Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with the trade unions' rally yesterday, where it was said that the government is planning to cut tariffs by 15%. GWU General Secretary Tony Zarb said the unions did not want just cosmetic changes. The newspaper also reports the scaffolding collapse in Gzira yesterday.

The Malta Independent leads with comments by Resources Minister George Pullicino praising the GRTU on the issue of the eco-tax on plastic bags. It also reports that heroin was found in a prison cell.

In-Nazzjon says France is to take 80 refugees from Malta. The offer was confirmed during a visit to Malta by the French Foreign Minister yesterday.

l-orizzont also leads with the unions' rally. In other stories, it reports that the national debt has risen to €3.5 billion.

The Press in Britain

The Daily Mail says a close friend of Business Secretary Peter Mandelson had access to the top tiers of the government before the decision to go ahead with the expansion of Heathrow airport.

The Sun says that, as she headed to a local hospice for help with her pain relief medication, Jade Goody had a row with a neighbour and told her that she (Jade) would be “dead in a month”.

The Daily Star also reports that the terminally-ill former Big Brother contestant showed her "fighting spirit" in the neighbourly disagreement.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror says Jade has been suffering hallucinations at nights that have frightened the friends who are caring for her.

The Daily Express also has a picture of Jade, and reports that budget airline Ryanair is considering charging passengers a pound to use the toilet on plane journeys.

The Times reports Gordon Brown will seek to find common ground with President Obama over the best way to take the world out of recession, and it has a picture of the official portrait of the First Lady.

Metro leads with the story that Gordon Brown has voiced "anger" over the £693,000-a-year pension awarded to the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, Sir Fred Goodwin.

But The Daily Telegraph says Brown is powerless to strip Sir Fred of his hefty retirement fund.

However, The Guardian claims the government is making moves to claw back half of Sir Fred's £16m pension pot.

The Independent has an interview with the army's most decorated war hero, who has accused the Government of failing soldiers suffering from mental trauma resulting from combat.

And elsewhere

Borzen Zeitung reports that unemployment in the Eurozone’s 16 countries has risen to its highest level in over two years. The European Union's official Eurostat data agency said the jobless rate jumped to 8.2 percent in January, a loss of a quarter-of-a-million jobs in the first month of the year

Al-Ayyam says EU foreign policy coordinator Javier Solana has visited the Gaza Strip. He spoke to UN officials and Palestinian community leaders, but avoided meeting with Hamas representatives.

Haaeetz reports that the latest talks between Likud Party eader Benjamin Natanyahu and Kadima boss Tzipi Livni, aimed at forming a broad coalition government in Israel, have ended without an agreement.

The Washington Times leads with President Obama’s announcement that all American combat troops will be pulled out of Iraq by August next year. He said at between 35,000 and 50,000 troops will initially remain there to help train Iraqi forces and undertake counter-terror missions.

The Irish Times says a gang fled with €7m after holding a mother and daughter hostage as a worker was ordered to carry out a raid at Bank of Ireland's central Dublin branch – the Irish Republic's biggest bank raid.

Berliner Morgenpost quotes Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries saying Germany may issue an arrest warrant on hate crime charges against a British Holocaust-denying Catholic bishop Richard Williamson. Meanwhile, the Vatican has rejected an apology from the bishop saying it is not enough to readmit him to the church.

Oslo’s Dagbladet reveals President Obama and Pesident Sarkozy are believed to be among the record 205 nominations received for the 2009 Nobel peace prize.

USA Today says Black September terrorist Khalid Al-Jawary, who served half his 30-year term for planting three car bombs in New York in 1973, has been deported.

The Zimbabwean reports that a call for a $2 billion dollar economic rescue package from neighbouring countries has failed.

Il Sole 24 Ore says the Italian government is considering new laws to ban industrial action which annually cripples air, rail and road travel with hundreds of protests.

Variety announces Fox is renewing ‘The Simpsons’ for another two seasons, which will secure the animation's place as the country's longest-running prime-time TV series.