World

ROME — An MP from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s party was at the centre of a political storm on Tuesday after taking a gun to a New Year’s Eve party where someone was shot with it.

Emanuele Pozzolo, a lawmaker for Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy Party, has admitted owning the mini revolver — reported to be a 22-calibre North American Arms revolver — but says he did not fire it.

It was discharged by accident, he said, causing a light injury to the leg of a guest, the son-in-law of a bodyguard of junior justice minister Andrea Delmastro — who was also in attendance.

“I confirm that the shot was accidentally fired from a pistol I legally held but it was not me that fired,” Pozzolo, 38, said in a statement cited by the La Repubblica daily.

The incident at the party in Rosazza near Turin, which about 30 guests attended, is under investigation, according to reports.

But the story drew astonishment and outrage among opposition politicians.

Possession of firearms in Italy is strictly regulated, although Meloni’s party last month proposed to reduce to 16 the minimum age at which someone can obtain a permit for a hunting rifle.

“We could not have imagined that the passion for weapons of Giorgia Meloni’s party was such that MPs would take them loaded to New Year’s Eve parties,” said Elly Schlein, leader of the centre-left Democratic Party.

Former centrist prime minister Matteo Renzi added: “Why bring guns to a New Year’s Eve party in the presence of MPs and members of the government?

LONDON — London’s Big Ben on Sunday marks the 100th anniversary of its “bongs” to ring in the New Year being broadcast live across the world.

Ever since New Year’s Eve 1923 when BBC engineer A.G. Dryland clambered onto a roof opposite the British parliament to record the strikes, live transmission has become an annual tradition.

The unmistakable sound of the “nation’s timepiece” has long occupied a special place in national life.

The bongs are heard twice daily — at 6pm and midnight and three times on Sunday — on BBC radio, and at the start of the nightly News at Ten on commercial channel ITV.

Such is their importance that even during the recently-ended five-year restoration programme when they were largely silenced, important exceptions were made.

As well as New Year, Big Ben also continued to mark Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday when the nation remembers its war dead.

Big Ben also rang out to mark Britain’s departure from the European Union in 2021 and the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

After a week of testing, normal service finally resumed last November.

While the rest of London is enjoying New Year’s Eve, clock mechanic Andrew Strangeway will be at the top of the 96-metre Elizabeth Tower.

The tower houses the clock and its five bells, including the largest one from which Big Ben takes its nickname.

‘Fractions of a second’ 

Along with the two other members of the in-house timekeeping team, the 37-year-old will be making last minute checks to make sure the clock will be “within fractions of a second of being correct”.

Although the chances of a mishap on the big night are tiny, Strangeway said the clock did suffer a disaster during the 1970s when it stopped due to metal fatigue.

“I think the chances of anything going seriously wrong are small. Our main worry on things like New Year is — is it going to go off and is it going to be on time,” he said.

Completed in 1859, the structure was known as the Clock Tower before being renamed the Elizabeth Tower in 2012 to honour the late queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

In the years before the renovation, parliament’s timekeepers would benchmark the Great Clock’s time against the telephone speaking clock.

Now, it is calibrated by GPS via Britain’s National Physical Laboratory.

But the method to adjust the clock’s timing mechanism remains old-fashioned: old pennies are added or removed from weights attached to two giant coiled springs, to make or lose a second.

“It’s a fantastic job,” Strangeway told AFP, adding that even when he was out and about in London he would frequently look for Big Ben and think “yes it’s still running”.

He said he was very excited that he would be “right next to the bells... at that moment when everyone is looking at that clock for the start of the New Year”.

COPENHAGEN — Denmark’s popular Queen Margrethe II, Europe’s longest-serving monarch and last reigning queen after the death of Britain’s Elizabeth II, is hailed for modernising Danish royalty in her half-century on the throne.

The chain-smoking 83-year-old — an accomplished artist in her own right — acceded to the throne at the age of 31 in January 1972, on the death of her father, Frederik IX.

She announced on Sunday that she would abdicate on January 14 and pass the baton to her son Crown Prince Frederik, citing her age and health issues.

