Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads the protest held yesterday against development in Bahrija valley. The protest was held by a number of environment NGOs against the building of a property by PN president Victor Scerri.

l-orrizont also takes up the same story, its heading being "A destructive silence". It carries a picture of the protest on its front and back pages with a placard reading ODZ - Outrageous Developers' Zone.

The Malta Independent quotes the MHRA saying the tourism industry made losses of €30 million in the first quarter.

In-Nazzjon says job creation is at the top of the current EU heads of government meeting in Brussels. It also says President George Abela yesterday renewed the invitation for Pope Benedict to visit Malta.

The Press in Britain

Most of the British national Press accuse MPs of a massive cover-up of their expenses after the claim documents were made public with huge sections of detail blacked out. The front of The Independent is completely blacked out - an illustration of what it says is revealed by the official version of MPs' expenses.

"Shameless" is how he Daily Express describes MPs, adding they are about to pocket a £10,000 a year pay rise.

The Daily Telegraph, which revealed all the real details of the claims, says that the House of Commons has learnt nothing from the scandal.

The Times covers the release of MPs' expenses claims with this rather sarcastic headline - "Freedom of Information".

Metro claims MPs took every penny they could, bleeding the system for wigs, paper clips and flapjacks.

The Guardian has blacked out bits of the House of Commons, including the famous clock tower.

The Herald says Scottish MPs claimed £25 million in three years - but due to the swathes of black, the full truth is still hidden.

The Sun calls the MPs' expenses "greed-driven" and the blacked-out details a "shameful cover-up".

The Daily Mirror alleges a paedophile at the centre of the Madeleine McCann investigation has been caught lying.

The Daily Star features new pictures of Glamour Model Katie Price, known as Jordan, who had an X-rated public romp aboard an Ibiza love boat.

And elsewhere...

EU Observer reports that EU leaders are today expected to agree the terms of legally-binding guarantees to reassure Irish voters about the Lisbon Treaty. Late last night they unanimously endorsed a second five-year term of office for European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and paved the way for sweeping new EU-wide supervision of banks and finance bodies in the wake of the economic crisis.

Al Jazeera says tens of thousands of black-clad protesters have again filled the streets of Tehran, joining opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi to mourn the eight demonstrators killed in clashes over Iran's disputed election.

L'Osservatore Romano publishes Pope Benedict's letter to the clergy, deploring acts of infidelity by priests and calling for a "frank and complete acknowledgement" of the Catholic Church's weakness.

New Jersey Globe leads with the safe landing in Newark of a passenger jet carrying a pilot who died in mid-flight. The 61-year-old man, with more than 20 years of service, died of natural causes on the flight from Brussels to Newark. The flight, with 247 passengers on board continued safely with two other pilots at the controls.

Korrieri reports that an explosive device killed a conservative politician as he drove through northern Albania, 10 days ahead of the country's parliamentary election.

Jamhuuriya says Somalia's National Security Minister Omar Hashi Aden has been killed in a suicide bombing in which at least 20 people also died.

Börzen Zeitung prints tributes paid to the sociologist Ralf Dahrendorf following his death. The 80-year-old German-British sociologist, an academic expert on class divisions in modern society, died on Wednesday evening in Cologne. He was one of the leading European intellectuals and innovators who made an outstanding contribution to integration in Europe.

USA Today announces that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has fractured her right elbow and will undergo surgery next week. Mrs Clinton, who was on her way to the White House when she fell, was treated at The George Washington University Hospital, just a few blocks from State Department headquarters, before going home.

Maryland Gazette reports that a 43-year-old American woman has been indicted on charges of killing two adopted daughters and storing their bodies in her freezer. She allegedly continued collecting payments from an agency after their deaths.

Le Parisien has pictures of animal rights activists dressed only in their underwear protesting against bullfighting in front of a bull sculpture across from the Eiffel Tower. Bullfighting remains popular in some parts of southern France, and like in Spain, bulls are also killed.

Environmental Daily reports that an animal rights group has urged US President Barack Obama to try taking a more humane attitude the next time he is pestered by a fly after he was shown swatting one dead. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it is now planning to send Mr Obama a Humane Bug Catcher Kit, a device that allows users to trap a house fly and then release it outside.