WATERS have been rising again in Venice, just three days after the Italian lagoon city experienced its worst flooding in more than 50 years.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said he was forced to ask police to block off the famous St Mark’s Square, which was already covered in knee-high water this morning.
Workers in thigh-high boots began removing the platforms used by the public to cross the square without getting wet.
The city saw the second-worst flooding on record on Tuesday when the water level reached more than six feet above sea level, prompting the Italian government to declare a state of emergency.
On Thursday, the government also approved €20 million in funding to help Venice repair the most urgent damage.
The damage is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros.
MEANWHILE, the 16-year-old boy suspected of killing two students in a burst of gunfire at a US school outside Los Angeles has been described as a quiet, smart kid you would never have expected to turn violent.
One fellow pupil at Saugus High School said the suspect was a boy scout who she relied on for help with history, and a student in his physics class said he seemed like “one of those normal kids”.
The attacker shot five pupils, seemingly at random, and then shot himself in the head at about 7.30am Thursday, which was his 16th birthday, authorities said.
Two students died and the gunman was gravely wounded. Police have not publicly identified the gunman because of his age.
ELSEWHERE, Syrian president Bashar Assad has said the American presence in Syria will lead to armed “resistance” that will eventually force the US troops to leave his country.
Assad spoke in an interview with Russia24 TV and the Rossiya Segodnya news agency, saying Americans should remember the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and that “Syria will not be an exception”.
FINALLY, Israel says it has completed a series of airstrikes on targets linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza, after rocket fire that rattled a day-old truce.
The military statement indicated that Israel was willing to abide by the ceasefire if there are no additional rocket attacks.
It said Israel struck a military compound, a rocket-manufacturing site and the headquarters of a militant group in the town of Khan Younis.
The airstrikes came after a barrage of rockets late Thursday. There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side.
The situation was calm today, but the truce could be tested later in the day when Hamas, the Islamic resistance group that rules Gaza, holds its weekly demonstrations along the frontier.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here