EU Parliament Speaker David Sassoli dies at 56

The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, died early yesterday in hospital in Italy, his spokesman said on Twitter. 

The 65-year-old Italian had been seriously ill in hospital for more than two weeks due to a dysfunction of his immune system.

Sassoli was previously admitted with pneumonia for several weeks last September.

After a three-decade career as an Italian journalist, starting out in newspapers then moving to television and becoming a nationally known anchor, Sassoli became a member of the European Parliament in 2009, and speaker in 2019.