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Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders on Monday, marking the first meeting since Russia brokered a peace deal that ended a six-week conflict over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
 
As he sat down for talks with the two leaders at the Kremlin, Putin said the truce has been successfully implemented, laying the foundation for a fair settlement to the conflict.
 
The recent conflict that cost thousands of lives on both sides gained international attention after the Azerbaijani military began expanding into the region in late-September. Despite being recognized as Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh has been run by ethnic Armenians since 1994, when another Russia-brokered truce ended a six-year-long separatist war in the region. No peace deal was signed back then.
 
In November,  Putin brought his Azerbaijani and Armenian counterparts together to sign a peace agreement. The new deal establishes that Azerbaijan will hold on to specific areas that it has taken during the most recent conflict, while Armenia agreed to hand over additional adjacent areas.  
 
Azerbaijani leaders overwhelmingly saw the deal as a major triumph, with President Ilham Aliyev describing the agreement as of “historic importance.”
 
In Armenia, however, the deal was deeply criticized, sparking mass protests and calls for the resignation of the country’s prime minister. On the occasion, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called the deal “incredibly painful both for me and both for our people,” but saw it as a necessary step to prevent Azerbaijan from overruling the region.
 
As Pashinyan left for Moscow on Monday, Armenian protesters tried to block his access to the airport. Police later dispersed them.
 
Since November, Russia has deployed around 2,000 peacekeepers to Nagorno-Karabakh, who will be stationed in the region for at least five years. Putin has also indicated on Monday that the three countries will establish a working group to restore traffic links in the region.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday said she sees the suspension of U.S. President Donald Trump from Twitter and other social media platforms as “problematic.”After the U.S. Capitol was stormed by Trump supporters last Wednesday, Twitter initially suspended Trump’s account for at least 12 hours, then Friday, moved to suspend it indefinitely, citing a risk of inciting more violence.When asked about the decision, Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, told reporters in Berlin the basic right to freedom of opinion is “of elementary significance.” He said exceptions can be made to that right, “but based on the law and based on what the law defines, not based on the resolution of social media platforms and from that point of view, the chancellor sees the permanent suspension of the U.S. president’s account as problematic.”Seibert added, though, that the German government believes that social media platforms such as Twitter have a “high responsibility so that political communications don’t get poisoned by hatred, lies, incitement to violence.” He said it is right “not to stand by idly if there are postings on certain channels which fall into this category.”Facebook on Thursday suspended Trump’s account through Jan. 20, the day of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, and possibly indefinitely.Meanwhile, the social network Parler, popular with conservatives, went offline Monday after its web hosting service, Amazon, suspended it for allowing posts that encourage violence. Smartphone app stores owned by Google and Apple also banned Parler in recent days, citing similar issues.Before the site went down, Parler CEO John Matze accused Amazon and other tech giants of a war on free speech.
 
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Pope Francis, in another step towards greater equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, on Monday changed its law to formally allow them to serve as readers at liturgies, altar servers and distributors of communion.
 
In a decree, the pope formalized what already has been happening in many developed countries for years. But by introducing the change in the Code of Canon Law, it will be impossible for conservative bishops to block women in their diocese from having those roles.
 
But the Vatican stressed that these roles were “essentially distinct from the ordained ministry,” meaning that they should not be seen as an automatic precursor to women one day being allowed to be ordained priests.
 
“The pontiff, therefore, has established that women can accede to these ministries and they are attributed by a liturgical function that institutionalizes them,” the Vatican said in an explanatory note.
 
In the decree, called “Spiritus Domini” (The Spirit of the Lord), Francis said he had taken his decision after theological reflection.
 
