Malta and international press digest

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

The Times says the Cabinet has approved the final draft of the rent reform bill, which is to be published in the coming days. Legislation is expected to be in place early next year. It also reports there has been a mixed reaction to an initiative by the Malta Union of Teachers for the creation of a Trades Union Council.

The Malta Independent says the foreign ministers of Italy, Libya and Malta will meet in Malta on December 5 to discuss illegal migration and oil exploration.

In-Nazzjon says the Cabinet has approved amendments to the draft rent law ahead of its publication. It also reports comments by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech that measures taken in the Budget were similar to those taken in other countries in view of the of the international financial crisis.

l-orizzont reports that the GWU is insisting that all 20 trade unions that took part in last Friday’s demonstration should be invited for today’s meeting with the Prime Minister.

The Press in Britain…

The Times warns tax rises are set to follow next week's tax cuts.

The Daily Express claims millions of savers are falling victim to "greedy" banks and building societies rushing to slash interest rates on their nest egg.

The Daily Telegraph reports fewer than half of almost one million violent crimes committed each year are solved by police.

The Guardian leads on how Lord Bingham, one of Britain's most authoritative judicial figures, has delivered a blistering attack on the invasion of Iraq, describing it as a serious violation of international law.

The Daily Mail reveals a damning dossier cataloguing in detail the 78 times a fatally abused toddler was seen by doctors, social workers and the police – all failing to protect him.

The Independent illustrates the same story with a document detailing the day the boy was born and the day police found his body in a blood-stained bed.

The 17-month-old’s ashes were scattered beneath an oak tree pictured by the Daily Mirror.

And elsewhere…

Wall Street Journal reports that the US Treasury has injected $33.5 billion into 21 additional banks as part of a financial rescue aimed at recapitalizing the financial sector. Meanwhile the fourth largest bank in the United States, Citibank, has announced it is cutting a further 53,000 jobs worldwide. It currently has losses totalling more 20 billion dollars.

Panapress says rebels in the Democratic Republic of Congo have seized more ground in the country's east, despite General Laurent Nkunda's commitment to a ceasefire. The Hutu rebel leader is demanding direct talks with President Joseph Kabila, something the president has so far refused to grant.

Gulf News reports that Somali pirates are taking a hijacked Saudi-owned super oil tanker to a port in Somalia. The Sirius Star, the largest ship ever to have been hijacked, is carrying two million barrels of oil. It was sailing under the Liberian flag.

Le Parisien quotes the French Interior Ministry saying the suspected military chief of the Basque militant group ETA, known as Txeroki, has been arrested in the French Pyrenees. Txeroki's arrest is the biggest blow against ETA since the group's presumed leader, Javier Lopez Pena, was detained in France last May.

The International Herald Tribune says China and the European Union have signed a deal to improve product safety ahead of the Christmas shopping period. The agreement requires China to inform the EU about what it is doing to tackle dangerous goods, especially toys.

The New York Times says the UN has warned that greenhouse gas emissions in industrialised countries are rising, despite the Kyoto agreement to bring them down.

Centropilitan quotes the head of the UN nuclear watchdog saying an investigation into the site of an alleged Syrian nuclear reactor has proved inconclusive.

A poll published in The Irish Times shows that a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty has a chance of being carried. The survey indicated that 43 per cent of respondents said they would vote yes if Ireland could retain an EU commissioner and if certain other concerns were addressed.

Chicago Tribune reports former campaign rivals of President- elect Barack Obama and Senator John McCain have met to discuss ways to reduce government waste and find other ways to improve the government.

Jerusalem Post says Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to release 250 Palestinian prisoners next month in a goodwill gesture.

According to El Expresso,Puerto Rican coastguards are searching the waters off San Juan for a boat that is reportedly missing with more than 40 Dominican Republic migrants on board.

La Tribune says a French appeals court has reinstated the marriage of a Muslim man who wanted it annulled because his bride lied about being a virgin. They wed in 2006 but the husband discovered on their wedding night that his bride had lied about her virginity. In April this year, a lower court in the northern town of Douai granted the annulment. The appeals court in Douai overturned the annulment.