'Painful' new debt measures for Italy

The Italian cabinet has approved what Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has described as "painful" austerity measures to improve public finances and reduce the nation's budget deficit.

The 45bn euro ($64bn: £40bn) plan aims to balance Italy's budget by 2013, a year earlier than had been planned by slashing public spending and jobs.

The BBC's Daniel Griffiths reports.