World IN BRIEF : ITALY : 2 Former Premiers Convicted in Scandal

Former Italian Prime Ministers Bettino Craxi and Arnaldo Forlani were convicted in Milan of illegal party funding in what has been dubbed “the mother of all corruption trials.” Socialist Craxi, who is living in self-imposed exile in Tunisia and says he is too ill to return, was sentenced to four years in jail. Forlani, a Christian Democrat, was given a 28-month jail sentence. Umberto Bossi, the leader of the Northern League party, received an eight-month suspended jail sentence. All were found guilty of illegal party financing in the biggest case to date in more than three years of scandals over the huge corruption that oiled the wheels of politics in Italy.