Malta and international press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times reports that Brussels wants the liquidation of Malta Shipyards but the government is insisting on consideration of social needs.

The Malta Independent like the other newspapers, gives prominence to the arraignment yesterday of a man accused of killing his business partner in Qormi.

l-orizzont says a dangerous Pole, wanted for a string of serious crimes, has been caught in Malta and faces extradition.

In-Nazzjon leads with yesterday's government-organised conference on SMEs, where Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said SMEs were given €38m in direct aid over the past three years.

The Press in Britain

The Daily Telegraph calls the takeover of Britain’s biggest mortgage lender Bank of Scotland (HBOS) by Lloyds TSB “the biggest rescue deal in British banking history”.

Metro quotes critics claiming the collapse of HBOS shares was fuelled by the practice of short-selling, where traders make profits from falling stock prices.

The Scotsman says yesterday was "the blackest day in Scottish banking".

The Independent claims the merger “puts 40,000 jobs at risk”.

The Guardian reports the takeover has failed to halt the deepening crisis in the world's financial markets.

According to the Financial Times, credit markets have been gripped by panic as volatility sparked the biggest flight to safety since the second world war.

The Daily Mail claims homeowners and savers will suffer from the sale of HBOS.

The Times asks whether Morgan Stanley would be next.

The Sun says even singing Howard, the face of Halifax in its TV adverts, could be among the redundant.

According to the Daily Star, Paul Gascoigne has marked the end of a month-long booze bender by having a bottle of whiskey for breakfast.

And elsewhere…

The Wall Street Journal reports that the US government's efforts to bail out troubled insurance giant AIG, by injecting $85 billion, has failed to calm investors' nerves. Major US stock indices, including the Dow Jones, dropped between four and five percent. US crude oil prices jumped six dollars to settle at just over $97 a barrel, and gold jumped nine percent, its biggest one-day gain in eight years.

USA Today reports that America has been bombarded with new television adverts from its presidential candidates, both promising to end the economic meltdown and declaring their candidate was best suited to fix the badly wounded economy. Democrat Barack Obama offered bipartisan unity to stem the downward spiral, while Republican John McCain repeated his vow to reform Wall Street.

Jerusalem Post says Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has claimed victory in the contest to lead Israel's ruling Kadima party as exit polls suggest she won by a clear margin. Outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has already congratulated her on her expected win, finishing significantly ahead of her opponent, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz.

The Washington Post quotes President George Bush saying that an attack on the American embassy in Yemen was a reminder that the United States remains "at war" with extremists. CNN says Yemeni officials believe al Qaeda was responsible for the attack. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the the explosions bore the hallmarks of an al Qaeda attack.

The People’s Daily says the baby milk scandal in China has taken a dramatic turn for the worse: more than 6,000 babies have fallen ill after drinking milk powder contaminated with the toxic chemical, melamine. Three infants have already died and 158 are being treated for acute kidney failure. The chemical was added to milk powder to make it seem richer in protein.

The New York Times confirms that three US soldiers have been charged with murder for their role in the killing of Iraqis last year. The paper quotes US Army sources saying the three face charges of premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.

South China Morning Post says the Japanese designer of Sarah Palin’s glasses has thanked her for creating a sales boom

Christian Science Monitor reports that the founder of social networking website Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, has made it on to the Forbes list of the 400 richest Americans. He is just 24.