Press digest

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

The Times says the European Commission is considering what legal action to take after the government announced plans for a three-week spring hunting season.

The Malta Independent quotes Foreign Minister Tonio Borg saying that Iranian ships can still enter European waters despite the EU and UN sanctions imposed against that country.

In-Nazzjon highlights the prime minister's visit to the Valletta Waterfront yesterday. It also says that training to be provided by the ETC is essential for investment at ST Microelectronics.

l-orizzont quotes GWU General Secretary Tony Zarb saying that 1,500 jobs were saved at ST Microelectronics. It also claims that repair works on the Marsa footbridge are being done during the rush hour.

The overseas press

Le Figaro says a couple have been arrested after the bodies of eight newborn babies were found in northern France. The corpses were discovered in individual plastic bags hidden around two houses in the tiny village of Villers-au-Tertre, about 35 miles from Lille. The newspaper said two of the bodies had been hidden in the first house for more than 20 years.

Israel's deputy prime minister, Silvan Shalom, has told Israel Public Radio the Palestinian side was demanding three impossible conditions for moving back to direct peace talks: that the negotiations resume from where they left off at the end of 2008, that they be based on a total Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 lines, and that the freeze of settlement construction. Foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said there can be no preconditions.

Kathemerini reports the Greek government has invoked a rare emergency order to force lorry drivers back to work after a three-day strike. If they are not on the roads again by today they face arrest and the loss of their licenses. But members of the drivers' union said they would not back down. The drivers oppose government plans to open the industry to more competition as part of austerity measures agreed with the IMF and the EU.

The New York Times reports the UN has declared access to clean water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. A non-binding resolution was passed with 122 nations in favour, none against and 41 abstentions. According to the UN, about 1.5 million children under five die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases.

USA Today says a federal judge has blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's new immigration law which would have given police the power to check the immigrant status of suspected criminals. The ruling came hours before the law had been due to go into effect, handing temporary victory to the Obama administration which had challenged the legislation, and rights groups who said it would lead to racial profiling.

Corriere della Sera reports the Italian parliament has approved unpopular budget cuts as part of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's efforts to rein in a ballooning public deficit and reassure markets. The measures totalling 25 billion euros, were approved by 329 votes in favour and 275 against. A final budget vote must be held by midday today. The measures had sparked protests and strikes among a cross-section of Italian society.

France 24 says President Nicholas Sarkozy has ordered the dismantling of 300 illegal camps of travellers and Roma gypsies across France as part of a fight against crime and urban violence. He also ordered the "almost immediate" expulsion of Roma from Bulgaria and Romania who had committed public order offences.

El Periódico de Catalunya says the autonomous region of Catalonia in northeastern Spain has become the first region in the country's mainland to ban bullfighting. After a heated debate in the regional parliament, 68 voted in favour of the ban, 55 opposed and nine abstained. The ban revises Catalonia's statute on animal protection, which previously made an exception for bullfighting. The ban takes effect on January 1, 2012.

Clarin quotes President Cristina Fernandez saying two bodies dug up in Argentina had been identified as a French activist and his Mexican girlfriend who disappeared during the country's 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Activists Yves Domergue and Cristina Cialceta were 22 and 20 respectively when they disappeared during a state-sponsored crackdown on leftist dissent in which rights groups say some 30,000 people were killed.

Asia Today says Pakistan is observing a day of mourning for the 152 people killed in the country's worst aviation disaster, as rescue workers searched for the aircraft's black box. The Airblue flight from the southern city of Karachi disintegrated into a gorge between two hills, enveloped in cloud and some distance from the road, severely hampering rescue efforts and limiting visibility for helicopters hovering overhead.

Omni Laikas says Lithuanian female prisoners have started knitting socks, gloves and scarves to help poor families in Afghanistan's central Ghor province keep warm in winter. Lithuanian troops will take the hand-made clothing to Afghanistan in the autumn, when they begin their rotation as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Lithuania is leading a reconstruction team in Afghanistan's Ghor province.