Press digest

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

The Times reports comments by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi that tax fraudsters should be blacklisted for ever. He insisted that all reports of corruption were investigated. It also reports that MEPs are considering a legal challenge to the new Frontex rules.

The Malta Independent says President George Abela is due back in Malta today. It also reports that more protests were held in Greece as further austerity measures were announced.

In-Nazzjon reports the launch of the PN mobile phone service Ping. It also reports the increase in austerity measures in Greece as the EU and the IMF activated a huge rescue package.

l-orizzont says the Prime Minister has not taken up the challenges made by Joseph Muscat to grant a free vote for the power station debate in parliament and to have the debate broadcast on TV.

The overseas press

The Wall Street Journal Europe says Eurozone members and the IMF have agreed a €110bn, three-year bail-out package to rescue Greece's embattled economy. The EU would provide €80 billion in funding and the rest would come from the International Monetary Fund. The plan still needs approval by some countries' parliaments before debt-ridden Greece can receive the first funds.

Kathimerini reports that in return for the loans, Greece would make major austerity cuts - including further tax rises and further reductions in pensions and public service pay - which Prime Minister George Papandreou said involved "great sacrifices". He told a televised Cabinet meeting, "Our national red line is to avoid bankruptcy. He added that "no-one could have imagined" the size of the debt that the previous government, which left office last year, had left behind.

The New York Times says police were hunting a man filmed leaving the scene of the attempted car bombing of Times Square as President Barack Obama vowed to track down the perpetrators. Police said there was no evidence to support a claim by the Pakistani Taliban that it was responsible for the attempted attack which State Governor David Paterson called an "act of terrorism".

The Daily Telegraph says the Tories have ruled out an alliance with the Lib Dems if they fail to get a majority in the UK general election next Thursday. After a frenetic day of campaigning by the three main party leaders, two opinion polls are pointing towards a hung parliament for Britain.

USA Today reports that Barack Obama has described the oil spill in the Gulf as "potentially an unprecedented environmental disaster" while placing the blame firmly on BP. The US President has travelled to Louisiana to visit the area most in peril from the slick which continues to grow, having already tripled in size, in the Gulf of Mexico.

La Stampa leads with Pope Benedict's prayers in front of the Shroud of Turin, traditionally said to be Christ's burial cloth. After praying for four minutes, the Pope said the relic should be seen as a photographic document of the "darkest mystery of faith". He said the relic had "wrapped the remains of a crucified man in full correspondence with what the Gospel tells us of Jesus". The shroud is on display in Turin for the first time since 2000.

Dhaka Post reports at least 17 people were killed and scores injured by lightning as a series of minor tropical storms and heavy rains swept across Bangladesh. Police said most of the dead were farmers who were cutting their rice paddy fields.

Variety says Michael Jackson's Thriller still has online viewers spellbound almost two decades after it first shook the world of music videos,. The 14-minute 1983 mini-movie epic was voted the most groundbreaking video of all time by users of MySpace UK.

The Sun says snooker legend John Higgins was said to be "suicidal" after being suspended from the sport amid shock allegations of match fixing. The three-times world champion's career looks to be in tatters after he was recorded allegedly agreeing to throw frames in return for €300,000. But the 34-year-old star's agent Pat Mooney - also caught up in the scandal - insists they were victims of a sting. The pair allegedly clinched the deal at a meeting in Kiev, Ukraine, with undercover reporters from the News Of The World who were posing as go-betweens for a betting syndicate.