Malta and international press digest

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

The Times like the other newspapers, leads with Barack Obama’s victory. It quotes part of his acceptance speech where he said “We will get there”. In other stories it reports how a drug pusher was jailed for 25 years.

The Malta Independent says the United States has got its first Afro-American president.

l-orizzont describes Obama’s election as a historic moment. It also says the GWU will give its detailed reaction to the budget today.

In-Nazzjon apart from the US election, says the government plans to build a school every year.

The Press in Britain…

Most newspaper focus on Barack Obama's win with The Daily Telegraph describing it as a 'dream come true'. The Times says the weight of the world began to bear down on Obama's shoulders as the President-elect turned from an epic campaign to the challenges ahead while the Daily Express reports that a military-style operation to keep him alive was under way within hours of his victory.

Other stories:

Daily Star says the Queen has waded into the credit crunch debate and attacked Gordon Brown for not being prepared.

The Independent predicts the Bank of England is set to announce its second interest rate cut in as many months.

The Daily Mail says a study reports that teenage boys think it's acceptable to pressure girls into having sex and will use "tactics" such as plying them with alcohol to have their way.

The Guardian quotes a retired senior policeman telling the inquest into Jean Charles de Menezes’ death that firearms officers who shot him were given unclear and confusing orders.

The Sun says pop star Amy Winehouse's husband was released from jail.

And elsewhere…

The International Herald Tribune reports that US President-elect Barack Obama has started forming his administration by asking Rahm Emanuel, a former adviser to President Clinton, to be his chief-of-staff. He is expected to appoint a new treasury secretary soon and there is speculation he will also ask Defence Secretary Robert Gates to remain in his post.

The Washington Times says Mr Obama won 349 electoral college votes to John McCain’s 163 – far more than the 270 he needed. Voter turnout, at 64 percent, was the highest since World War II. The Democrats picked up five more seats in the Senate to have 56 of 100 but are not expected to win a super-majority of 60 seats. In the lower chamber, the House of Representatives, they added at least 18 seats to the 30 they took from Republicans in 2006.

Tennessee Globe reports that a US federal grand jury in Memphis, has indicted two white supremacists accused of plotting to kill Barack Obama and dozens of other black people. Twenty-year-old Daniel Cowart and 18-year-old Paul Schlesselman were arrested last month, before Mr Obama won the presidential election.

De Standaard reports that NATO has expressed concern about plans announced by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to deploy missiles in the western exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders on NATO members Poland and Lithuania. EU Observer says EU’s External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner was surprised by Russia's plans, saying this would not improve security in Europe. Medvedev said the move was in response to Washington's plans to set up a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe.

The Irish Times says MEPs have been accused of pushing up food prices by voting to slash the use of pesticides in farming.

Centropolan quotes an EU report saying Croatia is on track to finalise its bid to join the bloc by the end of next year.

Ramattan says that as US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in the Middle East later today, Hamas fired dozens of rockets at Israel after Israeli forces killed six Palestinian militants in an eruption of violence that disrupted a four-month-old truce along the Gaza Strip's frontier. There were few hopes Israel and Palestine can meet Washington's target date of a peace agreement this year.

Los Angeles Times announces the death Michael Crichton, television writer and the best-selling author of historic and prehistoric science fantasies such as Jurassic Park. Crichton, who was 66, had been privately battling cancer.

Christian Science Monitor reports that California has banned same-sex marriages just months after the state's Supreme Court legalized the practice. In a referendum, 52 percent of people voted against gay marriages, 47.9 percent were for it. The result leaves thousands of gay couples in a legal limbo after they had rushed to get married in California since June.