All of Italy on heatwave red alert for first time
For the first time ever, all 27 of the major cities and provincial capitals that Italy's health ministry monitors for extreme hear were on the maximum red alert on Thursday amid the country's fourth heatwave of the year, ANSA reported.
The baking heat, with temperatures hitting 40°C in some areas, was forecast to continue for at least another 10 days.
On Thursday, Messina and Reggio Calabria joined the 25 cities already on red, including Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Florence, Bologna, Venice, Genoa and Palermo.
Bolzano was set to go down to yellow on Friday, and Brescia, Milan, Turin, Venice and Verona to follow on Saturday, taking the number on red down to 21.
The red warning indicates a heatwave emergency with a high general health risk, even for young people in good health.
Italy breaks up migrant smuggling ring
Italian police said Thursday they had arrested eight people as they broke up a human smuggling ring that ferried migrants from Algeria to the island of Sardinia.
The group allegedly used small boats to take about a dozen people at a time from the Algerian port of El Kala to Sardinia's southern coast.
Migrants paid up to 2,500 euros each to make the dangerous journey, police said, adding they had documented at least five crossings in recent months.
The eight suspects, all Algerians and including the alleged ringleader -- an asylum-seeker residing in Sardinia -- were arrested in the operation dubbed "Phantom", as the group was planning to buy fast vessels to scale up its operations and smuggle drugs, police said.
"In Sardinia there was a network responsible for receiving migrants, producing forged documents and providing operational support to its associates," the police said.
Italian singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini dies aged 86
Singer-songwriter and writer Francesco Guccini died overnight between August 5th and 6th at his home in Pavana, in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, aged 86, news agency Ansa reported.
The funeral will be held privately in the coming days at the family's request, while a public memorial is planned for September.
Known as "il Maestrone," Guccini became one of the leading voices of Italy's socially engaged songwriting scene from the 1970s onwards, with songs including "La locomotiva," "Auschwitz" and "L'avvelenata" that chronicled life during the period. He was born in Modena in 1940 and spent most of his childhood in the Apennines.
Guccini also worked as a teacher, journalist and novelist, publishing several books including a trilogy drawing on his childhood. A posthumous work, "Calde le pere!," is due out in September from publisher Giunti.