Street lights turned off as italian town fails to pay bills

Street lights have been turned off in a Sicilian town after local authorities failed to pay a million-euro bill for power supplies.

Local residents of Monreale near Palermo -- a popular tourist destination because of its famous Norman cathedral -- have been forced to use flashlights in the evenings and some are warning of the risk of a spike in crime.

A local transport company has also requested the seizure of property worth 600,000 euros belonging to the Monreale commune to honour another debt.

"The situation is becoming more and more dramatic by the day," Massimiliano Lo Biondo, a local councillor from the Centre-left Democratic Party which is in opposition to the town's Centre-right government, was quoted as saying on the Italian media.

Source:  TimesofMalta.com