Press digest

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

The Sunday Times says the government has up to Wednesday to reply to questions by the European Union on the power station extension. A letter of formal notice – the first of a three-pronged EU legal procedure – has been sent to the government by the European Commission claiming Malta broke EU procurement rules when awarding the controversial €200 million tender to BWSC. The newspaper also says that higher fines for illegal development are to be brought in.

The Malta Independent on Sunday leads with the selection of Arriva Malta as the preferred bidder to run the bus service. It also reports that new penalties on drink driving have been brought into force.

MaltaToday follows up the divorce debate in the PN, where the PN again voiced his opposition. It also reports that farmers have protested over plans for a road in Burmarrad which would run over their land.

Il-Mument recalls that eight years ago, Joseph Muscat advised the people of Iceland not to join the EU, warning of economic consequences

It-Torca says a planned development in St Julian's will 'bury' the parish church. PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier has approached some neighbours insisting there should not be objections to the project. It also reports that sewage is still flowing into the sea because of a fault at Ic-Cumnija sewage treatment plant.

KullHadd says the Attorney General, through his decision to file an appeal, was showing that Anglu Farrugia was right to report alleged electoral corrupt practice.

Illum says that a former general secretary of the Labour Party, Dominic Fenech, has voiced regret at party plans to change the party emblem. It also asks if change is on the way at the helm of the MFA.

The overseas press

The New York Times quotes UN officials saying that the devastating floods in Pakistan have affected one million people and killed more than 800 in the deadliest such disaster to hit the region since in more than 80 years. Most died in north-west Pakistan, where several rivers burst their banks, washing away villages, roads and bridges.

Kathemerini says members of the Greek armed forces worked around the clock from Friday to supply airports, power plants and hospitals. Most filling stations around the country remained closed as Greece's 33,000 truckers entered their sixth day of strikes, protesting against the creation of new trucking licenses after the government stopped issuing new permits 40 years ago.

Pravda says Russian police have violently dispersed demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg, arresting opposition leader Boris Nemtsov and dozens of others. Rights activists have condemned the police for brutalizing protesters.

The BBC reports that Chelsea Clinton, daughter of former US President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has married investment banker Marc Mezvinsky at a lavish ceremony. Her parents said they felt "great pride and overwhelming emotion" at seeing their daughter married. The wedding was expected to cost between €1.5 million and €2.3 million experts told the Associated Press.

Deutsche Welle says a memorial service was held for the 21 people who were crushed to death at the Love Parade music festival in Germany. The ceremony was attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Christian Wulff and family members of the victims. The 21 people who died were aged 18 to 38 and included people from Spain, Australia, Italy, Bosnia, China and Holland.

The Sunday Express reveals that thousands of workers at the BBC were plotting to disrupt live TV coverage of the Pope's visit to Britain next September over plans to cut their pensions. Also threatened with blackouts were live broadcasts of the Last Night Of The Proms, Radio 5 Live's coverage of the Ryder Cup golf tournament and all three party political conferences.

The Independent on Sunday says David Cameron's comments about Pakistan's alleged links with terrorism were threatening to cause a full-scale diplomatic row after the country's intelligence officials boycotted a counter-terrorism summit in the UK and demonstrators burned an effigy of the Prime Minister on the streets of Karachi. Mr Cameron provoked fury when he said Pakistan must not "promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world".

According to a new opinion poll published in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Prime Minister Julia Gillard was heading for a shock defeat in next month's general elections. Government infighting and damaging Cabinet leaks are threatening to derail her campaign. The latest poll reversed a solid lead for her Labour Party a week ago.

Naples' Il Mattino reports that a 10-year-old girl has been pulled alive from the rubble of an apartment block which collapsed in the middle of the night in the small town near Naples. It was not clear why the apartment block had collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning. One of those killed was the girl's grandmother.

The Belfast Daily says some €12,000 in large denomination pound and euro notes were found hidden in the underwear of an Italian man who was caught as he was about to fly out from Belfast on a flight to Rome. The man later chose not to travel on the flight. The money would be returned if he can provide proof in court that it came from a legitimate source.

Journal du Dimanche says an 80-year-old Frenchman was recovering in hospital after being freed from a year locked in a laundry room by a wife almost half his age and her alleged lover. The unidentified man from Arrou, southwest of Paris appeared blinded, malnourished and physically abused by the ordeal at the hands of his spouse, who has been taken into custody. Her alleged lover and her son were released on bail after being charged with complicity with kidnapping and failing to report the abuse. Investigators suspect the motive was financial.