Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with the China earthquake, with the confirmed dead rising above 13,000. It also carries a report on the arraignment of two men after the discovery of fireworks in a Zebbug house. A picture of Morena leaving for Belgrade for the Eurovision Song Contest is also carried on the front page.

In-Nazzjon reports how the number of gainfully occupied grew sharply in December and unemployment dropped by close to 1,000. It also carries a picture of Morena at the airport.

MaltaToday Midweek says a party-commissioned report on the MLP electoral defeat has been completed and is to be discussed shortly by the party executive. It also recalls that in 1975 the PN changed its rules so that the party leader was elected by the party councillors, not the paid up members.

l-orizzont says three foreigners have been arrested following the stabbing of an Uzbeki man in St Julians late on Monday. It also reports the discovery of a fireworks cache in a residence in the heart of Zebbug.

The Malta Independent says there are four likelycandidates for PN general secretary.

The Press in Britain...

The Daily Telegraph reports that more than 20 million people will receive a £120 tax giveaway after Chancellor Alistair Darling was forced into an unprecedented emergency Budget.

The Times continues that the move, which involved Mr Darling borrowing £2.7bn, followed mounting criticism over the Government’s abolition of the 10p tax rate.

The Herald quotes shadow chancellor George Osborne insisting Labour's generosity is mere panic ahead of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election.

The Independent warns that Britain is haunted by the spectre of stagflation - a combination of stagnant output and high inflation.

The Scotsman leads with the picture of Housing minister Caroline Flint's memo that inadvertently revealed that house prices are expected to fall by between 5 and 10 percent in real terms this year.

On a brighter note, the Daily Express says two major supermarkets and a leading mortgage lender are planning a host of cost-cutting deals to ease spiralling household bills.

The Daily Star claims that police are investigating reports of missing British girl Madeleine McCann being spotted in Brazil.

And elsewhere...

Details are gradually emerging of the devastation following China's worst earthquake in decades. The People's Daily says that army-led rescue teams are struggling to reach areas in Sichuan province where 12,000 people have already been confirmed dead and tens of thousands are still missing or buried under collapsed buildings. Beijing has welcomed offers of help from the international community but the government said conditions were "not yet ripe" to allow in foreign rescue teams, citing damage to transport links.

European Voice reports EU development ministers meeting in Brussels have demanded "free and unfettered" access to disaster-hit Burma to speed emergency aid relief to victims of the cyclone. However, they stopped short of asking the world to deliver aid without Burma's consent, despite calls from Germany, France and Britain to act without the regime's approval. They emphasised the motive is humanitarian and not political.

The Asian Age confirms that at least 60 people have been killed and scores injured in a series of blasts in the north-western Indian city of Jaipur. Police said seven bombs exploded within minutes of each other at markets around the historic pink-walled city, which is a popular tourist attraction. Responsibility is being put on Pakistani or Bangladeshi Islamist militant groups.

Ha'aretz quotes Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert saying understandings and agreements on very important matters had been achieved in talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The Israeli leader emains confident a comprehensive agreement could be reached with the Palestinians. Olmert's comments came on the eve of a visit to Israel by President Bush, who has been pushing to have a final Israeli-Palestinian peace deal signed by January 2009.

The Daily Star says Arab League mediators are due to arrive in Beirut to try to broker a solution to Lebanon's political crisis. The delegation travels to Lebanon in the wake of some of the worst internal fighting between Hezbollah fighters and pro-government gunmen since the civil war. At least 60 people have been killed and over 200 wounded.

Teheran Times confirms Iran has presented the EU with proposals to reduce tensions on a number of global issues, including its own nuclear programme. The Iranian embassy in Brussels declined to give any details of the package, saying only that its ambassador presented the ideas to the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana.

The Boston Globe quotes a The Harvard University study showing that girls and young women who exercise regularly had a 23 per cent lower risk of developing breast cancer before the menopause than those who were not. The study confitmed the results were "one more reason" to encourage girls and women to exercise.

Quensland Independent says a species of shrimp has super-sensitive eyes that can literally see "over the rainbow", scientists at the University of Queensland revealed.The mantis shrimp from the Great Barrier Reef has an appreciation of colour far superior to that of humans. Instead of three primary colours - red, green and blue - they recognise 11 or 12. The creatures also see colours off the edge of the rainbow, experts said.