Press digest

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

The Times reports that the legal aid system is ‘in shambles’. It also reports how a worker at De La Rue was sacked over a missing tube of glue.

The Malta Independent leads with comments by the prime minister yesterday, saying that Dr Gonzi is optimistic about the economy.

In-Nazzjon says Dr Gonzi reiterated the government's focus on job-creation.

l-orizzont says Mepa chairman Austin Walker has been criticised after the names of two workers who complained to the Ombudsman over promotions were revealed.

The overseas press

The French Socialists of President Francois Hollande has taken the lead in the French parliamentary election on Sunday but it was unclear whether they had won a majority. France 24 reports exit polls showed the socialist bloc had won between 283 and 329 seats in France’s 577-seat parliament. It would need 289 seats for a majority. Turnout was estimated at 60 per cent. Hollande badly needs to win a majority in the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament to implement his economic policies. That would give the political left complete control over government, as the Socialist Party already has a majority in the Senate.

CBS announces that the Australian federal government had sent a senior diplomat to Libya to seek the release of an Australian lawyer who was being detained on spying charges. Melinda Taylor is one of four lawyers from the International Criminal Court (ICC) who was given permission to visit Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in Zintan last week. On Saturday, Taylor and the other three lawyers were detained for trying to pass on what a Libyan lawyer has described as "dangerous documents" irrelevant to Saif's case. The Australian government has called for Taylor's immediate release. The ICC has said the lawyers enjoyed immunity and should be freed immediately.

Meanwhile, Tripoli Post reports 13 people were killed on Sunday in a second day of deadly clashes between the Libyan military and tribesmen in the restive southeastern region. Violence reignited in the troubled city of Al Kufra in the early hours on Saturday, which is close to the border with Chad and Sudan and where the military has been trying to put a stop to feuds between the rival Tibu and Zwai tribes.

El Mundo quotes Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajo saying Spaniards would lose their jobs in a country where one out of every four are already unemployed. Across the country, Spaniards reacted with a mixture of anger and relief to the news that Europe had acted to secure the future of the euro by agreeing to open up a line of credit of up to €100 billion to Spain’s troubled banking sector. The amount of the rescue fund, if all is tapped, amounts to €21,000 of new debt for each person in the nation of 47 million where the average annual salary for those with work is about the same amount and the unemployment rate for those under age 25 is 52 per cent. The country is already reeling from deep austerity cuts Mr Rajoy has imposed over the last six months.

Israeli authorities have started rounding up South Sudanese migrants, three days after a court ruled that their lives were no longer threatened in their homeland. The Jerusalem Post reports 22 people were arrested on Sunday and  news of the swoop sent hundreds of African migrants onto the streets of south Tel Aviv in protest, some calling for the United Nations to intervene on their behalf. The Interior Ministry says some 60,000 African immigrants had entered Israel illegally.

According to El Universal, police in Chile have used teargas and water cannons to try to break up a protest against the screening of a documentary that praises the former military government of General Augusto Pinochet. Many of the anti-Pinochet demonstrators were arrested.

AFP says Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles has formally registered to run in October’s presidential elections. After leading tens of thousands of his supporters on a 10-kilometre march through the streets of the capital Caracas, he vowed to fight crime and corruption. President Hugo Chaves, who is recovering from cancer, is due to announce his candidature today.

Lagos’ Mirror quotes the Red Cross in Nigeria saying an angry crowd in the central city of Joss has killed six people after a suicide bombing on a church injured at least 50 people. Several are in a critical condition. In a separate incident on a Catholic church in the village of Tabra, in north eastern Nigeria, five gunmen walked in as the service was in full swing. They opened fire on the congregation, killing at least one woman and wounding three others.

Irrawady reports that a state of emergency has been declared in a part of western Burma, hit by violence between Buddhists and Muslims. A curfew was already in place in four cities in the state after the death of 17 people. The trouble followed reports that a Buddhist woman had been raped and murdered in an attack blamed on Moslems.

Le Monde says a rare letter in English written by Napoleon Bonaparte – errors and all – has fetched €325,000 at auction in Paris. The one-page letter, dated March 9, 1816, was penned by Napoleon during his post-Waterloo exile on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena, and is one of just three known to be in existence. After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, Napoleon was imprisoned and then exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821 age 51.

Football:  Gazeta Polska says UEFA is taking action against Germany and Portugal in the latest disciplinary measures to mar Euro 2012 after crowd trouble involving Russian fans at the weekend. The paper quotes a UEFA statement saying the German Football Association is charged with the throwing of missiles by their supporters, while the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) faces proceedings for a delayed kick-off to the second half. UEFA has already initiated proceedings against Russia. Croatia could also face disciplinary action from UEFA after its fans lit flares and let off smoke bombs to celebrate during the game against Ireland, which Croatia won 3-1.