.N. Charter,” she said.Russia summoned a senior U.S. diplomat in September to protest over what it said was Washington’s unacceptable refusal to issue visas to members of a Russian delegation traveling to the U.N. General Assembly.
 
…

Helicopters on Wednesday dropped water on the outskirts of the Chilean port city of Valparaiso to extinguish a fire that destroyed about 150 homes. 
Dozens of people living in the city’s Rocuant and San Roque hills sifted through the ruins of their homes after the fire, fanned by strong winds, swept through their neighborhoods on Tuesday. Residents had been evacuated and there were no reports of casualties. 
 Some 150 homes were destroyed, according to a preliminary count announced by Interior Minister Gonzalo Blumel said. He said authorities believe arson caused the blaze and urged people to report any suspicious activity. 
“We’re not certain, but everything indicates that yesterday’s fire was intentional, and began in an area quite close to the homes,” said Ezio Passadore, emergency manager for Valparaiso. 
The fire was doused in urban areas but remains “active” in the woods, said Ricardo Toro, head of Chile’s national emergency office. 
Many homes in the low-income neighborhoods where the fire occurred don’t have running water and get their supply from tankers a couple of times a week.
Wildfires have affected parts of Valparaiso several times in the last month as Chile contends with its worst drought on record.  
…

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Wednesday that one of his allies had been forcibly conscripted and sent to serve at a remote Arctic base in a move his supporters said amounted to kidnapping.Ruslan Shaveddinov, a project manager at Navalny’s anti-corruption foundation, went missing on Monday after authorities broke into his Moscow flat and his phone’s SIM card was disabled.On Tuesday, he resurfaced at a secret air defence base on the remote Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, Navalny said.”He has been unlawfully deprived of freedom,” President Vladimir Putin’s top opponent said in a blog post, calling the 23-year-old a “political prisoner.”The Russian military insisted that Shaveddinov had been dodging the draft for a long time.Russian men are eligible for conscription between the ages of 18 and 27 and serve one year’s military service. However, many find ways to avoid this in a highly corrupt, flawed system.Navalny said Shaveddinov has a medical condition that disqualifies him for military service but he was forcibly drafted and sent to the Arctic base without basic training.Vyacheslav Gimadi, a lawyer for Navalny’s foundation, said Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and commander-in-chief Putin were directly responsible for what he claimed was an act of “kidnapping.”Navalny’s spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh, who is Shaveddinov’s partner, said the project manager had recently acted as a contact person for opposition lawmakers in Moscow city parliament.”Perhaps this is the reason this has happened,” Yarmysh told AFP.She said Shaveddinov had managed to call her from Novaya Zemlya using other people’s phones.Navalny said Shaveddinov was not allowed to communicate with the outside world or use a phone, unlike other servicemen.The military also assigned a man to follow Shaveddinov all the time, he added.”The armed forces themselves don’t know what the hell they should do with him,” Navalny said.Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters he did not know whether Shaveddinov had been dodging the draft, but said “If he had and was drafted in this manner then everything was done in strict accordance with the law.”Authorities have been steadily ramping up pressure on Navalny and his allies in recent years.The 43-year-old helped organize major protests against the government this summer when tens of thousands took to the streets of Moscow to demand fair elections.
…

Ukrainian officials opened a criminal probe Wednesday after a passenger train from Russia arrived in Crimea via a new Russian-built bridge, arguing that the train illegally carried people across the Ukrainian border.
                   
Earlier this week Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the railway bridge to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. He said 14 million passengers and about 13 million tons of cargo are expected to move across the bridge next year. The train arrived in Sevastopol from St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city.
                   
Russia annexed Crimea on the grounds that residents of the peninsula voted to join up with Russia. The annexation elicited widespread international censure including U.S. and European Union sanctions on Russia. Ukraine has blocked shipment of supplies via its territory to Crimea.
                   
