Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with the teachers’ strike ordered for next Thursday.

The Malta Independent also leads with the strike. It also says that there appears to be no solution to the issue of the eco-contribution on plastic bags.

In-Nazzjon leads with comments by Paul Borg Olivier that Joseph Muscat 's attitude discriminates between voters living abroad. It also says Malta and Italy are forming a common front against immigration. The newspaper highlights comments by the Prime Minister that job creation remains the government’s top priority.

l-orizzont follows up a story first carried yesterday, saying that former Maltese diplomat Ives deBarro was a mole for the British at Malta’s embassy in Tripoli in the early 1970s. The heading of the story is Secrets to the British.

The Press in Britain

The Financial Times says that the British economy shrank at its worst rate for 30 years in the first quarter, contracting faster than predicted by Alistair Darling.

The Times quotes official figures that show the recession is far deeper than the Chancellor predicted.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Tony Blair believes the 50 per cent top rate of income tax introduced by his successor Gordon Brown is a "terrible mistake".

The Daily Express accuses the Government of betraying "thousands of hero Gurkhas" by ruling that only those who met specific criteria had the right to stay in Britain.

The Guardian says it has evidence of undercover police running a network of informants inside protest organisations who secretly feed them intelligence about tactics and demonstrations in exchange for cash.

The Daily Mail reports that Prince William showed off more than a thinning hairline... he also revealed a secret brace.

According to The Independent, the US is on the verge of committing unprecedented public funds in a war aimed at eradicating cancer.

The Daily Star leads on Frank Lampard's rant at a radio presenter, who implied the footballer was "weak" and "scum".

The Daily Mirror reports Lampard insisted he is buying a house for his ex-partner and their two daughters after he was criticised for staying in the family's £8.5m home while they live in a flat,

And elsewhere…

The International Herald Tribune reports environment ministers from the G8 industrialized nations and developing economies, meeting in Sicily, have sealed a deal to slow species loss around the world.

El Universal says museums, libraries and state-run theatres in Mexico City have been closed after 57 people died form a flu-like disease. WHO says 800 have been affected by the outbreak that could be linked to a new type of 'swine flu' infecting people in the United States.

On the eve of World Malaria Day, African Weekly Monitor quotes the head of Unicef saying there is enough money available to provide bed nets treated with long-lasting insecticide to everyone in Africa by 2010.

El Pais says Spain's unemployment rate has skyrocketed to 17.4 percent in the first quarter, up from 13.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008, increasing the number of jobless by more than 800,000. Official figures show the jobless at 4.01 million, a jump of 1.84 million in the last 12 months.

Globe & Mail confirms South Africa's ANC has won a voter majority in the national elections, clearing the way for parliament to elect Jacob Zuma as president. By early on Saturday the ruling party had more than 11.6 million votes from those ballots that had been counted.

Az-Zaman reports that back-to-back suicide bombings have killed 60 people outside the most important Shiite shrine in Baghdad, a day after the country was rocked by its most deadly violence in more than a year.

Dawn says Taliban militants who had seized a district just 60 miles from Pakistan's capital have begun pulling out after the government warned it would use force to evict them.

Sydney Morning Herald says the Australian tennis team will not play the upcoming Davis Cup match in India due to security concerns despite instructions by the International Tennis Federation that the match be played in Chennai.

New York Post reports that gun sales are soaring in the US amid fears that President Obama is planning a new crackdown on the ownership of weapons.