Judges began inspecting more than 80,000 contested ballots, with Italian politics in turmoil and the country’s future mired in uncertainty following Romano Prodi’s narrow electoral victory and Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s demands for a recount.

Paramilitary police reinforced checkpoints in Naples today after the mob war that has plagued the southern Italian city claimed four more victims.

Scores of police combed Naples today for gunmen who fatally shot a girl in the head during a mob turf war as Neapolitans angrily denounced the grip held on their city by the Camorra crime syndicate.

A 14-year-old girl is said to be brain dead after being caught in a Mafia shoot-out in Naples.