Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi confirms his resignation in a phone interview on his own channel after the approval of a budget law. The 75-year-old billionaire, the Italian republic's longest-serving prime minister, went to see president Giorgio Napolitano after watching his support in the lower house of parliament fall well below the number required for an outright majority. His control of parliament had become a crucial element in the eurozone's raging debt crisis as investors in Italy's debt fretted over the country's ability to implement the austerity measures needed to cut its deficit.
Italian 10-year yields went straight north following the vote.
