Italy government calls confidence vote on austerity

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's government on Wednesday asked for a vote of confidence in the upper house to seal approval of a 33-billion euro (27 billion pound) austerity package. The vote is expected for early Thursday afternoon. The package passed in the lower house last week and is expected to succeed just as easily in the upper house. Were Monti to lose the vote, his government would collapse. The opposition Northern League blew police whistles as Piero Giarda, minister for relations with parliament, asked for the vote. ...