Silvio Berlusconi To Wrap It Up In The Next Few Weeks

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has told President Giorgio Napolitano that he will resign after the new budget law currently making its way through parliament is approved, the head of state's office said in a statement on Tuesday. The budget law is expected to be passed by the end of this month, but its passage might now be accelerated. Napolitano said Berlusconi was aware of the consequences of a vote in parliament on Tuesday in which his centre-right coalition failed to secure a majority in the lower house. It said he had noted the urgent necessity of seeing the new budget law approved in parliament. [Reuters]