He said many bishops from around the world had said that the change was necessary to respond to the “needs of the times.”
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Britain’s hospitals are on the brink of being overwhelmed by COVID-19 patients and the country’s National Health Service is facing its “worst crisis in living memory,” a senior government official warned Sunday.  The blunt warning from England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, came as members of the government’s main advisory panel, the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, warned that nationwide lockdown measures introduced after Christmas were too lax and, being flouted too often by people meeting friends in parks and congregating at supermarkets.  They are urging the closure of nurseries and the end of “support bubbles” that allow for two households to mix. Ministers say they are not planning to tighten up the measures more but will start enforcing lockdown rules strictly and have ordered police to be forward-leaning and issue fines.    People queue for COVID-19 testing at a mass screening centre at Charlton Athletic Football Club as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in London, Britain, Jan. 3, 2021.Some medical workers say the breaking point has already been reached in London and parts of southern England. British coronavirus deaths Sunday surpassed 80,000 for the pandemic, 10,000 more than the civilian death tally during World War II. The country has seen four consecutive daily increases of more than 1,000 deaths.  Dr. Zudin Puthucheary, a critical care consultant, told Sky News the NHS is “breaking in front of us.” He said he was “scared and angry.” The majority of hospitals in Britain’s capital have already reportedly reached over-capacity. London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, declared Friday a “major incident.” In a statement, he said, “The threat this virus poses to our city is at crisis point. The number of cases in London has increased rapidly with more than a third more patients being treated in our hospitals now compared to the peak of the pandemic last April,” he added. Puthucheary, who works at the Royal London Hospital, said there’s a shortage of critical care nursing staff and warned intensive care units “are full beyond bursting.” He also said, “We’ve cannibalized staff from all around the hospital — volunteers are pouring in to try and look after these patients and deliver the best care we can. Staff are breaking themselves to make this happen and keep our patients safe — and it’s not going to be enough.” FILE – Britain’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock speaks at a press conference inside 10 Downing Street on further restrictions to be put in place due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic in London, Dec. 23, 2020.Speaking on the BBC, Health Secretary Matt Hancock declined to speculate on whether the government would introduce stricter rules “because the most important message is not whether the government will further strengthen the rules. The most important thing is that people stay at home and follow the rules that we have got.” Almost 60,000 new coronavirus cases were reported in Britain Saturday. Ministers say they are in a vaccine race against the virus and plan to open seven mass vaccination centers this week, with more in the pipeline. Neil Ferguson, a government adviser and professor at London’s Imperial College, predicted the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 would soar by another 20 percent. “It will be quite difficult to avoid another 20,000 deaths,” he told reporters. But with one in 30 Britons having the virus, he said the country could be through the pandemic within nine months, as a consequence of the vaccination program and the development of herd immunity. “I think we will see growth rates slow,” Ferguson said. “We may see a decline, and that may be slightly aided by the fact that there is quite a lot of herd immunity in places like London,” he added. Paramedics are also reporting they are being forced to treat patients in ambulances for hours at a time because no beds are available. Many hospital managers have ordered staff not to speak to the media unless they have prior clearance to do so and unlike last year, television crews are finding it hard to get permission to film wards. Some doctors have written anonymously of their experiences in hospitals and paint a grim picture of patients being treated in corridors because intensive care units (ICU) are full.  “We have several patients who are not ‘fit’ for ICU in the current climate,” wrote one consultant  for the new site Unherd.com. “Before COVID, they most likely would have been given a chance, but not now. When we think that these patients have suffered enough, and are unlikely to ever recover, we start talking about making them comfortable. It’s partly that we need the beds for patients with a better chance, and partly that we feel it is cruel to keep these people suffering when their chances of survival are slim. It’s difficult to work out which of those is your true motivation.” Governments across Europe say their hospitals are also stretched, especially in Sweden. And they’re watching with rising anxiety developments in Britain, where transmission rates are being driven by a more contagious mutant strain that’s now being identified across the continent.  Spain’s health minister, Salvador Illa, warned at a press conference Friday the country faces “difficult weeks ahead.” With coronavirus cases surging, he warned, “The data is bad. The incidence rate, the pressure on hospitals, the positivity rate of PCR tests and the number of deaths are rising. The evolution of the pandemic is worsening.” The PCR (polymerase chain reaction) tests are considered the most reliable in detecting the coronavirus.  
