Andreotti set to lose immunity

An Italian Senate panel yesterday recommended lifting the parliamentary immunity of the former prime minister Giulio Andreotti to allow magistrates to continue their investigations into the 1979 murder of a journalist, Reuter reports from Rome. Mr Andreotti, who served as prime minister seven times, has been accused by a Mafia turncoat of seeking the murder of Mino Pecorelli to suppress embarrassing revelations.

Meanwhile, Italy's electoral reform bill -the centrepiece of the country's political revolution - cleared an important hurdle yesterday when it was passed by the Chamber of Deputies (lower house). The bill, which aims to scrap Italy's discredited system of proportional representation, now goes before the Senate. But confusion over an amendment leaves the Senate certain to alter the draft which means the Chamber will have to vote on the bill again.