Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with the action plan announced by Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat to tackle illegal immigration. It also reports how Malta yesterday refused landing to 65 migrants rescued by an Italian frigate.

The Malta Independent also features the PL action plan. It also reports that the widow of one of the victims of the Shimshar tragedy has been asked to evict her residence, which is rented from her in-laws. It also carried a picture of a lane in Mriehel appropriately called Sqaq il-hofor.

In-Nazzjon quotes the Prime minister saying the government vision of Malta as a financial centre is paying dividends. It also reports that two foreigners were jailed for drug offences yesterday.

l-orizzont reports the press conference by 11 trade unions against the utility tariffs. It also says that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando does nto exclude voting against the appointment of Gorg Abela as president.

The Press in Britain

Most media in the UK feature the trial in Austria of 73-year-old Josef Fritzl, who kept his daughter Elisabeth imprisoned in a home-made dungeon for 24 years while fathering seven children by her. He pleaded guilty to rape and incest but he denied slavery charges and the murder of one of the children who died less than three days after his birth and whose body Fritzl disposed of in a furnace. The Daily Express calls him a monster who raped his daughter 3,000 times. The Daily Record brands Fritzl as “father from hell”.

As Fritzl buries his face in a file as he was marched into court to face justice, the Daily Mirror says it's his last hiding place.

The Sun says nothing can conceal the horrors Josef Fritzl inflicted on the daughter he imprisoned and raped for 24 years.

The Daily Star the first day of the trial has revealed the whole dungeon horror.

The Times says Fritzl refuses to face the music but leads with fears of a new educational elitism after the University of Cambridge announced that three As at A-level would no longer be enough for entry.

The Daily Mail reports that plans by universities to double their charges are a threat to the middle class as they would leave millions in debt into their fifties.

The Guardian has what it calls the Prime Minister's 'partial apology' for his role in the country's banking failures, declaring that “the pure free-market era is over”.

The Financial Times carries a warning that more than a million British workers will lose their jobs over the next two years.

The Daily Telegraph reports that police officers have been told to patrol alone, in a return to more traditional policing.

The Independent claims a failed asylum seeker who returned to Darfur under a British government repatriation scheme has been murdered by Sudanese security officers.

And elsewhere…

Al-Ahram says Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit has held talks in Brussels with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel to convince the Europeans to accept that Hamas "respect" PLO past agreements with Israel, rather than "commit" itself to them, for the sake of forging a united Palestinian government. Meanwhile, Egypt’s powerful intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, is in Washington on a similar mission.

The International Herald Tribune reports that the Fifth World Water Forum meeting in Istanbul, has heard warnings from experts that a global water crisis is imminent. In his opening speech to delegates from 130 nations Turkish President Abdullah Gul said half of the world's 6.8 billion people already have water problems, and one billion do not have access to clean water. Some 2.5 billion do not have proper sanitation.

The Washington Post says President Barack Obama has hit out at the "outrage" of executives at struggling insurance giant AIG receiving millions of dollars in bonuses. In an angry statement, Mr Obama said it was hard to justify the $165 million in extra pay to executives. AIG has received more than $170 billion dollars in bailout cash from the government.

The New York Times announces that Federal prosecutors have notified the court that they plan to seize assets worth $69 millions (€53 million) owned by the wife of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff, who last week pleaded guilty last week to securities fraud and perjury faces. Her lawyers claim the assets were not part of Madoff's fraud.

Madagascar Tribune reports soldiers have taken over one of the presidential palaces in the capital Antananarivo. At the time, President Marc Ravalomanana, who the opposition accuses of misspending public funds and undermining democracy, was elsewhere.

Teheran Globe says former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has pulled out of the June 12 election and thrown his support behind former Prime Minister ir-Hossein Moussavi. He will face the conservative faction’s sole nominee, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Taipei Times reports that a Chinese cruise ship with 1,600 tourists arrived in Taiwan, boosting prospects for expanded economic ties between the rivals as the first such vessel to do so. Last December, the two sides lifted a ban on direct transportation links imposed when they split amid civil war in 1949.

Asia Observer quotes Commonwealth Games chiefs playing down Australia's concerns that next year's sporting spectacular in New Delhi could be scrapped over security fears. The Australians claimed the2010 Games could be scrapped if a security assessment deemed them unsafe, following the Mumbai terror attacks and the recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan.

Az-Zaman says victory celebrations at a soccer match in Iraq ended abruptly when a fan accidentally shot the victorious goalkeeper to death. An off-duty policeman started firing his service pistol in the air but lost control of it, and a bullet struck the 18-year-old goalkeeper in the head, killing him instantly. The policeman was charged with recklessly discharging an official weapon and with negligent homicide, and is still in custody. The family of the deceased is demanding so-called “blood money” from the policeman.