Press digest

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

The Sunday Times reports that Louis Galea is to be nominated to serve on the European Court of Auditors. It also reports that Malta might have a limited Spring hunting season; and that Ryanair is expected to set up a base in Malta.

The Malta Independent On Sunday says the Curia has remained silent on the posts held by a paedophile priest who served in Malta but was later moved to Italy.

MaltaToday said a PN backbencher, Philip Mifsud, had complained of preferential treatment to Franco Debono.

Il-Mument also reports Dr Galea's appointment. It on other stories it says there are attempts at a block vote for the election of the PL executive. It also reports that the Mosta council has appointed two handymen and pays them very well after it used to criticise the former council on payments to its sole handyman.

It-Torca says the visit by Col Gaddafi in March is linked to oil exploration. It also says former ministers are being urged not to stand for election by the PN.

Illum says there are six job dismissals every day.

KullHadd says Robert Musumeci is not being trusted by the PN and is being urged not to stand for the casual election to replace John Dalli. It also reports comments by car importer Maurice Mizzi that Malta has been reduced to a second-hand country because of the increase in imports of used cars.

The overseas press:

Russia has signed an arms deal with Libya worth 1.2 billion euros. State-run news agencies ITAR-Tass and RIA Novosti said Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the contract at a meeting with the head of arms manufacturer Izhmash.

The Washington Times reports the US has defended a proposed 4.6-billion-euro weapons sale to Taiwan. Following a furious response from China, the State Department said it contributed to "security and stability" between Taiwan and China.

Corriere della Sera says dozens of Italian judges have walked out of courts as a government official began speaking in protest at Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's judicial reforms, which they call destructive. In Rome, at least 50 judges and prosecutors left the courts while in Milan, Naples and Palermo, magistrates walked out carrying copies of the constitution, returning only when the government speech had ended.

El Pais quotes Spanish Employment Minister Celestino Corbacho announcing the EU is working on a 100-million-euro microloan programme to help unemployed young people start their own businesses.

CanaNews says aid agencies are overhauling the food distribution system in Haiti to prevent a repeat of riots and free-for-alls seen in parts of the capital, Port Au Prince. The World Food Programme said it had established fixed sites for food distribution, where only women would be allowed in to collect earthquake relief supplies.

Handelsblatt reports heavy snow and high winds have caused traffic chaos in Germany, leaving three people dead and dozens more injured. The winter weather caused long traffic jams on many highways, the closure of others, and flight delays and cancellations. Some areas were hit with 12 inches of snow and high winds.

The Sunday Herald Sun quotes Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean saying world trade ministers meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos have renewed their commitment to finalising the stalled Doha round of global trade talks by December.

Dawn says a suicide bomber has killed 12 people and injured 24 at a police checkpoint in a north-west Pakistani tribal area where the military declared victory over the Taliban and al-Qaida last year. The attack came a day after officials said security forces had killed 44 militants in three days of battles on the outskirts of Khar.

According to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, an informant has offered the German government details about tax avoiders with Swiss bank accounts in exchange for €2.5 million. The newspaper said Germany's finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is now weighing whether to agree to the deal. The windfall for German tax authorities could reportedly be as high as €100 million.

Globe & Mail reports six decades after his death, some of Mahatma Gandhi's ashes have been scattered off the coast of South Africa, where he was confronted by racial discrimination and developed some of his philosophies of peaceful resistance. The ashes of the father of the Indian nation were kept for decades by a family friend after Gandhi's assassination in January 1948.

Deutsche Welle says Germany's education minister Annette Schavan has welcomed a plan to offer training programmes for students who wish to become Muslim spiritual leaders, or imams. The German Council of Science and Humanities, the country's top academic body composed of senior government officials and professors, called for institutes of Islamic theology to be established at two to three universities initially.

According to Metro, Margaret Thatcher went on a crash diet packed with protein ahead of her 1979 British General Election win. Newly-released files show the programme, which included up to 28 eggs a week, promised to help the future British Prime Minister shed 20 pounds in two weeks. A note outlining the strict regime was found tucked inside her 1979 diary.

London's Evening Standard says a cigar which Winston Churchill left unfinished in 1941 has fetched €5,200 at a sale by auction. It was expected to fetch around €400. Churchill had abandoned the stub - nearly four inches long - to attend a cabinet meeting. It was picked up by a Downing Street valet who sent it to a friend with a note jotted on Number 10 writing paper. The friend kept the souvenir until his death then the cigar passed to a relative. Last November, a butter dish used as an ashtray by Churchill at the London dining debating club fetched €4,800.