Malta and international press digest

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

The Times says the Prime Minister will have a second meeting with the trade unions about the utility tariffs today. The unions are calling for the new rates to be postponed to January.

The Malta Independent says hoteliers expect tourism to drop by as much as 20 percent in view of the current crisis.

In-Nazzjon leads with the Housing Authority offer to sell housing units at specially reduced prices.

L-orizzont says new tariffs for waste disposal will be substantially higher than the present ones.

The Press in Britain…

The Times leads with Gordon Brown's suggestion that Britain will face an even worse recession without the billion-pound tax package which he is due to unveil on Monday.

The Independent reports that the government is using the threat of a wholesale nationalisation of banks to force them to lend to struggling small businesses.

The Financial Times claims the Citigroup bank's board has been locked in crisis talks after it lost more than half its market value in the past three days.

The Scotsman claims the UK car market is facing meltdown.

The Daily Express says it is going to get colder than Siberia this weekend with daytime temperatures dropping to minus five.

And elsewhere…

There are conflicting reports whether Hillary Clinton has accepted President-elect Barack Obama’s offer to become his Secretary of State or not. The New York Times quoted two Clinton associates as saying: "She's ready." But other sources quoted the senator's spokesman denying the reports and saying she was still in talks.

The Wall Street Journal says Asian and American leaders have gathered in Peru for the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where the international financial crisis is expected to dominate the agenda.

USA Today quotes UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon renewing his appeal for Israel to permit the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

La Tribune de Geneve reports the World Health Organization saying nearly 300 people have died from cholera in Zimbabwe over the past four months

Segodnya says Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has ordered his prime minister to pay off a debt of €2 billion to Russia within five days. A statement on the presidency website criticises Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko of acting irresponsibly by allowing the debt to accumulate and says she bears full responsibility for the problem. This is the latest episode in the long-running animosity between Ukraine's most powerful leaders. Tymoshenko disputes the debt.

Az-Zaman leads with the demonstrations in Baghdad where thousands have protested against a proposed deal allowing US forces to stay in Iraq until the end of 2011. The demonstrators were mostly followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who are against any agreement allowing foreign forces to stay in Iraq.

Shipping Times reveals Somali pirates have collected more than €119m in ransoms over the past year. The paper quotes Kenya’s foreign affairs minister Moses Wetangula calling on ship owners not to pay when their vessels are hijacked because it encourages the pirates.

Trouw quotes Amsterdam’s mayor saying he will close almost a fifth of its marijuana cafes to comply with a national ban on having them near schools. The plan was announced as 33 major Dutch cities held a “weed summit” to discuss the nation’s long-standing policy of tolerating marijuana use while routinely arresting growers.

El Tiempo says landslides triggered by a volcanic eruption have injured nine people and destroyed more than 20 homes and five bridges in south west Columbia.

The Times-Picayune of New Orleans says a mobile phone put in a shirt pocket saved the life of a man hit by a bullet as he was mowing his lawn. R. J. Richard, 68, said he thought it was a rock kicked up by his tractor which had hit him - until he took out the phone and a .45-calibre bullet fell from its case. The stray bullet came from nearby woods and the police do not believe it was intentional.