Press digest

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

The Times says a man has been jailed for 10 years for raping his niece, then aged seven. It also says that Enemalta and the WSC have applied to the Resources Authority to increase the tariffs from January 1. The rates will be made known when they are approved.

The Malta Independent reports that the Addolorata Cemetery is to be extended.

In-Nazzjon also features the plans for the cemetery extension.

l-orizzont quotes the GWU saying it is prepared to resume talks with Air Malta as long as the airline's only interest is the workers. It also reports that a driver who is facing charges of having caused the death of a cyclist is also facing new charges of dangerous driving and injuring a passenger last December.

The Press in Britain...

The Daily Mail reports that on bonfire night, thugs who had taunted a mother and her troubled son for years, torched their house. The Guardian reports on a "culture of impunity" at the police riot squad unit and calls for an audit on all officers, after less than 0.18 per cent of more than 5,000 complaints against them were upheld.

The Times says Sergeant Kim Munley, the female civilian officer who brought down the gunman at Fort Hood army base killing 13 people and injuring 30, has been hailed a heroine.

The Daily Telegraph discloses that the head of the independent watchdog reforming MPs' expenses is a close friend of spin king Alastair Campbell.

The Daily Express quotes experts who say that a daily cup of tea can fight heart disease, boost brain power and even help you live longer.

And elsewhere...

USA Today reports that less than 24 hours after the massacre at the Fort Hood military base in Texas left 13 dead, police in Florida have arrested a gunman who went on the rampage at an office complex, killing one person and injuring another five were at the Gateway Centre in central Orlando.

Il Tempo quotes Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni warning there were terror cells that identified with Al-Qaeda which had "authorisation" to carry out attacks in Italy. Speaking at Rome's foreign press club, Moroni said terrorists could be training in Italy to carry out attacks inside the country.

L'Echo quotes British Business Secretary Peter Mandelson calling for new leadership in Europe to give the EU a key role in the world

Meanwhile, Brussels' Le Soir reports Belgium's prime minister Herman Van Rompuy has assumed a frontrunner position in the race for the first EU president. According to the paper, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the 62-year-old Van Rompuy after a dinner in Paris last month "to tell him that they were thinking about him for the European president's job". The Belgian leader is said to be interested in the position.

The Scotsman reports finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20, the world's richest and fastest developing nations, are having a weekend of talks in St Andrews, Scotland, on recovery from the financial crisis and to attempt to come to a consensus before the December climate summit in Copenhagen.

The Irish Independent says some 100,000 people took to the streets across Ireland to vent their anger at proposed cuts in pay and services.

The Wall Street Journal reports that unemployment in the US increased to 15.7 million last month, the highest level recorded since April 1983. Since the recession began in December 2007, 8.2 million people have been laid off.

Le Tribune de Genève quotes WHO data showing that the number of swine flu deaths has grown by more than 370 over the past week to pass the 6000-mark, as the pandemic spread into more than 199 countries and territories. The A(H1N1) pandemic is currently being fuelled by "intense and persistent'' transmission in North America and an "unusually early'' start to winter flu season in Europe as well as in central and western Asia.

Le Parisien reports that a French bank security guard is on the run after vanishing with some €11 million of cash in his armoured van

Afghan Times says the Talibans are claiming to hold the bodies of two coalition soldiers in western Afghanistan. The soldiers, whose nationality has not been revealed, disappeared during a routine resupply mission two days ago.

Texas Globe reports the first of a dozen polygamist sect members to be tried over charges including child sex offences faces jail up to 20 years after being found guilty.

Jamhuuriya says Islamists in southern Somalia have stoned a 33-year-old man to death for adultery but spared his pregnant girlfriend until she gives birth. An official from the al-Shabab group said the woman will be killed after she has her baby. This is the third time Islamists have stoned a person to death for adultery in the past year.