Rome Municipality, Vatican Compete over Trevi Fountain Coins

A man looks at the Trevi Fountain during a snowfall, in Rome, Feb. 26, 2018. Trisha Thomas/AP, FILE
A man looks at the Trevi Fountain during a snowfall, in Rome, Feb. 26, 2018. Trisha Thomas/AP, FILE
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Rome Municipality, Vatican Compete over Trevi Fountain Coins

A man looks at the Trevi Fountain during a snowfall, in Rome, Feb. 26, 2018. Trisha Thomas/AP, FILE
A man looks at the Trevi Fountain during a snowfall, in Rome, Feb. 26, 2018. Trisha Thomas/AP, FILE

A row has broken out between the mayor of Rome and the Roman Catholic Church over what should happen to coins retrieved from the Trevi fountain. Every year nearly €1.5m (£1.3m) is fished out of the famous landmark. It is traditionally given to a Catholic charity to help the destitute. But now Mayor Virginia Raggi wants the money spent on the city's crumbling infrastructure instead. According to BBC, The Catholic charity Caritas says the loss of income will hit the poor.

"We did not foresee this outcome. I still hope it will not be final,” Caritas director Father Benoni Ambarus told Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops' conference.

The newspaper ran a scathing article on the move, headlined "Money taken from the poorest."

City councilors have approved the change and it is due to take place in April. However, many Italians have taken to social media to ask the council to reconsider the move, the Ansa news agency reported.

Raggi took control of Rome in 2016 for the anti-establishment Five Star Movement, which formed a national coalition government last year. Her popularity has fallen for failing to tackle the indebted city's issues. In October, thousands of protesters gathered outside city hall to denounce Raggi for failing to address problems including uncollected rubbish and potholed roads.

The Trevi fountain, nearly 300-years-old, is visited by millions of tourists every year. The tradition of throwing coins was made famous by Frank Sinatra's romantic comedy Three Coins in the Fountain in the 1954.



Sunken WWII Japanese Warship Found Off Solomon Islands

A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
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Sunken WWII Japanese Warship Found Off Solomon Islands

A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust
A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki. Photo: Ocean Exploration Trust

An international research team has located a Japanese World War II destroyer on the deep seabed off Solomon Islands as the 80th anniversary of the war's end approaches.

A team from the US non-profit Ocean Exploration Trust discovered the Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer Teruzuki at a depth of more than 800 meters (2,625 feet) off the small island nation northeast of Australia, AFP reported.

A video image of the wreck shows parts of the 134-meter (440-foot) Teruzuki, which was torpedoed by the US military in 1942, illuminated by lights from the research team's underwater drones.

The footage shows red paint on the hull, corroded gun barrels and the warship's massive stern.

Commissioned in 1942, the Teruzuki was designed for screening aircraft carriers from aerial attacks, the exploration group said.

However, the Teruzuki, which means "Shining Moon" in Japanese, was hit by US torpedoes just months into its service.

Nine sailors were killed but most of the crew members survived, the Ocean Exploration Trust said.

Teruzuki's stern was found more than 200 meters (660 feet) from the hull and was located by high-resolution sonar scans, it said.

The discovery was made while the team used drones to survey the area in the hope of finding unidentified shipwrecks or other items.