Malta and international press digest

The following are the main stories in the local and international press:

The Sunday Times reveals that a mid-air collision close to Malta’s airport in April last year, between a passenger airliner and an ultra-light aircraft was averted when the planes were just 180 meters apart. A report is expected to blame the Italian light aircraft and, to an extent, air traffic controllers, although the controllers insist the light aircraft never showed up on their radar screnes.The newspaper also reports that Mr Austin Walker is expected to be appointed chairman of Malta Environment and Planning Authority, MEPA.

The Malta Independent on Sunday leads with the launching of the first phase of SmartCity Malta. It also quotes the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report which says that Malta remains a destination country for women trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Il-Mument also leads with the launching of SmartCity but a second lead focuses on the election for the deputy leaders of the Malta Labour Party and says that the moderates were heavily beaten.

In an interviews with Illum, Labour secretary-general Jason Micallef cnfirms he will contest the party’s executive elections for another term.

It-Torca quotes Foreign Minister Tonio Borg saying that the government was disappointed with the Irish referendum rejection of Lisbon Treaty.

Malta Today says Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will not appoint Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando to a Cabinet post. It also reveals that Enemalta will build a new electricity substation, costing €82,000 almost for the exclusive use of the illegally-built boathouses in Armier.

KullHadd says that there is a waiting list of 9,060 patients to see an optometrist.

The Press in Britain…

The Independent on Sunday reveals secret Government documents have been left on a train. The files detail the UK's policies on fighting global terrorist funding, drug trafficking and money laundering.

The Sunday Express says council tax bills will be cut for 400,000 families if the Conservatives win the next general election.

The Mail on Sunday claims that the union boss leading the fuel tanker drivers' strike is already earning £4,000 a year more than his members will receive, even if their pay demands are met.

The Sunday Telegraph reveals the Church of England has held a homosexual "wedding" for the first time as two male priests exchanged vows and rings.

The Observer reports George Bush has warned Gordon Brown not to announce a timetable for a British withdrawal from Iraq. Wayne and Coleen Rooney look slightly glum on the paper’s front page, despite the fact they are heading off to Sir Richard Branson's Caribbean island for their honeymoon.

The Sunday Mirror claims the Rooneys' wedding rings cost £1m. The paper also has photos of Paul Gascoigne meeting his son for the first time in three years.

According to the News of the World, Princess Diana's former butler Paul Burrell has boasted that they had sex. The revelations come from his wife's brother Ron Cosgrove.

And elsewhere…

The Miami Herald leads with the safe landing at Cape Canaveral in Florida of the US space shuttle Discovery following a successful mission to expand the International Space Station. NASA gave the shuttle the green light after it determined that the loss of a small clip from its rudder speed-break posed no risk for the landing.

In the light of the Irish vote against a new European Union treaty, the EU should suspend its expansion. The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, has told Bild am Sonntag the Irish 'no' vote has pitched the European Union into crisis. EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso denied that the Irish referendum had scuppered the Lisbon Treaty, but said European leaders would meet for crisis talks.

The Irish Times leads with President Sarkozy of France saying that Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty should not be allowed to develop into a crisis and called for the ratification process to continue elsewhere. But Dnes of Prague quotes Czech President Vaclav Klaus warning the vote spells the end for the reforms. The treaty has already been ratified by 18 European states.

Teheran Times says the Iranian government has rejected a European Union offer, delivered yesterday, to end its nuclear stand-off with the United Nations Security Council. EU chief diplomat Javier Solana the deal to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at a meeting in Tehran. The package offers Iran political and trade incentives in return for halting uranium enrichment.

International Herlad Tribune quiotes President Bush saying he was “particularly frustrated" at Iran’s awnswer to the EU proposal. He was commenting during a joint news conference with President Sarkozyfollowing talks which have demonstrated the reconciliation between their two countries. Their discussions focused heavily on the Middle East.

Mainichi Shimbun reports finance ministers of the Group of Eight industrialised countries have said rising oil and commodity prices were threatening global growth. The ministers, meeting in Osaka, called on oil producing countries to raise production but stopped short of announcing concrete measures to fight price hikes.

Jerusalem Post reports the arrival of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her latest round of talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, aimed at moving the Middle East peace process forward. Ahead her arrival, she described Jewish settlement building "a problem" and said Israel had not done enough to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Afghan Times says local and foreign troops are hunting for hundreds of prisoners, including Taliban militants, who escaped the main prison in southern Kandahar city after a raid by Taliban insurgents. Militants used two suicide bombers to blast their way into the compound, before gunmen on motorcycles stormed the prison. Officials said 15 guards were killed in the raid.

Iowa Fall Times reports some 20,000 people have been driven from their homes after severe storms caused several rivers to flood their banks. Authorities have issued mandatory evacuation in several cities.

Asahi Shimbun reports rescue teams ae working against time to rescur some 100 persons trapped under rubble after landslides cause by a powerful earthquake which rocked rural northern Japan yesteday. The 7.2 magnitude quake, which killed at least five people and injured more than 200, triggered landslides which destroyed roads and left residents cut off.

Sydney Morning Herald reveals a major drug trial in Sydney was abandoned as jurors admitted they had been playing Sudoku during evidence. They admitted doing the number puzzles to beat the boredom during long periods of evidence, during a three-month trial that cost £500,000.