Malta and international press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and international press today.

The Times reports on the arrival of more illegal immigrants and recounts details given in a court hearing about the shooting in Mqabba on December 20.

A report on this hearing can also be found in the other Maltese papers.

The Independent also reports on the arraignment of four men accused with trying to import 30 grammes of cannabis and on the attacks in Gaza.

In-Nazzjon reports on the arraignment of two football players who admitted to accepting bribes, the arrival of illegal immigrants and a shooting incident at Siggiewi.

l-Orizzont says that an agreement has been reached between the shipyards and the GWU and that the MUT has given the government an ultimatum. It reports on the arraignment of the drug traffickers.

The Press in Britain

The Independent reports that Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has warned that his country is engaged in a 'war to the bitter end' with Hamas.

The Guardian also focuses on the continuing crisis in Gaza but leads with a report which claims the government is planning to force GPs to improve their performance by posting patients' comments about them on an NHS website.

The Daily Express warns that a deadly Australian strain of the flu virus is set to sweep the UK.

The Daily Telegraph reports drivers face a range of new health checks to determine whether they are fit enough to be on the roads.

The Daily Mail says teachers are calling in sick at the rate of 15,000 a day, with three million working days lost last year.

The Scotsman says local communities are buying vast areas of land from aristocrats.

The Daily Star describes how Liverpool and England footballer Steven Gerrard was arrested following an incident at a nightclub in Southport, Merseyside.

The Sun and the Daily Mirror lead with the same story, showing a picture of the midfielder taken just before the incident happened.

And elsewhere…

Al Jeezera reports that Israeli warplanes have begun a fourth straight day of air raids on the Gaza Strip.

Ha’aretz says that so far, though, the air strikes have not stopped Hamas militants from firing rockets from Gaza at Israeli towns.

The Jerusalem Post writes Israel made it clear the offensive was just beginning.

With Israeli tanks idling just metres away from Gaza, the Israeli Army Radio said the army decreed the area along the border a closed military zone – a move that in the past has often been followed by ground operations.

The New York Times quotes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calling on world leaders to work urgently to end the “unacceptable'' violence.

Al-Arabiya says demonstrators have taken to the streets of many capitals to protest against the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

Dhaka’s The Daily Star says an alliance led by former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has won a landslide victory in Bangladesh's first parliamentary elections in seven years.

The Chronicle reports that Jestina Mukoko, head of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, and eight others activists in Zimbabwe have appeared in court to face charges that they plotted to overthrow President Robert Mugabe.

Meanwhile, La Tribune de Geneve quotes the World Health Organisation saying the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe has claimed over 1,500 lives since the start of the outbreak in August.

Börsen Zeitung says natural disasters killed more than 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused.

The Australian says a school teacher, accused of swearing at his Year 5 students and allowing them to chase each other around the classroom with a baseball bat, has been given the all-clear to continue working with children.