Local and foreign press digest

The following are the top stories in the local and overseas press today:

The Times leads with a call by Joseph Muscat for a common front on national issues such as ST Microelectronics. It also reports the discovery of explosives in a bag near Birzebbugia. In another story, it says attempts are being made for Joe Debono Grech to withdraw his resignation from the MLP.

In-Nazzjon says an anonymous e-mail on the day of the MLP election had sought to harm leadership contender George Abela. The e-mail showed a picture of members of Dr Abela’s family at a PN mass meeting. The newspaper also reports Joe Debono Grech’s resignation from the MLP and the victory by Aaron Ciantar in the powerboat races.

l-orizzont says Joseph Muscat has promised a new face to local politics. It says he instilled new enthusiasm in the MLP at a rally yesterday.

The Malta Independent says the new Labour leader had sent a strong message of unity. He yesterday personally invited all former and current Labour MPs to a rally.

The Press in Britain...

The Daily Telegraph reports that the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 has reached 100. It follows the deaths of three soldiers in a suicide attack on a routine patrol in the southern Helmand province.

Metro says a new UN report has found that children in Britain are being criminalised, subjected to violence and discriminated against.

The Times also refers to the same UN report, saying its condemns Britain's punitive youth justice system and the vilification of teenagers as yobs.

The Daily Express says that under Labour, the number of jobless claiming handouts for being "too stressed" to work has soared by 800 percent.

According to the Financial Times, large British companies pay more in corporate taxes on the wealth they create than their competitors in Germany, France and Switzerland.

The Guardian claims that some of Britain's most senior police officers have broken ranks with their colleagues to denounce government plans for detaining terrorism suspects for 42 days without charge.

The Independent reveals the British government has been urged to abolish a £10bn-a-year "hidden subsidy" to the airline industry to bring it into line with hard-pressed motorists struggling with higher fuel prices.

The Daily Mirror leads with the agony of a mother of two young boys who were killed in a motorway crash, saying she and her husband were "devastated" at their loss. Plymouth Argyle's 24-year-old goalkeeper has been charged with causing their death by dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and driving without insurance.

The Daily Star says two Fathers 4 Justice campaigners climbed on to the roof of minister Harriet Harman's home.

The Scotsman says that teachers are angry at police officers being posted in schools and want tougher limits on their powers.

The Daily Record reports a schoolboy has been charged with carrying out 11 separate sex attacks in just 90 minutes.

And elswhere...

Fox News reports the world's top industrialized nations and leading oil consumers, meeting in the northern Japanese city of Aomori, have pledged to fight skyrocketing energy prices by increasing efficiency and accelerating investment in new technologies.

The Miami Herald quotes Colombian industrial professionals saying they are preparing to become the first to make ethanol from sugar cane in a US facility. They would be the first company to use mills for the sole purpose of making organic fertilizers and ethanol from sugar cane. United States-made ethanol is now derived only from corn.

Next Thursday’s Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on the future of Europe could produce a knife-edge result: the latest opinion poll in Dublin’s Business Post indicates support for the treaty stands at 42 per cent, with 39 per cent opposed. But with 19 per cent still undecided, the outcome appears finely balanced. Ireland is the only country holding a referendum on the treaty.

Kyiv Post reports Ukrainian rescue teams are racing against time to try to rescue 37 trapped miners, amid fears the mine could flood. The miners were carrying out work to improve safety.

Kathimerini says at least two people have died and 90 others have been injured when a strong 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck near the Greek port city of Patras, about 120 miles west of Athens.

Teheran’s pro-government broadsheet Abrar quotes Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stating his government would not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for an attack on Iran.

Asahi Shimbun says a 25-year-old man "on a murder mission" ploughed into pedestrians with a truck and then stabbed 17 people, killing at least seven in a grisly attack in Tokyo. The attack came on the seventh anniversary of a mass stabbing in the country.

El-Watan reports two successive bombs rocked a train station in Algeria, killing 13 people, mostly crews responding to the first bomb.

Al-Ahram quotes the Egyptian minister responsible for petroleum saying his government will review the price of natural gas exported to Israel after criticism from opposition groups.