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Greece’s government has presented a bill to parliament that doubles the country’s territorial waters along its western frontiers, allowing it to exploit untapped energy reserves that can boost its ailing economy. Greece wants to also expand its frontiers along its eastern borders, in the Aegean but its neighbor, Turkey, rejects the move, saying it would spell war. Still, the two NATO allies, that have seen relations plummet dangerously in the last year over energy rights, are gearing for a fresh effort at exploratory talks to sort out their differences.In presenting the bill for ratification by parliament, Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias said it marked a historic moment for the country, part of a bigger attempt to shield its sovereign interests as Greece and Turkey remain locked in a dangerous standoff over energy and maritime rights in the eastern Mediterranean.The bill is the result of years of negotiations between Greece and Italy, redefining their maritime boundaries and establishing an exclusive economic zone that allows Athens to now survey the Ionian waterway and seabed that divides Greece and Italy for up to 19 kilometers from Greece’s western coast.That’s twice as much as before.A similar agreement is also being sought out with Albania which recently agreed to take the maritime case to arbitration at the international court at The Hague – something which Greece has also been trying to convince Turkey to do to sort out long-standing differences involving the Aegean Sea, an oil-and minerals-rich waterway that divides the two NATO allies.Bent on exploring untapped gas and oil reserves in the seabed that surrounds Greece, Athens has long been keen to extend its borders along its eastern frontiers – a move that Turkey has been strongly resisting, saying that any such designs would choke off its access to the Aegean, turning the waterway into somewhat of a Greek lake.Ankara has warned that any decision by Athens to extend territorial rights in the Aegean would spark war – a threat Greece is reluctant to ignore, especially after the two NATO allies came to the brink of an all-out conflict in that exact waterway just 20 years ago.Relations between the two age-old foes have seesawed for years since then. But in the past year, they escalated dangerously because of oil and gas drilling projects underway in disputed waters in the eastern Mediterranean.And while Turkey has snubbed repeated attempts by the European Union to mediate exploratory talks with Greece, it now appears to be returning to the negotiating table.In recent days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held crucial talks with key EU officials.More are expected to follow as Ankara, according to analysts, appears to be trying to rekindle its ties with the West after U.S. sanctions were imposed on the country’s defense industry for purchasing a Russian anti-ballistic system in breach of its NATO alliance commitment. The EU is also warning of sanctions it too may impose in March.Dimitris Keridies, a Greek lawmaker and professor of international relations, explains.In this sense, he said, Erdogan is almost predictable in how he is behaving. He’s clearly under pressure and he wants to restore relations with European states, Israel, Arab states and the U.S., especially with the new president coming in, to show a different face to all, mainly the Europeans, ahead of a March summit that will decide on the fate of those sanctions.Greece has long welcomed any Turkish return to exploratory talks; but it wants them to take place under an agreed agenda of topics, says Tassos Hadjivassiliou, a leading lawmaker.If they want to return to the negotiating table, Hadjivassiliou said, then they have to agree to the agenda of the talks. And that, he explains, can include nothing more than issues surrounding exploitation in the Aegean Sea. Any other issues are just unacceptable claims.It remains unclear what the finalized agenda will feature. But government officials in Athens tell VOA the exploratory talks may begin within weeks. 
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Security has been stepped up at Germany’s Bundestag (lower house of parliament) after the storming of the Capitol in Washington by rioters last week, Bundestag President Wolfgang Schäuble has told lawmakers, Bild am Sonntag weekly reported.”Berlin state police have arranged for a reinforcement of their forces around the Reichstag building,” it quoted Schäuble as saying in a letter to lawmakers.A spokeswoman for the Bundestag confirmed that Schäuble had written to lawmakers about the current situation but declined to give details of the content of the letter.Bild am Sonntag also reported that Schäuble had asked the Foreign Ministry for a report on the Washington violence and would “clarify with the federal government and the state of Berlin what conclusions should be drawn for Bundestag security.”Angry supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, voted out of office in a November election, broke into the Washington Capitol, seat of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate, on Wednesday. Five people died, including a police officer.In Berlin, protesters against coronavirus restrictions stormed the steps of the parliament building during a demonstration in August. 