 The Ukrainian government has repeatedly said the new bridge was built in violation of international laws. In October 2018, prosecutors opened a criminal case against the companies involved in its construction.
…

The heads of the Catholic and Anglican churches sent a special message Wednesday to the people of South Sudan expressing hopes for peace, prosperity and implementation of a peace deal as Christians around the world celebrate the Christmas holiday.In a joint letter, Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby sent prayers for “a renewed commitment to the path of reconciliation and fraternity” among South Sudan’s political leaders.FILE – Pope Francis meets the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby at the end of a two-day spiritual retreat with South Sudan leaders at the Vatican, April 11, 2019.Earlier this month, President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar agreed to form a transitional unity government by a February deadline after they failed to meet two earlier target dates for implementing a 2018 peace deal.Pope Francis is also to give his traditional Christmas address from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.In the United States, President Donald Trump is spending the holiday at his Florida resort where on Tuesday he spoke to members of the U.S. military stationed at various places around the world and attended a Christmas Eve dinner along with his wife, Melania.The U.S. first lady also answered calls from children as part of the annual program run by the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s Operation that tracks Santa Claus on his trip around the globe.While the holiday is rooted in Christianity, many people in the United States and other parts of the world celebrate in a non-religious fashion, gathering with family and friends to share a meal and exchange gifts. The Christmas season is a key time for many retailers to earn a large portion of their annual revenue.
…

Pope Francis assured the faithful on Christmas Eve that God loves everyone — “even the worst of us” — as he celebrated the joyous birth of Christ after a less-than-joyful year of scandals and opposition.With a choir singing the classic Christmas hymn “The First Noel,” Francis walked down the center aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica late Tuesday and unveiled a statue of the newborn Jesus lying in a nativity scene at the foot of the altar.Francis said the birth of Jesus, which Christians commemorate on Christmas Day, was a reminder of God’s unconditional love for everyone, “even the worst of us.”“God does not love you because you think and act the right way,” he said. “You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you.”At the same time though, he called for the faithful to allow themselves to be transformed by Jesus’ “crazy love” and to stop trying to change others.“May we not wait for our neighbors to be good before we do good to them, for the church to be perfect before we love her, for others to respect us before we serve them. Let us begin with ourselves,” he said.Pope Francis leads a Christmas Eve mass in St Peter’s Basilica to mark the nativity of Jesus Christ, Dec. 24, 2019, at the Vatican.Reform-minded papacyFrancis has frequently emphasized his call for “personal conversion” in his reform-minded papacy, believing that true reform cannot be imposed from on high, but discerned from within. He has similarly denounced the “holier-than-thou” attitude of doctrinal and legal purists, who have chafed at his progressive openings to gays, divorcees and people on the margins.Those critics have seized on the sexual abuse and financial scandals that have buffeted the papacy of the 83-year-old Jesuit pope.The scandals are likely to follow Francis into 2020, with developments in a corruption investigation involving hundreds of millions of dollars in donations to the Holy See and the release of a report on what the Vatican knew about ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was defrocked for sexually abusing adults and minors.Francis’ late-night Mass kicks off a busy few days for the pope, including a Christmas Day speech, noontime prayers, a New Year’s Eve vigil and a Jan. 1 Mass.
…

A Russian court on Tuesday extended the pre-trial detention of an American being held on espionage charges.Former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who holds US, British, Canadian and Irish citizenship, has been jailed in Russia since he was arrested at a Moscow hotel on December 28 last year.The Moscow court extended his detention until March 29, 2020 but did not clarify why it was doing so.Just before the ruling, Whelan tried to read a statement but was stopped by security guards. Instead, it pressed the two pieces of paper to the wall of his glass cage that contained the statement he wanted to read. It proclaimed his innocence and asked U.S. President Donald Trump and other world leaders to “please act” on his behalf.An American diplomat visited Whelan in prison Monday and called on Russian authorities to allow the prisoner to speak to his family.”It’s two days before Christmas,” Bart Gorman, the U.S. Charge d’Affaires, said. “A holiday Paul Whelan will spend alone in Lefortovo [Prison]. In the past 12 months, Paul has not heard his parents’ voices. Bring Paul some Christmas cheer and let him call home.”The U.S. Embassy in Moscow and the State Department have been increasingly critical of Moscow, demanding it provide evidence against him and accusing Russia of hindering consular access to him. 
…

President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Russia has got a strong edge in designing new weapons and that it has become the only country in the world to deploy hypersonic weapons.
                   
