Press digest

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

The Times says that environmental standards are to be imposed on the shipyard. It also reports that 16 drivers failed breathalyser tests on New Year’s Eve and were fined.

The Malta Independent says the Opposition and the social partners have been outraged by the latest fuel and gas price increases.

In-Nazzjon says Mellieha hotels were fully booked during the festive season. It also focuses on New Year sales.

l-orizzont leads with the impact of fuel price rises on the transport sector and says commuters will feel the pinch. It also features the funeral in Zebbug to former minister Philip Muscat.

The overseas press

The BBC reports that Coptic Church leaders across Europe have revealed they had been the target of threats in the wake of the New Year's Day bomb attack on a church in Alexandria in which 21 people died and dozens were injured. A priest in Paris filed a complaint to police which has led to an inquiry by the anti-terror squad. A senior official in the UK said threats had been "outlined" against two churches, and a bishop in Germany has called for government protection.

The attack has prompted widespread condemnation across the political spectrum in Europe. Ansa says that Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has urged his EU counterparts to respond forcefully to the attack and to the discrimination of Christians throughout the world. Italy is set to present an EU-backed UN resolution on religious freedom.

Meanwhile, Al Ahram reports that Christian protesters have again clashed with riot police in a Christian area of Cairo. The head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda called on the government to address Christian grievances. Apart from Egypt and Iraq, there have also been anti-Christian campaigns and attacks in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria.

Iran has invited Russia, China, the European Union and its allies among the Arab and developing world to tour its nuclear sites. The invitation, contained in a letter made available to The Associated Press, was issued by Senior Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh who said meetings “with high-ranking officials” were envisaged during the weekend of January 15 and 16 The offer comes just weeks before Iran’s new round of talks with the US, and five other world powers.

Al Thawra quotes authorities in Yemen saying two boats with African migrants had capsized off its coast, killing more than 80 people on board. Powerful winds had been sweeping the area when the vessels sank. Most of those who died were said to be Ethopian.

Kathemerini says Greece has scaled down its plans for a border fence with Turkey to stem illegal immigration – from the original 206 kilometres to a 12.5-kilometer-long and three-meter-high fence along a weak entry point on the border, near the Evros river and the town of Orestiada. The scaling down followed critical remarks from the EU and human rights organisations, including Amnesty International.

A senior US State Department official has told AFP that incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo could be offered refuge in the US as a means to end the country's political crisis. The offer came as a delegation of African leaders met Mr Gbagbo in a new effort to persuade him to step down following disputed elections. But observers said he had refused all offers to step down in return for an amnesty, financial security and exile abroad.

La Padana says Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation into the alleged bugging of the home and offices of Northern League leader Umberto Bossi, the minister for reforms in Premier Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right government. He revealed that bugs were discovered by a private firm called in when his secretary got suspicious because too many people knew what he had said to her alone.

The Jerusalem Post reveals that Israel has charged two Palestinian workers at the British Consulate in Jerusalem with arms trafficking, in connection to an alleged plot by militants to fire a rocket into football stadium – the home of Beitar Jerusalem, one of Israel’s leading soccer teams. The team has attracted controversy because of the behaviour of its fans and their reputation for chanting racist anti-Arab slogans during matches.

Beebe News says US scientists believe fireworks may have caused more than 3,000 of birds to fall from the sky over the Arkansas city of Beebe on New Year's Eve. Karen Rowe, of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said the red-winged blackbirds, which have poor eyesight, probably flew low to avoid explosions and collided with objects. However, she stopped short of declaring the mystery solved, saying further tests on the dead birds are planned.

Clarin reports that bank robbers in Argentina have dug a 30-metre tunnel into a vault and then picked more than a hundred safety deposit boxes. The robbery, in Buenos Aires, was detected when staff returned to work after the New Year weekend. The thieves are thought to have spent six months digging the tunnel complete with lights and ventilation.

The Irish Independent reports that the Immigrant Council of Ireland has welcomed reports that the government was considering a radical overhaul of the laws on prostitution. Under existing legislation, the police could prosecute a woman working as a prostitute, but could only prosecute a man if he was caught in the act of buying sex on the street. The new laws would make it illegal for a man to buy sex, but would not criminalise prostitutes. Similar laws introduced in Sweden have halved street prostitution there.