Press digest

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

The Times leads with the opening of the climate change conference in Copenhagen.

The Malta Independent also gives prominence to the Copenhagen conference and pressure on the US to further reduce its emissions. It also carries the MAM reaction to the consultation document on primary health scheme.

In-Nazzjon features the consultation meetings held yesterday on the power station extensions. It also reports GRTU comments welcoming the rehabilitation of Palace Square.

l-orizzont leads with the public meetings on the power station extension, where a doctor argued that public health had been a secondary consideration.

The international press

Most international media lead with the opening of the two-week-long climate change summit in Copenhagen where the European Union has rejected the new carbon emission targets tabled by the United States and China, saying they were much too weak to prevent catastrophic climate change. The dispute between the three main players at the conference overshadowed the first day of negotiations and dashed hopes that a deal on emissions was imminent.

In a new development, The Washington Times reports that America's Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that greenhouse gases endanger human life and must be regulated - a clear signal that President Barack Obama's administration was prepared to tackle global warming without getting Congressional approval.

London's The Times says that climate change advisers have decided that an extensive building programme at Heathrow - including the construction of a third runway - can proceed without jeopardising the government's carbon emissions targets. A report out today reveals 138 million extra passenger could use British airports in 2050.

Al Jezeera reports Iranian security forces fired tear gas at protesters and beat them with batons in Tehran during clashes on a day of nationwide student demonstrations. Thousands of people demonstrated on more than a dozen university campuses in a bid to revive their challenge six months after a disputed poll which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected as president.

L'Avvenire says the Pope will break with tradition this year and celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in St Peter's Basilica at 10 p.m. instead of midnight. A Vatican spokesman announced the decision to change the schedule was made to "ease the (Pope's) fatigue at a time when there are many ceremonies and commitments" during Christmas holidays. He said there was no reason to worry about the health of the 82-year-old Pope.

Adevarul reports that President Traian Basescu of Romania has been re-elected in a neck-and-neck runoff against election challenger Mircea Geoana. But his rival's party says there has been rigging and would contest the result. Final results showed Basescu scored 50.37 percent against 49.63 for his rival.

The latest British casualty in the Afghan conflict features on the front page of The Daily Telegraph with pictures of the 100 soldiers who have lost their lives throughout 2009.

Dawn reports bombings in two Pakistan cities killed 46 people, as militants struck back in the wake of an army offensive against a Taliban stronghold in the north-west near the Afghan border. Two synchronised bombs ripped through a market popular with women in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, igniting a massive fire that killed 36 people. Hours earlier a suicide bomber killed 10 people outside a courthouse in the north-western city of Peshawar.

China Daily says eight pupils have been killed and 26 others injured in a school stampede in China. The youngsters were charging out of evening study sessions at Xiangxiang city's private Yucai Middle School when some began to fall on top of one another in a stampede on the steps. The school principal and three others were arrested and charged with gross negligence and other offences.

The Washington Post announces US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet Amanda Knox's supporters who are angry at the handling of her murder case in Italy fearing "anti-American" bias in the trial.

The average drinker will spend more than a year of their life propping up the bar with friends and workmates, according to a survey commissioned by UKTV channel Blighty. The average British man will spend a combined total of more than 441 days in the pub in his lifetime while the average British woman is likely to spend 340 days. Each will consume 5,403 alcoholic drinks and eat an average of 1,775 bar snacks. They will be spending £38,624 (€42,800) over the course of a lifetime. When the additional cost of pub food or bar snacks is factored in, this amount rises to £65,249 (€72,400).