Press digest

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

The Times says that despite an agreement with Greece, EU finance ministers’ have not yet issued the green light for another bailout. It also says that the police are to take Ballut Blocks to court over the Mosta valley oil spill.

The Malta Independent says Greece has agreed to the bailout conditions.

In-Nazzjon announces new government sports sponsorships. It also says there has been a 30% increase in students who continue their studies beyond secondary school.

l-orizzont says the GWU has called on the MCESD to discuss the political situation at its next meeting. It also reports how the government will demolish the court building extension in Strait Street, Valletta.

The overseas press

Bloomberg reports that eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels held back a rescue package for Greece in a rebuff that left lawmakers in Athens under government pressure to endorse a newly-minted austerity plan or exit the euro. After chairing emergency talks of euro-area policy makers in Brussels, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said aid was dependent on Greece detailing €325 million in more spending cuts, legislation to implement the measures and all of its major party leaders signing up to the programme in writing so they don’t retreat before upcoming elections. “In short: no disbursement without implementation,” Juncker said. He set another extraordinary meeting for Wednesday. The troika – formed by the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF – had given Greece 15 days to find €300 million of cuts to secure the bailout.

Meanwhile, Nea reports that Greek the agreement on a fresh round of painful austerity measures sparked strong reactions in Athens with Socialist Deputy Minister of Labour Yannis Koutsoukos tendering his resignation. In a letter addressed to Papademos, he said the troika’s refusal of Greek arguments amounted to blackmail and the destruction of labour relations. His resignation fuelled scenarios of a cabinet reshuffle in the coming days and the prospect of snap general elections sooner than April as expected, amid rumours that the small rightist Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS) party could announce a walkout from the coalition later today. Euronews reports Greece’s two major unions have called a 48-hour strike for Friday and Saturday against the reforms.

At the end of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti at the White House, President Barack Obama said the US would do whatever it could to help stabilise the eurozone. The Wall Street Journal reports Obama also said he hoped that eurozone member states might create a stronger “firewall” to allow a more stable growth towards the payment of debt and the promotion of a growth strategy in Europe, important for the global economy and hence also for the US.

Il Tempo says the Vatican has launched an international internet centre against paedophilia at the close of a four-day Vatican summit aimed at ending decades of abuses and cover-ups. The move came at a Vatican conference on how to protect victims of clerical sexual abuse, attended by representatives of more than 100 countries. The Vatican’s Chief Prosecutor, Mgr Charles Scicluna, told the bishops he had received more than 4,000 freports of abuse over the past decade, 1,000 of which were registered in the last 24 months. He warned bishops they would be held to account if they ignored new anti-abus rules.

CNN quotes a Syrian opposition group reporting that at least 137 people, including 10 children, died at the hands of government forces yesterday as President Bashar al-Assad escalated his brutal assault against an opposition to his regime. Thursday marked the fifth consecutive day of attacks on opposition activists and civilians in the besieged city of Homs, the flashpoint in the uprising. Meanwhile, Al Arabiya reports that Russia has rejected the legitimacy of the western initiative addressed at forming a "Friends of Syria" coalition as happened last year for Libya.

Asharq Al-Awsat says Iraqi authorities executed at least 65 people in the first 40 days of 2012 for various offenses, including 14 on a single day. London’s Pan-Arab daily quotes Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director of the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, saying trials often violate international standards with many defendants unable to challenge the evidence against them. More executions were expected.

El Tiempo says the Mexican army has seized 15 tonnes of methamphetamine in the western state of Jalisco. Soldiers found the synthetic drug, thought to be the largest amount ever seized in Mexico, at a ranch after a tip-off by a local. Meanwhile, The Sydney Morning Herald says Australia police seized more than $25 million worth of illegal drugs hidden inside juice cartons in Sydney's north. Police believe they were imported from Iran.

According to Sky News, a leopard has dragged away and devoured a teenage girl in Nepal in what is thought to be the fifth deadly attack by the same wild animal in the space of two months. The 14-year-old was cutting grass in the forest near her home when she was attacked. Three young girls and a 35-year-old pregnant woman had also been killed in the weeks leading up to Wednesday's attack. The people of the village are quoted as saying the district forest office refused them permission to kill the leopard, saying that the law did not allow it.