Speaking at a meeting with top military brass, Putin said that for the first time in history Russia is now leading the world in developing an entire new class of weapons unlike in the past when it was catching up with the United States.
                   
The Russian leader noted that during Cold War times, the Soviet Union was behind the United States in designing the atomic bomb and building strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
                   
“Now we have a situation that is unique in modern history when they are trying to catch up to us,” he said. “Not a single country has hypersonic weapons, let alone hypersonic weapons of intercontinental range.”
                   
The Pentagon and the U.S. military services have been working on the development of hypersonic weapons in recent years, and Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in August that he believes “it’s probably a matter of a couple of years” before the U.S. has one. He has called it a priority as the military works to develop new long-range fire capabilities.
                   
The U.S. also has repeatedly warned Congress about hypersonic missiles being developed by Russia and China that will be harder to track and defeat. U.S. officials have talked about putting a layer of sensors in space to more quickly detect enemy missiles, particularly the more advanced hypersonic threats. The administration also plans to study the idea of basing interceptors in space, so the U.S. can strike incoming enemy missiles during the first minutes of flight when the booster engines are still burning.
                   
Putin said that the first unit equipped with the Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle is set to go on duty this month, while the air-launched Kinzhal hypersonic missiles already have entered service.
                   
The Russian leader first mentioned the Avangard and the Kinzhal among other prospective weapons systems in his state-of-the-nation address in March 2018.
                   
Putin said then that the Avangard has an intercontinental range and can fly in the atmosphere at a speed 20 times the speed of sound. He noted that the weapon’s ability to change both its course and its altitude en route to a target makes it immune to interception by the the enemy.
                   
“It’s a weapon of the future, capable of penetrating both existing and prospective missile defense systems,” Putin said Tuesday.
                   
The Kinzhal, which is carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, entered service with the Russian air force last year. Putin has said that the missile flies 10 times faster than the speed of sound, has a range of more than 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) and can carry a nuclear or a conventional warhead. The military said it’s capable of hitting both land targets and navy ships.
                   
The United States and other countries also have worked on designing hypersonic weapons, but they haven’t entered service yet.
                   
The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority amid tensions with the West that followed the 2014 Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.
                   
Putin on Tuesday described a buildup of NATO’s forces near Russia’s western borders and the U.S. withdrawal earlier this year from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty among top security threats.
                   
He argued that Russia must have the best weapons in the world.
                   
“It’s not a chess game where it’s OK to play to a draw,” he said. “Our technology must be better. We can achieve that in key areas and we will.”
                   
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported Tuesday that the military this year has received 143 warplanes and helicopters, 624 armored vehicles, a submarine and eight surface warships. He said that the modernization of Russia’s arsenals will continue at the same rapid pace next year, with 22 intercontinental ballistic missiles, 106 new aircraft, 565 armored vehicles, three submarines and 14 surface ships to enter duty.
                   
Putin noted that the work to develop other prospective weapons, including the Sarmat heavy intercontinental ballistic missile, the Poseidon nuclear-powered underwater drone and the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile was going according to plan.
                   
The Burevestnik has stoked particular controversy. The U.S. and the Soviet Union worked on nuclear-powered rocket engines during the Cold War, but they eventually spiked those projects considering them to be too hazardous.
                   
The Burevestnik reportedly suffered an explosion in August during tests at a Russian navy range on the White Sea, killing five nuclear engineers and two servicemen and resulting in a brief spike in radioactivity that fueled radiation fears in a nearby city. Russian officials never named the weapon involved in the incident, but the U.S. said it was the Burevestnik. 
…

Russia has released five Japanese fishing boats and their 24 crewmen after detaining them for a week for allegedly violating fishing agreements near a group of disputed islands.  The five ships and their crews were accused of exceeding their catch quota for octopus when they were detained on December 17.  The boats were released after a Russian court ordered the crews to pay a fine of $100,000.  The ships were seized near a group of islands in Japan’s northern region of Hokkaido.  Known in Russia as the Southern Kuriles, the islands were seized by forces of the former Soviet Union in the final days of World War Two.  Japan continues to claim the island chain, which it calls the Northern Territories.  The ongoing dispute over the islands has kept Moscow and Tokyo from reaching a formal peace treaty ending World War II.   
…

