Malta and international press digest

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

The Times reports GRTU comments that conflict is inevitable after the government unveiled its decision on the water and electricity tariffs. It also features the decision by Methode Electronics to put 600 workers on a four-day week.

The same stories feature in the other newspapers. The Malta Independent also reports that a Lufthansa Airbus made a precautionary landing in Malta early yesterday afternoon because of a smoke detector fault.

Malta Today reports the ‘great escape’ of thousands of asylum seekers who are believed to have quietly left Malta and whose whereabouts are unknown.

In-Nazzjon says the new power tariffs are designed to safeguard jobs as they include new assistance for the 26 biggest employers. It also reports that MLP deputy leader Toni Abela was insulted at an MLP committee meeting in Gzira.

l-orizzont says the government had ignored the common front of the social partners against the new tariffs.

The Press in Britain…

The Financial Times says Volkswagen briefly became the world's largest company after a surge in share prices.

The Independent reveals Porsche cars have pulled off one of the greatest share killings of all time after its 75 per cent stake in rival car manufacturer Volkswagen rose 400 per cent in value.

The Daily Express says pressure is mounting on BP to cut 10p from oil prices after the company announced £6.4bn profits in the last three months.

The Daily Star leads with the news a black race chief has said more jobs should be given to white people.

The Metro covers the sentencing of Rudy Geude, an Ivory Coast national, over the murder of British student Meredith Kercher in Peruglia, Italy, last year. He was jailed for 30 years.

The Guardian voices prosecutors’ concerns that people may begin to be charged if they help their terminally ill relatives to die.

The Daily Mirror quotes a report suggesting that bad driving should be treated as a threat to public health.

And elsewhere…

The People’s Daily quotes a senior Chinese climate official demanding that richer countries set aside approximately one per cent of their GDP to help poorer nations fight global warming. Gao Guangsheng, who heads the climate change office at China’s top economic planning body, also suggested the setting up of an international mechanism to support the transfer of technology to cut harmful emissions. China now generates a large share of the world’s greenhouse gases, with some experts saying it has already overtaken the US as the biggest.

Asia Observer reports that at least six people have been reported dead after an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 hit the Balochistan province in south-western Pakistan.

The International Herald Tribune quotes a new report by Amnesty International urging the world to halt military aid to Colombia because of human rights concerns.

The New York Times says the top UN envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo has said the 17,000 strong UN force in Congo is stretched to the limit.

Pakistan Times says Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to seek dialogue with Taliban insurgents. The decision came out of a so called jirga, or assembly, of ethnic Pashtun tribal elders and Afghan and Pakistani leaders in Islamabad.

El Mercurio says Chile's health minister has resigned after a hospital failed to tell dozens of patients they had tested positive for HIV, which can lead to Aids.

Al Ahram reports that an Egyptian teacher has been accused of beating to death a pupil who failed to hand in his homework. The boy collapsed and fell into a coma after the 23-year-old teacher kicked him in the classroom at school in Alexandria. He died later in hospital.