Malta and international press digest

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

The Times says the spread of Swine Flu has sparked global fear. It also reports how President George Abela yesterday complained about pique in village feasts and said he would not go to feasts where there was pique and division.

The Malta Independent leads with a comment by the Prime Minister yesterday that is not the time for strikes. He urged the country to unite in tackling the economic crisis. Meanwhile, PL leader Joseph Muscat called on the government to announce a mini-budget to get its financial affairs under control.

In-Nazzjon quotes Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi saying jobs are the government's first priority. It also says that at the beginning of this year, the Education Ministry invested €2.5 million in direct assistance to schools. In another story is reports that seven tons of strawberries were sold at the Strawberry Festival in Mgarr.

l-orizzont reports that its journalist found bones and coffins dumped outside the Addolorata cemetery. It also says the British authorities were kept informed by a Maltese diplomat of meetings held in Tripoli in 1971 between new Prime Minister Dom Mintoff and Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The Press in Britain

Metro says the sudden rise of swine flu may trigger a pandemic that could wipe out 120million people.

The Daily Telegraph reports British passengers returning from Mexico were being screened for signs of swine flu amid fears that the disease had spread across the world.

The Daily Record claims the swine flu panic spread to Scotland after two people were taken to hospital with symptoms.

The Daily Mirror leads with the case of two Britons who were taken to hospital with suspected swine flu.

The Independent says Conservative leader David Cameron has warned public sector workers to prepare for a painful pay squeeze from next year.

According to the Daily Express, Treasury taxmen have been accused of targeting bereaved families to increase revenue.

The Daily Mail claims taxpayers will have to fork out an extra £2.3 billion a year to fund gold-plated public sector pensions.

The Times says Downing Street has conceded that huge opposition prompted it to seek alternatives to Gordon Brown's plan for a £150 daily allowance for MPs.

The Sun quotes Mr Cameron saying Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s reform of MPs' expenses was dead.

The Guardian says Britain's nuclear submarine fleet has been hit by a series of serious safety breaches involving repeated leaks of radioactive waste.

The Financial Times reports that budget deficits in the industrialised world will remain sky-high next year even after countries scale back their fiscal stimulus packages.

And elsewhere…

El Universal says health workers in Mexico screened airports and bus stations for people sickened by a new strain of swine flu that experts fear could become a global epidemic. President Felipe Calderon has assumed new powers to isolate people infected with the deadly swine flu strain that Mexico's health minister says has killed 103 people and left 1,614 others ill since April 13.

Meanwhile, USA Today reports that 11 cases of swine flu were confirmed in California, Texas and Kansas, with more suspected in New York City and Homeland Security has declared a public health emergency to deal with the situation even if, unlike in Mexico, cases in the United State have been mild.

Frattabladit says Iceland's interim leftist government won a resounding victory in this weekend's general election as voters punished the conservatives they blame for the country's economic meltdown seven months ago. Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir of the pro-EU Social Democratic Party will now have to try to reach an agreement with its eurosceptic coalition partner, the Left Green Movement, on European Union membership.

The Washington Times quotes US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assuring Lebanon that Washington will never make a deal with Syria that "sells out" Lebanon's interests. She was speaking during a surprise trip to Beirut ahead of an election on June 7 that could oust the US-backed government there.

The Jerusalem Post says Israeli is willing to negotiate peace with Syria, but only if talks are held without preconditions. Syria recently said it would resume indirect peace talks with the new Israeli government as long as they focused on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights which Israel captured Syria in June 1967.

The International Herald Tribune reports Foreign Ministers from Britain, France, and Sweden are set to visit Sri Lanka Wednesday after the government rejected a ceasefire offer from rebels despite UN concerns about civilians caught in the conflict. John Holmes, the UN's humanitarian affairs chief, met with Sri Lankan government officials on Sunday to discuss the situation of those civilians trapped by the rebels.

Le Monde says a 20-year-old woman who gave birth aboard a medical helicopter was killed along with her newborn baby and three others, when the aircraft crashed in bad weather on the Mediterranean island of Corsica. The helicopter was found ripped in half on a mountain range.

Blick announces that voters in the heart of the Swiss Alps have banned naked hiking after dozens of mostly German nudists started rambling through their picturesque region. Violators of “this shameless behaviour” will be fined €132.

Berliner Zeitung reports that voters in Berlin rejected the idea of allowing students to take religion instead of mandatory ethics classes in school. With 95 percent of the vote counted, 51.3 percent of voters rejected a referendum which had been supported by German chancellor Angela Merkel, the churches and several prominent personalities.

Variety says Hollywood legend Doris Day has emerged from a 10-year, self-imposed exile to reveal she suffers memory lapses, has lost her golden singing voice and lived in misery for months after the roof caved in on her seaside mansion. In an interview with her local radio station in Carmel, California, to mark her 85th birthday, the actress struggled to recall her famous co-stars and admitted she didn’t even know what year it was. She has rarely ventured out since her only son died of cancer in 2004.