Malta and international press digest

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

The Times reports how the Ombudsman has criticised the authorities and hospital consultants on the management of waiting lists. It also reports that the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for an economic stimulus package.

The Malta Independent says the association of local council secretaries has reacted to complaints by the police, saying that political interference had a negative impact on administration. A senior police officer a few days ago claimed some secretaries had inadequate knowledge of the law. The newspaper also reports that the Climate Change Committee will present its report to the Prime Minister today. It says Malta has to halve its CO2 emissions or face consequences from the EU.

l-orizzont leads with Joseph Muscat's speech in Parliament last night on the Rent Reform Bill. He said the opposition agreed that a reform was needed but this Bill should be withdrawn because too much of a burden was being placed on low income tenants. It also reports carried in other newspapers yesterday about dissent in the PN over the nomination of George Abela for the presidency, mentioning Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando and Simon Busuttil.

In-Nazzjon highlights the €40m investment by Melita in mobile telephony and also says that low cost airline Ryanair is hoping to get 500,000 passengers to Malta this year.

The Press in Britain

The Guardian quotes Foreign Secretary David Miliband saying the US-led military-based "war on terror" may have strengthened the position of violent extremists.

The Financial Times says every British household will be guaranteed access to broadband internet.

The Times says customers buying new cars will get loans from the taxpayer under a controversial plan to rescue the beleaguered motor industry.

The Daily Express claims the Army wants to scrap its Gurkha regiment as it will cost too much to care for veterans who settle in Britain.

According to The Sun, Nasa scientists are to reveal new evidence to suggest that there really is life on Mars.

The Herald reveals official talks are being held in secret which could see the Lockerbie bomber dropping his appeal, being freed and being sent back to Libya.

And elsewhere…

The International Herald Tribune says the UN General Assembly is holding an emergency session to press for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Al Ahram says an Egyptian truce proposal is gaining momentum with an Israeli envoy due to meet Egyptian mediators in Cairo later today.

Al Ayyam quotes medical sources in Gaza say the Israeli offensive to end Hamas rocket attacks has so far killed over 1,000 Palestinians. Nearly a third of the dead are reported to be children.

Al-Jazirah reports Saudi Arabia has called for an emergency meeting of Gulf countries to discuss the Israeli offensive.

Kyiv Post quotes a statement by President Yushchenko saying that while he supported the idea of holding a crisis summit bringing together Russia, Ukraine and the European Union, the meeting should not be held in Moscow. Meanwhile, the chief of the EU's executive, Jose Manuel Barroso, has threatened legal action against Russian and Ukrainian energy companies if gas supplies to Europe are not restored soon.

Le Parisien says a French court has acquitted six people on charges of distributing an infected growth hormone in the 1980s, which killed at least 114 people. The victims died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a degenerative brain disease also known as the mad cow disease. Families of the victims denounced the decision and the Paris prosecutors office said it had filed an appeal.

The European edition of The Wall Street Journal reveals China has overtaken Germany as the world's third-largest economy. Beijing's national statistics office published corrected figures for the year 2007, revising the growth of the country's gross domestic product from just under 12 per cent to 13 per cent. The revised figures put the country's largest economy just behind the United States and Japan in terms of size.

The New York Times reports US prosecutors yesterday failed in their second attempt to have Bernard Madoff jailed, when a New York court rejected the their argument that the disgraced fund manager was a flight risk.

Variety reports the deaths of Mexican-born 88-year-old actor Ricardo Montalban, who played the lead role in popular US TV show “Fantasy Island”, and 80-year-old Patrick McGoohan, who created the cult 1960s TV Series "The Prisoner".