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Pro-life and family campaigners in Italy have hit out at a “dangerous and blasphemous” church nativity scene featuring two mothers of the baby Jesus instead of Mary and Joseph figurines.

An online petition calling on the bishop in the province of Avellino to intervene has attracted more than 21,000 signatures.

It claimed the scene contradicted the Catholic Church’s teachings about the family and legitimised same-sex parenting and surrogacy.

But the priest at the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, in the Avellino hamlet of Capocastello di Mercogliano, east of Naples, has defended its depiction of Jesus’s birth.

“I wanted to show with this scene that families are no longer just the traditional ones,” Father Vitaliano Della Sala said.

“In our parishes, we see more and more children from the new types of families that exist and are part of our society, children of separated and divorced people, gay couples, single people, young mothers.”

Father Della Sala, who is known in Italy for expressing sympathy for LGBT and left-wing causes, has insisted his attitude is similar to that of Pope Francis, who in a landmark ruling this week, allowed priests to bless same-sex couples.

However, Senator Maurizio Gasparri, from the co-ruling Forza Italia party, said the LGBT creche “offends all those who always had respect and devotion for the Holy Family”.

And the Pro-Vita & Famiglia (Pro-Life and Family) group called it “dangerous, as well as shameful and blasphemous”.

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Nativity scenes are popular in the mostly Catholic country.

But they have been increasingly caught up in culture wars as society becomes more secular and multi-cultural.

A drone launched from Iran was responsible for an attack on a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean on Saturday, the US Department of Defence has said.

A spokesperson for the Pentagon said a motor vessel called CHEM PLUTO was struck at around 6am UK time, 200 nautical miles from the coast of India, in a “one-way attack drone fried from Iran”.

The Pentagon added a fire was extinguished on board and nobody was hurt in the attack, which it says was Iran’s seventh on commercial shipping since 2021.

It was the first such known attack so far away from the Red Sea since the Israel-Hamas war began.

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A spokesperson for the Iranian delegation at the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ambrey, a Hereford-based global maritime risk firm, earlier said the vessel was “Israel-affiliated” – though did not offer detail on the links – and had last called in Saudi Arabia before heading towards India.

“Merchant vessels are advised these types of attacks are typically targeted at Israel-affiliated shipping, but have in the past mistakenly hit previously Israel-affiliated vessels,” the firm added.

There has been an increasing number of threats to vessels off the coast of Yemen, with Yemeni rebel group the Houthis saying their attacks are aimed at Israel-linked ships and are in support of Palestinians under siege by Israel in Gaza.

The Indian Navy responded after the shipping company requested assistance, an official said.

“Indian Navy had dispatched an aircraft, which arrived overhead the MV (merchant vessel),” a statement by the navy said.

“Safety of the crew and ship was ascertained. A warship has also been dispatched to provide any assistance as required.”

The Indian Coast Guard said the vessel had 20 Indian nationals and one Vietnamese on board.

Another incident took place in the Red Sea on Saturday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said.

Approximately 50 nautical miles west of Hodeidah, Yemen, there were multiple reports of drones flying low above a vessel before exploding about 1.5 nautical miles from the ship.

Vessels were advised to transit with caution, the agency said in a statement.

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Major global shipping firms have been forced to reroute their vessels in the wake of drone and missile attacks in the Red Sea by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants.

Many vessels are taking a longer and costlier route around the southern tip of Africa.

The British, US and French navies have responded by shooting down Houthi drones and missiles.

More than 20 countries including the UK have agreed to form a US-led coalition to help safeguard vessels from Houthi attacks, with at least one Royal Navy destroyer involved.

Washington launched Operation Prosperity Guardian earlier this week, saying more than a dozen countries had agreed to participate in an effort involving joint patrols in Red Sea waters near Yemen.

Iran has denied US accusations it was involved in planning Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.

Pro-Palestinian protesters have taken to central London, disrupting Christmas shoppers as they urged them to boycott “pro-Israel” brands.

Hundreds of demonstrators marched from Soho Square, along Oxford Street, Regent Street and into Carnaby Street, where they gathered outside the Puma store, with some chanting: “Shut it down.”

