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Mount Etna Eruption Disrupts Sicily’s Troubled Catania Airport 

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, lights up the night sky with eruptions as seen from Rocca Della Valle, Italy, August 13, 2023. (Etna Walk/Marco Restivo/ Handout via Reuters)
Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, lights up the night sky with eruptions as seen from Rocca Della Valle, Italy, August 13, 2023. (Etna Walk/Marco Restivo/ Handout via Reuters)
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Mount Etna Eruption Disrupts Sicily’s Troubled Catania Airport 

Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, lights up the night sky with eruptions as seen from Rocca Della Valle, Italy, August 13, 2023. (Etna Walk/Marco Restivo/ Handout via Reuters)
Mount Etna, Europe's most active volcano, lights up the night sky with eruptions as seen from Rocca Della Valle, Italy, August 13, 2023. (Etna Walk/Marco Restivo/ Handout via Reuters)

Flights serving the eastern Sicilian city of Catania were halted on Monday after an eruption from nearby Mount Etna, local authorities said, bringing fresh travel woe to the crisis-plagued Italian airport.

The 3,330 meter (10,925 ft) high volcano burst into action overnight, firing lava and ash high over the Mediterranean island. The lava flow subsided before dawn, but ash was still coming from one of the craters.

Flights to and from Catania, a popular tourist destination, would be suspended until 8:00 p.m. (1800 GMT), the airport said on Twitter.

Catania Mayor Enrico Trantino banned the use of motorcycles and bicycles in the city for the next 48 hours, because many streets were covered in ash, and ordered cars to drive no faster than 30 kph (19 mph) due to the skiddy conditions.

The latest cancellations at Catania airport, which attracts more arrivals than the island's capital, Palermo, came a month after a fire at a terminal building led to weeks of disruptions for passengers.

The last major eruption was in 1992.

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Dinosaur Skeleton Breaks Auction Record with $44.6 Mn Sale in New York

Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA
Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA
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Dinosaur Skeleton Breaks Auction Record with $44.6 Mn Sale in New York

Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA
Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found.” EPA

The largest stegosaurus skeleton ever found, nicknamed Apex, sold for a record breaking $44.6 million at auction in New York on Wednesday, Sotheby's said.

Estimated to be 150 million years old, Apex is said to be "among the most complete skeletons ever found," according to the auction house.

It measures 11 feet (3.3 meters) tall and 27 feet long and counts 254 fossil bone elements of an approximate total of 319, Agence France Presse reported.

The previous auction record of $31.8 million for a dinosaur skeleton was set in 2020 for a Tyrannosaurus Rex nicknamed "Stan."

Sotheby's had expected Apex to fetch between $4 million and $6 million, but the price quickly skyrocketed as telephone bidders deluged the sale, prompting gasps and clapping in the auction room.

After the record-breaking sale, the auctioneer asked her colleague Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby's global head of science, "do you need a cigarette?"

Apex was discovered in May 2022 on the private land of paleontologist Jason Cooper. The auction house says it has collaborated with Cooper to "document the entire process, from discovery and excavation to restoration, preparation and mounting," in order to guarantee the "highest standards and transparency."

In 2022, Christie's auction house had to withdraw a T-rex skeleton a few days before auction in Hong Kong, due to doubts about its authenticity.

Wednesday's auction follows an increasing trend for the sale of dinosaur remains.

Stegosaurus skeletons are already on display around the world, but according to Sotheby's, Apex is 30 percent larger than Sophie, the most complete stegosaurus on public display to date, which is housed in the Natural History Museum in London.