Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with a pilot project on migrants burden sharing with Malta, announced by the EU yesterday. It also reports a speech by President Obama who called for a new beginning in relations with the Muslim world.

The Malta Independent says thousands paid for airtime on Family TV, which has gone off the screens. It also says that the 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen massacre drew new repression.

In-Nazzjon says the government has announced preferred bidders for the Manoel Island Yacht Yard and the former Malta Shipbuilding.

l-orizzont asks if there will be a yacht marina near exiles beach in Sliema. It also reports the opening of the EP election in Britain.

The Press in Britain

The Times has the resignation letter of Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell. The MP has urged Prime Minister Gordon Brown to also quit.

The Daily Express says Mr Purnell is the third minister to resign from the Cabinet this week and claims a bitter civil war is now on inside the government.

The Daily Mirror has the conviction of two men for torturing and killing two French exchange students in Britain. The paper said blunders by the police, probation service and the courts led to the murders.

Metro reports on the torment of the victims' families.

The Daily Mail says the students were victims of Britain's "criminally negligent justice system".

And elsewhere...

Börzen Zeitung reports that the European Central Bank has said the euro zone would shrink by 5.1 percent this year. The bank had predicted in March that economic activity in the bloc would drop by only around 3.2 percent.

The International Herald Tribune says that President Barack Obama's call for a "new beginning" between the US and Muslim world has been greeted by a largely positive response from groups across the Middle East.

The Jerusalem Post says Israel's Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has strongly cautioned Belarus against developing relations with Iran.

O Globo reports that a helicopter has recovered the first wreckage from doomed Air France Flight 447 - a structural support piece of the jet, about 8ft long. Brazilian navy ships have also begun recovering debris, which is to be transported to France. No bodies or human remains have been spotted.

The Irish Times says 18 religious orders will pay substantial funds into a dedicated trust to make amends to thousands of victims of abusive priests and nuns. Prime Minister Brian Cowen warned the congregations they had a moral responsibility to do more. The Ryan inquiry report catalogued decades of sexual, physical and emotional torture of youngsters in church and state care.

Asia Observer announces that David Carradine, star of the 1970s TV series Kung Fu, was found dead at the luxury Swissotel Nai Lert Park Hotel in Thailand. The police said the 72-year-old actor appeared to have hanged himself

The Daily Star reports that a pregnant 20-year-old Bangladeshi woman has been allegedly killed by her husband and her mother-in-law. They beat her and forced poison into her mouth in a bid for more money as dowry.

Bali Post says an Indonesian mother-of-two, who sent an email to friends complaining about her treatment at a local hospital, has been charged with defamation. She faces six years' jail and a fine of $125,000.

Jakarta Post reports that Indonesia has detained 59 Afghan and Pakistani migrants on eastern Sumba island and arrested four alleged people-smugglers trying to send them to Australia. More than 1,000 illegal immigrants from Burma, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and Pakistan have been caught since November

Asia Times says Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has paid tribute to those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown and urged China's leaders to review the events that led to the bloodshed.

The Independent Tribune says a man has been has been charged with first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sexual offence and one count of attempted first-degree sexual offence after allegedly using personal ads to find a man to rape his wife. The husband was present during the assault last Sunday but inconsistencies in his statement and no sign of forced entry raised their suspicions, and they seized electronic equipment from the home.

Il Gazzettino reports that police in Venice have recovered a canvas by the celebrated French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir that was stolen 15 years ago in Rome. They seized the painting, dating from around 1895, in order to return it promptly to its rightful owners. In September 2008, police in Italy, acting on a tip from an art critic, recovered a Renoir nude stolen 33 years earlier from a private collection in Milan.

The Detroit News reports that a 23-year-old Michigan woman, one of a set of triplets, is celebrating the birth of her own three babies. Amber Ali delivered Amir, Armann and Amari Whitaker on May 26 at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. Amber Ali's triplet sisters, Asia and Ashley, live nearby.