ITALY . . . A STATESMAN ON TRIAL

Former Italian Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, the country's leading postwar statesman, went on trial Tuesday, charged with trading political favors in Rome for votes supplied by the Mafia . "Is it possible that a man who represented Italy for 50 years at the same time swore allegiance to Cosa Nostra?" his defense attorney, Franco Coppi, shouted to the Palermo courtroom. The 76-year-old Andreotti, a reputed crime-fighter who served as premier seven times, is the highest Italian official ever to be tried on mob charges. "Much of the testimony against Andreotti is supplied by pentiti -- repentant Mafiosi -- and 26 are scheduled to testify against him," Greg Burke reports from the trial. "There's considerable debate about how reliable the testimony of ex-Mafiosi is." To shore himself up, Burke adds, Andreotti wants to bring in former U.S. ambassadors to talk about his commitment in fighting the Mafia.