Press digest

Widely differing figures on the size of the haul in last Wednesday's hold-up from the Casino' di Venezia are a feature of the local press today.

The Times says that up to €500,000 may have been stolen. l-orizzont says the haul is said to have been €380,000. In-Nazzjon says the spectacular hold-up is thought to have been carried out by a group of Italians. It also says the haul may have been of €500,000. The Malta Independent reports that the police have no firm leads on which to build their investigations.

In other stories, The Times says a magistrate has reported columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia to the police over a series of blogs written over the past few days.

l-orizzont says the Justice Ministry spent €165,000 on travel but had to rely on a donation for a defibrillator for the law courts.

In-Nazzjon says €30 million are to be invested in a n extension of the Seabank Hotel in Ghadira Bay.

The overseas press

The International Herald Tribune says Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy have unveiled a raft of proposals to revive their flagging partnership and add momentum to the European Union now the Lisbon treaty has come into force. Both leaders brushed off President Obama's decision not to attend an annual summit with European leaders but stressed the importance of Russia as a European partner.

The Financial Times reports Portugal moved towards a political crisis last night as its Finance Minister Fernando Teixeira dos Santos appealed to opposition parties not to defeat the minority Socialist government over a regional finance bill that he said would undermine the country's international credibility. His warning came as Portuguese bonds and shares came under fire for the second day running.

The Wall Street Journal says financial markets swooned amid rising fears of a government debt default in Europe, highlighting the seriousness of the challenges facing the euro currency as fiscally-challenged countries like Greece, Portugal and Spain dig themselves out of debt.

Meanwhile, Kathemerini reports that tax collectors and customs officers in Greece went on strike yesterday, launching a wave of industrial actions against the economic austerity measures. Civil servants, doctors and private sector workers are also poised to stage walkouts. A general strike could take place later this month.

Adevarul reports that Romania's top defence body has approved a US proposal to place anti-ballistic interceptors in Romania as part of a revamped US missile shield. President Traian Basescu said the measure was not directed against Russia and added that the interceptors would increase national security. The revamped US missile shield replaces a scrapped Bush-era plan to install interceptors in Poland and a radar in the Czech Republic.

Irish News expects Irish Republic Prime Minister Brian Cowen and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to travel to Belfast today to put their seal on a new deal for the North. Democratic Unionist Party leader Peter Robinson said his party's elected representatives at the Stormont Assembly had backed the deal with Sinn Fein on policing, justice and parades. It comes after nearly two weeks of round-the-clock talks.

The Scotsman reports Scottish Justice Secretary has been criticised for the way he handled the release of the Lockerbie bomber. A divisive Holyrood inquiry said Kenny MacAskill should have been obtained second opinion on the medical evidence which paved the way to grant compassionate release to the terminally-ill Libyan, Abdelbaset Al Megrahi,who was convicted for the murder of 270 people in the 1988 bombing.

Teheran Globe announces that Iran has blasted a rocket containing worms, a mouse and two turtles into space. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the launch of the three-mete rocket was the start of bigger achievements. The launch is likely to cause further concern about president Ahmadinejad's controversial space programme, which Western leaders fear could be used to deliver warheads.

South China Morning Post quotes a diplomatic source in Beijing saying North Korea's population was facing starvation after a disastrous currency revaluation. The move has caused imports to grind to a halt - sending food prices soaring. Leader Kim Jong-il has sacked the minister who led the revaluation.

Chumhurriyet rveals a 16-year-old girl was buried alive by relatives in a Turkish honour killing because she befriended boys. Acting on a tip-off, police discovered Medine Memi's body in a sitting position with her hands tied, in a two-metre-deep hole in a chicken pen outside her house. A post mortem revealed that she had a significant amount of soil in her lungs and stomach, meaning that she was buried alive.

Trybuna says a Polish court has sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for holding his daughter captive for six years, raping her and fathering two sons with her. Krzysztof Bartoszuk was found guilty of rape, sexual acts with a minor and abuse. Bartoszuk admitting to having sex with his daughter, now 23, but argued it was with her consent.

Sydney Morning Herald reports a court has ruled Australian band Men at Work copied a well-known children's campfire song in its 1980s hit "Down Under" and owes the owner years of royalties. The famous flute melody in the song was at the heart of the case with lawyers claiming it copied "Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree", written more than 70 years ago by Australian teacher Marion Sinclair for a Girl Guides competition. "Down Under" and the album "Business As Usual" topped the Australian, American and British charts in early 1983.