A Russian court on Tuesday extended until late March the pre-trial detention of a US man already held in jail for a year despite Western requests for his release.Paul Whelan, who also has Irish, Canadian and British citizenship, was arrested on December 28 last year for allegedly receiving state secrets.On Christmas eve the Moscow City Court extended his detention by another three months, to March 29, a court spokesman told AFP.He risks up to 20 years in prison if convicted.Whelan, 49, has denounced the case against him and said he is being held “hostage” for a possible prisoner exchange.On Monday, U.S. charge d’affaires Bart Gorman and diplomats from Canada, Ireland, and Britain visited Whelan in Moscow’s high-security Lefortovo prison, bringing him food and Christmas greetings from family and supporters.”It’s two days before Christmas. A holiday Paul Whelan will spend alone in Lefortovo,” the U.S. Embassy quoted Gorman as saying.”In the past 12 months, Paul has not heard his parents’ voices. Bring Paul some Christmas cheer and let him call home.”Whelan, a former U.S. marine, maintains he has been framed and that he took a USB drive from an acquaintance thinking it contained holiday photos.His lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov has said the acquaintance that handed over the drive is the only witness against Whelan while the rest of his longtime acquaintances in Russia gave witness statements in his defense.During a previous court hearing in October, Whelan insisted that he was not a spy.”Russia thought they caught James Bond on a spy mission, in reality they abducted Mr. Bean on holiday,” he has said.Whelan and his supporters claim that the American has been mistreated in jail.Moscow has rubbished the claims, saying foreign diplomats have regular access to Whelan and calling the complaints a “provocative line of defense”.”Whelan’s complaints concerning the conditions of detention and actions of investigators have never once been confirmed,” the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.
…

