Malta and international press digest

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

The Sunday Times says property prices are down 15-20 percent according to the Chamber of Commerce. It also quotes the Prime Minister saying in an interview that he will contest the next general election.

The Malta Independent says tainted diesel left hundreds of motorists stranded with leaking pumps. It also says the Russian authorities have taken back children hosted by Maltese families. That follows the death of a Russian boy in Valletta earlier this year.

Malta Today features the man who sold Victor Scerri his land in Bahrija. It also says Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is to enlarge the Cabinet, with Beppe Fenech Adami becoming Austin Gatt's junior.

Il-Mument also interviews the Prime Minister, who says he will stay in close contact with the people. The newspaper says Anglu Farrugia and Toni Abela are in full control at Labour HQ, and disagreements between General Secretary Jason Micallef and CEO James Piscopo are continuing.

It-Torca says Enemalta was warned three years ago about outages like those of last Tuesday owing to lack of planning. It also says the lack of regular audits at the VAT Department was an open door for abuse.

Illum homes in on canvassing by Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo.

KullHadd says developers who had permits withdrawn, including that for the Ramla development, are to be given compensation of €2.5 million, a decision being investigated by the government. It also says PL media executive Charlon Gouder was assaulted in a disco.

The Press in Britain

The Independent on Sunday considers the legacy of the war, reporting on the bodies of two British hostages being found and a suicide car bombing that killed about 70 Iraqis.

The Observer claims it was former Prime Minister Tony Blair who urged his successor Gordon Brown to hold the independent inquiry into the Iraq war in secret, as he feared he would be subjected to a "show trial", if it were opened to the public.

The Sunday Telegraph discloses secret details of taxpayer-funded expenses claimed by the candidates for the role of Speaker of the House of the Commons.

The Mail on Sunday reports the UK's bailed-out banks have provoked new fury after it was revealed they are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on entertaining at Wimbledon.

The Sunday Express says investigators hunting for missing girl Madeleine McCann revealed they want to question a man who is being held on remand in a British jail.

The Sunday Mail says Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai was booed and shouted down by exiles during a speech in London when he pleaded with them to return home to help rebuild the shattered country.

Pop singer Peter Andre talks to the Sunday Mirror about his separation from wife and glamour model Katie Price.

Daily Star Sunday also leads on Katie Price and an alleged £3,000 binge.

And elsewhere...

The Washington Times says President Barack Obama has challenged Iran's government to stop "all violent and unjust actions against its own people". He said universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected and affirmed that the US "stands with all who seek to exercise those rights".

The Jerusalem Post quotes Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon saying he believed a revolution was taking place in Iran. He said some 70 percent of Iranians were opposed to the ayatollah regime and that Mousavi and his wife had brought a new spirit of openness.

As-Sabah reports that at least 70 people were killed and some 150 others injured when a truck bomb exploded near a Shiite mosque in northern Iraq. The explosion is the deadliest since April 24 when back-to-back suicide bombings by women attackers killed 71 people outside a Shiite shrine in Baghdad.

The New York Times says one of its reporters is free after more than seven months in captivity in Afghanistan. The newspaper said David Rohde and Afghan reporter Tahir Ludin escaped from the militants holding them by climbing over a wall.

Ethiopia Daily confirms Ethiopia's first cases of swine flu in two students who returned home on last week after taking part in an exchange programme in the US. The World Health Organisation has said that as of Friday, more than 44,000 cases had been reported worldwide, with 180 deaths, mostly in Mexico and the US.

Kathemerini reports that President Papoulias of Greece ramped up pressure on Britain to return the priceless Elgin Marbles statues taken over 200 years ago as the new Acropolis Museum was opened in Athens.

South China Morning Post says more than 200 people were injured when protesters clashed with police in central China following the mysterious death of a young man at a city hotel. Police have ruled out murder, saying they had found a suicide note but the man's relatives believe he was killed by the boss of the hotel, who is related to the mayor of the city.

Los Angeles Post reports that a plane carrying California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was forced to make a sudden landing Friday after the pilot reported smoke in the cockpit. Later, Schwarzenegger tweeted about the diversion, calling it "a little adventure", and posting a link to a photo of the jet on his Twitter feed.

The Sunday Heald Sun reports that more than 23 million Australian dollars in stolen money was laundered through Melbourne's Crown casino as part of one of the world's biggest frauds. Three Chinese conmen have been jailed for up to 25 years each for embezzling more than $605 million from the Bank of China.

Athens News says two Greek sheep herders have been arrested for attaching two Bangladeshi migrant workers to their motorcycles and dragging them through the street for allegedly stealing their animals. The police also arrested the workers on suspicion of theft.