Malta and international press digest

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

The Times reports that the US bailout plan was rejected last night. It also reports the 2006 audit report which found inadequate control over travel expenses at the Foreign Ministry.

The Malta Independent says the police may have identified the driver of a van involved in a hit and run incident at Birkirkara on Sunday. It also reports that the MFA and the police are investigating a top referee and a former coach amid corruption allegations in an international club match.

l-orizzont leads with the resignation of Joseph Cuschieri, who has surrendered his parliamentary seat to Joseph Muscat. It also focuses on the disappearance of French diver Alain Bellini.

In-Nazzjon also leads with the rejection of the US financial bailout plan.

The Press in Britain…

Most of the papers’ lead stories focus on the impact of the US House of Representatives’ rejection of the $700bn bail-out package to rescue the country's troubled financial system.

The Financial Times says markets were sent into a tailspin when the House of Representatives shocked investors by voting to reject the Bush bail-out plan.

According to The Independent, global stock markets suffered another Black Monday meltdown, plummeting as much as 8 per cent in a single day as panic continued to intensify.

The Times says that the financial system lurched closer to a catastrophic breakdown.

The Guardian reports the US government's plan collapsed as Congress voted 205 in favour and 228 against.

The Mirror says the world's economy was now on the edge of abyss.

Other stories:

The Express claims the Tories have pledged to freeze council tax bills for two years.

The Daily Mail reports that a millionaire banker has been beaten to death after intervening to save a couple being assaulted by a mob.

The Daily Telegraph says paranoia about paedophiles is stopping men working in primary schools.

The Sun says TV presenters Ant and Dec are being sued for £16m by an American comic called Ant to stop them using his name in the US.

The Daily Star pictures Britney Spears and reports her former lover Adnan has a sex tape of the singer which he is trying to sell for £5m.

And elsewhere…

The international finance market crisis is affecting more and more banks. Börzen-Zeitung reports that the news of the failure of the biggest US bailout in history came on a day when initial confidence in the sturdiness of the European banking sector took a battering as governments in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and The Netherlands found themselves forced to offer hastily-arranged state support for a handful of banks to avoid their collapse. In a concerted effort to ease the liquidity bottleneck, the US Fed and the European Central Bank have injected billions of euros into the finance markets.

Wall Street Journal says in total, Wall Street saw market value drop by 1.2 trillion US dollars, another record.

Nikkei Marketing Journal reports that the Japanese share prices have plummeted to a new low. The Tokyo Stock Exchange's benchmark Nikkei-225 index lost 579.87 points or 4.94% to 11,163.74 in early trading. Japan's central bank injected ¥2.0 trillion of emergency funds into the Tokyo money market to try to calm renewed financial turmoil.

Al Ahram reports that a military helicopter has flown a group of European tourists, who were seized 10 days ago in the Egyptian desert to Cairo for medical examinations. Many of the abductors had been killed in the operation to free the hostages. No ransom money was paid.

Washington Post confirms that the United States has delivered a powerful missile tracking radar to Israel to enhance regional defences against missile attacks from Iran. The system is designed to track ballistic missile warheads through space and provide ground-based missiles with the targeting data needed to intercept them.

Der Kurier says mainstream parties in Austria are entering difficult coalition talks after far-right parties emerged as the big winners in Sunday's snap general election. The Social Democrats remain the strongest party despite heavy losses. Jörg Haider, the leader of the right-wing Alliance for the Future of Austria, has said he was prepared to join a new government with the conservatives.

The International Herald Tribune reports that election monitors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe have criticised Sunday's parliamentary election in Belarus. The OSCE said despite "minor improvements", the poll failed to meet international democratic standards and that counting was flawed. None of the 72 opposition candidates secured one of the 110 seats in Belarussian parliament.

An-Nahar says a powerful explosion ripped through a bus carrying Lebanese soldiers on the outskirts of the northern port city of Tripoli, killing four soldiers and a civilian. At least 28 other people, mostly military personnel, were wounded in the blast.

The New York Times quotes UN reports that around 20,000 people from Pakistan's north-western tribal region of Bajaur have fled to Afghanistan this summer due to the increase in fighting between Pakistani government forces and militants.