Press digest

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

The Sunday Times interviews Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi, who says he received thousands of SMSs from Franco Debono. It also says cinemas must invest in new technology or downsize. 

The Malta Independent on Sunday interviews the PN leadership contenders. It also says the new Mepa chairman wants a holistic approach to planning. 

MaltaToday says surplus school buildings may be sold. 

It-Torca picks on the same theme and says the former government built a new school ever year, and abandoned the rest. 

Il-Mument says the new police commissioner was mentioned in a report on alleged beatings at the time when he was an inspector. 

Illum says the Arms CEO who has been suspended but refused to resign received a salary of €65,000.

KullHadd reports comments by minister Chris Cardona that he was not given a proper hand-over. 

The overseas press

The Boston Globe reports that a special US interrogation team, which includes officials of the FBI, CIA, and Defence Department, is waiting to question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the bombing of the Boston Marathon. The 19-year-old is under armed guard in hospital after he was found seriously injured and hiding in a boat in a backyard, shortly after a Boston-wide lockdown ended on Friday.

The Los Angeles Times says Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has become the focus of a heated debate over whether he should receive the Miranda warning or be treated as an enemy combatant. US Attorney Carmen Ortiz indicated on Friday night that investigators planned to question Tsarnaev without the standard reminder of his rights to remain silent and to request a lawyer. That could make him the first test of a two-year-old Justice Department policy expanding emergency exemptions when questioning terrorism suspects. Ortiz's statement brought criticism from the left and right. American civil liberties activists said the decision would erode civil liberties for everyone. But some Republicans said that it did not go far enough, and that Tsarnaev should be treated as an enemy combatant.

New York’s Daily News says so many Americans confused the Czech Republic with Chechnya after the Boston Marathon bombing suspects' ethnicity came to light, that the Czech ambassador to the US released a statement with a miniature geography lesson.  He said “the Czech Republic and Chechnya are two very different entities – the Czech Republic is a Central European country; Chechnya is a part of the Russian Federation”. Petr Gandalovic called it “a most unfortunate misunderstanding” but some responses on Twitter are less diplomatic. One recommended Americans "open a geography book once in a while” while another said: “Well done, US education system.”

The BBC reports hundreds of extra police officers will be on duty at the London Marathon later today in a bid to reassure runners and spectators after the Boston bombings. More than 35,000 runners are due to take part in the race. A 30-second silence will be held at the start line for the three people killed and more than 170 others injured by the bombs at the Boston Marathon on Monday. The Met Police says 40 per cent more officers will be on duty than last year. Security plans had been reviewed after the Boston attacks.

More than 160 people are now known to have been killed and 6,700 injured in the strong earthquake that hit a mountainous part of southwestern China on Saturday morning. The official Xinhua news agency reported that at least 10,000 homes were destroyed and the quake also triggered landslides – prompting a major rescue operation in the same area where 87,000 people were reported dead or missing in a massive quake in 2008. Rescue workers continue to search through the rubble for survivors.

Giorgio Napolitano has been elected president of Italy for a second term. Euronews reports Napolitano was due to stand down on May 15, but the failure of parliament to elect his successor after five attempts prompted party leaders to hold last-minute meetings with the 87-year-old to persuade him to stand again. President Napolitano will now play a crucial role in forming a new government for Italy after inconclusive results in the February election. Italian politics is gridlock at a time of recession, high unemployment and falling living standards.

The New York Times reports Secretary of State John Kerry has announced the United States would double its aid to the Syrian opposition, providing $123 million in fresh non-lethal assistance. The new donations would go beyond the current provision of food and medical supplies but he did not elaborate. The announcement came at a meeting in Istanbul with foreign ministers from 10 other Western and Middle Eastern nations that was convened to decide how to help the opposition in the bitter Syrian civil war, which has killed more than 70,000.

According to the North’s main newspaper Rodong Sinmun, North Korea has said it would never agree to talks on denuclearisation, but would be open to negotiations for arms reduction. The United States and South Korea have called on Pyongyang to resume the six-party talks over its nuclear programmes to ease tensions on the peninsula. The negotiations involving both Koreas, the US, Japan, Russia and China, stalled in 2009. On Thursday, Pyongyang demanded an end to UN sanctions and the US-South Korea military drills as conditions for a dialogue.

The semi-official Isna news agency quoted Iran foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast saying the country was a committed signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and would continue co-operating with the UN nuclear watchdog agency. Five major powers on Friday labelled Iran and North Korea as “serious challenges” to the world’s nuclear security, saying they have defied UN sanctions. The West suspects Iran is pursuing nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Minneapolis Star Tribune reports a renewed search for the remains of a stillborn baby, who officials believe was mistakenly bundled up with soiled linens bound for a laundry, ended on Saturday with Regions Hospital officials saying the missing body may never be found. The stillborn is believed to have been wrapped in linens in the Regions morgue in St Paul and accidentally sent to a Red Wing laundry facility in the same shipment of linens in which the remains of another stillborn boy were found on Tuesday. One expert said the cases were a lesson for all hospitals – not just Regions – to re-evaluate their staff training and heavy workloads.

According to the results of research published in the Scottish Medical Journal, men who don't wear underpants have higher sperm quality compared to those whose reproductive organs are tucked away in tight underwear and trousers. Studies investigating the decline in semen quality have suggested a number of reasons, from living near places with high air pollution, to changes in lifestyle and rising levels of obesity. There are those who believe men who wear Scottish kilts have better sperm quality and fertility – especially as the traditional dress of Scotland is worn without underwear. About 70 per cent of Scotsmen still choose to wear nothing under their kilts.