Press digest

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

The Times says hunters have described the decision on the spring hunting season as 'obscene'. It also reports that the government will consider amendments to the law on child abuse.

The Malta Independent says the MHRA is happy with the growth of tourism figures, but cautious about the future.

In-Nazzjon also leads with the decision on the hunting decision. In other stories, it says the Prime Minister will today start investment promotion talks in the United Arab Emirates.

l-orizzont features the life of an elderly woman who cannot pay her electricity bills and has had the supply cut off. It also gives prominence to the hunters' federation complaints on the spring hunting decision.

The overseas press

Avvenire leads with a Vatican statement denying a letter signed by Pope Benedict in 1985, when he was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was evidence of an attempted cover up of a case of an American pedophile priest. Fr Ciro Benedettini of the Vatican Press office said the then Cardinal Ratzinger had "simply asked to study (the case) in greater detail for the good of all involved".

Meanwhile, Adnkronos International quotes Vatican press spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi saying the Pope was ready to meet victims of child sex abuse by Catholic priests and bishops.

Oregaon Herald quotes the lawyer for a US man who filed a $29m (€21.6m) sex abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America telling a jury the Scouts knew they had a serious problem but failed to act. Kelly Clark said the organisation had been keeping a list of Scout leaders suspected of abuse since the 1920s but never came up with any system to improve screening, reporting or prevention. But a lawyer for the Scouts retorted the organisation relied on local volunteers to take action because they were supervising the boys - not the national organisation.

Times of Central Asia reports Kyrgyzstan's interim leader Roza Otunbayeva has vowed her government would do everything possible to prevent civil war after bloody opposition protests forced President Bakiyev out of the capital. She accused Bakiyev of stoking turmoil in the south, where he has been since Wednesday and where he has his strongest political support.

Meanwhile, Russian news agency Rianovosti sayd President Bakiyev's two sons and brother were wanted on murder charges. The prosecutor general's office alleged there was conclusive evidence that the three men had ordered the security forces to open fire on protesters besieging the government building in the capital, Bishkek, on Wednesday. At least 75 people have been killed and more than 1,400 others have been injured in street clashes in the past four days.

Abrar reports that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unveiled a third-generation of domestically-built centrifuges as the country pushed ahead with plans to accelerate its uranium enrichment programme. Tehran officials said more than 50,000 centrifuges would be installed at the enrichment facilities in the central town of Natanz.

Le Monde quotes Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi saying nuclear energy production in Italy was "an absolute necessity". Berlusconi has pledged that Italy would return to producing nuclear power after plants were banned in Italy following the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine. But resistance from regional governments had cast some doubt over his plans.

Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has told satellite TV channel France24 it was unacceptable to send women to prison because they wear the Islamic burqa in public. Both Belgium and France are moving to ban the burqa and the niqab, which leaves only the woman's eyes visible.

China Today reports 40 children died in China from the highly contagious hand, foot and mouth disease in March, almost doubling the death toll in the previous two months. The paper quotes the official Xinhua news agency saying the disease, which is especially harmful to young children, also infected more 77,750 people last month, prompting calls to boost efforts to control the spread of the illness in China.

Dawn reports Pakistani security forces killed 29 militants in two troubled tribal regions near Afghanistan as troops pressed on with operations aimed at flushing out insurgents who have threatened the state. Eighteen of the alleged militants died at a military checkpoint in the Orakzai tribal region.

Belgrade daily Pravda reports that a former top fashion model, Katarina Rebraca, hase been arrested on charges of defrauding a humanitarian fund to fight breast cancer of over half a million euros. The "Katarina Rebraca Fund" was set up her fund in 2006 and she had promised to buy mammography and other equipment for several hospitals, but the items never materialised. The police allege the money was squandered on her luxurious lifestyle, self-promotion, sumptuous parties and travel.

Fox News reports al-Qaeda has put the American and British soccer teams directly in its cross hairs, circulating word online that the athletes are prime targets for an attack at the World Cup Games in South Africa in June. According to an online Jihadist magazine, the threats from al-Qaeda target a range of teams competing at the World Cup, but the June 12 USA vs England match, scheduled for live broadcast, is the terrorists' top priority. The US State Department said it was providing support as the host country beefs up security in preparation for the tournament.