Is there a climate conference going on?
In Copenhagen, big companies from Siemens to Shell are making sure you know they care. Full Article | Full Coverage
CHRONOLOGY: Prodi's turbulent times in power in Italy
(Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Wednesday faced the first of two confidence votes that will determine the survival of his centre-left government after the defection of an ally erased his Senate majority.
Here is a chronology of key events in Prodi's turbulent 20 months in office:
April 2006 - Prodi wins national election with very slim margin that gives him a majority of just two seats in the Senate. That means every important vote in the upper house is a test of government unity.
Feb 2007 - Prodi resigns after leftists in his Catholics-to-Communists coalition vote against foreign policy, particularly Italy's military presence in Afghanistan. President Giorgio Napolitano asks him to stay and Prodi returns to office and gets backing at a confidence vote in parliament.
Oct 2007 - Two main parties in Prodi's coalition merge to form Democratic Party (PD) -- a double-edged sword for Prodi who had pushed for years for greater centre-left unity, but who now has a credible pretender to lead the bloc in the future, Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, elected head of the PD.
Oct 2007 - Hundreds of thousands of left-wing Italians march through Rome to call for more generous welfare and pensions. Justice Minister Clemente Mastella predicts the government will collapse in the coming months.
Nov 2007 - Berlusconi says between 8 and 10 million Italians sign petition calling for new elections. But cracks appear in centre-right opposition when he dissolves the "House of Freedoms" alliance and invites members of other parties to join his rebranded "People of Freedom" party.
Dec 2007 - Declaring the left has too much influence over policy, Senator Lamberto Dini, a former prime minister, calls for Prodi government to quit and be replaced with a centrist 'grand coalition'. Dini says Prodi can no longer count on the support of the three senators in his Liberal Democrat party.
Jan 2008 - Mastella resigns from the government after an arrest warrant is issued for his wife in a corruption probe. Mastella's small centrist Catholic party, which has three Senate seats, initially says it remains loyal to the Prodi government but then changes mind and calls for elections.
(Reporting by Robin Pomeroy; editing by Keith Weir)
