Malta and international press digest

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

In an interview with The Sunday Times, MLP leadership contender George Abela reveals that in 1997, the Labour government had set the wheels in motion to re-route Malta towards EU membership. The former MLP deputy leader said then prime minister Alfred Sant had personally drawn up a paper to start discussions with the Nationalist opposition in a bid to lead to "convergence" about EU membership.

il-mument claims that another MLP leadership contender, this time Labour MEP Joseph Muscat, is sitting on the fence regarding the future of MLP secretary-general Jason Micallef. While Dr Muscat does not declare whether he wants Mr Micallef to continue in office if he is elected, he is heard declaring that Mr Micallef still has a great contibution to give to the party.

The Malta Independent on Sunday claims local councils hijacked and blocked the waste separation scheme at the 11th hour because they wanted the money the government intended to give the waste carriers to go to them.

Maltatoday leads the arrest of four people in connection with the circulation of inflamatory mobile text messages inciting the hunting community to take part in a "spectacular" protest at Ta' Qali today "to raze the country to the ground" because the go-ahead to spring hunting has not yet beet given. The SMS encouraged the would-be protesters to take with them "iron bars, wooden bars, stones, knives, petrol and matches". The Hunting federation has disassociated itself from the messages.

Illum says that 442 Maltese couples have obtained divorce decisions from foreign courts while during the past four years, the Maltese Family Court has managed to reconcile 300 couples.

it-torca says that the next budget will see the introduction of private pension schemes, the second stage of the pension reform started last year which saw the retirement age raising from 61 to 65.

KullHadd publishes the pictures of three Lourdes Homes nuns, whom the paper says, a report identified as the perpetrators of mental and physical abuse on children at the home in the seventies and eighties. It claims that two of the abused allege that sexual abuses were also carried out.

The press in Britain...

The Independent on Sunday carries a report that Robert Mugabe is preparing for war in Zimbabwe. It comes as South African President Thabo Mbeki played down concern over Zimbabwe's post-election deadlock as regional leaders met in the Zambian capital to discuss fears it could lead to violence. Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa called the summit to discuss Zimbabwe after a chorus of international demands for President Mugabe to release the result of the presidential poll held two weeks ago.

According to The Sunday Times, Gordon Brown is facing a cabinet revolt over controversial new terror laws amid concern about a collapse in his authority.

The Sunday Telegraph claimed victory for the newspaper after Gordon Brown endorsed the idea of Britain having a "special day of celebration" for the armed forces to allow the public to express its support for the military.

The Sunday Express alleges two volunteers are in hospital after taking experimental drugs. It says the US giant Parexel, which ran the "Elephant Man" drug trials two years ago, has been recruiting "guinea pigs" to test a potentially dangerous new drug designed to help people overcome addictions.

The Observer quotes the national cancer director at the Department of Health saying people are dying of cancer because GPs are failing to identify their symptoms. Professor Mike Richards said botched diagnoses were now "a significant concern".

According to the Mail on Sunday, Commons Speaker Michael Martin is under intense pressure to quit after a backbench Conservative MP openly demanded his resignation.

Scotland on Sunday says MI5 is to create a team of "Scottish spooks" to prevent outrages like the Glasgow Airport attack and reduce the radicalisation of young Muslims north of the border.

The Sunday Herald reports independence has taken a dramatic lead in a new opinion poll on Scotland's constitutional future.

The Sunday Mail claims it has trapped a heroin dealer, who is suing for £50,000 after a prison fall, selling drugs.

Daily Star Sunday announces troubled Britney Spears has found love again.

The News of the World predicts Formula One boss Max Mosley could be excommunicated from the sport.

The Sunday People claims Simon Cowell and Terri Seymour are on the verge of splitting.

The Sunday Mirror says Shannon Matthews is suffering nightmare hallucinations caused by her 24-day abduction.

And elsewhere...

The International Monetary Fund has urged governments around the world to watch inflation while they deal with the global financial crisis. Washington Post quotes the committee of the 185-nation lending organisation saying its members should take strong action and cooperate closely in dealing with the crisis.

Like all other Italian media, Corriere della Sera focuses on the premature election to elect a new parliament. The election was called following the January collapse of the 20-month-old government of centre-left Premier Romano Prodi and the failure to drum up cross-party support for an interim government aimed at reforming Italy's widely criticised 2006 electoral law.

The Boston Globe quotes German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier calling for a change in direction in the relationship between Europe and the United States to meet the new global challenges. Speaking at Harvard University, Minister Steinmeier also stressed the strategic importance of having Russia as an active and constructive partner in this process, pointing out that urgent issues like the situation in Iran, the Middle East and arms control would be more difficult to address without Moscow's cooperation.

At least eight people have been killed and dozens injured in a bomb explosion in the south of the country. Iran's Fars news agency reports that the explosion occurred in a mosque in the city of Shiraz. So far there is no indication as to who might have been behind the attack.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she plans to meet Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, again despite Chinese protests. Chancellor Merkel said in an interview with the Sunday edition of Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper that although she would be out of the country during the Dalai Lama's next visit in May, she would definitely meet him at a later date.

Meanwhile, South China Morning Post says President Hu Jintao has defended the crackdown on protests in Tibet. During a meeting with Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, he said the conflict with the Dalai Lama was not about human rights but about China's national unity. The newspaper also reported that President Hu and Taiwan's vice president-elect Vincent Siew have held landmark talks in Hainan. The talks were widely expected to set the tone for future Taipei-Beijing ties. The meeting was the highest-ranking contact between Taiwan and Chinese officials since Taiwan split from the mainland in 1949.

El Mundo focuses on Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's new cabinet which, for the first time, includes more women than men and a female defence minister. Announcing the new lineup, Prime Minister Zapatero appealed for a cross-party strategy to fight the armed separatist group ETA, which has killed 800 people in its nearly 40-year campaign for an independent Basque nation encompassing parts of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Turkish Daily News leads with the peaceful demonstration by tens of thousands of protesters in the Turkish capital Ankara to defend the country's secularist tradition amid tensions over an attempt to ban the Islamist-rooted governing AK party, currently the subject of a court case seeking to ban it for allegedly undermining Turkey's secular order in favour of an Islamist regime. The party rejects the charges and the EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn has said that Turkey's accession talks could be derailed if the AK party is banned.

Nacional says trade unions in Croatia have staged their biggest rally in years, with thousands of banner-waving protestors marching through Zagreb to demand higher wages. Unions want wage increases for both public and private sector workers and point to inflation which has shot up from 1.2 per cent a year ago to 5.8 per cent. Croatia hopes to complete European Union accession talks by October 2009, but must undertake painful reforms like restructuring ailing industries and cutting state subsidies prior to that date.

Bangladesh's The Observer reports violent clashes between police and militant Islamists in Dhaka which have left more than 100 people injured. The protesters were demanding the cancellation of a proposed national development policy for women, which would give equal inheritance rights to sons and daughters.

Chumhuriyet reports police have found the naked body of an Italian artist who went missing while hitchhiking in Turkey dressed in a wedding gown to appeal for peace. A man suspected of raping and killing 33-year-old Giuseppina Pasqualino has been detained. She was last seen on March 31 in Gebze while hitchhiking to Israel.