World IN BRIEF : ITALY : President Rejects Dini’s Offer to Quit

Italian Prime Minister Lamberto Dini submitted his resignation as promised but won a chance for a second year in office when President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro told him that Parliament should decide if he stays and rejected his resignation. Dini, a former central banker, took office in January after the coalition of media mogul Silvio Berlusconi collapsed. He predicted then that his “technocrat government” would last only the few months it would take to begin economic reforms, such as an overhaul of the pension system. But Dini’s agenda grew more ambitious, and he waited until the Cabinet approved a 1996 budget before offering to step down. Parliamentary leaders will confer Wednesday on scheduling a vote on Dini’s future.