Malta and international press digest

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

All the Maltese newspapers and most foreign ones discuss the situation in Gaza.

In The Times, Labour MP Michael Farrugia urges the government to regulate in vitro fertilisation.

The Independent says that the Church is aiming for a bigger relationship with the people.

L-Orizzont says that agreement has been reached on who should succeed Eddie Fenech Adami as President.

In-Nazzjon says that a new direct route has been introduced between Stockholm and Malta. In another story it says that an alleged case of sexual abuse at St Vincent de Paul is being investigated. It also reports a drug find.

The Press in Britain

The Times says Israel is gearing up for a possible ground assault on the Gaza Strip as the toll from two days of airstrikes edges towards 300 Palestinians killed and 1,000 wounded. The Independent leads on the same theme but also reports that the United Nations has called for an independent investigation into how eight young Palestinian students were killed by one of the airstrikes as they waited for a bus.

The Scotsman relates the harrowing stories of some of the civilians caught up in the onslaught.

The Guardian says Israel's cabinet has approved the call-up of thousands of reservists in a sign that a major ground offensive in Gaza may be ordered.

The Daily Telegraph says the Israeli government has pledged to continue its offensive until Palestinians stop firing rockets into Israel.

The Daily Express leads on figures that suggest thousands of unemployed are enjoying a 'benefits bonanza' of some £30,000 at taxpayers' expense.

The Daily Mail has the same story. It also pictures British baby Madison Quarterone, who underwent brain surgery at the age of just two weeks.

The Sun says that on average, six people are stabbed to death on Britain's streets every week.

The Daily Mirror leads on the tragedy of a four-year-old girl who was killed when a television set fell on her on Christmas Eve.

And elsewhere…

The Jerusalem Post reports extensively on the second day of the exchange of rocket and mortar fire between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip.

Al Ahram says that as jets pounded the southern Gaza Strip, hundreds of Palestinians stormed over a fence on the Gaza-Egypt border, but Egyptian security forces fired shots to prevent them entering.

Al Jezeera reports that thousands of people across the Arab world and Europe held protests to express anger at the raids while European leaders called on Israel and Hamas to end the bloodshed.

London’s Pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat highlights the tragic situation in the Gaza strip. It says morgues are full, and hospital administrations are forced to store the bodies of the dead in halls and unused rooms until they can be transferred for burial.

The Dawn reports a car bombing in Pakistan's troubled North-West Frontier Province has killed 20 people and injured more than two dozen others.

De Standaard reports that Belgium's King Albert has asked parliamentary speaker Herman Van Rompuy to form a new government.

Al-Ahrar says Iraqi justice authorities have opened a new trial against Saddam Hussein's former deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz and the man known as 'Chemical Ali' on charges of crimes against humanity.

Los Angeles Times reports the death of Ann Savage, who earned a cult following as a femme fatale in such 1940s pulp-fiction movies as “Detour”. She was 87. Pravda says Soviet dictator Josef Stalin has been voted the country's third-greatest historical figure in a Rossiya TV poll.