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Italian PM hands in resignation
ROME (BBC News) 30 min. ago – Italian PM Romano Prodi has handed his resignation to the country’s president after losing a crucial foreign policy vote in the Senate. President Giorgio Napolitano is now expected to hold talks with political leaders before reaching a decision.
In the vote, several of Mr Prodi’s coalition partners opposed troop deployments in Afghanistan and plans to expand a US airbase (Vicenza) in northern Italy.
The BBC’s Jonny Dymond in Rome says it is not a foregone conclusion that the government will fall.
VICENZA (BBC News) Feb. 17 – Tens of thousands of people have marched in the north-eastern Italian city of Vicenza against a planned extension of the US army base there.
Organisers say the majority of local people are opposed to US plans. They say Prime Minister Romano Prodi has ignored strong local objections.
Mr Prodi is going ahead with a plan agreed by his pro-US predecessor, Silvio Berlusconi. Despite fears of possible violence, the march passed off peacefully.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."