Malta and international press digest

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

The Times reports there was organised criminality in the cases of VAT fraud and in another story it says that the police checked 900 gaming machines as part of their actions at gaming shops.

The Independent reports on fatalities in first six months of the year. It says that Bosnian leader Karazich, who is undergoing trial in the Hague, wants Malta to help in his defence.

l- Orizzont reports that the court case relating to gaming arcades was being heard with urgency. It calls for a European inquiry into the new Delimara power station.

Labour MPs defend the Siggiewi club case in In-Nazzjon which also reports on the tremor felt in Malta yesterday. It also reports on the court case regarding gaming arcades.

Gens Illum says that part of Fort St Angelo is in a precarious situation and that the document on feasts has been concluded.

The Press in Britain…

In an exclusive interview with The Times, the next head of the army, General Sir David Richards, has said it could take as long as 40 years for British troops to leave Afghanistan.

The Daily Telegraph says the cost of personal banking is set to rise as high street banks look to recoup money lost during the recession.

FT Weekend quotes the chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, Stephen Hester, saying he was frustrated by the criticism following his bank’s net losses of £1 billion for the first half of 2009.

The Daily Mail claims that the NHS is employing 16-year-olds to man phones at a call centre which assesses suspected swine flu cases, earning more than £16 an hour to read a prepared script of questions.

The Guardian leads with a report which warns that thousands of British women are being prescribed anti-depressants without knowing they could cause birth defects in unborn children.

According to the Daily Express, residents in some rural areas will have to drag their wheelie bins up to a mile along narrow country lanes for collection by the council to avoid large trucks having to negotiate uneven roads.

The Independent reports Russian hackers are accused of being behind a cyber attack that shut down twitter and facebook to silence a Georgian blogger criticising Moscow's politics.

The Daily Mirror reports that after completing toxicology tests on Michael Jackson's brain, coroners have released it, meaning his family can now prepare his body to be laid to rest.

Following his public split from wife Katie Price, also known as Jordan, Peter Andre tells The Sun his son “asked why mum was in bed with lover”.

And elsewhere…

Dawn reports that Taliban commanders have met in South Waziristan to choose a new leader after the US finally succeeded in killing one of its most-wanted opponents Baitullah Mehsud, described as the mind behind a fearsome campaign of suicide attacks and assassinations.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme from Afghanistan, the new NATO Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has said more troops were needed if the organisation's mission in Afghanistan was to be successful.

Corriere della Sera reports that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has insisted he doesn't have to apologise to anyone, not even his family, in his latest response to the scandals surrounding his association with young women.

The Australian says private detectives searching for Madeleine McCann have received hundreds of calls after appealing for information about a mysterious woman.

thelondonpaper.com reports that a heavily pregnant British woman jailed in Laos for drug smuggling has described her time in south-east Asia as an "unimaginable nightmare".

Bild says that scientists in Germany have found a significant link between indebtedness and obesity meaning that victims of the credit crunch were more likely to be loosening belts than tightening them.

USA Today reports that an 11-year-old boy died after his mother's car got stuck in the sand in Death Valley for five days during a camping trip.

Orlando Weekly says a website that tells cinema goers the best point in a film to take a toilet break is proving a runaway success.

Sky News quotes a state-run Cuban company saying they are experiencing a shortage of toilet paper.

Diario reports that a premature infant given up for dead in Paraguay was found to be alive when he was taken home.