“Every stone is a treasure,” says the technical director of St. Mark’s Basilica’s vestry board, indicating the prized gold-leaf mosaics overhead, the inlaid stone pavement and the marble clad walls of the 923-year-old masterpiece.And many are vulnerable to the infiltration of sea water during the lagoon city’s ever-higher tides.Constructed atop two previous churches on a site that early Venetians believed was among the most secure in the Canal City, St. Mark’s Basilica suffered at least 5 million euros ($5.5 million) in damage during last month’s devastating great tides. The first, on Nov. 12, was the highest in 53 years, followed by two above 1.5 meters (4.9 feet), a series of severe inundations never before recorded.Though the highest was seven centimeters less than the famed 1966 flood of 1.94 meters, St. Mark’s chief caretaker, Carlo Alberto Tesserin, said, ”We say this was the worst.’’Unlike other natural disasters, like, say, an earthquake that leaves images of collapsed bell towers and fallen walls, fresh damage from the Venice floods is so far not visible to the naked eye.”Someone who comes to Venice to see the high water, and who goes to St. Mark’s Square the next day, sees tables in the square, says, Hey, look, the orchestra is playing. Nothing is wrong here.' While, in reality, what is hidden, is everything we have verified in these days,'' said Tesserin, who submitted the damage estimate earlier this month to city and national officials.Peaking at 1.87 meters (6.14 feet) above sea level, last months’ great tide was accompanied by wind gusts of up to 120 kph (around 75 mph) that pushed the waters even higher, flooding through the windows in St. Mark's crypt of patriarchs. The gale-force gusts buffeted the Basilica's domes, tearing away lead tiles, Tesserin said. Both floodwaters entering from the windows and the ripping away of lead tiles were firsts in the Basilica's history.People walk on an interior mosaic floor of the St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019.Witnesses reported waves in St. Mark's Square never before seen. The Venice Patriarch told a news conference that they were like waves at the seashore, a first in his experience despite having witnessed‘the piazza full of water many times.’'”It was the first time that I was truly afraid,” said Giuseppe Maneschi, the vestry board technical director. The assault was three-pronged: Water was entering from the piazza, through the narthex; from the crypt windows, while also pushing up from below the Basilica. Maneschi worked with others to move precious objects, like a standing crucifix, higher.The crypt remained under water for nearly 24 hours, while two more exceptional floods over 1.5 meters kept the Basilica closed for a week. Before re-opening, workers washed the Basilica floors four times with fresh water — a necessary treatment but one that carries risks as the salt is abrasive against pavement stones, Maneschi said.Salt, not water, is the real culprit. The brackish water is absorbed by the marble columns or cladding and into the brick structure, creeping higher and higher up the Basilica walls and supporting columns. As the water dries, the granules of salt expand to create multiple tiny explosions inside the stone, brick and marble, that weaken their structure.”Even at a height of 12 meters (nearly 40 feet), we have salt that comes out, that crystallizes,” Maneschi said. 'The disaster is inside, where we cannot see. But we can monitor with new technology.’'Past damage, compounded over the years, is evident throughout the Basilica in brittle marble benches and cladding eaten away over the years, in some places exposing the brick walls. Gauze has been placed over vulnerable sections of peacock mosaics in the pavement, which also suffers under the footfalls of around 5 million visitors a year.Now, architects suspect that concrete barriers built in the 1990s to prevent water from entering the crypt from beneath the Basilica were damaged by the force of last month's floods.Tesserin said that they believe the water flooding in from the crypt windows was actually a blessing in disguise, creating pressure that prevented the lagoon rising beneath the Basilica from shattering those concrete barriers, called "vasca,'' or Italian for "tub.''A man works in the St. Mark's Basilica crypt in Venice, Italy, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2019.Workers last week were removing the crypt's marble flooring, which lies 20 centimeters (eight inches) below sea level, to observe whether there are indeed cracks allowing water to infiltrate.The Venice landmark includes 130 different kinds of marble -- some which no longer exist -- that tell the story of ancient conquests. Treasures, like the Madonna Nicopeia that accompanied Byzantine armies to battle, populate every corner, more than the average admirer can possibly assimilate in one visit. But the real prize, Tesserin notes, are its 8,500 square meters (91,500 square feet) of mosaics.It may seem crazy to a modern eye that such a precious Basilica was established at Venice's lowest point. The piazza outside floods at 80 centimeters (around 30 inches), and water passes the narthex into the church at 88 centimeters (reinforced from a previous 65 centimeters), floods the Zen Chapel at 1.2 meters and the baptistery goes under at 1.3 meters.But Tesserin said that when the third Basilica was built,‘it was in the position that was considered most safe.” It has become vulnerable with the passage of centuries, due to the subsidence, or sinking of the land, accompanied by a sea level that has risen 12 centimeters over the last 50 years, and climate change, which has made forecasting high tides in Venice more difficult.Damage can be seen on the bottom of a column of precious Aquitaine marble in the narthex. The capitals are carved with images of lions and eagles, indicating they are of imperial origin and not religious, and therefore believed to have been sacked from Constantinople during the fourth Crusade, Maneschi said. Analysis only this year indicates that the capitals were made even more ornate by gold leaf covering and lapis lazuli inserts — which have long disappeared.The base of one of the decorative columns is badly corroded. But the dark Aquitaine marble prized by ancient civilizations can no longer be found.”The day it falls, we will replace it with another marble. But as long as it resists, we will keep this,” Maneschi said.
…

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was hospitalized Monday evening after a fall in the presidential residence, his office said.Bolsonaro was taken to the armed forces’ hospital in the capital of Brasilia and underwent examinations of his skull that showed no problems, said a statement from the presidency’s communications office.The president would remain under observation for six to 12 hours, it said.The statement gave no other details on the incident, but Brazilian media reported that Bolsonaro slipped  in the bathroom and banged his head.Earlier this month, Bolsonaro reportedly  told advisers that he felt extreme tiredness and asked for his agenda to be reduced through the end of the year.
…

