New Italian government formed

New Italian leader Mario Monti has formed a government tasked with helping Italy escape financial disaster.

He will hold the posts both of premier and economic minister.

Mr Monti will be sworn in as premier along with his new cabinet.

He said he aims to restart economic growth in Italy.

He also paid tribute to Silvio Berlusconi, who resigned on Saturday, bowing to market pressure.

Mr Monti said he would lay out his emergency anti-crisis policies in the Senate on Thursday, ahead of a confidence vote. A second vote, in the lower Chamber of Deputies, will follow.

He stressed that economic "growth" is a priority.

In explaining why he chose his ministers from outside the ranks of Italy's fractious political parties, Mr Monti said that his consultations with party leaders led him to the conclusion "that the non-presence of politicians in the government would help it."

He has said Italy can beat the crisis if its largely polarised citizens - often bitterly divided over Mr Berlusconi's long tenure - can pull together. He has also met union leaders and employers' representatives.

"I hope that, governing well, we can make a contribution to the calming and the cohesion of the political forces."

The shift in power to a technocratic government has caused bickering within Mr Berlusconi's conservative People of Freedom Party, which eventually endorsed Mr Monti.

But Mr Berlusconi's main coalition ally, the Northern League, has announced it will stay in the opposition.