Press digest

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

The Times says the political parties have backed a call by the President for the creation of a Council of State. It also reports that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suffered a blow to the face in Milan yesterday.

The Malta Independent says this has been a black weekend, with three traffic fatalities.

In-Nazzjon leads with the fund-raising marathon held yesterday by the Nationalist Party. It also reports on the Republic Day activities. It also focuses on the weekend's traffic fatalities.

l-orizzont says the roads have claimed a record 21 lives so far this year. It also sais

The international press

The Italian media reports that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has spent a quiet night in hospital in Milan, recovering from a blow in the face from a souvenir model of the city's cathedral. His private medical practicitioner confirmed the premier suffered two broken teeth, a minor nose fracture and cuts to his upper lip after being struck by 42-year-old Massimo Tartaglia, who has a history of mental illness. Mr Berlusconi was attacked after a political rally during which demonstrators shouted "buffoon" and "thief" at him.

Abrar reports that Iran's most powerful cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has intensified the pressure on the country's political opposition leaders by blaming them for the "desecration" of a portrait of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the Islamic revolution's spiritual leader. His remarks followed days of protests, claims and counter-claims over footage on state television of an alleged anti-government protester setting fire to a picture of Khomeini. The opposition vehemently denounced the act and accused the state broadcaster, IRIB, of fabricating it to discredit their supporters.

Ekstra Bladet says Danish police have arrested around 200 protesters on a second day of protests in Copenhagen on the sidelines of the UN Climate Summit currently under way in the city. The arrests come as climate talks shift into high gear.

Chile's El Tiempo reports right-wing billionaire Sebastian Pinera beat three leftists in yesterday's presidential election but failed to obtain a majority, setting up a runoff against a veteran of the coalition that has ruled Chile for two decades of democracy.

El Pais reports that parts of Catalonia backed independence for the wealthy Spanish region in a referendum held yesterday, but the vote was only symbolic and attracted a turnout of just 30 percent.

Pakistan Times quotes Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani saying the government may launch a new military offensive near the Afghan border where militant leaders are believed to have fled to escape a government onslaught against the Taliban in South Waziristan.

The International Herald Tribune says a grimy three-carriage train pulled out of Belgrade's railway station today on the first direct trip to Sarajevo in nearly 18 years, restoring a link broken at the start of ethnic warfare in the former Yugoslavia.

Corriere dell'Umbria quotes Amanda Knox saying she was "scared" eight days after an Italian court sentenced her to 26 years in prison for the murder of her British roommate Meredith Kercher. Speaking to a delegation of Italian MPs and two journalists who visited her in her cell in the Perugia, the American student said she was feeling "OK" and was "always hoping".

Italia Oggi says Europe's small-scale wine producers, usually in competition with one another, have come together to fight what they see as the two biggest threats to their industry: the EU and multinational corporations. Over 700 artisan wine producers and enologists from 16 European countries met in the Tuscan spa town of Montecatini Terme last weekend to compare ideas and experiences.