The Church of England has launched a study into an existential question: do its investments in big-tech giants contradict the Christian faith?The Church’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group (EIAG) will determine whether some of the new technologies undermine “the very idea of God”, a spokesman for the Church told AFP on Monday.The year-long review was first reported by The Daily Telegraph newspaper.EIAG was set up in the early 1990s to help make sure that more than £12 billion ($15.5 billion, 14 billion Euros) in assets held by the Church’s various institutions are put to ethical use.”Artificial intelligence [AI] is an important element of this review,” the spokesman said.The EIAG is in talks with technology experts as well as politicians and theologians “to try to make sense of the issues”, the spokesman said.It wants to reach a conclusion “that is not only grounded in theology and distinctly Anglican but is also practical”, he added.EIAG did not specify how much money the Church has invested in the likes of Google’s parent company Alphabet and Amazon.The Church’s 2018 annual report also reported investments in drugs development companies AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline.”Some argue that tech has brought enormous benefits to society but others note a growing realization of the limitations and downsides of technology,” the spokesman said.
…

A report by the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights finds civilians in conflict-torn eastern Ukraine remain at risk of human rights violations and death  despite an easing of hostilities between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebels in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.The U.N. report welcomes recent diplomatic measures taken by the leaders of Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany to ease the plight of civilians caught in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.  France and Germany mediated a December 9 meeting in Paris between Russia and Ukraine, aimed at finding a peaceful solution to the conflict. Some 13,000 civilians have been killed since war broke out in April 2014.The U.N. reports the freedom of movement by civilians has improved. It says they now can move safely across the contact line that separates the warring parties to visit their families.  Despite this positive development, U.N. Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore says civilians in the conflict zone remain unprotected and are subject to abuse and gross human rights violations.  Gilmore warns that as long as active hostilities continue, people are at risk of being maimed or killed. She says her office has received reports of killings and extrajudicial executions committed on both sides of the contact line.“We also continued to document cases of arbitrary arrests and detention, of torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainians occurring in government-controlled territory and in territory controlled by the so-called self-proclaimed ‘republics’ as well as in the Russian Federation.”  FILE – A Ukrainian soldier passes by a destroyed Butovka coal mine as he approaches a frontline position in the town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region, Nov. 9, 2019.The U.N. report also documents violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in March 2014.U.N. monitors say they have received reports that Ukrainians apprehended in Crimea have been deported to Russia, where they have been subjected to torture and denied access to medical care.The Ukrainian ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yurii Klymenko, says the report reflecting the situation on the ground is not encouraging. He says the rebels in the Donbass continue to break a cease-fire agreed to in June in Minsk. He says shelling continues causing deaths, injuries and destruction.The ambassador accuses Russia of resorting to fraud and trickery to legitimize its illegal occupation of Crimea, while persecuting and penalizing innocent people living in the occupied territory. Russia annexed Crimea after Moscow declared the region Russian territory. 
…

France’s armed forces said Monday it had carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 “terrorists” were killed.On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had “neutralized” 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation that had started the previous night.In a statement, the French military command said the drone strike happened during a follow-up operation Saturday in which another seven jihadist fighters were killed.As French commandos were searching the combat zone in Ouagadou forest, 150 kilometers (90 miles) from the town of Mopti, “they were attacked by a group of terrorists on motorbikes,” the statement said.A Reaper drone and a French Mirage 2000 patrol opened fire to support the ground troops, it said.”This is the first operational strike by an armed drone,” the statement said, confirming an earlier report published in the specialist blog Le Mamouth.The strike came just two days after the French army announced it had finished testing the remotely-piloted drones for armed operations.It has three drones, based near Niamey, the capital of Niger.The operation at the weekend was in an area controlled by the Katiba Macina, a ruthless Islamist group founded by radical Mopti preacher Amadou Koufa.Two Malian gendarmes who had been held hostage were freed, and French troops seized a number of armed vehicles, motorbikes and weaponry, “delivering a very heavy blow” to the jihadists, according to Monday’s statement.France previously said it had killed 25 jihadists in two operations in the Sahel this month.Last month, 13 French soldiers were killed in a helicopter crash as they hunted jihadists in the north of Mali — the biggest single-day loss for the French military in nearly four decades.France has a 4,500-member force which has been fighting jihadists in the fragile, sprawling Sahel since 2013. Forty-one soldiers have died. 
…