She underwent major back surgery in February 2023.

She took the name Margrethe II in recognition of Margrethe I, who ruled Denmark from 1375 to 1412 but never formally held the title of queen.

When she was crowned almost 52 years ago, only 45 per cent of Danes were in favour of the monarchy, most believing it had no place in a modern democracy.

But the cultured Margrethe has managed to stay away from scandal and modernise the institution — allowing her two sons to marry commoners.

The Danish monarchy is now one of the most popular in the world, enjoying the support of more than 80 per cent of Danes.

Margrethe is also Europe’s only reigning queen, although four countries — Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden — have crown princesses.

Nicknamed “Daisy” by her family and subjects, she repeatedly insisted that she would never step down from her duties.

“I will stay on the throne until I drop,” she often said.

Aged 82, she rode a rollercoaster at Copenhagen’s famed Tivoli amusement park, her hat fastened securely on her head.

But it has not always been plain sailing for Margrethe.

Her French-born husband, Prince Consort Henrik, was known for his flamboyant style and frequent outbursts of anger. He repeatedly expressed disappointment that his title was never changed to king when his wife became queen in 1972.

In 2002, he made headlines when he fled to his chateau in southern France, complaining he didn’t receive enough respect in Denmark. He later said he did not want to be buried next to his wife because he was never made her equal in life.

Henrik died in February 2018, five months after being diagnosed with dementia.

Margrethe displayed the same steeliness in her recent very public quarrel with her youngest son, Prince Joachim, after she stripped his four children of their princely titles in 2022 to slim down the monarchy.

Uniting force 

The queen was born in Copenhagen on April 16, 1940, just one week after Nazi Germany invaded her homeland.

The eldest of three sisters, Denmark’s law of succession then barred women from inheriting the throne.

It was changed in 1953 following a referendum, under pressure from successive Danish governments mindful of a need to modernise society.

“She has managed to be a queen who has united the Danish nation in a time of large changes: globalisation, the appearance of the multicultural state, economic crises in the 1970s, 1980s and again in 2008 to 2015, and the pandemic,” historian Lars Hovebakke Sorensen told AFP.

“The basis of her popularity is that the queen is absolutely non-political,” he said.

Margrethe marked the 50th anniversary of her accession in January 2022 with a scaled-down celebration due to Covid.

The full festivities were postponed until September 2022, but had to again be downsized considerably after the death of her third cousin Queen Elizabeth.

Margrethe’s eldest son, 55-year-old Crown Prince Frederik, is due to succeed his mother.

Queen of arts 

With sparkling blue eyes and a broad smile, Margrethe is known for her relaxed and playful side, as well as for her involvement in Denmark’s cultural scene.

A painter as well as a costume and set designer, she has worked with the Royal Danish Ballet and Royal Danish Theatre on numerous occasions.

She studied at Cambridge and the Sorbonne in Paris, and is fluent in English, French, German and Swedish.

CARACAS — A British warship arrived off the coast of Guyana on Friday, further fuelling tensions over a territorial dispute with Venezuela, which has launched a major military exercise in response to what it termed an “unacceptable” threat.

Venezuela and Guyana have been locked in a land dispute over the oil-rich Essequibo region which makes up about two-thirds of Guyana’s territory, but has long been claimed by Caracas.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday ordered over 5,600 troops to join a “defensive” exercise near the Guyana border, in response to Britain sending a warship to the area in a show of support to its former colony.

Britain said Friday the Venezuelan military exercises were “unjustified and should cease.”

London diverted the patrol vessel HMS Trent to Guyana “as part of a series of engagements in the region during her Atlantic patrol task deployment”.

A Guyana foreign ministry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the “uneventful” arrival of the warship in its waters on Friday.

Brazil, which borders both countries and whose President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has emerged as a peace broker of sorts, on Friday called for “restraint and a return to dialogue”.

Expressing “concern”, the Brazilian government said in a statement it “believes military demonstrations of support to either party should be avoided”.

