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

The Sunday Times reports how a Sudanese man is critical after being beaten up in Paceville.

The Malta Independent leads with the state funeral of Censu Tabone.

MaltaToday says Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici is refusing to reopen the inquiry into the death of Nicholas Azzopadi, who had said he was beaten by the police.

It-Torca says migrants are again at the heart of a conflict between Italy and Malta.

Il-Mument gives prominence to the Censu Tabone state funeral. 

KullHadd says a second major fraud scandal has broken out in the VAT Department. 

Illum says the Health Ministry has blown away €76,000 in receptions and lunches in just over two months.

The overseas press

Tripoli Post says the Libyan government has formally requested the handover of Col. Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief and right-hand man, Abdullah al-Senussi, who has been arrested in Mauritania. He was detained at Nouakchott airport after flying in from Morocco using a fake passport. Senussi, 63, fled Libya when Gaddafi was ousted and killed last year. The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for his arrest last year for crimes against humanity. Mauritania has not signed the ICC's statute, and it is unclear what the country intends to do with Senussi.

Le Monde quotes the French authorities saying the arrest was carried out in a joint operation between French and Mauritanian authorities, and President Nicolas Sarkozy said he would request Senussi's extradition. A French court convicted the former spy chief of involvement in a 1989 attack on a French plane that killed 170 people, and sentenced him to life in prison.

 Al Jazeera reports at least 27 people killed and 97 others wounded in two car bomb explosions in Damascus. State television blamed "terrorists" for the explosions which targeted a customs office and air force intelligence post. Most of the casualties were civilians. State-run news agency SANA said a third blast went off near a military bus at the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in Damascus later in the day, killing the two suicide bombers.

Al Ahram announces the death in Egypt of the head of the Coptic Church, Pope Shenuda III. He was in his late eighties and was in poor health. The Coptic Church is the major Christian Orthodox community in Egypt, making up 10 per cent of Egypt's population of 80 million. After attacks on Coptic Christians in recent years, Pope Shenouda urged officials to do more to address the community's concerns. He succeeded Pope Cyril in 1971.

CNN says a Shia militant group in Iraq says it has released a former American soldier, kidnapped last year. The group, loyal to the Shita cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, produced the man in US military uniform at a news conference in Baghdad and said it was releasing him as a goodwill gesture. The man, who did not provide his name, said he was taken hostage last June while working in a civilian capacity. He was kidnapped in Baghdad and kept at various locations in the city. The man is identified by al-Sadr officials as Randy Michael.

Reuters reports 12 South American countries have issued a joint statement rejecting Britain’s military presence in the British-controlled Falkland Islands. The foreign ministers at the UNASUR group of South American nations also demanded a negotiated settlement to what they called “an anachronistic colonial situation in the Americas”.

According to Voice of America, people around the world donned green yesterday and celebrated St Patrick's Day. Participants dressed up as leprechauns, danced and in keeping with tradition, kept the beer flowing. Hundreds of thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin to watch the annual parade, while in Aldershot, Prince William's wife, Catherine, presented members of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards with sprigs of shamrock in a tradition dating back to 1901. Across the Atlantic, thousands of Americans gathered to see the Chicago River dyed green. Parades were also being held in New York and other US cities, while Irish bars and restaurants were serving green beer and traditional Irish food. A large number of ancestors of Irish-Americans went to the US in the 1840s to escape Ireland's great famine.

UPI quotes the results of a recent study conducted by the Asphalt Industry Alliance showing 20 percent of England’s roads to be in need of urgent repair within the next five years, with an estimated cost of €11.4 billion. Two-thirds of local authorities across the country say they have been unable to carry out necessary road repairs. The Highways Agency, which is only responsible for 10 percent of roads in the country, had to pay over €3 million in compensation last year alone for vehicle damage and personal injuries. Automobile Association President Edmund King called the state of roads across the country “dangerous”.

The British Press gives front-page prominence to the collapse of Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba during an FA Cup quarter-final tie against Tottenham. The Sunday Mirror says the 23-year-old is being treated in the intensive care unit of the heart attack centre at the London Chest Hospital. Muamba is said to be showing "real fight" in his battle for life. Medics spent six minutes trying to resuscitate him on the field after he fell to the ground with no other players around him.

 

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