Local and foreign press digest

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

The following are the top stories in the local and foreign press.

The Times says Portuguese bank Banif, which opened its first branch in Malta yesterday, has big ambitions. It also announces that Air Malta and its pilots have at last reached agreement on a new deal.

l-orizzont gives prominence to the opening of the first branch of Banif Bank in Malta, saying the market appears ripe given the huge profits being made by HSBC and Bank of Valletta. The newspaper also refers to a weekend speech by Archbishop Paul Cremona, who said village feasts need to become more focused on the religious aspects.

In-Nazzjon says Banif will create 350 new jobs in five years. It also carries front page report on the roof collapse at St Julians yesterday and how the parliamentary House Foreign and European Afairs Committee unanimously backed the EU Lisbon Treaty.

The Malta Independent says lecturers at the Institute for Tourism Studies have again been told by the MUT not to submit exam papers until an ongoing industrial dispute is resolved. It also reports on the opening of Banif Bank in Malta.

The Press in Britain…

The Financial Times has the detail on the story which dominates the British papers today - the biggest stockmarket crash since September 11, 2001.

The Daily Mail says more than £75bn have been wiped from the value of blue-chip shares as the FTSE 100 suffered its worst one-day fall, down 5.5 percent to its lowest level for 18 months. The newspaper suggests that now is the time to cut interest rates.

The Daily Telegraph also talks of fears of a recession, saying that other European markets, and Asia, fared just as badly.

The Times carries a picture that sums up the sense of bewilderment when the Footsie closed down 323.5 points at 5578.2, almost equalling the dramatic 324-point fall seen the day after 9/11.

The Independent shouts 'Crash' and says that the plunge comes amid continuing fears about the US economy despite attempts by President Bush to shore it up through a package of tax cuts and other measures worth more than £72bn.

Under the heading “It never rains, it pours”, the Daily Express combines the worst market stock crash since 9/11 with rain and snow hitting most of northern Britain, where floods have shut businesses and forced residents to flee their homes.

The Daily Mirror reports how - handcuffed and sobbing - 33-year-old John Hogan from Bristol, is led into court on Crete. He is accused of murdering his six-year-old son by throwing him from a hotel balcony.

And elsewhere…

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says that there's no immediate end in sight to a drop in global stock markets. It reports that Japan's Nikkei index has lost more than four percent of its value in early trading this morning (European time ).

Belgium’s Echo de la Bourse quotes EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia stressing that the fundamentals of the European economies are sound.

Corriere della Sera reports that Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has been holding emergency meetings in a last-ditch attempt to save his government after a key partner withdrew from his centre-left coalition. Former Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, who resigned in a corruption investigation, has said that he wants snap elections to be held and that his party will vote against the government..

Jerusalem Post’s lead story is the ageement by Israel to allow a shipment of fuel, food and medicine into the Gaza Strip - the first crack in a blockade that it imposed on the territory last week in response to a spike in rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

The Internationel Herald Tribune quotes President Musharraf of Pakistan pledging to ensure that next month's parliamentary elections will be free and fair .

The New Zealand Herald says world dignitaries have paid their respects to Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary at his state funeral in Auckland. The adventurer, who died at 88 of a heart attack on January 11, scaled the world's highest mountain along with Tenzing Norgay on May 29 1953.

Santiago’s daily Ultimas Noticias reports an 81-year old man in the small Chilean village of Angol shocked his grieving relatives by waking up in his coffin at his own wake. When Feliberto Carrasco's family members discovered his body limp and cold, they were convinced that the octogenarian's had died. Instead of calling a doctor, they immediately called a funeral home. Carrasco's nephew Pedro told the newspaper that he was shocked to see his uncle looking at him from the coffin. The man who "rose from the dead" only asked for a glass of water.