Italians head to polls in referendum on citizenship and labor, but vote risks sinking on low turnout
ROME (AP) — Italians headed to the polls Monday on the second and final day of referendums that would make it easier for children born in Italy to foreigners to obtain citizenship, and on providing more job protections. But partial data showed a low turnout, well below the required 50% plus one threshold, risking to invalidate the vote.
Campaigners for the change in the citizenship law say it will help second-generation Italians born in the country to non- European Union parents better integrate into a culture they already see as theirs.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
26 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
Ahead of UN climate talks, Brazil fast-tracks oil and highway projects that threaten the Amazon
MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Months before hosting the U.N.'s first climate talks held in the Amazon, Brazil is fast-tracking a series of controversial decisions that undercut President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's lofty environmental rhetoric and show widening divisions within his cabinet. The country's federal environmental agency approved plans for offshore drilling near the mouth of the Amazon and rock blasting along another river in the rainforest, while Congress is moving to make it harder to recognize Indigenous land and easier to build infrastructure in the rainforest.
Toronto Star
26 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
UK and others sanction 2 far-right Israeli Cabinet ministers over violence in the occupied West Bank
JERUSALEM (AP) — Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway said Tuesday they have imposed sanctions on two far-right Israeli government ministers for allegedly 'inciting extremist violence' against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The decision by Western governments friendly to Israel was a sharp rebuke of Israel's settlement policies in the West Bank and of settler violence, which has spiked since Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war in the Gaza Strip.
Winnipeg Free Press
36 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
UK announces $19 billion investment in first major nuclear plant since the 1990s
LONDON (AP) — Britain will invest 14.2 billion pounds ($19 billion) to build a new nuclear station that will reduce the U.K.'s reliance on volatile international fossil fuel markets, the government said Tuesday. Officials said the investment will go into building the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant in Suffolk, on England's eastern coast, saying it will generate enough low-carbon electricity to power 6 million homes when it becomes operational in the 2030s. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said previous governments had dithered and delayed over nuclear power. No new nuclear plant has been opened in the U.K. since Sizewell B in 1995. 'Having our own energy in this country that we control, gives us security, gives us independence, so (Russian President Vladimir) Putin can't put his boot on our throat,' Starmer said. 'And it means that we can control the prices in a way that we haven't been able to in recent years, which has meant very high prices for businesses, for households and for families.' The government also announced that Rolls-Royce is the preferred bidder to develop a number of small modular reactors, which it said can power around 3 million homes and help fuel power-hungry industries like AI data centers. The Treasury said building Sizewell C will create 10,000 jobs. The investment announced Tuesday is in addition to 3.7 billion pounds the U.K. government already committed to the project. Nuclear power is seen as an increasingly important electricity source as the government seeks to decarbonize Britain's electricity grid by 2030, replacing fossil fuels with low-carbon power. The U.K. also wants to reduce its dependence on imported oil and gas, especially in light of soaring energy prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But critics have said nuclear plants are far more expensive and slow to build compared with renewable energy options such as solar and wind power. Environmental groups have also argued Sizewell C will damage local nature reserves that host wildlife like otters and marsh birds. About 300 people joined a protest against the development at the Suffolk site over the weekend. 'Net zero is supposed to happen by 2030 — there is no way this is going to be completed by then,' said Jenny Kirtley, a local resident who chairs the campaign group Together Against Sizewell C.