The sports company, which sponsors the Israeli national football team, was included on a list of brands to boycott on leaflets being handed out.

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Two branches of fashion giant Zara were also targeted, with protesters heard chanting: “Zara, Zara, you can’t hide, stop supporting genocide.”

Earlier this month, Zara pulled an ad following complaints that it contained pictures resembling images from the Israel-Hamas war.

Both stores, which were guarded by security, closed their doors.

Police said no arrests were made during the protest, which was organised by direct action group Sisters Uncut, which campaigns against gender-based violence.

The protest began in Soho Square, where demonstrators chanted “free Palestine”, waved Palestinian flags, played music and let off coloured smoke.

Leaflets distributed by the group said: “No Christmas as usual in a genocide. The UK is complicit.

“Don’t fund genocide in Palestine. Boycott Israel.”

The marchers later brought traffic to a standstill as they walked down Oxford Street.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement: “The protest was a pre-planned event by Sisters Uncut – yes, we have a policing presence there.

“The march has now moved from Oxford Street and it is fully open. There have been no arrests.”

Congolese men, women, and children are fleeing ethnic violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as tensions soar between two neighbouring governments.

Rwanda stands accused of supporting the M23 rebels fighting against the forces of DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, who recently likened Rwandan president Paul Kagame to Adolf Hitler at a campaign rally preceding his 20 December presidential election run.

A historic transit camp for Congolese refugees was forced to reopen earlier this year to accommodate the influx of civilians fleeing heightened violence in eastern DRC.

The Nkamira Transit Camp is currently brimming with Tutsi men, women, and children who escaped targeted ethnic assaults by militants belonging to the dozens of different rebel groups ravaging their homeland.

Sixty-year-old Mutwarutwa arrived here at the end of November. She fled her home with nothing but the clothes on her back as Mayi Mayi rebels attacked her village.

“One day I was at home and we were told that there was going to be an attack. We decided to run and then suddenly bombs were falling and guns attacking us. We had to leave with absolutely nothing,” she says.

“We did not have money to get on a motorbike so we decided to run and hide in the forest. Eventually we made our way here.”

Mutwarutwa is not alone. 450,000 people were displaced by violence in eastern DRC’s North Kivu province in just the six weeks of October to late November.

Only 20km from the Goma-Gisenyi crossing straddling North Kivu, Nkamira is the first stop for many of them fleeing to Rwanda. In November, the camp was receiving around 200 new arrivals a day.

Angelique is sat next to Mutwarutwa on a blue mat covering the hard ground. This tented allotment has been her home since she fled North Kivu with her children and husband in February.

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Angelique’s husband was killed as they made their way out of danger and she says her father, who stayed behind, is currently in hiding from the rebels.

“We look different so we are hated and just killed. We were told that, as Tutsis, we would be targeted again and again until we leave,” Angelique tells us with a painfully resigned look in her eye.

She describes her body aches from months of sleeping on the hard floor.

“Back home, we had beds and mattresses and everything,” says Angelique.

“But at least here we can sleep,” quips Mutwarutwa. The terror kept them awake long before the attack finally came.

They both say they want to return home to DRC once there is peace. In Rwanda, they have safety but little else.

Money for mattresses, soap and sanitary pads dried up in July.

The UN Refugee (UNHCR) Appeal for Rwanda was only 38% funded this year – the worst deficit in recent times.

In Nkamira’s kitchen, pots that once made carrots, cabbage, spinach, and rice are now only serving a meal of corn and beans.

At the medical clinic, sick toddlers with chest infections are given paracetamol.

In Kigali, UNHCR Rwanda spokesperson Lilly Carlisle tells us the cuts have been expansive.

“We have had to limit access to health care. We have had to cut our cash assistance programmes for non-food items, which are things like soap, household goods and sanitary pads for women,” she says.

We speak to her as the UK-Rwanda treaty is being finalised. A £240 million deal to bring in deported asylum-seekers from the UK that the UNHCR has taken a firm stand against.

I ask Lilly what it is like to witness so much money paid for people who are yet to arrive and do not want to be here.

“It is on us as the international community to continue to support the existing refugee population here in Rwanda.

“They’ve been here for many years but that doesn’t mean that their needs are any less valid,” she responds.