Malta and international press digest

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

A Zebbug  girl, 21, died in a traffic accident at Msida early on Sunday.

Natalie Gauci, 25, a girl of Maltese descent, has won Australian Idol, a popular contest for young singers in Australia.

L-ORIZZONT

Opposition leader Alfred Sant has called for a meeting of the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development to discuss the cost of living.

A Chinese man abandoned at St Luke's Hospital since August has left for China. The man had not been paid for three months but his wages were finally settled by the skipper of the trawler on which he worked.

IN-NAZZJON

An alleged  Egyptian drug trafficker is today expected to admit charges at the start of a trial.

THE MALTA INDEPENDENT

The Nationalist Party has thanked Foreign Minister Michael Frendo for putting Malta in the limelight, despite failing to get elected Secretary-General of the Commonwealth.

The Press in Britain...

The Times says Labour is facing criticism over a series of 'secret' donations, totalling more than £380,000. The legality of using intermediaries to give cash so that the identity of donors can be kept secret has been questioned.

The Guardian reports that Prime Minister Gordon Brown will call for an acceleration of nuclear power - and back calls for a third Heathrow runway - during a speech to business leaders today.

The Maddie McCann case gets a fair share of press coverage this morning: The Mail reports that Portughese police believe Madeleine's parents had sold her to solve a cash crisis. According to the Daily Star, however, Kate and Gerry McCann have branded these claims as 'laughable'. Half of the front page of The Daily Express is dedicated to the case as all through the week the newpaper will be serialising a new book revealing "the extraordinary facts behind the story that has intrigued and mystified the world".

The Express also claims that cancer patients are being hit by a 'care lottery' with sufferers in some areas getting more money spent on them than those in others. As a result of the huge variation in spending across primary care trusts, cancer patients may be dying. Positive news to cancer patients in The Herald saying thousands of patients referred for care are finally being treated inside two months - the first time waiting targets have been met.

The Daily Mirror says a dad got a letter of apology from civil servants over the lost data scandal - and found it contained private information about another woman.

The Metro claims young people in the UK do not care about the risk of HIV.

The Scotsman says safety procedures at a North Sea oil platform are under investigation after more than a hundred workers were evacuated following a fire.

Hospitals and schools are struggling to cope with a huge influx, a thousand a month, of babies born to Eastern Europeans, according to The Daily Mail.

A bid by US President Bush - "mistrusted and unpopular" -  to forge peace in the Middle East leads The Independent to ask whether this is "mission impossible". It claims the Israeli coaliation  of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is "crumbling" and that President Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine is "leader of only half his people".

The Telegraph says a report has warned British families are stretched to the borrowing limits with personal debt having almost doubled since the turn of the century.

The Financial Times predicts a consortium led by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is set to be named today as preferred bidder for Northern Rock. But investors may still try to block the deal.

The Record leads with the story of a minister tried to murder his wife with sleeping pills, stabbed her and then tried to strangle her.

The Sun says England must play Croatia again - to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

... and elsewhere

Zagreb's independent Nacional reports that the two main parties in Croatia were neck and neck following yesterday's general election

Bucharest's English-language Nine O'Clock says no quorum was reached in the referendum yesterday to see whether voters agreed with the introduction next year of the uninominal voting system as proposed by Romanian President Traian Basescu

France's Le Figaro leads with the riots that took place yesterday at Villiers-le-Bel, about 20 km north of Paris, where two youths of 15 and 16 died when their motorcycle collided with a police car. Eight policemen and a fireman were injured in the incidents

O Globo of Brazil reports that at least eight football fans were killed and hundreds injured following the collapse of a stand at the Fonte Nova Stadium in Salvador de Bahia. The incident happened as 60,000 spectators were celebrating the return of their local team to second division football .

The International Herald Tribune reports that Russian police have broken up an opposition rally, arresting activists for the second day running

Sydney Morning Herald says Australia 's Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd has outlined his priorities after winning a sweeping general election victory over outgoing Prime Minister John Howard. Mr Rudd said he would overturn a number of his predecessor's policies. He will sign the   Kyoto Protocol and pull troops out of Iraq.   

Nairobi 's Daily Nation reports a human-rights organisation's claim that Kenyan police killed as many as 8,040 people by execution or torture during a crackdown on a banned sect

Bangladesh Observer reports that a boat carrying about 100 people had sunk in the Bay of Bengal off a southern Bangladeshi island bordering Burmese waters.