Silvio Berlusconi

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has refused to step down despite a party rebellion that has brought his centre-right coalition to the brink of collapse in the face of a growing economic crisis.

A Milan judge has cleared Silvio Berlusconi in a fraud and embezzlement case related to his private broadcaster Mediaset , a rare legal victory for the weakened Italian prime minister who is a defendant in three other trials.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced growing pressure on Sunday to resign after embarrassing new revelations of parties and young women prompted questions about his ability to govern a country rocked by financial crisis.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with an under-age Moroccan teen 13 times at his villa near Milan, prosecutors said in a document filed on Tuesday seeking indictments against three aides for allegedly soliciting prostitutes for the Italian leader.

Thousands of people have attended a rally to demand Premier Silvio Berlusconi's resignation following allegations he paid for sex with a 17-year-old girl and used his office to cover it up.

Family violence is not just a man's domain and more women are seeking help for their abusive tendencies.

Four days after being attacked at a political rally, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi was whisked away from a Milan hospital with his face covered in bandages, an unusual sight from a politician and media mogul long obsessed with controlling his image.

An attacker hurled a statuette at Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, striking the leader in the face at the end of a rally today (NZT) and leaving the stunned 73-year-old media mogul with a broken nose and bloodied mouth.

Premier Silvio Berlusconi's estranged wife is seeking euro43 million ($NZ91.17m) a year in alimony in a divorce case she launched after her husband was embroiled in a sex scandal, a bid that was immediately rejected by the billionaire media mogul, an Italian newspaper reports.

The prostitute at the center of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's sex scandal claims in a new book that she slept with him on the understanding he would help her set up a countryside inn but she got "nothing" in return.