And finally… BBQ blaze sees students hit with £23m fine

According to local media reports, prosecutors say the two 22-year-olds, who dispute the case, lit a barbecue with a group of friends near the famous Lake Como in the north of Italy on December 30th to celebrate New Year.

The bungling al fresco chefs are accused of leaving the embers of the barbecue which prosecutors say started a blaze that destroyed around 1,000 hectares of forest surrounding the lake.

An investigation which determined the source of the fire also found several buildings were destroyed, including one in which all the domestic animals died, according to the daily La Repubblica.

The huge fine for the two students was calculated in accordance with a decade-old formula which determines the financial penalty depending on the scale of the damage.

It is unclear how the two students would be expected to afford the fine. Their lawyers have three weeks to challenge the amount in an administrative court.