‘Recklessness’ 

Rocio San Miguel, a Venezuelan military expert and normally a critic of the government, said Britain’s military response was “recklessness that forces Venezuela to respond as it has done”. 

However Gary Best, a former chief of staff of the Guyanan Defence Forces, said having the British ship in their waters was not “a provocation”.

“It is nothing unusual. However, in the actual context... of the challenge to the sovereignty by Venezuela, it has taken on a new meaning. 

“I can see how they would see it as a threat.”

He said the military exercises were “a show of force” from Maduro, ahead of elections in 2024.

Venezuela’s century-old claim on Essequibo has been revived since massive offshore oil deposits were discovered in the region and Guyana began handing out licenses to oil companies to operate there.

Maduro’s government held a controversial referendum on December 3 in which 95 per cent of voters, according to officials, supported declaring Venezuela the rightful owner of Essequibo.

He has since started legal maneuvers to create a Venezuelan province in Essequibo and ordered the state oil company to issue licenses for extracting crude in the region.

Guyana, a former British and Dutch colony, insists the Essequibo frontiers were determined by an arbitration panel in 1899.

But Venezuela claims the Essequibo River to the region’s east forms a natural border recognized as far back as 1777.

Brazil urged both parties to respect an agreement reached after Maduro and Guyana President Irfaan Ali met earlier this month in the Caribbean, where they vowed not to resort to force to settle the dispute. 

UNITED NATIONS, United States — The United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution on Friday calling for the appointment of a special envoy for Afghanistan to increase engagement with the country and its Taliban leaders.

It followed an independent assessment report issued in November which called for greater engagement with Afghanistan following the return to power of the Taliban in August 2021.

The resolution calls on the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to name a special envoy to promote the independent report’s recommendations, particularly regarding gender and human rights.

The resolution was adopted after 13 members of the Security Council voted in favor, while Russia and China abstained.

“The UAE and Japan firmly believe the independent assessment serves as the best basis for discussions going forward,” said Japan’s UN Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki ahead of the vote.

“The resolution highlights the need to increase international engagement in a more coherent, coordinated and structured manner, as the independent assessment states.”

The United Arab Emirates and Japan have responsibility for raising the situation in Afghanistan at the Security Council as so-called “pen-holders” for the issue.

The Taliban government is not officially recognised by any country or world body and the United Nations refers to the administration as the “Taliban de facto authorities”.

Officials initially promised a softer version of the strict Islamic rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, but restrictions have gradually been reintroduced — particularly affecting women.

Teenage girls have been banned from attending most secondary schools and women from universities, prompting global outrage and protests in some Afghan cities.

In November 2022 women were prohibited from entering parks, funfairs, gyms and public baths.

“The United States strongly supports this resolution’s call for a UN special envoy for Afghanistan. A special envoy will be well positioned to coordinate international engagement on Afghanistan, including with relevant Afghan political actors and stakeholders,” said the United States’ representative following the adoption of the resolution.

PARIS — The French government said it will deploy more than 95,000 police and military personnel for New Year Eve's celebrations, adding that a heightened "terrorist threat" required tight security.

Paris alone, where up to one million revellers are expected on the Champs-Elysees on Sunday night — twice as many as last year — will get 6,000 security forces to keep order.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that Sunday's deployment was motivated by "a context of a heightened terrorist threat due to the conflict in Israel and Palestine".

More people were expected in the streets of the capital than last year because of additional celebrations to mark 2024 as the year of the Paris Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Darmanin said.

The national deployment would include 90,000 police or gendarmes, 5,000 members of the anti-terror military contingent Operation Sentinelle as well as mobile units, Darmanin said.

There will be a ban on alcoholic drinks in some areas of Paris, he said.

No political demonstrations will be allowed, added Paris police chief Laurent Nunez.

People will be body-searched before getting access to a festivities' perimeter around the Champs-Elysees, and be banned from carrying "any object that could be used as a weapon", he said.

Drones will be used for surveillance, and France's intelligence services will be put on alert, Darmanin said.