Press digest

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

The Times reports that the constitutional case filed by Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco has been postponed at the request of the government's lawyers.

The Malta Independent says the hourly labour costs have decreased in Malta as they rose in the EU. It also says that inflation n Malta is now level with that of the EU.

l-orizzont reports complaints by ministers that their ministerial offices missing everything - including phone lines and stationery.

In-Nazzjon says the PN has set its agenda for the coming weeks.

The overseas press

European Voice reports that after some 10 hours of talks in Brussels, eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund struck a €10-billion deal early on this morning to bail out Cyprus. Under the agreement, the IMF would participate to the tune of €1 billion in loans. Deposits in Cypriot banks would be hit with a one-off “levy” of up to 9.9 per cent. The €10 billion offered to Cyprus is small compared with rescues for Greece worth some €380 billion, Ireland's €85 billion, Portugal's €78 billion and €41 billion for Spanish banks.

Radio Renascenca says the Portuguese government has announced it will have more time to reduce its public deficit to levels accepted under European Union rules. International lenders are willing to pay out the next tranche in bailout funds. The European Union, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Central Bank (ECB) cleared the way for Portugal to receive its next tranche of bailout funds worth €2 billion. In return, Portugal had to agree to sustainable spending cuts of some €4 billion or 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2015.

Le Soir reports France and the United Kingdom have unsuccessfully pressed the other 25 EUmember states to agree to drop the bloc's ban on the supply of weapons to the Syrian rebels. Instead, the possibility will be discussed by foreign ministers of the 27 member states when they meet informally next week. The sanctions package against Syria is due to expire in May

A $700 million shortfall of funds to help desperate Syrian refugees is jeopardising regional stability and international peace, the United Nations warned on Friday, urging nations to act fast. Beirut’s The Daily Star says UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres  said aid organisations have so far received only 30 per cent of funds needed to cover the basic needs of over 1.1 million Syrian refugees.

Il Tempo says Pope Francis will meet the world's press at a special audience at 11.00am today – billed by the Vatican as part of the greater openness that has characterised the first days in office of the former Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the first Catholic leader from Latin America. Under the simple slogan of “walk, build, confess”, the 76-year-old pontiff he has urged Catholic leaders to shun worldly glories and lead a spiritual renewal in the Church that would reach “the ends of the earth”. He has warned them that the Church could end up becoming a "castle of sand" and just a charity with no spiritual foundation without action. The railway worker's son said he and his cardinals were “elderly"-“, but old age brought wisdom “like good wine that gets better over the years”. Some 100,000 people are expected to fill St Peters' Square tomorrow when Francis is due to hold a mass and deliver the traditional Angelus prayer.

The German press agency DPA reports that Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann has accused Italy on Friday of dumping illegal immigrants on other Schengen countries. Hermann called Italy's behaviour "brazen", and accused Italian authorities of pushing out undocumented North African immigrants by handing them temporary visas for the Schengen area and "even €500 to make them leave Italy". The Bavarian minister called on the government to remedy the problem at the European level.

Italy's parliament – made up of 630 lawmakers in the lower house and 315 upper house senators – has failed to elect speakers to its lowest and upper houses after five rounds of voting as the deadlock since February's split election results continued. A two-thirds majority is needed to elect the two speakers – two of the highest offices of state who play a central role in managing the parliamentary agenda. The centre-left has a majority in the lower house but appointing a speaker from former comic Beppe Grillo's grassroots Five Star movement has changed the parliament's demographics, by far the youngest in Italian history, and has more women – around 31 per cent. The movement's spokesperson in the lower house, Roberta Lombardi, slammed Friday's inconclusive two votes as “a waste of €420,000 of public money”.

El Pais reports Spain was tightening conditions for older workers and those seeking early retirement to save €5 billion as part of its crisis cost-saving measures.  Employment Minister Fatima Banez told a news conference her government would raise the age for early retirement from 61 to 63, two years short of the full retirement age. Speaking after a weekly cabinet meeting, she said the reform would also curb access to long-term unemployment benefits for the over-55s, which would now depend on a family's overall income. It would allow retired people to continue doing paid work while still collecting half of their pension.

Reuters reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has voiced his support for an international treaty to regulate the $70 billion global arms trade, but restated Washington's “red line”, affirming that it would not accept limits on US domestic gun ownership. Arms control campaigners say one person every minute dies worldwide as a result of armed violence and a convention is needed to prevent the unregulated and illicit flow of weapons into conflict zones fuelling wars and atrocities.

El Universal says at least 12 people died and dozens more were hurt when a small lorry loaded with fireworks exploded in a small village in central Mexico. The blast happened during a religious celebration. Villagers had been taking part in a procession when a firework accidentally landed on the vehicle.