ROME (Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday called a confidence vote on his government, saying a collapse of his center-right coalition now would be catastrophic for the country and its economy.

Under pressure over corruption and sex scandals and facing criticism for his center-right government’s erratic handling of the economic crisis, Berlusconi has accused the left-wing opposition of “obsessively” seeking to drive him from office.

ROME (Reuters) – The Italian judge who presided over Amanda Knox’s murder appeal has told local media the American student may have been guilty but had to be acquitted because of doubts over evidence linking her to the killing of Meredith Kercher in 2007.

Knox, 24, flew home to a hero’s welcome in Seattle on the U.S. west coast on Tuesday after an appeals court in the Italian city of Perugia overturned her 2009 conviction for the murder of her British roommate.

SEATTLE/PERUGIA (Reuters) – Amanda Knox returned home to Seattle on Tuesday, one day after an Italian court cleared the 24-year-old college student of murder and freed her from prison.

A plane carrying Knox, who grew up in the close-knit West Seattle neighborhood where both of her divorced parents still live, landed at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport shortly after 5 p.m. local time.

PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) – American student Amanda Knox headed for home on Tuesday after spending four years in an Italian jail, leaving the family of Meredith Kercher to express their anguish at being no closer to the truth about her murder.

Knox left Rome shortly before midday for London where she and her family were due to board a connecting flight to their home in Seattle, airport officials said.

PERUGIA, Italy (Reuters) – The family of British student Meredith Kercher said on Tuesday their ordeal would not end until they found out the truth about her murder, after Amanda Knox and her former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito were acquitted by an Italian appeals court.

Stephanie Kercher, Meredith’s sister, said they would first wait for the court’s written explanation of Monday’s verdict.