The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times leads on how Air Malta workers said ‘yes’ to the airline’s restructuring deal.
The Malta Independent reports how Austin Gatt was discharged from hospital after treatment for stomach pain yesterday.
MaltaToday says Malta could reduce energy bills by half with free technology, according to the CEO of a Norwegian company. It also says there is renewed interest in oil exploration.
l-orizzont reports how 92% of GWU workers in Air Malta approved the airline’s restructuring plan. It also says that the EU has warned Malta and other countries over their excessive deficit.
In-Nazzjon says global digital gaming giants have chosen Malta as their base to develop a new game.
The overseas press
Berliner Zeitung quotes German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying the European Union must agree to make treaty changes quickly. She told a business conference it was the only way to deal with the eurozone debt crisis and regain market confidence. She has signalled the issue would be dealt with at the next EU summit on December 9. Not all 27 member-states are in favour of changes to EU treaties.
With an overwhelming majority of 232 votes in favour and just 72 against, the Hungarian parliament has passed a law increasing VAT to 27 per cent – making it the highest in the EU. Budapest Business Journal reports it also raised the levy on small businesses to 37 percent of net revenues – up to a maximum €98,000 a year, a new 30 percent tax on third-party insurance premiums for drivers. The tax package comes as Hungary has had to seek outside help to overcome its economic troubles.
Greece is braced for another wave of industrial unrest with the announcement of the first cuts protest since its interim government took over. Ta Nea says the country’s largest trade union, the GSEE which represents mainly private sector workers, will strike on December 1. Meanwhile, workers at the Athens metro, tram and electric rail network held a four-hour work stoppage to protest against measures that included the suspension on partial pay of about 30,000 civil servants.
Italians are overwhelmingly in favour of cutting their country’s enormous debts, as long as they do not have to make personal sacrifices to achieve it. Sole 24 Ore quotes the results of an AP-GfK poll showing that 93 per cent considered public debt a priority, but only about a quarter favour reforming employment laws to make it easier to fire workers or approve of raising the retirement age to 67. Those reforms were considered critical to curbing Italy’s public spending and boosting its economic growth.
The leader of Egypt’s military council has promised a faster transition to civilian rule in the wake of mass protests against the armed forces. Al Ahram reports that in a live TV address, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi said that next week’s parliamentary elections would go ahead as planned and a presidential poll would be held before next July. Despite the field marshal’s promises, thousands of protesters remain in and around Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Tripoli Post says Libyan interim Prime Minister Abdel Rahim al-Kib has announced the formation of a transitional government to bring the country up to parliamentary elections by the end of June next year. The new Minister of Defence will be Osama Al Juili, the commander of the Zintan forces which captured Col. Gaddafi’s son Saif al Islam.
The Washington Times reports that the Pakistani ambassador to the United States has resigned over allegations that he wrote a memo asking for Washington’s help to restrain Pakistan’s military. Hussain Haqqani denied he had any role in writing or delivering the memo to America’s most senior military officer Admiral Mike Mullen.
Wall Street Journal says the US drugs firm Merck has agreed to pay almost $1billion and plead guilty to a criminal charge to settle charges arising from the marketing of one of its drugs, Vioxx. The drug was withdrawn in 2004 after ot was found to increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Dallas Morning News reports that police have honoured a man whose "keen observation skills and strong sense of civic duty" led them to Lee Harvey Oswald, who had crept into the back of a darkened movie theatre to hide on November 22, 1963, shortly after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Police Chief David Brown presented Johnny Calvin Brewer with the department's Citizen's Certificate of Merit and praised his selfless act and "exemplary conduct" 48 years ago during a ceremony at the Texas Theatre – the same place where Oswald was captured about 80 minutes after Kennedy was killed.
The Daily Telegraph reports that hundreds of thousands of elderly people in the UK were suffering abuse and neglect from care workers. The study into elderly care by the Equality and Human Rights Commission also makes the front page of the Daily Mail which says that the neglect was so appalling that some wanted to die.
Women in the UK are to be allowed to have their baby by caesarean section, even if they have no medical reason for the operation. Sky News reports that controversial new guidelines, issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), said women should be allowed to have a C-section as long as they have first been counselled about the risks. The watchdog insists that its new advice reflects current practice and will not mean every woman is offered a caesarean
The troubled Qantas airline has been left with a PR disaster to clear up after a competition on Twitter backfired. The Herald Sun says the company invited users of the micro-blogging site to describe their "dream luxury" in-flight experience. It was bombarded with thousands of abusive comments instead.