Press digest

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

The Times reports how a 'gale hit the government' with a Cabinet reshuffle and declarations against the government by Franco Debono.

The Malta Independent says the Cabinet reshuffle did not appease Franco Debono. It also highlights the nomination of a Maltese cardinal.

In-Nazzjon leads with the withdrawal of the ministerial pay rise.

l-orizzont says the government has lost its majority following Franco Debono's declarations.

The overseas press

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned that if the rest of the EU dragged its feet for too long, France would strike out on its own to impose a financial transaction tax. Le Monde says he made the pledge following a meeting in Paris with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. Italy had joined Germany in the past in urging EU members to jointly implement such a tax, rather than having members do it unilaterally. Britain opposes implementing such a tax, saying it would only drive business to other countries where the tax doesn't exist. In the next few weeks, Germany and France's finance ministers are set to meet and discuss how much support the tax has. Merkel is also scheduled to host a meeting with Sarkozy on Monday in Berlin.

EU Times says the European Commission has rejected Belgium's 2012 budget as over-optimistic and has demanded further cuts. European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Olli Rehn has told the Belgian Finance Minister that spending needs to be reduced by a further €1.2/€2 billion. The Commission told the new Belgian government that it wants a response to its request by Monday at the latest. New rules agreed in December give the Commission added powers to enforce budgetary discipline with fines and penalties for infringement.

The Wall Street Journal announces that unemployment in the United States fell last month to 8.5 per cent – the lowest level in nearly three years. Official figures show that the number of new jobs was also up by some 200,000. President Obama welcomed the figures.

For the second time, The Boston Globe, one of the most influential US dailies, has decided to dump Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, endorsing instead former US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman from Utah. In 2008, the Massachusetts daily, a leader in New Hampshire, venue of next Tuesday’s primary, had supported John McCain and not Romney.

Al Bawaba says the Syrian government has blamed “terrorists” for a suicide bomb attack in Damascus but the opposition has accused the government for staging it as a diversionary tactic. Syrian officials say that at least 25 people were killed and many more wounded. Activists say that since the revolt began 10 months ago, some 6,000 demonstrators have been killed.

Meanwhile, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad told Al Jazeera television that Syria was not implementing a deal with the Arab League aimed at halting violence in the country. He added that Arab League monitors could not stay there to "waste time".

The Daily Trust quotes the police in northeast Nigeria say at least 14 people have been killed by gunmen in drive-by shootings. Suspected Islamists militants from the radical Muslim sect Boko Haram carried out the attacks. Six Christian worshipers were also killed on Thursday.

The former head of Turkey's armed forces has been jailed on suspicion of plotting against the government in Ankara. Gazete Oku  says the retired general, Ilker Basbug, is accused of complicity in a failed coup from 2003. As Turkey's former military chief – he retired in August 2010 – Basbug is the highest-ranking officer to become embroiled in the so-called Ergenekon case, a long-running crackdown on alleged dissidents within the country's military and secular establishment.

Jamaica Gleaner says the country's new Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller has pledged to drop Queen Elizabeth as the island's head of state and make the island a republic. Speaking as she was sworn in for the second time as prime minister, he said the time had come for a change. She described the Queen as a "wise and wonderful lady" but said the government and opposition were putting constitutional reforms in place to make the change before the country turns 50 on August 6. Jamaica celebrates its golden jubilee this year, having declared independence from Britain in 1962, but it has remained within the Commonwealth and still has the Queen as head of state.

The Washington Times quotes a US navy spokesman saying it had rescued a group of Iranian fishermen who had been held by pirates in the Arabian Sea. When the patrol boarded the ship, the US navy personnel arrested 15 suspected pirates and freed 13 Iranians held captive for several weeks.

The New York Times says the Obama administration has expanded the FBI's more than eight-decade-old definition of rape to count men as victims for the first time and to drop the requirement that victims must have physically resisted their attackers. Vice President Joe Biden, author of the Violence against Women Act when he was in the Senate, said the new definition was a victory for women and men "whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years". He called rape a "devastating crime".