Malta and international press digest

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

The Times says small firms are opposing burden sharing, the burden being the cost of capping of the power surcharge given to big firms. It also reports that the call for expressions of interest for the privatization of Malta Shipyards has been extended by a week.

The Malta Independent says the GRTU is determined not to let its members subsidise the capping of the surcharge for big industries. It also reports that the MUMN has warned of industrial action unless the nurses shortage is tackled.

In-Nazzjon says the power tariffs have been reviewed downwards in view of oil price movements, and the dockyard call for expressions of interest has been extended.

l-orizzont’s main story is that the government is ignoring the MCESD’s concerns over the new power tariffs.

The Press in Britain…

The Guardian says that former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has said America is "in the midst of a once-in-a-century credit tsunami" and that a "significant rise" in unemployment was unavoidable as the US works its way through a massive financial crisis.

According to The Financial Times, banks have warned that it is "inevitable" that businesses would fail in the coming recession.

The Daily Express reports on unexpected good news for motorists as petrol prices drop to below 90p a litre, making unleaded cheaper than at any time since Spring 2007.

However, The Daily Telegraph warns that the price of petrol could rise after members of oil cartel Opec threatened to cut production.

Continuing the theme of economic gloom, Metro reports that food sales have fallen in Britain for the first time since records began.

The Daily Mail leads on a victory for thousands of women, including carers, service wives and stay-at-home mothers, who will now be entitled to a full pension.

The Times reports prospective parents will be able to screen embryos for almost any known genetic disease using a revolutionary "universal test".

The Independent says Conservative leader David Cameron accepted free flights to hold private talks with Rupert Murdoch off a Greek island.

And elsewhere…

As European and Asian leaders from over 40 countries gather in Bejing for a summit to focus on the global financial crisis, EU Observer reports European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has called on Asia for greater cooperation in tackling the "unprecedented" challenges of the global economic crisis.

Asia Observer predicts the two-day summit in Bejing is threatened to be overshadowed by a diplomatic spat, after the European Parliament awarded its major human rights award to the jailed Chinese dissident, Hu Jia.

Le Monde says France has announced an emergency meeting of European Union leaders to discuss the financial crisis. The EU meeting, on November 7, is designed to ensure the 27-nation bloc forges a unified stance ahead of an international financial summit scheduled a week later in the United States.

Meanwhile, Le Parisien reports that President Sarkozy has announced plans to protect French industry. He said the state could buy equities in troubled domestic companies, and then sell the stakes when the companies' positions improved.

De Standaard says MEPs have called for an international effort to counter piracy on the high seas, particularly off the Somalian coast to ensure safe passage of humanitarian aid and trade through the Horn of Africa.

Le Quotidien reports that European governments have been ordered by a court to follow the UK’s lead and take Iran’s main opposition group off a blacklist of suspected terror organisations.

Trabajadores says Cuba and the EU have ended a five-year stand-off by signing an agreement that calls for EU members to send the island hurricane aid.

Corriere della Sera leads with the crash of an Italian military helicopter in north-eastern France, killing all eight people on board.

La Gazzetta del Sud reports that Italian mobsters have been trying to continue enjoying the culinary high-life in jail. Four Camorra bosses serving life sentences tried to bribe a guard at Trapani in Sicily to bring them lobsters, caviar, champagne, buffalo-milk mozzarella and the Naples sweet delicacy baba'. The guard agreed to a €1,500-a-month payoff for bringing in the goods but informed his superiors who filmed a cash handover. Police said they had reason to believe other guards had been bribed to supply the four with luxury items.