There is no evidence to show that the donations to the Liberal Party influenced any decision making by then-Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone or encouraged any of the politicians to contact her about the case. But the revelations raise questions about the appropriateness of political parties accepting certain donations.

A mugger in Italy got more than he bargained for when the woman he tried to rob turned out to be a national karate champion. After punching the man to the floor, Lara Liotta ran to the nearby railway station of Termini and alerted police, who caught the would-be attacker before he could run away.

The Sister Italia contest is to be run online, but Father Antonio Rungi is hopeful that one day it will take off in the real world along the same lines as the all-singing, all-dancing Miss Italia competition.

Emboldened by a nationwide crackdown on crime and a government decree giving them extra law-and-order powers, Italian mayors have issued a string of often bizarre by-laws to enhance “public decorum”.

After paying one euro, visitors saw a mannequin, naked from the waist up, tremble and convulse whilst strapped in the electric chair, and its hair begin to burn.