Malta and international press digest

The following are the leading stories in the Maltese and international press:

The Sunday Times leads with the news that the police are investigating Labour convert Jo Said after Nationalist MP David Agius made a formal complaint against him for allegedly using "moral violence" and "blackmail" to try to force him to do something against his will - "stand up in Parliament, declare the Nationalist government as corrupt and cross the floor".

it-torca also refers to the police investigations into alleged declarations by Mr Agius of corruption within the Nationalist government and party. I alleges that the names of Minister George Pullicino and Parliamentary Secretary Tony Abela have cropped up.

The Malta Independent on Sunday claims there is evidence that Labour is once again engaged in an exercise to make economic decisions on the hoof just to fulfil an electoral commitment.

Maltatoday claims four candidates of Azzjoni Nazzjonali are facing a spate of criminal charges and other claims of alleged illegalities.

il-mument reveals documents which show that employees of One Productions Ltd, the Labour Party communications company which manages Super-One radio and television, are paid at single rates for overtime worked.

Illum claims that a female Russian dance troupe of 19, brought over by the Malta Tourism Authority under its existing barter agreement for free tickets with Air Malta, ended up giving a show at a dinner dance as part of Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech's electoral campaign.

KullHadd says that a sports car manufacturer closed shop 22 months after receiving government aid of more than €0.5m.

The Press in Britain...

The Observer reports pressure has been mounting on Commons Speaker Michael Martin to resign after his spokesman suddenly quit, claiming he had been misled over £4,000-worth of taxi rides taken by the Speaker's wife.

The Mail on Sunday adds that spokesman Mike Granatt admitted the Speaker's office had not told the truth over the wife's fares for shopping trips.

The Sunday Express says the hunt for missing four-year-old Madeleine McCann switched to Britain after a man claimed he saw her with a Portuguese couple in Dorset.

The Sunday Mirror focuses on the ex-lover of the serial sex attacker Mark Dixie, a chef with an obsession with violent sex, who on Friday was jailed for 34 years for the "awful and repulsive" murder of aspiring model Sally Anne Bowman.

The Sunday Telegraph alleges tens of thousands of householders could have been paying too much council tax for years in a "scandal" that ministers attempted to cover up.

London Evening News says ministers are resisting calls to make the national DNA database compulsory for everyone, despite convictions of two killers, Mark Dixie and Steve Wright, who were both arrested because their DNA had been taken in connection with previous offences.

The People reveals that Bruce Forsyth will be knighted in the Queen's June birthday honours.

The Independent on Sunday quotes a report confirming the British government's hopes of transforming Britain into a southern Europe-style café society has been a failure.

And elsewhere...

EU Observers reports that civil liberties organisation Statewatch has attacked plans for passengers on domestic and EU flights to hand over data including credit card details and phone numbers. The anti-terror plan would reportedly cover every air passenger entering or leaving EU countries. But Statewatch questioned how such a big mass of information would help if the authorities did not know who they would be looking for.

According to Frankfurter Allgemeinen Zeitung, Germany would double the number of its police officers in Afghanistan if other European nations do the same. Berlin has been under pressure from NATO allies over its role in the war-torn country. The number of German police officers in Afghanistan serving as part of a European Union mission (EUPOL) would grow from 60 to 120, it said, but only if the total mission increases from 200 to 400 officers.

Chumhuriyet quotes figures released by the Turkish military that show 79 Kurdish rebels and seven Turkish soldiers have been killed in a Turkish military offensive into northern Iraq. An army spokesman said that 8,000 soldiers were involved in the military operation and they would be intensifying their hunt for rebels from the Kurdistan Workers Party.

Süddeutsche Zeitung says that German tax investigators are looking into the operations of another Liechtenstein bank suspected of being involved in a tax evasion scandal. Bochum prosecutors leading the tax dodging probe told the newspaper that they had obtained account data from a second bank.

Meanwhile German mass circulation Bild newspaper reports that Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück has vowed to broaden German efforts to crack down on Liechtenstein's tax haven to include other European countries like Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria.

Washington Post says a B-2 stealth bomber has crashed on take-off from the Pacific island of Guam. The Pentagon did not give further details apart from saying that both pilots ejected safely. It is the first time a stealth bomber, which cost 1.2 billion dollars, has crashed.

Aravot says Armenian President Robert Kocharian has accused the opposition of attempting to forcibly seize power in the small ex-Soviet nation, as protests against alleged fraud in this week's presidential vote entered a fourth day. Kocharian has dismissed several Armenian diplomats who expressed their support for the opposition. They included the ambassadors to Italy and Kyrgyzstan, the No. 2 at the Armenian Embassy in Ukraine and a deputy foreign minister.

Le Courrier de Balkans reports Serbian police have arrested more than 200 suspects involved in attacks on several Western embassies. The Belgrade authorities have also identified the charred body of a student who died in the US embassy during the riots. Meanwhile more than 2,000 people have been demonstrating against Kosovo's declaration of independence in the volatile town of Mitrovice. The European Union says the violence has damaged Serbia's aspirations of joining the bloc.

Sweden's Expesen reports the European Broadcasting Union is actively considering relocating the Europvision Song Contest, scheduled to be held in Belgrade, due to security concerns. In the meantime, the Serbian National Final for the Eurovision Song has been postponed.

Meanwhile, Irish Times says a puppet will represent the Irish Republic in this year's Eurovision song contest. Children's favourite and cult figure "Dustin The Turkey" was plucked out as the best of six finalists by Irish voters after performing on TV. The puppet's rendition of "Irelande Douze Pointe" - a parody of Eurovision - will be the one to ruffle some feathers at the song contest's first semi-final on May 20 and, if successful, will be aiming for the golden egg of glory in the final four days later.