Press digest

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

The Times reports that almost 9,000 asylum bids were received in five years, the second highest number per capita in the world. It also reports that Malta has protested to Israel over the shooting of a Maltese woman during a protest in Gaza on Saturday.

The Malta Independent says that Enemalta will save €500,000 weekly in power generation costs when the power station extension comes on stream. It also reports Joseph Muscat's call for publication of the BWSC power station extension.

In-Nazzjon says SR Technics is looking for new opportunities for investment in Malta. It also says that €40 million were raised in the tax amnesty scheme.

l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat calling on the government to publish the BWSC contract for the power station extension.

The overseas press

London's Daily Telegraph quotes Vatican officials declaring Pope Benedict could cancel his planned visit to Britain because of a "hugely offensive" Foreign Office memo mocking his stance on abortion and birth control. Senior Papal aides suggested the Foreign Office had not taken strong enough disciplinary action against the ‘dark forces' responsible for the document. Cardinal Renato Martino, the former head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, said the Pope should be treated with respect. "To make a mockery of his beliefs and the beliefs of millions of Catholics not just in Britain but across the world is very offensive indeed."

Avvenire says the Pope has urged priests to safeguard children in their charge from evil and win the "absolute" trust of their flock. He urged them to model themselves on Jesus the "Good Shepherd", who, "with immense tenderness, safeguards his flock and defends it from evil", adding "only in him can the faithful place their absolute trust."

The Wall Street Journal quotes Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou saying he was confident European governments and the IMF would soon provide €45 billion in emergency aid. After weekend talks at the International Monetary Fund's headquarters, he said his debt-burdened nation had no intention of defaulting on its debt obligations by repaying creditors less than what they are owed.

The Washington Times says Greece's woes weighed heavily on financial leaders as they wrapped up the spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank with a pledge to address the risks facing the global economic recovery. The bank's steering committee discussed how to increase support to cushion the world's poorest countries from a recession that appeared to be ending, even though serious threats such as high government debt and unemployment remain.

Al Jazeera reports Palestinian protesters and Israeli police have clashed after Jewish settlers marched in the Arab neighbourhood of Silwan in occupied East Jerusalem. The hardline settlers, who live in illegal housing units on occupied Palestinian land, want Arabs removed from the area and their homes demolished to make way for Israeli construction projects.

Der Kurier says Austria's president has easily secured a second term, deflecting a challenge by a far-right politician who had criticised the country's anti-Nazi law. Incumbent Heinz Fischer, a Social Democrat, won 78.9 per cent of the vote, trouncing his main rival, Barbara Rosenkranz of the anti-foreigner and anti-European Union Freedom Party, who netted 15.6 per cent. Turnout was a mere 49.2 per cent.

Budapest Times reports that Viktor Orban's centre-right Fidesz party has won a two-thirds majority in Hungary's parliament, having 263 seats in the 386-seat legislature. Fidesz already had won the right to form the next government in the first round of elections on April 11, but the two-thirds majority will allow it to pass legislation without having to secure support from the opposition.

The Adelaide Advertiser reports that a former Adelaide mayoress left her daughters just $1.50 (€1.00) each from her $3.5 million (€2.4 million) estate because she believed they plotted to kill her mother. Valmai Roche died last year aged 81 and stated in her will that her daughter's should be left "30 pieces of silver of the lowest denomination" - or 30 five cent pieces. The rest of her estate has been left to Catholic chairty Knights of the Southern Cross.