Press digest

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

The Times says the Prime Minister is expected to announce his decision on Spring hunting in the coming days. It also reports concerns by two engineers on the quality of some road works.

The Malta Independent says tourist arrivals have increased by 7% so far this year. It also reports that a number of pharmacies have objected to the granting of a temporary licence for another pharmacy to operate in Republic Street because of the City Gate project.

In-Nazzjon gives prominence to the increase in tourist arrivals in February, the third successive month of growth.

l-orizzont says the Marriage Registrar is refusing applications by migrants because their documents do not prove identity. The Ombudsman said last year that migrants had a right to marry. The newspaper also reports a protest outside Dar Malta in Brussels calling for abortion rights to be given to all women in the EU, including Malta.

The overseas press:

The Washington Post says the White House has expressed "great concern" over a deadly assault by militants on the American consulate in the north-western Pakistani city of Peshawar which left three guards and four militants dead. The raid came hours after 43 people died in a suicide attack just to the north-east, near the Swat Valley.

Avvenire quotes Pope Benedict acknowledging that the Catholic Church is in "times of difficulty" and spoke of priests' special responsibility to society. In an Easter Monday prayer, he told hundreds of followers at Castel Gandolfo that the priests should be "messengers of victory over evil and death". Many of the assembled worshippers waved banners of support. The pope avoided direct comment on sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Irish, Austrian, Swiss, German and US churches in recent days.

Kyiv Post announces that Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has dissolved the commission which was to work towards NATO membership, declaring that the current level of cooperation with NATO was "sufficient." It's the latest move to abandon the pro-western stance of the 'Orange Revolution' and re-establish ties with Russia.

EU Observer says a German container ship has been freed from pirates off the coast of Somalia. A Dutch frigate, part of the EU's anti-piracy mission, recaptured the ship and arrested the pirates. The crew was unharmed.

Metro says fresh calls have been made for the release of the Lockerbie bomber's medical records after reports that he could be dead within a month. The Tories made the demand after a specialist claimed the Libyan's cancer had spread. According to British cancer expert Professor Karol Sikora, 58-year-old Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi is no longer being treated for the disease and is bed-bound at home.

Sydsvenskan reports that at least 1,000 people have gathered in the southern Swedish town of Landskrona in a protest against violence, after a 78-year-old woman died there last week following a dispute about a parking space. The woman died last Wednesday from a fatal blow to her head delivered by a younger man two days earlier when she was trying to defend her 71-year-old husband during the fight in a supermarket parking lot.

Los Angeles Times reports that Judge Michael Pastor has been appointed to hear the case of Dr Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson's doctor accused of giving him a lethal dose of powerful anaesthetic. Dr Murray, 57, has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter. Judge Pastor adjourned the case until mid-June, when he is expected to rule on whether to revoke Dr Murray's medical licence pending the full trial.

USA Today quotes the world number one golfer Tiger Woods saying he can win his fifth Masters this week, despite having been out of action for five months because of a highly damaging sex scandal. He also said he had been "blown away" by the reception from spectators during a practice round at the Augusta National on Monday.