An indictment is expected as early as today, charging ousted Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich with presiding over a state government awash in political corruption.

Barack Obama and his aides did not try to make any deals with Illinois’ embattled governor who is accused of trying to sell the president-elect’s vacant Senate seat for cash or a lucrative job, an internal review said.

Eleven reputed Chicago mob figures were indicted today on charges of plotting at least 18 murders, including the 1986 hit on the crime organisation’s top man in Las Vegas, Tony “The Ant” Spilotro, who was buried in a cornfield.

US President George Bush has been interviewed by government prosecutors in connection with an investigation into who leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative to the media.