Press digest

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

The Times leads with the Prime Minister's meetings in Tripoli with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. It also says that an AFM patrol boat defended a Maltese tuna pen from attempts by Greenpeace to allow tuna to go free. Malta insists the tuna pen is completely legal.

The Malta Independent leads with the political speeches made yesterday. The PM is reported to have hinted at a reform of summer working hours of civil servants. Dr Muscat said that families were continuing to struggle to make ends meet, because of high taxes and utility rates.

In-Nazzjon quotes the Prime Minister saying that the new sports village will create hundreds of jobs.It also features the Prime Minister's meeting in Tripoli late yesterday.

l-orizzont says Transport Malta and the Maritime Authority spend a million euros a year on consultancy fees, but do not have funds for residential roads. It also quotes Joseph Muscat saying Education Minister Dolores Cristina is not credible and is contradicting herself on EU funds for education programmes.

The overseas press:

The European edition of The Wall Street Journal leads with the ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan which has killed at least 100 people, injured over 1,250 and caused 75,000 Uzbeks to flee to the borders. Armed mobs have burned Uzbek villages, slaughtered their residents and looted police stations for weapons as unrest spreads in the south beyond the city of Osh.

EU Observer reports EU foreign ministers meet in Brussels today to try to seek a common position to end the Israeli blockade of Gaza. A plan by the Spanish presidency envisages cooperation in energy, trade and transport. In return, the plan offers Israel that EU member states strengthen sanctions against Iran.

The Jerusalem Post says the Israeli cabinet is today expected to vote on a proposal for a three-man internal inquiry into the death last month of nine Turkish activists killed during raid last month on a convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships, to include two foreign observers. Israel had earlier rejected a UN proposal for an international probe, but has now agreed to in its own inquiry.

Felesteen reports Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa is in Gaza as part of international efforts to end the three-year-old blockade that gained momentum after the naval raid. This is his first visit to the Palestinian territory since Hamas violently seize control of the territory three years ago.

De Telegraaf sats the New Flemish Alliance party in favour of a split between Belgium's Dutch and French-speaking population has claimed victory in national elections, deepening the divide between the two Belgian camps.

Metro leads with the results of a poll showing most people in the UK think the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition would collapse before the end of the five-year parliament. Voters aged 18 to 24 are the most skeptical - only 29 per cent think it will continue until 2015 compared with the overall average of 37 per cent.

Afghan Times says President Hamid Karzai has sought support for the Nato campaign to ramp up security in the key southern city of Kandahar and bolster his government's influence in a Taliban stronghold rife with violence, crime and corruption. Mr Karzai flew to Kandahar to have two meetings: one with about 50 tribal and provincial leaders and another with several hundred area residents.

Az-Zaman reports insurgents wearing military uniforms have stormed Iraq's central bank during, killing 26 people. The assault on Iraq's top financial institution stoked fears that insurgents are taking advantage of political deadlock after inconclusive March 7 national elections to try to derail security gains as the U.S. prepares to withdraw its forces by the end of next year.

The Miami Herald says BP mounted a more aggressive response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as it deployed undersea sensors to better measure the ferocious flow of crude while drawing up new plans to meet a government demand that it speed up the containment effort ahead of President Barack Obama's visit to the coast. The White House has put pressure on BP to set aside billions of dollars to pay spill-related claims in a move that could quickly drain the company's cash reserves and hasten its path toward possible bankruptcy.

Scientists believe obesity, junk food and increased meat consumption could be responsible for a growing number of girls reaching puberty before the age of 10. Public Health Nutrition quotes a Danish study of 1,000 girls which showed that breast development started at an average of nine years and 10 months - a year earlier than a similar study conducted in 1991. The study backs data from America which has also shown the earlier onset of puberty.

The BBC reports the World Cup organising committee was considering banning vuvuzelas - the noisy plastic trumpets which have proven a hit with fans in South Africa but threaten to deafen players and viewers alike. Criticism of the vuvuzelas has been almost as loud as the instruments themselves with broadcasting companies complaining the din is almost drowning out commentary.