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday took part in a ceremony officially opening a controversial bridge from mainland Russia to the Russian-occupied Crimean Peninsula to rail traffic.Kyiv, the United States, and European Union have condemned Russia’s construction of the bridge, calling it a violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty, with the Western powers imposing sanctions on firms associated with the building of the 19-kilometer long structure.Flanked by local government officials, Putin thanked the workers for their efforts to build “this huge project,” in a ceremony broadcast live on state-run Russian TV.In November, the privately owned Grand Service Express railway company announced that the first train would depart from St. Petersburg for Sevastopol on December 23 and would travel 2,741 kilometers in 43.5 hours.The segment from Moscow to Simferopol — the peninsula’s capital city — is scheduled to depart on December 24 and travel 2,009 kilometers in 33 hours.The bridge cost $3.7 billion to build and is Europe’s longest, surpassing the Vasco de Gama bridge in Portugal.The railway section of the bridge marks its expanded use after Putin opened the connection on May 15, 2018, for vehicle usage.On that day, Putin was shown live on state television at the wheel of a Kamaz truck in a convoy of vehicles that crossed what Russia calls the Crimean Bridge — a symbol of Moscow’s control over the Ukrainian peninsula.Russia’s Federal Road Transport Agency, also known as Rosavtodor, said on December 22 that Putin would take part in the ceremonies on December 23.Crimea is connected to the mainland in Ukraine only, so the bridge is the sole link between the peninsula and Russia.People watch a giant TV screen with Russian President Vladimir Putin, inside, riding a train across a bridge linking Russia and the Crimean peninsula in Taman, Russia, Dec. 23, 2019.Ukraine has condemned the project not only for violating the nation’s sovereignty and territorial integrity but also for its low clearance, which has encumbered maritime shipping traffic for Ukraine.The spokeswoman of then EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini at the time said construction of the bridge “constitutes another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity by Russia.””The construction of the bridge aims at the further forced integration of the illegally annexed peninsula with Russia and its isolation from Ukraine, of which it remains a part,” an EU spokeswoman said.The U.S. State Department also condemned Russia’s construction of the bridge, saying it was done “without the permission of the government of Ukraine.”“Russia’s construction of the bridge serves as a reminder of Russia’s ongoing willingness to flout international law,” a spokeswoman said in May.Sanctions imposed by the EU and the United States have targeted those involved in the construction, including businessman Arkady Rotenberg, a close Putin ally whose company won construction rights for the bridge.Russia seized and annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014. The annexation has not been recognized by the world community.Russia has also supported separatist fighters battling Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine in a war that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014. 
…

For the first time in more than 200 years, France’s historic Notre Dame Cathedral will be dark and silent for Christmas.The iconic Gothic structure was ravaged in April by a fire that destroyed parts of the roof, the spire and vault.”This is the first time since the French Revolution that there will be no midnight Mass” at Notre Dame, said cathedral rector Patrick Chauvet.Christmas services have been moved a mile away to Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois, a church dating back to the 7th century.There has been a Christmas service every year at the UNESCO World Heritage site through France’s sometimes tumultuous history. The only time it was forced to close was during the anti-Catholic revolutionary period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.President Emmanuel Macron has set a timetable of five years to complete repairs on the eight-centuries-old structure.French prosecutors have opened an investigation into the cause of the fire, suggesting that it might have been the fault of a stray cigarette or an electrical malfunction. 
…

Ecuador declared a state of emergency Sunday after a barge carrying nearly 2,300 liters of diesel fuel sank at the Galapagos Islands.A crane collapsed while loading fuel onto the ship at a port on San Cristobal, the easternmost island of the Galapagos chain. A heavy container of fuel fell to the deck, causing the barge to go down while the crew jumped overboard for their lives.Soldiers and environmentalists immediately deployed barriers and absorbent cloths to stop the spilled fuel from spreading. Experts will assess the damage.The Galapagos, which are part of Ecuador, is a United Nations World Heritage Site and is one of the globe’s most fragile ecosystems.Many of the plant and animal species who live on the islands are found nowhere else in the world.The island chain is renowned for helping Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution in the mid-19th century. 
…