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A shawarma shop in Moscow was forced to close a day after it opened following an outcry over its provocative Josef Stalin-themed branding, the shop’s owner told Reuters on Saturday.The Stalin Doner shop featured a portrait of the controversial communist leader above its front door. Inside, a man dressed in the Stalin-era security service uniform served customers meat wraps named after Soviet leaders.”We fully opened the day before yesterday and served around 200 customers,” shop owner Stanislav Voltman said.”There were no legal reasons [to close the shop],” he added, but said that police had forced him to remove the Stalin sign, and then “colossal pressure” from local authorities forced him to shut completely.The branding was hotly debated on social media, with some commenters condemning it as distasteful.Stalin’s rule was marked by mass repression, labor camps and famine. Nearly 700,000 people were executed during the Great Terror of 1936-38, according to conservative official estimates.However, many in the former Soviet Union still regard him primarily as the leader who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II, ensuring the country’s very existence.”I had expected some social media hype,” Voltman said. “But I had not expected that all TV stations, all the reporters and bloggers would flock here and queue up like they do in front of the Lenin mausoleum.”
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An avalanche that hit a Russian ski resort near the Arctic city of Norilsk late Friday killed three members of a family and buried four buildings under snow, authorities said. Officials said rescuers recovered the bodies of a 38-year-old woman, her 45-year-old husband and their 18-month-old child. A 14-year-old was pulled from the snow alive and was hospitalized with frostbite, officials said.Snowstorm Strikes Spain, Forcing Road Closures, Suspension of Flights, Train ServicesAuthorities have called in the military to rescue people stranded in their vehiclesThe regional office of Russia’s emergency services said in a statement Saturday that the rescue mission involved 242 people and 29 vehicles, working under severe weather conditions throughout the night to dig out the buildings covered with snow and ice.Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said it has opened a criminal probe to determine if the buildings’ owners had adequate safety measures in place. Norilsk is Russia’s northernmost city, located over 2,870 kilometers northeast of Moscow.
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Spain has activated the red weather alert for the first time Saturday as heavy snowfalls have hit large parts of the country, including the capital, since Thursday. Besides Madrid, which recorded the heaviest snowfalls since 1971, the regions of Aragon, Valencia, Castilla La Mancha and Catalonia also were hard-hit by the snowstorms.The unusual blizzard blocked traffic and left thousands of people trapped in cars or in train stations and airports, since they suspended all services as the snowfalls continued Saturday.The storm made driving difficult or caused the closure of over 430 roads by Saturday morning, according to Spain’s transit authorities, which advised people to stay indoors and avoid all nonessential travel.Authorities have mobilized the military to rescue people stranded in their vehicles and  trapped everywhere from small roads to major arteries.The national AEMET weather agency has said the snow would continue until Sunday, as the temperatures remain very low, before Storm Filomena begins moving northeast.According to AEMET’s weather forecast, 20 centimeters of snow was anticipated in large parts of the country, but the accumulation reached more than 50 centimeters even in urban areas.
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Germany, France and Britain each plan to boost their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, a move analysts say is aimed at countering China and showing support for the U.S., Japan and other regional allies.Germany will send a frigate to patrol Indo-Pacific waters later this year. Britain will deploy the British carrier strike group (CSG) with the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier at its core with no first deployment date announced.France will join Japan and the U.S. to conduct amphibious training in southwestern Japan in May. The three countries also submitted a joint, unsigned note to the United Nations.The note emphasized “the importance of unhampered exercise of the freedom of the high seas” in the South China Sea, according to an op-ed written by Mark Valencia, an adjunct senior scholar at the National Institute for South China Sea Studies in Haikou, in China’s Hainan Province, for the South China Morning Post.According to a report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies prepared from a survey conducted before the advent of the global pandemic: “China is seen as holding slightly more political power and influence than the United States in Southeast Asia today and considerably more power relative to the United States in 10 years,” and in terms of “economic power and influence, the region views China as much more influential than the United States today, and this gap is expected to grow in the next 10 years.”’Need to uphold the international order’Experts say that the European countries boosting their military presence in the Indo-Pacific region will strengthen their alliances with the United States and Japan and maintain common values and rule-based order in the region.Zachary Hosford, acting director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said the European countries “want to signal to the United States that they are aligned with Washington in recognizing both the need to uphold the international order and the Chinese government’s challenges to that order – including through the illegal and destabilizing building of military bases on artificial islands.”Elli-Katharina Pohlkamp, a visiting fellow of the Asia program at European Council on Foreign Relations, told VOA Mandarin, “I believe alliances and defense cooperation can be strengthened and the interoperability of the forces can be enhanced. The China factor is definitely encouraging the enhancement of security ties between Europe and Japan.” This depends on the Japan’s China policy under recently installed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, which Pohlkamp said “is not very clear yet.”Steven Lamy, an international relations professor at the University of Southern California said, “They are making sure China knows that they will check any unilateral action that threatens trade and security in Asia.”Zack Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), however, believes that the European nation’s deployment is primarily symbolic.