Malta and international press digest

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

The Times, like all the other newspapers, reports the death of Sir Anthony Mamo on the front page. The state funeral will be held this afternoon. It also reports that Joe Azzopardi, father of Nicholas Azzopardi, has queried the claim, made yesterday, that a policeman had tried to stop Nicholas from falling off a high wall at the back of police headquarters.

The Malta Independent says the Prime Minister yesterday invited the MLP to jointly organise a May Day national conference on work next year.

l-orizzont's front page focus is on the fact that the five MLP leadership contenders participated together in the MLP's May Day demo in Valletta.

In-Nazzjon also leads with Dr Gonzi's invitation for the two main parties to work together in the interests of the workers. However it says the opposition has refused the invitation for the joint organisation of a May Day conference.

The Press in Britain...

The Daily Telegraph claims China has secretly built an underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region.

The Guardian leads with news that senior Labour MPs have admitted ministers having failed to act decisively against postal ballot fraud.

The Daily Express warns that families are set to suffer from higher prices in the shops following a rise in manufacturing costs.

The Daily Star reports that the woman who was locked in an Austrian cellar by her father let him rape her to save her children - who were fathered by him.

The Sun says Josef Fritzl's wife is under suspicion over what she knew about her daughter Elisabeth's captivity in their cellar. It reports she took food to the cellar and sometimes, shopping was even delivered in the daughter's name.

The Daily Mirror also leads with Fritzl's warning to his prisoners about what would happen if they tried to overpower him or escape their captivity.

The Daily Mail says the number of young women being arrested for being drunk and disorderly has leapt by 50 percent over the past five years.

The London Evening News reports a 37-year-old babysitter, who has spent the last three years in prison, has had after her conviction for murdering her neighbour's two-year-old son quashed. The Court of Appeal in London ordered a retrial for the woman, who was found guilty of repeatedly banging the boy's head against a wooden banister.

And elsewhere...

The International Herald Tribune reports thousands of people have participated in traditional May Day labour demonstrations across Europe, some of them turning violent as left-wing protesters clashed with riot police. Demonstration issues ranged from pension reforms to living standards .

The Washington Post quotes President Bush vowing he will call on Congress to provide new international food aid worth $770 million. The funds are aimed at meeting immediate needs but also bolstering programmes that help communities increase productivity and trade their products.

The Herald says tense talks between Zimbabwe election officials and politicians on the result of a presidential poll were deadlocked yesterday as the opposition insisted it had delivered a knock-out blow to Robert Mugabe. The talks ended with no outcome and were to resume later this morning.

Al-Quds al-Arabi reports that two suicide bombers struck a wedding convoy in a crowded market district northeast of Baghdad as bystanders cheered it on, killing at least 35 people and wounding 65. In the capital, a bomb-rigged parked car exploded as a US patrol passed by in a crowded area, killing one American soldier and at least nine Iraqis. The attack wounded 26 Iraqis and two soldiers.

Chumhuriyet confirms Turkish planes have bombed Kurdish rebel hide-outs in northern Iraq in the latest in a series of cross-border strikes.

Gulf News says Pakistani coalition leaders meeting in Dubai have forged a deal to reinstate judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf last year.

Jerusalem Post says that across Israel people have held two minutes of silence to remember the six million Jews who were killed in the Nazi Holocaust of the 1930s and 40s.