A team of Mexican entrepreneurs were the winners of the 2019 Hult Prize — a $1 million award presented each year to aspiring young visionaries from around the world who are creating businesses with a positive social impact.This year’s contest focused on global youth unemployment and attracted more than 250,000 participants from around the world.Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who’s been a major supporter of the Hult Prize since its inception in 2009, announced the winners.”These young people are our best hope for the future,” Clinton said. “Look at them! They are from all over the world. They are happy to be together. They think what they have in common is more important then what divides them.”RutopiaRutopia, the winner, connects tourists with indigenous communities in rural areas of Mexico.Mexican travel start-up Rutopia has teamed up with Airbnb to offer visitors unique travel experiences in rural areas of Mexico. (Courtesy – Rutopia)”It feels great! We are very excited and we cannot wait to come back to Mexico and share these with all the other people in Rutopia,” said Emiliano Iturriaga, who accepted the award along with three of his team members.He also said it was a win for all the people they work with in the local communities.Iturriaga describes Rutopia as an engine that empowers indigenous youth to design and sell trips online, while making it easy for travelers to find authentic cultural experiences.”We’re turning unemployed youth into successful touristic entrepreneurs in their own villages,” he said.The company is now collaborating with Airbnb to create eco-friendly, immersive travel experiences.Business as a force for goodAhmad Ashkar founded the Hult Prize Foundation in 2009, to inspire students on university campuses around the world to think differently about business, he said.”I was an investment banker, the child of refugees, who felt unfulfilled with their own life and my contribution to society,” he said. “So I felt young people had to choose: be good or be cold-hearted investment bankers. So I created The Hult Prize as a platform to equip them, arm them, and then deploy capital to these young people and their ideas; capital that can help them change the world.”A social entrepreneur himself, Ashkar feels he’s doing his part toward that goal. He’s the founder of Falafel Inc., a Palestinian-inspired small-food business in Washington, D.C., with a cause.Falafel Inc. in Washington, D.C. uses some of the proceeds from its Palestinian-inspired falafel sandwiches to help employ and feed refugees. (Julie Taboh/VOA)“With every dollar you spend in our restaurant, we help feed, employ and empower refugees,” Ashkar said. “I’m proud to say we fed more than a quarter-million refugees since launching Falafel Inc. around the world.”Diego’s storyDiego Sandoval first heard about the Hult Prize when he was a sophomore in high school. He then became involved with the program during his sophomore year of university at NYU Abu Dhabi, bringing the Hult Prize competition to his university campus.Diego Sandoval with his mentor Ahmad Ashkar at Boston Regional, 2017. (Courtesy – Diego Sandoval)”That led to a series of internships with the Hult Prize accelerator program, where the best 50 teams get together over six weeks to compete and build their businesses,” he said.”The accelerator program brings in 200 students from around the world from over 30 countries,” Sandoval said. “And I had the privilege of sitting down with every participant, every competitor, to study the social networks behind their business growth. And so as part of the Social Research branch of network science, I was able to investigate that social capital that we have embedded in the Hult Prize ecosystem.”The experience gave him the opportunity to understand the message of what the Hult Prize stands for he said. “It really aims to inspire students to change the trajectory of their careers from a traditional, conventional path to a more entrepreneurial and more passion-driven, mission-driven career.”Winners circlePrevious Hult Prize winners have included people like Mohammed Ashour, co-founder and CEO of the Aspire Food Group, which harvests crickets as a source of protein to feed the world.And a winning start-up team from India called NanoHealth, devoted to bringing health care to India’s urban slums.”We have companies in agriculture, in fishing, in youth unemployment, from Palestine to Zimbabwe,” Ashkar, of the Hult Foundation, said. “We’ve got over 25,000 students who organize programs across a hundred countries and 2,500 staff and volunteers.”It’s just been a humbling experience to build this movement,” he said.Hult Prize 2020The theme for the 2020 Hult Prize is the issue of climate change.For would-be contestants, Rutopia’s Iturriaga offered advice: “The important thing is that you really care about the problem. You don’t build a business and then make the impact, you first see what’s your passion, what do you want to solve in the world, and then you build a business around it.”Tina Trinh contributed to this report from New York City.
…