Italy govt wobbles 

An ally of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi dealt his government a potentially fatal blow by withdrawing support for his coalition, depriving it of a majority in the upper house of parliament.

Clemente Mastella, whose Catholic party Udeur had been vital in ensuring a majority in the Senate (upper house), said he now favoured snap elections.

"This majority does not exist anymore, this centre left is finished," he told a news conference. "We're for elections."

Mastella stepped down as justice minister last week after he and his wife came under investigation in a corruption probe. At the time, he had said his party would provide "external" support to the government. On Monday he said it would no longer do so.

"I am saying enough is enough," he said.

Prodi's government has had a rollercoaster run since coming to power in May 2006, after the closest election in modern Italian history.

The premier, weakened by constant infighting in his Catholic-to-communist coalition, briefly tendered his resignation last year, but no major ally had previously withdrawn support altogether.

The loss of Udeur means that his coalition can no longer count on a majority of elected lawmakers in the Senate.

Mastella's party has three seats in the Senate, where Prodi had - until Monday's announcement - a two-seat majority.

Prodi could still win key votes in the upper house with the support of seven unelected lifetime senators as he has done repeatedly in the past. However, there is no guarantee of their support on any given issue.

The centre right led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi seized on Mastella's comments to call for Prodi's resignation.

"Prodi go home and let us go to the polls," said right-wing senator Francesco Storace.

Even before Mastella's surprise announcement, Prodi already faced a turbulent week dealing with the fallout from the justice minister's resignation and the pressure piling on another member of his cabinet, Environment Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio.

An opposition motion is due to be voted in the Senate on Wednesday calling for Pecoraro Scanio to quit over his handling of the garbage crisis that has engulfed Naples for weeks.

Mastella and another centrist leader in the ruling coalition, whose party also has three senators, have threatened to vote against the minister.