UK tech tycoon Lynch among people missing after Sicily yacht disaster
British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were among six people reported missing after a luxury yacht sank off the coast of Palermo in a violent storm on Monday morning, the head of Sicily's Civil Protection agency Salvo Cocina told AFP.
Lynch's wife Angela Bacares was among the 15 people rescued by authorities.
The British-flagged, 56-metre vessel had 22 people aboard, including 10 crew members, when strong winds suddenly hit Sicily’s northwestern coast in the early hours of Monday, Italy’s coast guard said.
Most of those aboard were British, and the passengers were guests of Lynch's, according to Italian media.
Lynch, aged 59, is a celebrated tech entrepreneur and investor who’s sometimes referred to as the UK's ‘Bill Gates’.
Italy issues weather alert for 10 regions as storms continue
Italy’s Civil Protection agency issued a ‘yellow’ weather alert for 10 regions on Tuesday as storms that battered multiple parts of the peninsula on Monday were set to continue.
The alert was set to cover the following regions: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Molise, Puglia, Sicily and Umbria.
A 'yellow' warning is the least severe alert under Italy’s alert system, but still indicates some level of risk.
River levels in the affected areas are likely to rise rapidly and waterways could become flooded, as could nearby underpasses, tunnels, and basement-level structures, according to Italy’s Civil Protection.
Rome shuts Furio Camillo metro station until November
The Furio Camillo station on Rome’s Metro A line was shut on Monday to allow for the start of planned maintenance and construction works ahead of the 2025 Jubilee Year, local media reported.
The station was set to reopen on Thursday, November 7th.
Underground trains were set to pass through Furio Camillo without stopping, with public transport operator Atac advising passengers to get off at the Ponte Lungo or Colli Albani station, or use bus lines 590 and 671.
The Furio Camillo closure was part of a large number of planned works aimed at upgrading Rome’s public transport network ahead of the 2025 Jubilee, when the capital was expected to welcome between 30 and 35 million visitors according to estimates from local media.
Besides planned metro station and line closures, Rome's entire tram network was set to be replaced by buses from September 16th until November 3rd under efforts to upgrade key sections of the city’s existing tram infrastructure.
‘No need’ to change Italy’s birthright citizenship: Deputy PM
Deputy Premier and League party leader Matteo Salvini said on Monday there was "no need, no urgency" to change Italy's birthright citizenship laws, Ansa reported.
"There is a law [and] it works,” he said, adding that “Italy is the European country that approves the highest number of citizenship requests”.
Salvini’s words came after leaders of the centre-right Forza Italia party – a member of the ruling coalition together with PM Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and the League – signalled that they were open to a potential reform of Italy’s birthright (or ius soli) citizenship rules which would create an earlier path to citizenship for children of foreign parents born in Italy.
Italy currently has one of the toughest citizenship regimes in Europe in relation to children of foreign nationals as they are unable to apply for an Italian passport until they are 18.
Italy’s centre-left forces have long called for a sweeping birthright citizenship reform but proposals have so far been consistently opposed by right-wing parties.
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