Local and international press digest

These are the main headlines of the local and international newspapers:

The Sunday Times reports on a do-it-yourself abortion package which can be procured through the internet and quotes the president of the Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists describing the importation of such drugs as an extremely dangerous game. In a second lead, Social Policy Minister John Dalli is quoted as saying he intends to propose starting a discussion on divorce – the first time a prominent member of the Nationalist cabinet has publicly spoken on such need.

The Malta Independent on Sunday says that unless the government decides to hold a meeting with the Motor Hearse Association before 6 a.m. tomorrow, they will go on strike over the government’s liberalisation of the sector.

Malta Today also refers to the threat of strike action by the transport sector but leads with a story revealing that more stray bullets from the army’s firing ranges at Pembroke have hit sea craft.

Il-Mument leads on the launch of pre-budget consultations, quoting the prime minister saying the government was optimistic in reaching its aims despite the turbulent world economic situation.

Illum also refers to the pending transport strike but in a second lead quotes former PN secretary-general Joe Saliba saying he would not return to the political scene.

It-Torca quotes Parliamentary Secretary for Health Joe Cassar as saying that as soon as he took office he started looking into the breast screening project, promised in the last budget.

Kullhadd says tens of couples who applied for the equity sharing scheme before it was suspended by the Housing Authority are uncertain on how to proceed with their promise of sale.

The press in Britain…

The Independent on Sunday leads on a disturbing story about British soldiers being accused of sex assault on an Iraqi boy.

According to the News of The World, a secret police report into a former children’s home in Jersey reveals that youngsters were murdered then burnt in a furnace.

The Mail on Sunday reveals that Margaret Thatcher is to be given a state funeral when she dies – the first British prime minister since Winston Churchill to be afforded such an honour.

The Sunday Mirror reports on more claims about Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood’s alleged affair with a Russian waitress.

The Sunday Times says a nationwide youth curfew to help combat knife crime has been backed by the public and senior politicians.

The Sunday Telegraph claims more than 20,000 serious knife crimes were committed last year.

The Observer quotes the government's chief medical officer insisting that new vaccines designed to destroy the hospital superbugs that kill thousands of Britons every year will be available within a decade.

The Sunday Express claims disgruntled house buyers are trying to put estate agents out of business with a series of smear campaigns.

And elsewhere…

Over 40 leaders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa are meeting in Paris for a summit to launch the Mediterranean Union. Le Monde Diplomatique says the new organisation, which represents some 750 million people, aims to pursue practical projects with European Union (EU) and private sector funding such as cleaning up the Mediterranean Sea, boosting solar power and building road and sea highways. France and Egypt will co-chair the new body for the first two years.

Amsterdam’s De Telegraaf quotes World Bank head Robert Zoellick saying food prices will remain high until 2012. Speaking at a World Bank event in the Dutch capital, Mr Zoellick added that energy prices would also remain high and volatile. Mr Zoellick estimates that poor countries will need some $6 billion in food aid every year to cope with rising prices.

The Age says Pope Benedict XVI is just hours away from landing in Sydney, where he is expected to issue an apology to the victims of sexual abuse by priests. On the longest foreign trip of his papacy, he said that paedophilia was "incompatible" with being a priest. The Pope is also expected to use the trip to discuss climate change, which will also be a theme of the World Youth Day, an event expected to draw some 200,000 young Catholics to Sydney.

The Daily Star reports that Lebanon and Syria have agreed to open embassies in each others' capitals for the first time since their independence from colonial rule in the 1940s. French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the landmark decision.

Pakistan Times says at least 16 soldiers have been killed and dozens injured in an ambush in Pakistan's restive North-West Frontier Province after dozens of insurgents attacked a convoy of paramilitary troops. Local Islamist extremist Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has appealed to the kidnappers of three German citizens in Turkey to release them immediately and unharmed. In an interview with the Bild am Sonntag, however, the Chancellor reiterated that her government could not be blackmailed.

Chumhuriyet reports that a man convicted of raping and murdering an 11-year-old German girl in 2004, has been found dead in Karaman prison. The 39-year-old man had been transferred to the Karaman prison after being attacked by inmates in another jail soon after his 2004 arrest.

Michael DeBakey, a world-famous cardiovascular surgeon who pioneered now-common procedures such as bypass surgery, has died in Texas, aged 99. Dr DeBakey had performed more than 60,000 heart surgeries during his career. Among his patients were United States (US) Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, the Shah of Iran, King Hussein of Jordan, Turkish President Turgut Ozal and Nicaraguan leader Violetta Chamorro. He had said celebrities didn't get special treatment on the operating table: "Once you incise the skin, you find that they are all very similar."