Press digest

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

The Times reports that the police discovered and seized cartridge cases in a number of containers at Malta Freeport. The transhipment of the consignment was prohibited under international law. It also reports complaints by the head of the Richmond Foundation on delays in the updating of legislation on mental health.

The Malta Independent also reports on the discovery of the blank cartridges. It also reports a MEUSAC post Lisbon-treaty conference.

In-Nazzjon says the Prime Minister yesterday distributed scholarships to 238 students. It also says that Joseph Muscat's advisers have students' stipends in their aim.

l-orizzont says the Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Austin Gatt will today try to placate PN backbenchers on the power station extension contract. It also says there appears to be a high rate of symptoms of depression among Malta's adolescents.

The Press in Britain...

Under the headline ‘War and Peace', The Independent contrasts the criticism by the Archbishop of Canterbury of Tony Blair over his handling of Iraq with President Obama's Peace Prize.

A picture of Barack Obama dominates the front of the FT Weekend, which says the award divided ‘global opinion'.

The Times claims some 100 British MPs will receive a letter from auditors asking them to explain their expenses and pay back any wrongly claimed money.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown tells The Daily Telegraph the economy is likely to recover far more quickly than some predict.

The Guardian claims that shadow chancellor George Osborne's budget plan is off the mark by £3billion.

The Daily Express reports that a scientist at CERN, Europe's biggest nuclear plant in Switzerland, has been arrested and accused of links to al Qaeda.

And elsewhere...

Cesky Noviny reports Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus has told European Parliament president Jerzy Buzek during talks in Prague that before signing the Lisbon Treaty he wanted to see an opt-out clause from the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Concerned about the implications for sovereignty over social policy, both the UK and Poland insisted on inclusion of a Treaty "protocol" making plain that nothing in the Charter creates new rights. Klaus' requests risks a major last-minute rift over the treaty.

The International Herald Tribune says the decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Barack Obama has been greeted around the world with varying degrees of surprise, annoyance and approval.

The Washington Times reports that ‘surprised and deeply humbled by the decision', President Obama has vowed to give the $1.4 million (€1 million) prize to charity. He said he did not feel he deserved to be in the company of other Nobel Peace Prize winners.

Corriere delal Sera quotes Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi claiming to be the most persecuted man anywhere in history at the hands of the courts, after judges quashed his immunity from prosecution. He said he had made more than 2,500 court appearances and spent more than €200 million on his defence in the various legal cases against him. Last week a Milan court ordered his media empire Fininvest to pay a record fine of €750 million after ruling that it had obtained a favourable legal decision through bribery.

Dnevni Avaz reports high-ranking EU and US officials have met with feuding Bosnian leaders to try to end the political paralysis of the volatile country.

Le Monde says France has decided to return to Egypt five relics stolen from Luxor's Valley of the Kings and sold to the Louvre.

Iran's official news agency Irna quotes a senior official of the Revolutionary Guards saying they would "blow up the heart" of Israel if Iran was attacked by the Jewish state or the US.

Toronto Star reports that the former chief executive of financial firm Norbourg, Vincent Lacroix, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for milking thousands of investors out of €650 million.

Le Matin says a surveillance plane assigned to the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti has crashed into a mountain killing all 11 military personnel on board. The victims were Uruguayan and Jordanian military personnel.

Dawn reports suicide bomber has killed 49 people in a crowded market in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan.

Space News says a mission that promised to kick up a six-mile high cloud of debris as two spacecraft smashed into the Moon at more than 5,000mph showed no sign of an impact - even though both craft dived into a darkened crater as planned. Scientists had hoped the cloud would contain signs of water.

The Budapest Sun reports that contestants showing off breast implants, nose jobs and face lifts are bidding for the title of Miss Plastic Hungary 2009. The competition is promoting the benefits of plastic surgery in a country where organizers say it was high time for women to care more about their appearance.