Malta and international press digest

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

The Sunday Times leads with the international financial turmoil and says Maltese have €74m stashed in Jersey.

MaltaToday quotes Labour leader Alfred Sant saying hacking at MITTS has been going on for two years.

The Malta Independent says that according tot he World Economic Forum, Malta has the tenth soundest banking system in the world. It also reports that the heirs of a dockyard worker were awarded €103,000 in compensation for his asbestos poisoning.

KullHadd highlights the legal battle for custody of Gozitan boy Shaun Attard. An English court had ordered that he be returned to the UK but the decision was later reversed and he is now back in Malta with his father.

Il-Mument leads with remarks by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech who says that the country has to decide whether to subsidize various sectors or invest.

It-Torca says the new utility rates are being introduced without proper economic study. It also quotes psychologists saying children in Malta are increasingly harming themselves to feel better. It also reports that a Xarabank survey has shown a majority in favour of divorce.

Illum reports comments by UHM general secretary Gejtu Vella who likens the introduction of the new power tariffs to that by the Labour government in 1998 saying consultation was again lacking.

The Press in Britain…

The Sunday Times reports on the bleak warning by the head of the International Monetary Fund that the world is on the brink of a financial meltdown.

According toThe Observer, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will try to broker a Europe-wide bail-out of banks modelled on the UK's £500bn rescue bid.

The Sunday Telegraph reports that the British Government is prepared to take full control of the banks and nominate representatives on their boards to halt the credit crisis.

The Independent On Sunday says hundreds of thousands of council workers may not be paid this month because their wages are frozen by the Icelandic bank collapse.

According to the Sunday Express, the BBC is facing a backlash over a new TV drama featuring gay sex, murder and Mother Teresa.

The Sunday Mail reports the American fiancee of Glasgow Airport car bomb hero John Smeaton dashed 3,500 miles to his hospital bedside after he suffered an asthma attack.

Southern Daily Echo quotes 22-year old Kristy Hale telling of her delight after she gave birth to triplets when she became pregnant despite being on the pill – at odds of one in 200 million.

And elsewhere…

Leaders of the 15 eurozone nations are meeting in Paris to discuss plans to tackle the financial crisis, after which each country will unveil its own measures. Le Journal du Dimanche says the leaders of France and Germany have renewed calls for joint action by the European governments, saying the Eurozone will set up a “toolbox'” of measures to respond to the turmoil.

The Washington Times reports the International Monetary Fund has endorsed a plan of action put forward by G7 representatives to tackle the global financial crisis.

Zimbabwe Independent says President Mugabe has laid claim to all key Cabinet posts and state security apparatus in a direct challenge to a power-sharing agreement. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change called the action "unilateral, contemptuous and outrageous."

The New York Times reports that North Korea has been removed from a terrorism blacklist after agreeing to all US nuclear inspection demands.

According to Pravda, at least 12 people died and buildings were damaged when an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 rocked Chechnya and parts of Russia's North Caucasus. More than 60 people were injured.

Christian Reporter says hundreds of terrified Christian families in Iraq have fled Mosul to escape Sunni extremist attacks despite months of operations to secure the city.

San Francisco Chronicle says hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to battle a fast-growing wildfire that is threatening homes and wineries in California's Napa Valley.

Il Mattino says police in Naples have arrested seven alleged mobsters, including an actor who played a boss in an award-winning movie denouncing the mafia.

Los Angeles Times reports that a Japanese businessman, charged with plotting the murder of his wife in LA 27 years ago, hanged himself in jail hours after arriving to face trial.

Startimes reports Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis Presley's only child, has gaven birth to twin baby girls. The twins are the first children born to Presley, 40, and her musician husband Michael Lockwood, 47. Presley also has two children with ex-husband Danny Keough. After that union ended in 1994, she briefly married Michael Jackson and then actor Nicolas Cage.