“I do think there is concern that the United States is increasingly focused on the Indo-Pacific, so some in Europe want to demonstrate that they can be helpful in Asia, too,” Cooper said. “That is a positive sign, in my view. This has more of a signaling value than a military value, but the message is still a useful one. But I think it is also important to note that the EU-China investment deal is potentially more important as a signal than these military deployments, so we need to make sure that our security and economic efforts are both pointed in the same direction.”’Values-based trade agenda’On Dec. 30, the EU and China concluded negotiations on a wide-ranging investment treaty.President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said, “Today‘s agreement is an important landmark in our relationship with China and for our values-based trade agenda.”Other objectivesBritish and German Asia-Pacific deployments have objectives beyond countering China’s expansion in the region.Jamie Shea, a former NATO official and senior fellow at the think tank Friends of Europe, said the U.K.’s actions were intended to show aspirations to be “Global Britain” after Brexit, as its departure from the EU is known.“This aspiration focuses largely on the Asia-Pacific region as the U.K. is convinced that new trade agreements with the countries in this region are key to the U.K.’s future economic growth,” Shea told VOA. “So a U.K. military capability to project power in the Asia-Pacific, based around the country’s two recently acquired new aircraft carriers, is key to demonstrating the U.K.’s strategic relevance to the region. The Royal Navy is the priority here as ships can be deployed flexibly and are a good way of demonstrating presence.” Shea added that Britain’s defense procurement and its decision to send the HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea also signals to Washington that the U.K. remains willing and able to be a major strategic ally.While Germany has no desire to be a global military power, it has key economic and trading interests in Asia that it wishes to protect, Shea noted.“Germany has no desire to become embroiled in the regional disputes in Asia, such as in the South and East China seas, but the occasional dispatch of a frigate and participation in a maritime exercise is a useful way to build confidence and develop partnerships and interoperability with Germany’s major trading partners in the region,” Shea said.According to Japan’s Kyodo News, Japan’s defense minister, Nobuo Kishi, last month expressed his desire for German frigates to participate in exercises with Japan’s Self-Defense Forces, which he hoped would pass through the South China Sea.The British government announced on Jan. 4 that the British Royal Navy’s carrier strike group has reached initial operating capability ahead of its first operational deployment later this year.The carrier strike group commander, Commodore Steve Moorhouse, tweeted Jan. 4, “In practical terms, my Strike Group is now at Very High Readiness, meaning we are at 5 days’ notice to deploy, if required, in response to global events & in defence of British interests.”In practical terms, my Strike Group is now at Very High Readiness, meaning we are at 5 days’ notice to deploy, if required, in response to global events & in defence of British interests.— Commander UK Carrier Strike Group (@smrmoorhouse) January 4, 2021In response to the HMS Queen Elizabeth’s deployment to the South China Sea, Tan Kefei, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of Defense, said, “The Chinese military will take the necessary measures to resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests and firmly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.”Adrianna Zhang of the VOA Mandarin Service contributed to this report.  
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Deutsche Bank AG will pay nearly $125 million to avoid U.S. prosecution on charges it engaged in foreign bribery schemes and manipulated precious metals markets, the latest blow for a bank trying to rebound from a series of scandals.Germany’s largest lender agreed to the payout as it entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, and a related civil settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.Almost all of the payout relates to charges Deutsche Bank violated the federal Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) over its dealings in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, China and Italy, court papers show. Nearly two-thirds of the payout is a criminal fine.The settlements were made public Friday at a hearing in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York.”Deutsche Bank engaged in a criminal scheme to conceal payments to so-called consultants worldwide who served as conduits for bribes to foreign officials and others,” in order to win and retain “lucrative business projects,” Acting U.S. Attorney Seth DuCharme in Brooklyn said in a statement.A bank spokesman said, “We take responsibility for these past actions,” which occurred from 2008 to 2017, following thorough internal probes and full cooperation with authorities.Five years of lossesDeutsche Bank has been trying to restore profitability after five years of losses, including by exiting some businesses and reducing its workforce by 18,000.It has also been trying to restore its image in Washington amid several investigations into its dealings with U.S. President Donald Trump, a longtime client.Prosecutors accused Deutsche Bank of violating