Valletta, Malta  - EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot made a "solemn appeal" for Europe-wide solidarity Saturday in an attempt to help Malta deal with illegal immigration problems.

Barrot was in Malta as part of a fact-finding mission into conditions faced by illegal immigrants, mostly Africans, who try to enter the EU by reaching the island.

Valletta, Malta - International relief agency Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) on Friday said it had suspended its work at migrant detention centres in Malta, to protest the "unhygienic, inhuman and alarming" conditions there.

MSF's announcement came just hours ahead of the European Union's top justice official Jacques Barrot's visit to review conditions faced by would-be immigrants on the Mediterranean island.

Valletta, Malta - Nine people are expected to be charged in court in Malta for wearing religious vestments during the recent carnival, the police said.

The nine people aged between 20 and 35 years will be marched to court, days after Maltese bishops raised concerns about the behaviour of certain individuals and the costumes worn during this year's carnival in the small island of Gozo.

It is customary for some young people to dress up as priests and nuns during the rowdy carnival in the staunchly Catholic island.

Valletta, Malta - Dozens of Tunisian would-be immigrants awaiting deportation from Malta on Thursday set mattresses on fire and smashed window panes at an immigrant detention centre, officials said.

Maltese police and soldiers cordoned off the area around the Lyster Barracks centre, amid reports that some of the immigrants had escaped.

The incidents were sparked off by members from a group of 71 Tunisians who are demanding to be repatriated, but whose documentation has not been sorted out, a Home Affairs Ministry spokesman told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Valetta, Malta  - Some 227 would-be immigrants arrived in Malta Wednesday, further compounding the Mediterranean island's illegal immigration problems, authorities said.

The nationalities of the group, including two babies and 22 women, have yet to be established.

The arrival is the second this month by a large group of immigrants. Some 262 people landed on February 1.

Two groups of some 150 immigrants each arrived in December and January. Some 35 Egyptians were deported on Tuesday.

Switzerland - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday announced that they had extended the bans on two Maltese football players.

Ryan Grech, Malta international Claude Mattocks and Gilbert Martin tested positive for various prohibited substances and were banned for nine months, four months and a year respectively.

Football's controlling body FIFA, as well as the world anti-doping agency WADA appealed to CAS and asked for the bans to be extended to two years.

CAS said in a statement on Monday that they had partially upheld the appeal.