Press digest

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

The Times reports that Malta was estimated to have lost €305 million in VAT revenue in seven years according to an EU report. One of the reasons was fraud. The newspaper also reports that a woman has forgiven her brother for ‘raping' her daughter.

The Malta Independent says the European Commission sees fragile economic recovery ahead for Malta. It also reports how the Czech President has signed the Lisbon reform treaty, the last to do so.

Malta Today says a hunt is underway in the PN for the mole who leaked information on Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando's Mistra rental contract. It also says that Fair Trials International has criticised Malta over its detention procedures after a Briton was kept behind bars for three years before a court acquitted him.

In-Nazzjon leads with a PN statement hitting out at the way a court case on alleged irregularities during voting in Zejtun for the European Parliament elections was closed by a court. It also says that parliament has agreed on a Bill to amend the Gaming Act.

l-orizzont says an interview by The Sunday Times has caused stronger opposition against Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando. It also refers to the controversy in Italy on the removal of crucifixes and quotes Education Minister Dolores Cristina saying that in Malta, crucifixes will stay in classrooms.

The Press in Britain...

The Sun says Britain has been betrayed as the last hope of blocking the new European constitution were dashed when the Czech Republic became the final EU nation to sign the Lisbon Treaty, which will now become law.

According to the Daily Express, Britain has been "sold down the river" and frogmarched into a miserable new era of meddling Brussels rule.

The Times calls it the dawn of a new Europe.

The Guardian reports that former Foreign Office minister Kim Howells is calling for the phased withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan.

Metro says Chancellor Alistair Darling has unveiled the world's biggest bank bail-out, as he pumped another £33.5 billion into the Royal Bank of Scotland and £5.7 billion into Lloyds.

The Daily Telegraph claims every family in the country is now facing a tax liability of £4,350 to prop up Britain's banking system.

The Daily Mail claims Gordon Brown's business tsar Alan Sugar was under siege after dismissing struggling small firms as 'moaners' who lived in 'Disney World'.

The Independent says employees who raise concerns about their company's environmental practices have won the right to legal redress.

The Evening Standard leads with the British police's appeal for internet users worldwide to spread a new video film which includes fresh images of how Madeleine McCann might look now, including one with dark brown hair and tanned skin in case she has been living in north Africa.

And elsewhere...

The International Herald Tribune reports European leaders hailed a new era of expanded powers for the EU to act on the world stage after the President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic signed the treaty. Relief across European capitals was palpable as the eight-year journey of an accord that gives Europe a president and a new chief of foreign affairs came to an end.

Cesky Noviny quotes President Klaus saying that with the coming into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Czech Republic would cease to be a sovereign state. Earlier, the Czech constitutional court rejected a complaint against the treaty and ruled it was constitutional. Euro-sceptic President Klaus demanded, and was granted last week, a last-minute opt-out in case of wartime property claims.

Aftonbladet says that following President Klaus's signature, the current Swedish EU presidency said the treaty, would become effective on December 1.

EU Observer quotes the European Comission saying the bloc's economy would expand by 0.7 percent next year and 1.5 percent in 2011 in the euro zone. Observers say this paves the way for major budget deficit cuts across EU member states from 2011 at the latest. But Brussels is still urging caution, stressing that things won't improve overnight.

Tribune de Genève quotes the International Labour Organisation saying global growth in real wages slowed down dramatically in 2008 and will drop even further this year. In a sample of 53 countries, wage increases slowed down from 4.3 percent in 2007 to 1.4 percent in 2008. The ILO says the latest figures raise serious questions about the true extent of an economic recovery.

The Italian media leads with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg that Italian schools have to remove crucifixes from their classroom walls. The court said the crucifixes might be disturbing for children from other religions or atheists.

The Washington Times says German Chancellor Angela Merkel made an impassioned plea to the US Congress to back binding international climate change targets. Becoming the first German leader to address a joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate in 50 years, Mrs Merkel spoke of new challenges ahead - bringing peace and security, ensuring prosperity and equality and saving the planet. She stressed Germany's ongoing commitment to Afghanistan and said Iran must be prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

Courant reports Radovan Karadzic has again vowed not to attend his war crimes trial unless he is given more time to prepare his defence. The former Bosnian Serb leader was appearing for the first time since the trial began last week at the international tribunal in The Hague. He told the court that he had not been able to go through more than one million pages of evidence.

Gazeta Polska says extra precautions are being taken at the Polish-Ukrainian border following the rapid spread of swine flu in Ukraine. Poland has urged the EU to swiftly send antiviral drugs to its neighbour.

Cleavland News Daily says that as a rapist was charged with five counts of aggravated murder. Anthony Sowell, 50, will appear in court today also charged with rape, felonious assault and kidnapping. Police recovered the bodies of six women from the home last week.

Environmental Daily reports that the snows capping Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's tallest peak, are shrinking rapidly and could vanish altogether in 20 years. In more disturbing news, the paper says volcanic activity may split the African continent in two owing to a recent geological crack in northeastern Ethiopia.

Okaz reports that a Saudi court has upheld a ruling to behead and crucify a 22-year-old man convicted of raping five children and leaving one of them, aged three, to die in the desert after the rape. In Saudi Arabia, crucifixion means tying the body of the convict to wooden beams to be displayed to the public after beheading. So far this year about 40 people have been executed in Saudi Arabia.