Italian Government Close to Collapse?

What is it with these country leader friends like Putin (who can't keep things from blowing up), Bush (who can't keep from bankrupting us), and Berlosconi (who just can't)?

Tensions persist in Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition, with one of the parties dangling the possibility it might pull out after a key minister resigned.

Giulio Tremonti, from Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, quit as economy minister Saturday after the premier's main coalition partner, National Alliance, issued an ultimatum -- him or us -- during a stormy meeting to plot the future of the three-year-old conservative government.

Tremonti's departure angered a smaller coalition partner, the Northern League, which raised the possibility it might exit the government. The League, a big booster of Tremonti, brought down Berlusconi's first government in 1994 when it yanked its support.