Malta and international press digest

The following are the top stories in the local and overseas press:

The Times reports Minister Austin Gatt's directive to the Malta Transport Authority to take action over the dangerous situation on roads adjacent to schools, particularly before and after lessons. On Thursday the teachers' union expessed concern that children between three and eight, attending a Zurrieq primary school, were in danger every time they entered and left school.

In-Nazzjon leads with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Malta and the United States for Malta to participate in the US Visa Waiver Programme.

l-orizzont also refers to the same theme and quotes Justice Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici saying that it was only a coincidence that the MOU was signed after Malta joined the Partnership for Peace programme. The paper also announced that Toni Abela will be contesting the post of MLP deputy leader for party affairs.

The Malta Independent reports the hunters' federation appeal for an urgent European Court of Justice decision on spring hunting... and warns against confrontation.

Il-Gens Illum refers to what it calls "a crucial year for Malta Shipyards" and quotes CEO Chris Bell saying that there was a great amount of work but the financial situation was still difficult.

The Press in Britain...

The Mirror says Kate and Gerry McCann have "declared war" on the Portuguese police. They are incensed that their leaked official statements to detectives at the time of the disappearance of their daughter Madeleine reveal how, hours before the girl vanished, she asked Kate: "Why didn't you come when we were crying last night?" Spokesman Clarence Mitchell said it was a blatant attempt to question their suitability as parents.

The Daily Express says that Kate and Gerry McCann admit being wrong in leaving their daughter in their holiday apartment on the evening she disappeared last May.

The Daily Star - which like the Express last month had to apologise for "utterly false and defamatory" reports about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann - reports the couple will soon be cleared in Portugal of any suspicion of wrongdoing in the disappearance of their daughter.

The Daily Mail reports the anguish of relatives of 21-year-old daughter Laura Ashworth. She wanted to donate a kidney to her seriously-ill mother but the young woman died suddenly before the paperwork had been completed and her organs went to strangers.

The Times reports that part of London will be used in a trial attempt to crack down on litter louts. Councils could soon be using CCTV cameras - or even mobile phone cameras - to catch offenders.

On a similar tack, the Daily Telegraph reports that more than 1,000 covert surveillance operations are launched every month to investigate petty offences such as dog fouling, under-age smoking and breaches of planning regulations.

The Guardian says the Prime Minister has won Conservative backing for a move that would allow the government to block future criminal investigations such as the corruption case against the arms company BAE Systems.

The Sun claims that airlines have threatened to sue Heathrow operator BAA over Terminal 5 chaos.

The Financial Times reports that a warning that mortgage lending could go down by half this year prompted a pledge from Chancellor Alistair Darling to do "everything I possibly can" to restore normality.

The Scotsman reproduces the e-mail sent by one of the Glasgow airport bombers to his brother, saying: "My life has been a lie. Do not hold back from joining jihad. If I am caught, delete everything. Look after Mum and Dad. Your Brother".

The Record also leads with the chilling suicide note Glasgow Airport bomber Kafeel Ahmed left his brother while The Herald goes into the terrifying details of last year's botched terror attacks on Glasgow Airport and London.

The Evening Standard reports that a blunder which classified Marks & Spencer teacakes as chocolate biscuits cost the Treasury £3.5 million in wrongly paid VAT. After a 12-year battle, the European Court of Justice agreed that a teacake is in fact a chocolate cake and is therefore not subject to VAT.

And elsewhere...

New York's The Earth Times quotes a report by the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation which predicts soaring food prices, that have sparked unrest across the globe, are likely to continue threatening millions worldwide. Prices of bread, rice, milk, oil and other basic foods have sharply increased in the past months in many developing countries.0

Wall Street Journal reports that the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors, in Washington to tackle a slumping global economy and rising inflation, have weighed an international plan aimed at preventing a recurrence of what is being called "the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression". The officials from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States will set the tone for weekend meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Lusaka's Daily Mail says President Mugabe of Zimbabwe will not attend today's summit of leaders of the 14-member Southern African Development Community in Lusaka. State radio announced that Zimbabwe would be represented by three government ministers instead. In other developments, Amnesty International said it had information suggesting a programme of "co-ordinated retribution against opposition supporters";. Police in Zimbabwe announced a ban on all political rallies thwarting Monday's opposition protest rally; and, in London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has issued a stark warning to President Mugabe, saying the world's patience with him was fast running out.

London's pan-arab newspaper, Al-Hayat, reports that the situation in Iraq continues to deteriorate, as a top aide to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was gunned down in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf. Fresh clashes have erupted between Shiite militia and US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad. At a senate hearing on Friday, the US commander in Iraq criticised Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for disregarding US advice last month when he sent ill-prepared Iraqi troops into fighting with Shiite militias.

Cyprus Mail leads with the crossing over of the Turkish Cypriot leader to the Greek Cypriot part of the island's ethnically-divided capital, the first to do so since 1974. Mehmet Ali Talat walked across the buffer zone that splits the capital at Ledra Street, a pedestrian shopping boulevard in Nicosia's medieval centre. The election of president Dimitris Christofias has raised hopes that the decades-old division can be resolved.

Clarin reports that the Olympic torch relay completed its Buenos Aires leg on Friday without major incident. The flame covered almost 14 kilometres through city streets of the Argentine capital, amid tight security. Small groups of fenced-in-demonstrators opposing China's human rights record protested along the route. At least three water balloons were thrown at the flame, but guards batted them away.

Bangkok Post says dozens of smuggled immigrants who survived a suffocating lorry journey that killed 54 of their compatriots were jailed today for illegally entering Thailand. A court in Ranong ruled also ordered 14 other survivors under the age of 18 to be sent home without trial. Human traffickers were transporting the 121 migrants inside the locked lorry to the Thai resort town of Phuket on Wednesday, but abandoned the vehicle - normally used for refrigerated seafood – when the cooler failed. Only 67 survived, including two who remain in hospital.

Moscow Times covers the unveiling of a monument to Laika, the dog whose flight to space more than 50 years ago paved the way for human space missions. The monument is near a Moscow military research facility that prepared Laika's flight to space in 1957, and features a dog standing on top of a rocket.