Italy parliament passes austerity package

Italy's parliament on Friday gave definitive approval to a 48 billion euro austerity package aimed at averting a full scale financial crisis but there were growing questions about the government's capacity for further reforms. After what business daily Il Sole 24 Ore called an "absolute first", government and opposition parties set aside differences to pass the austerity measures in a matter of days.
The final vote in the lower house was 314 in favour and 280 against. A few hours earlier, the government easily cleared a confidence vote called to speed up the package, a mix of spending cuts and tax raising measures. The rapid political accord helped calm the violent sell off of Italian assets at the start of the week. But in a sign of continuing market nerves, yields on Italian 10-year government bonds climbed to about 5.7 percent and spreads over benchmark German bonds rose above 300 points on Friday.