Bossi faces inquiry

Umberto Bossi, leader of Italy's Northern League, faces investigation for defamation and fraud, Reuter reports from Rome. Italian radio said prosecutors are to investigate Mr Bossi for saying in September that the life of judges who sought to involve his League in Italy's graft scandals was worth '300 lire, the price of a bullet'.

Another inquiry concerns an incident on 15 September when a League deputy, Luigi Rossi, was alleged to have voted in the Chamber of Deputies for the absent Mr Bossi, enabling Mr Bossi to collect a daily parliamentary attendance allowance of 200,000 lire ( pounds 80).