Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with the news that the Competition Commission has cleared the way for higher flour prices while saying prices were stopped form rising in March because of the general election. The newspaper also carries a picture of Archbishop Paul Cremona, who yesterday visited The Times offices.

In-Nazzjon leads with the directive by Roads Minister Austin Gatt for road testing to be carried out by independent companies, not contractors. It also reports how unemployment dropped by over 800 in March compared to March 2007. It also says that €191,000 were collected in the Puttinu Cares football marathon last weekend.

l-orizzont leads with the meeting with the GWU by Labour leadership contender Joseph Muscat. It also reports allegations by Joseph Azzopardi who says his son Nicholas was killed while being questioned at police headquarters.

The Malta Independent leads with the expected rise in flour prices and the discovery of fake passports, including Maltese passports, in Bangkok.

The Press in Britain

Most of today's British newspapers lead with the story of Austrian Josef Fritzl, 73, who yesterday admitted caging his daughter in a cellar for 24 years as a sex slave and fathering seven children by her.

The Daily Mirror calls him "the world's most evil dad".

The Sun, The Daily Star and Metro print pictures of the dungeon where Elizabeth, now 42, was held captive without seeing daylight.

The Times prints a dated family portrait above the heading "Elizabeth Fritzl, 15, a victim in their midst".

And elsewhere...

EU observer quotes the European Commission's spring economic forecast predicting a rise in inflation this year to 3.6 percent compared to 2.4 in 2007. Prices are on the rise following rapid increases in food and energy prices. Forecasts for growth across the EU were dropped from 2.8 last year to 2.0 this year.

Final returns from Rome's local elections show the Italian capital has elected its first right-wing mayor since World War II. Il Tempo reports Gianni Alemanno took almost 54 percent of the vote, defeating Francesco Rutelli, a center-left politician who has held the post twice.

The People's Daily says the death toll of 70 in yesterday's passenger train collision in China's eastern Shandong province could rise as some of the 420 injured passengers are serious. A Beijing train bound for the coastal city of Qingdao derailed and hit another train. Authorities say that human error was to blame.

Johannesburg's Mail & Guardian reports that Zimbabwe's divided opposition movement has formally reunited and is declaring that it has a majority in parliament.

The International Herald Tribune quotes the US military in Iraq saying its forces killed 45 Shi'ite militiamen in Baghdad in fierce fighting that occurred when gunmen attacked a checkpoint under cover of a dust storm

Al-Quds al-Arabi says a morning missile attack by Israeli forces on the town of Beit Hanun in the Gaza Strip killed seven Palestinians, including a mother and four of her children. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the attack a massacre and said that Israel's continued targetting of northern Gaza was obstructing the peace process.

Meanwhile, The Washington Post reports President Bush will go to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt next month to try to speed up the peace process and mark Israel's 60th anniversary.