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ITALY
Venetians stage mock funeral for their city
A dozen gondolas snaked down the Grand Canal on Saturday in a mock funeral procession bemoaning Venice's approach to the dreaded status of living museum, with a population now below the symbolic threshold of 60,000.
Venetian officials, however, say reports of Venice's demise are premature, and even Saturday's somber funeral ended with an unexpected note of hope for rebirth: the disclosure that while native Venetians have been fleeing the expensive lagoon city for the mainland, the historic center's population was officially 60,025 as of Thursday, up from the 59,992 it had fallen to in recent weeks.
"They will have the funeral in a living village, not yet dead. And it won't die, even if it goes to 59,999," Mara Rumiz, the city official in charge of demographics, said Friday.
She said the numbers do not take into account the inhabitants of Venice's islands -- including glassmaking Murano and the Lido beach -- nor the many who are not officially registered, including students. Together, they add another 120,000 souls.
But Venice must still resist becoming merely a tourist destination, Rumiz said.
"It is evident that Venice has to safeguard its residents and attract new inhabitants. If not, we risk that Venice becoming only a tourist mecca," she said.
-- Associated Press
AFGHANISTAN
NATO denies claims of civilian deaths
NATO and Afghan forces killed several insurgents, including an armed woman, in a search operation in western Afghanistan on Saturday, the alliance said.
