Berlusconi asks Alcoa chief not to shut plants in Italy

ROME/MILAN — Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti’s imminent resignation drove up the country’s borrowing costs on Monday, as markets took fright at the prospect of a return to an old-style Italian political crisis. The spread between Italian BTPs and German Bunds widened to 349 basis points from 325 late on Friday and BTP future shed more than a point on concern over Monti’s departure.

Italy's postal service intercepted a threatening letter containing a bullet addressed to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, while letter bomb sent to a minister caught fire, police said Saturday.A large envelope containing a letter addressed to Berlusconi with the threat "you will end up like a rat" was discovered on Friday in a post office in the Libate suburb of the northern city of Milan, police said.

Italian leftist Enrico Letta was set to be nominated to be the new prime minister on Wednesday, bringing to an end a two-month deadlock on forming a new government with the launch of a coalition between right, centre and left. President Giorgio Napolitano, who was re-elected to a second term just last week after an agreement between the main parties, summoned Letta to the presidential palace for the expected nomination. Letta was seen arriving for the meeting.

The Milan prosecutor's office has evidence that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi hooked up with prostitutes he kept in rent-free luxury apartments, according to a document made public Monday.Italian magistrates on Friday announced an enquiry into the relationship between Berlusconi and an underage girl, known as Ruby, as the prime minister was still reeling from a court ruling partially stripping him of political immunity.

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano warned Friday against snap elections after a split in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition, saying they could hamper the economic recovery."We have seen recent positive and encouraging signs of a productive recovery and a return to growth in Italy even as the world scenario remains difficult," Napolitano said in an interview with the left-wing daily L'Unita."What could happen to this country if we head towards a political void and towards a brutal electoral clash?" Napolitano asked.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi launched a fresh attack on the country's judges Friday, likening them to Afghanistan's Taliban and saying they had seized power from the people.Citing ongoing reforms to the justice system, Berlusconi remarked: "I don't think it will please the Taliban in the judiciary."The billionaire prime minister, who has faced a series of corruption charges since first coming to power in 1994, told a news conference in the northern city of Turin: "Sovereignty no longer belongs to the people but to prosecutors."