ROME, Oct 10: Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi resigned on Friday after seeing his Centre-Left government toppled in a vote of confidence on his 1999 budget, plunging the country into political turmoil.Prodi's departure, after losing by just one vote, leaves Italy without leadership at a time when crucial budgetary problems loom large and tough decisions need to be made on possible NATO air strikes in Kosovo and the country's entry into the European single currency on January 1.
The Government's fall was seen as a `black day' by its composite parties, the Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and Greens.
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