Malta and international press digest

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

The Times leads with a warning by Fr Manwel Cordina of the Oasi Foundation that Gambling is 'crawlling onto our doorsteps' with the increase in gaming outlets. The warning formed part of a report to the Bishop of Gozo.

The Malta Independent says Monti stall owners are to absorb the eco tax on plastic bags. It also reports the Prime Minister saying after yesterday’s EU-summit that the EU internal market is key to overcoming the current economic and financial crises.

The comments on the EU summit are also taken up by In-Nazzjon. It also reports comments by the Home Affairs Minister that Malta needs to reduce the number of repeat offenders in the prisons. In-Nazzjon also gives prominence to the reduced fuel prices announced yesterday.

l-orizzont leads with a police discovery of arms, ammunition and drugs in a car yesterday afternoon.

The Press in Britain

The Daily Mail claims that new regulations will mean that single women having IVF will be able to name anyone they like as their baby’s father on the birth certificate.

The Times reports that Western leaders have been warned that five million jobs could be lost in the “new” EU countries of the East unless radical action is taken to bail them out.

The Sun has an image of Jade Goody receiving medical treatment while being transferred to hospital. The Big Brother star faces emergency surgery to help give her pain relief.

The dying TV personality is pictured on the front of the Mirror, with the paper claiming she was taken to the Royal Marsden Hospital in floods of tears.

The Daily Star also leads with news of Jade Goody, saying she is planning a funeral where thousands can mourn publicly.

The Scotsman reports that hotel occupancy rates in Scotland have slumped further than anywhere else in the UK during the economic downturn.

The Guardian has an exclusive interview with Britain's commanding general in Iraq, Lieutenant-General John Cooper, who says the army will leave the country with the roots of democracy firmly planted.

The Independent leads with the news that more soldiers are calling for better treatment of troops suffering from mental trauma.

However, the Daily Express says a specialist military medical unit for wounded British troops will not get the go-ahead.

The Daily Telegraph’s top story looks at the possibility school admission lotteries could be scrapped as they are "unfair".

And elsewhere

De Standaard reports that EU leaders have wrapped up a summit in Brussels with a pledge to avoid protectionism as a way of dealing with the current economic and financial crisis.

Asia Times says Southeast Asian leaders have ended their 10-nation summit in Thailand by agreeing to reject protectionism and support stimulus plans.

Il Tempo leads with Pope Benedict’s call to political leaders and industrialists to make workers and their families the priority during the economic crisis

Berliner Zeitung reports that public service employees in 14 of Germany's 16 states have agreed to accept a management offer of a three-per cent pay rise. Trade unions, who represent the 700,000 public servants, had been seeking an eight-per- cent pay rise.

El Pais says the Socialist Party has increased its support in the Basque region and could try to form a coalition with the conservative Popular Party in a bid to oust the Basque Nationalists from power.

Der Kurier reports the party of the late Austrian far-right politician Jörg Haider has won the elections in the southern state of Carinthia.

Al-Ayyam says Mideast envoy Tony Blair was in the Gaza Strip to discuss reconstruction efforts. It is Mr Blair’s first visit to Gaza since he was appointed to present the Mideast peacemaking “quartet” of the US, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations in 2007.

Al-Ahram leads with the international donors' conference for the Gaza Strip in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the conference following the end of Israel's three-week long offensive on Hamas militants, which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza.

Hague News reports that an international tribunal set up to put on trial the suspected killers of a former Lebanese prime minister has convened in The Hague, four years after Rafik al-Hariri and 22 others were killed in a suicide truck bombing in Beirut. It's still not clear who will be charged in connection with the assassination, but four pro-Syria generals are being held in custody in Lebanon.

Panapress quotes diplomatic sources saying the chief of staff of Guinea-Bissau's armed forces, General Batista Tagme Na Wai, has been killed in an explosion at the military's headquarters in the capital, Bissau.