Press digest

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

The Times says the Turkish man suspected of having murdered a Bulgarian woman, left Malta on Thursday. The murder was discovered on Saturday. It also reports that Libyan rape victim Al-Obeidy arrived in Malta last night from Libya.

The Malta Independent quotes the prime minister saying that pressure being made on MPs to declare their divorce vote is unwarranted. It also quotes Joseph Muscat saying the PM has no choice but to voteYes after having himself suggested the holding of the divorce referendum.

In-Nazzjon says more than 6,000 passengers came to Malta on two cruise ships yesterday. It also reports comments by the prime minister that the will of the majority will be respected.

l-orizzont says Saturday’s vote in parliament on ministerial pay is a vote of conscience.

The overseas press

Israel has defended its troops who opened fired on pro-Palestinian demonstrators trying to enter the occupied Golan Heights from Syria. Damascus Radio says the Israeli soldiers killed at least 20 unarmed people, including a boy of 12. But, according to The Jerusalem Post, the Israeli army has said its response was  measured and proper. The demonstrators were marking the anniversary of the start of the 1967 six-day war when Israel captured the Golan Heights.

Al Jazeera says five powerful explosions shook Tripoli as warplanes overflew the Libyan capital which has been the target of intense NATO air raids for the past two weeks. An AFP reporter is quoted as saying a powerful but distant blast was felt in the centre of the city at around 8 p.m. (MT) on Sunday, followed by stronger explosions a few minutes later. NATO fighter jets had earlier launched intensive air raids on the capital and its eastern suburbs. Reuters quotes a British defence ministry spokesman saying its Apache helicopters were in action for a second day, using missiles to destroy a multiple rocket launch system on the coast near the eastern town of Brega. Its Tornado aircraft, with other NATO warplanes, had attacked a surface-to-air missile depot in Tripoli on Saturday.

Vjesnik reports Pope Benedict has denounced the “disintegration” of family life in Europe and called for couples to make a commitment to marry and have children, not just live together. As he reaffirmed traditional Catholic family values during his second and final day in Croatia, the Pope also voiced the Vatican’s opposition to abortion. He was speaking at an open-air Mass at Zagreb’s hippodrome, the highlight of his trip to mark the local church’s national day of families.

Deutsche Welle says German officials have now said they believed locally-grown bean sprouts are the most likely source of the E.Coli bug which killed 22 people and affected some 2,200 others. Epidemiologists have traced the outbreak to an organic plant nursery south of Hamburg

Portugal's center-right Social Democrats have scored a convincing win over the Socialists in yesterday’s election, punishing the outgoing government for a 78 billion euro bailout that would bring deep austerity. Expresso says exit polls and partial results showed the PSD with around 39 percent of the vote, the Socialists with 28 percent and the CDS with 12 percent. Social Democrat leader Pedro Passos Coelho was expected to form a majority coalition with the small rightist CDS and implement the austerity measures agreed with the European Union and the IMF as part of the rescue package.

According to Skopje Diem, Macedonia's conservative ruling party, the VMRO-DPMNE, claimed victory in Sunday's early parliamentary elections but will probably have to seek coalition partners to form a stable government. Nikola Gruevski remains the prime minister, tasked to revive the economy, fight unemployment and poverty, and speed up the Balkan country's drive to join the European Union and NATO.minister of Macedonia.

El Peruano announces that left-wing nationalist Ollanta Humala was leading right-wing lawmaker Keiko Fujimori in Peru's presidential election. Exit polls showed Humala garnered 51.5 per cent of the vote and Fujimori 48.5 per cent.

Al Watan reports that Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh was recovering from an operation in Saudi Arabia to remove shrapnel from his chest while a truce between his troops and a tribal federation appeared to be holding. Sanaa Radio reports that protesters, interpreting Saleh's absence as a sign that his grip on power was weakening, celebrated on the streets of the capital where they had been staging anti-government demonstrations since January. Saleh was wounded on Friday when a rocket was fired into his presidential palace in Sanaa, killing seven others and injuring his closest advisers. He is being treated in a Riyadh hospital.

Dawn says at least 18 people have been killed in a bomb blast at a bakery in the town of Nowshera, in northwest Pakistan. More than 2,000 others were injured when the blast caused a large fire.

Afrique Avenire reports that anti-corruption officers in Nigeria have arrested the outgoing speaker of Parliament on suspicion of fraud. A spokesman for the country’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said Dimejo Bankole was detained at home in Abuja after a four-hour standoff following reports  he planned to leave the country.