PEOPLE WATCH: Berlusconi a man with many friends to go — reports

A friend of President Ricardo Martinelli, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, is to step down at Christmas, triggering a general election in early 2012, according to reports in La Republica and La Stampa.

The prime minister has been spotlighted in sex scandals, and Italy is one of the European Union partners facing a financial melt down.

It is thought Berlusconi made the secret deal with his coalition partners the extreme right wing Northern League, in return for their support for pension reforms.

It has  yet to be authenticated, but it has emerged that, days after he went on the run,  another Berslusconi friend, Col Gaddafi wrote a letter to  Berlusconi begging him to use his influence to put a halt to the Nato intervention in Libya.

"I have been surprised by the attitude of a friend with whom I have sealed a treaty of friendship that benefits both our nations," Gaddafi wrote. "I would have hoped that at least you would have been concerned at the facts and would have attempted a mediation before adding your support to this war."