Press digest

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

The Times says that Sliema FC have accused their goalkeeper of accepting bribes, and he has filed a judicial protest to deny the accusations. It also says that the Health Ministry has launched a drive to employ up to 300 foreign nurses to address the nursing shortage.

The Malta Independent says there are no changes to plans for the Israeli Foreign Minister to visit Malta in July. It also says that the MCESD is discussing whether shops should remain open on public holidays.

MaltaToday refers to suspected bribery in the tendering process for the privatisation of Malta Superyachts and says that through a judicial protest yesterday, the suspect turned his guns on the whistleblower. It also wonders if a ship delayed in Malta because of mechanical problems was sabotaged by the Mossad. The ship was due to join the aid flotilla to Gaza. It left early yesterday.

In-Nazzjon says tourist arrivals were up 4% in the first four months of this year. It also says that unemployment, at 7 per cent, was among the lowest in Europe last April.

l-orizzont says the Opposition will vote against the appointment of Censu Galea as Deputy Speaker. It also says that Church homes for the elderly cannot keep up with power bills.

The overseas press

The Jerusalem Post quotes a statement on the Israeli prime minister's office website saying the expulsion of all activists, detained during the storming of an aid flotilla heading for the Gaza Strip, would begin "immediately". Some 700 detainees were taken off the ships during the military-led action which saw nine civilians killed. The United Nations Security Council called for a "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent" investigation into the seizure of the flotilla by Israeli commandos early on Monday.

The Irish Independent says high-profile humanitarian activists have pleaded with the EU to use sanctions to force an end to Israel's blockade of Gaza. Former UN assistant secretary-general Denis Halliday - one of five Irish people on board - called on trade officials in Brussels to take up the issue.

Chumhurriyet reports that Turkey has condemned Israel's raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship as a "bloody massacre". Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told parliament the attack was a turning point and nothing would be same again. He said the boarding of the ship was an attack "on international law, the conscience of humanity and world peace."

The Washington Post says the US government was opening criminal and civil investigations into America's worst oil spill. The announcement by Attorney General Eric Holder came as President Barack Obama said that if any laws were broken in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, people would be prosecuted. With the ambitious "top kill" abandoned over the weekend, BP's hope to staunch the leak lies with two relief wells that won't be finished until at least August.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times reports an oil sheen was confirmed about 15 kilometres off the Florida coast, and officials are saying it could hit the white sands of Pensacola Beach as soon as today. Escambia County officials started putting out boom and making other plans for the arrival of the oil. Crude has already been reported along barrier islands in Alabama and Mississippi, and it has impacted some 200 kilometres of Louisiana coastline.

Le Matin reports that a martial arts expert who masterminded the £53 million Securitas robbery has been jailed for 10 years in Morocco. Lee Murray, 30, was told he will spend the next decade in prison at for his role co-ordinating the raid at the cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006. British officers investigating the robbery have put six men before the courts in the UK and they have been sentenced to a total of 156 years imprisonment.

El Tiempo says the mayor of top Mexican tourist resort Cancun has been charged with drug trafficking links. Gregorio Sanchez faced charges of organised crime and money laundering a week after he was arrested. Prosecutors say he protected two of Mexico's most brutal drug gangs and lived beyond his means.

Trouw reports that prosecutors in the Netherlands have opened their case against a Swiss-based company accused of breaking Dutch environmental laws by exporting toxic waste to the Ivory Coast. Thousands of residents complained of sickness and it is alleged that 17 people died as a result. Trafigura risks a fine of up to 1.34 million euros.

Public broadcaster NHK reports Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has decided to resign. He has been under pressure after failing to fulfil an election pledge to move a controversial US base from the island of Okinawa. Mr Hatoyama has been in power for just eight months.

According to La Sicilia, an Italian couple's adoption bid was denied after they said in their application that they did not want "dark-skinned" children. An appeal court in Sicily ruled that the couple were unfit to adopt children of any description. A child protection agency took the couple to court after they submitted an application saying they were "prepared to take in up to two children... regardless of sex or religion, but... not with dark skin."

Metro says the Aston Martin driven by Sean Connery in the James Bond movies Goldfinger and Thunderball is going on sale at a London auction in October. The silver 1964 Aston Martin DB5, dubbed as "the world's most famous car", is expected to fetch at least $5 million. The car is one of only two of the original Aston Martins that featured on screen with Sean Connery behind the wheel in. It comes with Bond gadgets including fake machine guns, revolving number plates and smoke screen. The model is being sold by US radio broadcaster Jerry Lee, who bought it for $US12,000 in 1969.

La Gazzetta dello Sport says UEFA officials UEFA meet today to decide whether Ukraine has sufficiently sped up its preparations for the Euro 2012 football tournament. It is far behind schedule on the many necessary infrastructure projects like new or renovated stadiums and airports. Ukrainian lawmakers have allocated nearly three billion euros in additional funds for the construction sites in an effort to gain the UEFA's trust.