Italy Hit By Plague of Locusts

Tourist spots in Italy are being invaded by plagues of locusts. The town of Matera in the south of the country, which was the location for Mel Gibson's film, The Passion of the Christ, has been overrun by the insects just as it was hoping for a tourist boom prompted by the film.

Scientists say the locusts have migrated from north Africa. Indigenous species, such as the pink-winged locust, have been plaguing areas further north.

Villages in the province of Bologna, in eastern Piedmont, and the area north of Verona have reported invasions.

Last year's exceptionally hot summer dried out grain fields, providing the insects with ideal conditions in which to lay their eggs. Experts said the infestations might have been averted had farmers dug up areas where eggs were buried.

"Any action now will come too late," said Filippo Buzzetti, an entomologist from the university of Padua.