Rome

Libya's internationally recognised prime minister has sacked his top diplomat after she met her Israeli counterpart, with news of the encounter triggering protests in a country that does not recognise Israel.

The leader of Libya's government said Sunday that he had suspended his foreign minister after her Israeli counterpart announced he had held talks with her last week in Rome.

The director of Florence's Uffizi Galleries called on Aug. 23 for stiff penalties against vandals who spray-painted graffiti on exterior columns of the Vasari Corridor connecting the famed museum to the Boboli Gardens.

Hours later, Italy's Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said the presumed vandals have been identified by Carabinieri police. He did not identify the suspects.

Tourists at a seaside hotel on the Greek island of Rhodes snatched up pails of pool water and damp towels as flames approached, rushing to help staffers and locals extinguish one of the wildfires threatening Mediterranean locales during recent heat waves.

The Hellenic Coast Guard coordinated the rescue of 49 migrants from a cargo ship 109 nautical miles southwest of Pylos early Friday. 

Forty-seven people were evacuated to a Coast Guard vessel, while a 21-year-old woman with sunburn and her companion were flown to Kalamata Hospital by helicopter. 

A plane carrying dozens of people evacuated from Niger after last week's military coup has landed in Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, quoted by DPA.

The cosmos is offering up a double feature in August: A pair of supermoons culminating in a rare blue moon.

Catch the first show tomorrow evening as the full moon rises in the southeast, appearing slightly brighter and bigger than normal. That's because it will be closer than usual, just 222,159 miles (357,530 kilometers) away, thus the supermoon label.

Rome's next luxury hotel has some very good bones: Archaeologists said Wednesday that the ruins of Nero's Theater, an imperial theater referred to in ancient Roman texts but never found, have been discovered under the garden of a future Four Seasons Hotel steps from the Vatican.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will travel to Cyprus on Wednesday despite the postponement of the tripartite talks with Cyprus and Israel, due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's health issues.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' visit to Kalamata, SW Peloponnese, scheduled for Friday will be postponed due to the fire emergency in Greece.

In addition, the premier will not be attending the International Conference on Migration and Development in Rome, scheduled on Sunday (July 23).