Malta and international press digest

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

The Sunday Times says the family of a soldier who almost drowned at Chadwick Lakes during an exercise on Friday are demanding answers from the AFM. It also reports that the Labour Party is proposing a state financing scheme to the political parties which will cost the country €7.2 million over five years.

The Malta Independent on Sunday says the government will soon start distributing vouchers for energy saving bulbs for all households.

Malta Today says a super mole is informing the PL of what the Prime Minister is doing. It also reports that the PL is enjoying a considerable lead in polls ahead of the June 6 European Parliament election. 28% have said they will vote Labour, more than 10 points more than those who will support the PN, but most people are undecided.

Il-Mument says the PL’s security unit has been reorganised amid anger by some of those involved. The newspaper also reports that a new pharmaceutical company will open in Malta and initially employ 100.

It-Torca says the AFM is still silent over what happened on Friday at Chadwick Lakes. The newspaper also carries the story of Maltese who served in the Vietnam war.

Illum says that almost half of those arraigned in court over the past 10 years have been granted bail. It also reports that Malta is at the head of an international fight against paedophilia.

KullHadd says the police are investigating a rare suicide pact which saw a 19-year-old girl die. The pact is said to have involved another two people.

The Press in Britain…

The News of the World leads with Jade Goody's plans to marry before she dies and reports footballer Frank Lampard's fiancee has left him.

With only weeks to live, Jade tells the Sunday Mirror she wants her two boys christened so they will know their mother is in heaven when she dies.

The Sunday Telegraph claims Lloyds is preparing to pay its staff about £120m in bonuses despite speculation the bank is about to be nationalised.

The Sunday Express reports Royal Bank of Scotland bosses are using £25m of taxpayers' money to wine and dine clients at Formula One races.

An HBOS official who was sacked for warning that the bank's lending culture was reckless tells The Independent on Sunday that Gordon Brown will have to quit as Prime Minister.

The Sunday Times reports the Labour government's chief adviser on welfare has quit to become a Tory front-bencher.

The Observer reports a row has erupted over how organ donations are allocated because heavy drinkers are receiving nearly one in four of the country's liver transplants.

The Daily Star Sunday runs a picture exclusive about the involvement of Top Gear stars in a helicopter crash.

And elsewhere…

Il Tempo says finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven leading industrialised nations have pledged to work together to do all they can to combat the worst global economic downturn in decades.

The Washington Times reports the US Senate has passed a $787-billion-plan to resuscitate the economy by 60 votes to 38, marking the last stop for the legislation before it passes to President Barack Obama to sign into law. Only three Republicans voted for the measure.

The Jerusalem Post quotes outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying there will be no cease-fire with Hamas unless they release Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit, seized by Palestinian militants in Gaza during a cross-border raid in the summer of 2006.

Pakistan Times reports that a suspected US missile strike near the Afghan border has killed at least 25 people and wounded more than a dozen others. Officials said an unmanned drone aircraft targeted a house which was used as a hideout by Taliban militants in the troubled South Waziristan tribal region.

The Daily Star says tens of thousands of people have held a rally in Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

And in Germany, Welt-am-Sonntag reports thousands of people have held a rally in the eastern German city of Dresden to show their opposition to an annual march through the city by neo-Nazi demonstrators. to mark the allied bombing of the city in 1945. More than 25,000 people died during the two-day bombing of the city in 1945.

Hindustan Times says the police have arrested six members of a hard-line Hindu group for attacking and cutting the hair of three couples on Valentine's Day near the Taj Mahal - India's white-marble monument to love. And members of another group vandalised a shop selling Valentine's cards and raided a restaurant looking for romantic couples in the Indian portion of Kashmir.

Virginia Globe reports a woman has pleaded guilty in an Ohio court to exercising her 73-year-old husband to death in a swimming pool, repeatedly refusing to let him leave the water.

New York Daily News quotes Joann Killeen, whose public relations group has represented octuplets mother Nadya Suleman, saying she was ending her free representation after receiving at least 100 graphic e-mailed threats and swarms of nasty voicemails. Word that the 33-year-old single unemployed mother is receiving public assistance to care for the 14 children she conceived through in vitro fertilisation has stoked furore.

La Republica reports that a fifty-year-old Antonio Gallo stopped his car Montemignaio to answer a call of nature – and watched in horror as it slid over a 40-meter cliff with his wife and children still in the passenger seats. He had failed to notice he had parked on an ice-covered slope. All passengers escaped unhurt A police spokesman said the man would not be charged with any crime but added “He's definitely going to get a life sentence of backseat driving from now on."