Early Edition with Kate Hawkesby

Declaring Venice's waterways a "national monument," Italy is banning mammoth cruise liners from sailing into the lagoon city, which risked being declared an imperiled world heritage site by the United Nations later this month.Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said the ban was urgently adopted at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday and will take effect Aug. 1. It applies to the lagoon basin near St. Mark's Square and the Giudecca Canal, which is a major marine artery in Venice.Franceschini said the government decided to act fast "to avoid the concrete risk" that the U.N. culture agency UNESCO would add Venice to its list of "world heritage in danger" after it begins meeting later this week in Beijing.The Cabinet decree also "establishes an unbreakable principle, by declaring the urban waterways of St. Mark's Basin, St. Mark's Canal and the Giudecca Canal a national monument,'' the minister added.Before the coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed international travel, cruise ships discharging thousands of day-trippers