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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Ex-Italian PM Giulio Andreotti dies | Ex-Italian PM Giulio Andreotti dies |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Giulio Andreotti, one of the most prominent political figures of post-war Italy, has died aged 94. | Giulio Andreotti, one of the most prominent political figures of post-war Italy, has died aged 94. |
| Mr Andreotti was Italian prime minister seven times between 1972 and 1992. He led the Christian Democrat party, which dominated Italian politics for decades. | Mr Andreotti was Italian prime minister seven times between 1972 and 1992. He led the Christian Democrat party, which dominated Italian politics for decades. |
| He was dogged in later years by allegations of corruption and Mafia links. | |
| He had been seriously ill for some time, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported. | He had been seriously ill for some time, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported. |
| Mr Andreotti entered the Italian parliament in 1946 and remained there for more than 60 years, before seeing out his days as a senator-for-life. | Mr Andreotti entered the Italian parliament in 1946 and remained there for more than 60 years, before seeing out his days as a senator-for-life. |
| He was reputed to have met the pope as an eight-year-old after sneaking away from a Vatican tour group. | He was reputed to have met the pope as an eight-year-old after sneaking away from a Vatican tour group. |
| He later became one of the founding fathers of the post-war Italian republic, says the BBC's David Willey in Rome. | |
| He was a junior minister at the age of 28, and went on to serve as either prime minister or a senior minister in the many frequently changing Christian Democratic coalitions that held power almost continuously between 1946 and 1992. | |
| The party then lost power and collapsed. | |
| 'Kiss of honour' | |
| He was known as a pro-European who committed Italy to European integration and helped forge the way forward to a single currency. | |
| But he also faced a growing string of allegations, many related to his links with corrupt financiers and top criminals. | |
| He was accused by a supergrass of sharing a "kiss of honour" with the Mafia's "boss of bosses", Toto Riina, at a secret meeting in 1987. | |
| And he was tried for allegedly ordering the murder of a journalist who had threatened to publish details of his alleged Mafia involvement. | |
| His conviction and 24-year jail sentence for the killing was overturned on appeal. | |
| However, in 2004, Italy's top appeals court did uphold a verdict that he had "consciously and deliberately cultivated a stable relationship" with Mafia bosses right up to 1980. | |
| But he was not formally convicted because the offence had lapsed under Italy's statute of limitations. | |
| And he remained a senator and an influential political figure until his final years, not least because of his close ties with the Vatican. |