Malta and international press digest

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

The Times reports the possibility of a sewerage tax being imposed as Malta comes in line with EU directives stopping subsidies on the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage.

The Malta Independent quotes the Prime Minister saying the debate on education reform needs to be kept out of politics.

l-orizzont focuses on comments by Labour leader Joseph Muscat who said that spying on private citizens by the PN had the Prime Minister’s blessing.

In-Nazzjon reports Dr Gonzi saying his talks with the trade unions were a mature discussion in the interests of the country.

The Press in Britain…

The Times focuses on the news that those with top annual salaries of 150,000 and over will face a 45 per cent tax as Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling aim to reduce a borrowing bill that will reach £120bn next year.

The Daily Telegraph reports Gordon Brown will gamble £16bn on tax cuts, a claim Mr Brown denied.

The Independent also describes Labour's tax cut plans as a "gamble".

According to the Financial Times, Alistair Darling is urging the UK to shop its way out of recession.

The Guardian says Mr Darling is threatening legislation to stop banks withdrawing cheap mortgages and credit lines as he unveils a package of VAT cuts in his pre-Budget report.

The Daily Express launches a crusade against the threat of hundreds of thousands of families losing their homes.

The Daily Mirror says only last week Gordon appeared in three newspapers either discussing his happy home life or being pictured with Tana and their four children – Megan, 10, twins Jack and Holly, eight, and Tilly, seven.

And elsewhere…

The Wall Street Journal announces that the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum have said they will take all the necessary steps to respond to the current global economic crisis.

The EU Commissioner for Industry, Günter Verheugen, has categorically rejected financial support for the bloc's ailing auto industry. Speaking on German radio, Verheugen said the European Union had, in the past, expressly scrapped subsidies as an instrument of industrial policy.

The International Heald Tribune says gunfire has interrupted the visit of President Kacynski of Poland to Georgia to mark the fifth anniversary of President Saakashvili rise to power. Shooting broke out as the two leaders approached the border with the breakaway region of South Ossetia. No one was hurt in the incident.

The Washingtion Times says President Bush and his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev have agreed to cooperate in combating the growing problem of piracy off the Horn of Africa.

Al-Ayyam quotes Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas threatening to call snap elections if a reconciliation deal between Fatah and Hamas is not reached by the end of this year.

Gazeta Besa says a court in Kosovo has ordered three Germans be remanded in custody for 30 days on suspicion of attacking European Union offices in the capital Pristina.

Neue Kronen Zeitung reports Austria's center-left Social Democrats have reached a deal with the conservative People's Party to form a new grand coalition government. The announcement comes eight weeks after September's snap elections marked a resurgence of the far-right.

Calgary Herald says scientists are searching for remnants of a meteor that brilliantly lit up the sky before breaking into pieces that may have fallen to earth in western Canada.

Az-Zaman reports that Baghdad authorities have killed more than 200 stray dogs on the opening day of a campaign to manage dog packs roaming the capital. Thirteen people died in August alone in the capital after being attacked by dogs.

The Tasmanian says Australian government wildlife officers and volunteers have returned 11 pilot whales to sea. They are part of a pod of 64 mothers and calves, up to 10 feet long, found stranded the day before on a beach in south-eastern Australia. Rescuers hope the whales will rejoin another migratory pod once they swim back into the Bass Strait, which separates the island of Tasmania from southern Australia.