Malta and international press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press today. The newspapers are dominated by yesterday’s two fatal traffic accidents.

The Times leads with the fatal fall of a toddler, Gabriel Agius, who fell down a shaft at Zebbug and the fatal traffic accident involving Elaine Caruana, a 23 year old model in Zejtun. It also carries comments by the Maltese MPs who took part in yesterday’s debate in the Council of Europe on the decriminalisation of abortion.

In-Nazzjon leads with the accidents. It also reports that Malta has proposed in the EU that bureaucracy should be eased to promote SMEs. It also insisted that the Council of Europe vote on abortion is non-binding.

l-orizzont also leads with the fatal accidents. It also reports that Anglu Farrugia will seek election as deputy leader for party affairs of the MLP.

The Malta Independent reports the accidents and previews today’s casual elections which will complete the composition of Parliament.

The Press in Britain...

The Times says Gordon Brown has declared that the world must stop Robert Mugabe from stealing the Zimbabwean election, raising the prospect of a run-off contest supervised by UN monitors.

The Daily Telegraph is the only British daily to carry a picture of the Pope with President Bush during his visit to the USA. Its lead story reports that Gordon Brown has ordered banks to disclose the size of their debts from poor quality home loans.

The Financial Times says the world’s top banking regulators have moved to tighten the screw on the industry with new rules aimed at preventing a repeat of the crisis that has rocked the financial system.

The Independent says the price of farmland is rising at its fastest rate for more than 30 years as wealthy city dwellers and overseas buyers seek a slice of rural England.

The London Evening News quotes the Internet Watch Foundation calling for an international campaign to eradicate child pornography websites based abroad and have those responsible investigated. It claims the number of child porn "domains" on the web fell by nearly 10 percent from 3,052 in 2006 to 2,755 last year.

The Guardian leads with a report about the head of one of the UK’s leading exam boards warning that up to 40,000 students could be left with “worthless” qualifications unless flaws in the diploma course are corrected.

The Daily Express reports that police chiefs will tell the Home Secretary that immigration from Eastern Europe has led to a huge surge in crime.

Metro says health campaigners are calling for higher prices on drinks to stop drink-fuelled crime.

Reporting on the state of dental care, the Daily Mail says half of the population has not received any dental care on the NHS in the last two years and thousands turn up at hospital emergency departments for treatment.

The Scotsman reports Scottish scientists have been entrusted with the task of saving one of the rarest animals on the planet, the northern white rhinoceros, of which only 13 are left.

And elsewhere...

The Washington Post leads with the Pope's call on the United States to seek to resolve international conflicts diplomatically, rather than resorting to military means. In an address to 10,000 invited guests at the White House, he said that, Americans had demonstrated a firm commitment to promoting freedom and meeting humanitarian needs. A joint statement released following a private meeting between the Pope and President Bush said the two touched on a broad range of topics including Iraq, terrorism and immigration.

London's pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat reports Israeli forces have killed 17 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in an air raid in the Al-Bureij refugee camp in southern Gaza. The air strikes came after three Israeli soldiers and four Hamas militants were killed in an Israeli ground incursion targeting sites that are said to be used for rocket attacks on the Jewish state. A television cameraman with the Reuters news agency was among those killed.

New York Times says that both the United States and Britain insisted on raising the issue of Zimbabwe's current political crisis during the UN Security meeting to discuss ways of improving co-operation between the council and the African Union. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep concerns over the uncertainty created by the refusal of Zimbabwe's electoral commission to release the results of the presidential election.

Tbilisi's Mtavari Gazeti reports Georgia has condemned Russian plans to establish closer legal ties with the two Georgian breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. President Putin ordered his government to recognise businesses and organisations registered under local law in the two regions, and to look into providing consular services to Russian residents there. The move is being seen as retaliation for Georgian efforts to join NATO. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana voiced concern about the step, saying the EU supported Georgia's territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, Libya's Al-Jamahariya says during his 24-hour visit to Tripoli, President Putin will have talks over energy contracts and arms sales. Putin was whisked to Bab Azizia Palace, where Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi usually pitches his tent when in Tripoli.

Le Monde reports that six Somali pirates who seized a French luxury yacht and held its crew captive for a week have arrived for trial in France. French troops arrested the pirates in the Somali desert on Friday after they had handed over the 30 hostages and fled with a ransom. The waters off Somalia's coast are some of the most dangerous in the world for pirate activity and France has called for greater international cooperation to combat piracy at sea.

Israel's Yediot Ahronot quotes Iranian websites disclosing that the Teheran's police chief has been dismissed after he was surprised last month of visiting a brothel and filmed having sexual relations with six prostitutes. The paper says General Reza Zarei was surprised in a raid ordered by Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahroudi. The paper notes that prostiutution in Iran is illegal but has lately been on the increase because families are facing financial difficulties.