books-and-records provisions of the FCPA, which forbids companies with U.S. operations from paying bribes elsewhere.They said the violations included disguising bribes paid to a client’s decision-maker in Saudi Arabia as referral fees and recording millions of dollars of payments to an intermediary for an Abu Dhabi official as consultancy fees.The SEC also accused Deutsche Bank of making improper payments to a consultant to help establish a clean energy investment fund with a Chinese government entity, and to an Italian tax judge for referring wealthy clients.In the metals case, prosecutors accused Deutsche Bank traders of placing fraudulent trades, known as spoofing, to induce other traders to buy and sell futures contracts at prices they otherwise would not have.In 2019, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay $16.2 million to resolve SEC charges it violated the FCPA by hiring unqualified relatives of government officials in China and Russia in order to win or retain business.
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The World Health Organization says wealthy nations have bought most of the current supply of available COVID-19 vaccine, leaving the world’s poorest nations unable to obtain them.At the agency’s regular briefing Friday in Geneva, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the WHO-organized international vaccine cooperative, COVAX, has now secured contracts for 2 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which it is prepared to roll out in low-and-middle-income countries as soon as they are delivered.Tedros said the vaccine cooperative has first right of refusal on an additional billion doses. But 42 countries – 36 wealthy nations and six “middle-income” nations – are operating COVID-19 vaccines programs.  That leaves no additional available vaccine for the poorer nations.Adding to the problem, Tedros said both high and middle-income countries, that are part of the COVAX program, are making additional bilateral deals for vaccine. “This potentially bumps up the price for everyone and means high-risk people in the poorest and most marginalized countries don’t get the vaccine,” he said.The WHO chief said the hoarding of vaccine by the richest nations – which he calls “vaccine nationalism” – is self-defeating and hurts the entire world. On the other hand, Tedros said equitably sharing vaccines saves lives, stabilizes health systems and would help the global economy recover more quickly.Tedros emphasized that vaccinating equitably helps reduce transmission, which also lessens the virus’ opportunity to mutate.He called on manufacturers to prioritize vaccine supply and rollout through COVAX, and he urged countries that have contracted for more vaccine than they will need to also donate and release it to COVAX immediately.He said, “Remember, ending the COVID-19 pandemic is one of humanities great races, and whether we like it or not, we will win or lose this race together.”
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Spain was on high alert Friday as a cold snap covered much of the country with snow disrupting road, sea and air traffic, while authorities warned that worse might be in store over the weekend. Parts of central Spain, including the capital, are expected to receive more than 24 hours of continuous snowfall as Storm Filomena moves north from the Straits of Gibraltar, the national AEMET weather agency forecast. The heavy snowfall that in some areas started Thursday was leading to serious disruptions by mid-Friday on about 270 roads and canceled or delayed more than 40 flights, according to Spain’s road and airport authorities. In the southern Canarias archipelago, where rainfall and strong winds have paired with unusually rough seas with giant waves, emergency services rescued 65 people Friday from a ferry that ran aground the night before while trying to approach a dock in the Gran Canaria island. The rescued passengers, including a baby and six crew members who had to wait 14 hours on the vessel because of the difficulty of the operation to bring them to shore, were “exhausted but safe and healthy,” according to a tweet by the island’s government. In Toledo, a historic city of 85,000 south of Madrid and capital of the central Castilla La Mancha region, authorities have called for help from the army to clear roads and prohibited all circulation of vehicles without winter tires or chains. AEMET says up to 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) of snow could accumulate in large parts of Spain and the buildup could reach up to 50 centimeters (almost 20 inches) in mountainous areas. The storm is expected to weaken and move northeast by Sunday, the agency said. 
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Officials in Naples, Italy Friday reported a massive, 2,000-square meter sinkhole opened in the parking lot of the Hospital of the Sea parking lot, swallowing cars and knocking out power at a nearby facility for COVID-19 patients, but no injuries were reported.The firefighters say the hole, about 20 meters deep, opened in the early morning hours and residents in the area reported hearing an explosion at the time. But the officials say it is unclear if the explosion occurred before or after the ground collapsed. Italian media reports say the explosion may have been from gas or oxygen pipes below street level.Chief firefighter Commander Ennio Aquilino told Italian television channel SkyTG 24 the sinkhole could have been caused by an infiltration of water underground as a result of recent heavy rains.  
Officials say some patients at the COVID-19 facility had to be evacuated.News reports quote the regional governor, Vincenzo De Luca, as saying the COVID-19 facility would reopen within days after electricity and water service were restored. The hospital continued operations using backup systems.
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