Press digest

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

The Times says that Enemalta, the WSC and the buses top the list of complaints by the Maltese, according to an EU survey. The banks and internet services top complaints abroad.

The Malta Independent says the French government has voted through the Senate an increase in the pension age. It also says that the Malta Business Bureau is deeply disappointed by the European Parliament's maternity leave vote. The Maltese government is expected to vote against the extension of maternity leave to 20 weeks.

l-orizzont carries comments by GWU General Secretary Tony Zarb that the burdens on the workers would continue after the Budget. It also says that the abandoned Flower Power complex has been ransacked.

In-Nazzjon says Fgura council has lost €49,000 because of financial irregularities in road works contracts. It also reports on the launching of the public consultation on a law on SMEs.

The overseas press

The International Herald Tribune quotes US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemning the disclosure of any classified information that threatened national security or put at risk the life of coalition forces or civilians. She was reacting to the release of some 400,000 secret American documents by the WikiLeaks website. They reveal that US authorities failed to take any action on repeated of allegations of abuse, torture, rape and murder by Iraqi police and soldiers. The files mention reports of Iraqi forces using electric drills on people’s bodies. One detainee said he had acid poured on his hands and his fingers cut off.

Sky News reports that the US was "reaching out" to more than 300 Iraqis it believed were at serious risk after their names were exposed in the secret Iraq war documents revealed by WikiLeaks. A Defence Department spokesman said that if released on the internet, enemies would have access to an extraordinary database to figure out US tactics, techniques and procedures.

The Times says secret medical documents have backed official conclusions that weapons inspector David Kelly killed himself as the British government sought to end speculation over his death. Dr Kelly’s body was found in woods near his home in 2003 after he was identified as the source of a BBC story claiming the Government “sexed up” its dossier on Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction.

The Jerusalem Post reports UN special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, Richard Falk, has told the UN General Assembly that Israel's West Bank settlement construction has made the formation of a Palestinian state an almost impossible task. He said this amounted to a de fact annexation by Israel. Surveys found hundreds of homes in West Bank have begun to be built since settlement freeze was lifted three weeks ago.

France 24 says the French Senate has voted through President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular reform of the country's pension system, which would raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62 and the maximum age for a full pension from 65 to 67. They voted 177 votes to 153. The bill has already been passed by the National Assembly, but still needs to be approved by a parliamentary committee, a process that is likely to be completed next Wednesday.French trade unions say the protests against the reform would continue.

Il Mattino reports that as the rubbish piled up in Naples, and at least 20 police officers were injured in violent clashes with protesters, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has vowed to solve Naples' long-running garbage crisis. He told a news conference in Rome after an emergency meeting that he expected that within 10 days, the situation in Terzigno could return to normal. The government's plans to build a new dump in Terzigno, 20 kilometers southeast of Naples in Vesuvius National Park, have for years met with fierce opposition by locals, who have repeatedly blocked access to the existing waste disposal site there.

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on the final stop of his European tour that also included stops in Paris and London. In an interview with Deutsche Welle, he said that tackling the problems of the 21st century required reforms to international institutions. He said much more efficient and more powerful multilateral institutions were needed to address the problems of the 21st century: global warming, environmental protection, terrorism, drug trafficking.

Le Matin says more than 2000 have died so far in central Haiti Health as aid workers struggle to contain the first cholera epidemic to hit the country in a century. More than 1,000 people are reported to be infected.

The Scotsman reports that a nuclear submarine that ran aground off the Isle of Skye has been towed free. HMS Astute, said to be the most advanced nuclear-powered submarine in the world, ran into trouble during an exercise on Friday morning and its rudder became stuck on a shingle bank near the Skye Bridge.

The Birmingham Post says a former British priest has been jailed for 21 years for a campaign of sexual abuse against young boys over more than two decades. James Robinson, 73, who has lived in the United States since 1985 but was extradited from California last year to face trial, was found guilty of 21 sexual offences by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court.

The London Evening News reports a drug dealer has been jailed for three and a half years after his efforts to board a train using a child's ticket led to police discovering he was carrying £40,000 worth of cocaine. James Hiskey, 30, was arrested last June after British Transport Police officers on the lookout for bike thieves spotted him behaving in a suspicious manner.

USA Today says Guinness World Records has confirmed that a massive pumpkin grown in the US is officially the world’s heaviest. It tips the scales at 821.24 kilos (1,810.5lb). When turned n its side, the pumpkin is more than waist-high to an average-size person.

Globes reports that an Israeli has broken the record for most simultaneous games of chess played by an individual, seizing the title from a chess master from Iran. Guinness World Records has confirmed Israeli chess champion Alik Gershon became the new record holder after he played 523 people in a Tel Aviv plaza, beating 86% of them. The previous record, 500 games, was set last year by Iranian champ Morteza Mahjoob.