PM puts stricken govt to decisive test

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi submitted his center-left government to what may be its final test by asking parliament yesterday for a confidence vote after the defection of an ally pushed it to the brink of collapse.

A former minister dealt the 20-month-old government a possibly fatal blow on Monday by withdrawing his party's support for Prodi, which robs him of an already tiny majority in the Senate (upper house). The opposition called for his resignation.

Prodi was left little alternative but to resign or submit his leadership to a confidence vote - for the 32nd time since he came to power in 2006 after beating conservative prime minister Silvio Berlusconi in the closest elections in Italy's history.