Italy rules out listing Sicily bridge as defence spending, seven missing after migrant boat stranded at sea, and more news on Thursday.
Italy rules out listing contested Sicily bridge as defence spending
Italy won’t count a controversial project to build a bridge connecting Sicily to the Italian mainland as military spending, the country’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.
Italian media reported in late June that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government was considering listing the bridge as a military asset in a bid to meet NATO’s defence expenditure target of five percent of GDP.
The reports cited a cabinet memorandum describing the bridge as having “a key role in defence and security” and “facilitating the movement of Italian armed forces and NATO allies”.
But Italy’s defence ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that “the Strait of Messina Bridge is entirely financed by state resources, and no defence funds are earmarked”.
“The possible use of NATO resources is not currently on the agenda and, above all, it is not an indispensable necessity,” it added.
The announcement came after US ambassador to NATO Matthew Whitaker warned in an interview with Bloomberg that some nations had adopted “a very broad view” of defence spending, stressing that investments must be “specifically related to defence”.
Seven missing after migrant boat stranded at sea
Seven people were lost at sea and 41 were brought to Italy’s Lampedusa island after a migrant boat got into difficulty in the Mediterranean, German NGO Sea-Watch said on Wednesday.
The survivors, mostly Sudanese, had been at sea for six days before landing on Lampedusa late on Tuesday. They were rescued by Sea-Watch’s ship Aurora after refusing help from the Tunisian authorities, the NGO said.
According to those on board, the boat left Libya on August 27th but became stranded in international waters between Tunisia and Malta, AFP reported.
“Some of these people would rather die than be forced to Tunisia,” a Sea-Watch spokesman told AFP.
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Tunisia is a key transit country for thousands of people seeking to reach Europe by sea each year.
In 2023, Tunisia signed a €255m deal with the European Union intended to boost Tunisia’s capacity to stop boats leaving its shore – but campaigners say migrants there face racism and violence.
Italy’s hard-right government backed the Tunisia deal as part of its push to curb sea arrivals, which also included restricting the activities of NGO ships.
Australia’s Qantas to expand direct Perth-Rome service in 2026
Australia’s flag carrier Qantas announced on Tuesday it will enhance a popular non-stop seasonal service connecting Perth, Western Australia, to Rome next summer.
The airline said it will extend the service by eight weeks in 2026, with flights scheduled to start on May 3rd and end on October 23rd.
Frequency was also set to increase from three to four flights per week between June 27th and September 26th, Qantas added.
The carrier first launched its nonstop Perth-Rome service in June 2022.
It has since carried over 70,000 passengers along the route.
Qantas International CEO Cam Wallace hailed the upcoming expansion, saying that the Rome-Perth route was “incredibly popular with customers” and was among the services with “the highest customer satisfaction scores” across their network.