Italian premier resigns after vote on Afghanistan

Italian Premier Romano Prodi resigned on Wednesday after an embarrassing loss in the Italian Senate on foreign policy. Prodi aides said consultations among politicians would begin shortly, and did not rule out the possibility that President Giorgio Napolitano would ask Prodi to try to form a new government. Napolitano's office said political consultations on who might have enough support to put together a new government would begin Thursday. In the meantime, it said, the president had asked Prodi's government to stay on in a caretaker role.