Italy Unveils $100 Billion Economic Bailout

By Colleen Barry

MILAN, Italy -- The Italian government on Friday announced an euro80 billion ($103.2 billion) emergency package offering relief to banks, families and companies suffering in the global economic crisis.

The package, which is part of a proposed euro200 billion European Union effort to combat the world economic downturn, includes aid to needy families, public works projects and mortgage relief.

"The middle class can maintain the same lifestyle," Premier Silvio Berlusconi told a news conference in Rome after his Cabinet approved the measures. "The length of the economic crisis depends on all of us, on our capacity to trust and to look at the future with hope." ...