Press digest

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

The Times says there is a ‘strong case’ against a production company which used heavy machinery to remove sand from a sensitive area in Dwejra, Gozo. It also says that Arms Ltd managers got a performance bonus for last year and not for this year, when the company faced a storm of protests over its poor service.

The Malta Independent quotes Opposition finance spokesman Charles Mangion who insisted that calculations on Bondiplus on the impact on the deficit of proposals made by Joseph Muscat were wrong. It also says that Sandro Chetcuti has been described as a driving force in the new Developers’ Association. Chetcuti is facing an attempted murder charge after assaulting GRTU Director-General Vince Farrugia.

MaltaToday says a Mistra defaulter had made a donation to the political campaign of Finance Minister Tonio Fenech.

In-Nazzjon says the first step has been taken in the beatification of a Gozitan priest. It also says that proposals made by Joseph Muscat would raise the deficit to 9.6% of GDP.

l-orizzont says workers at Pitkali Crates have been three months without a salary. It also says that four babies, along with their parents, have been reported missing this year. All are foreigners and are thought to have left the island.

The overseas press

CNN projects that the Republicans, and their allies the Tea Party movement, have easily won control of the House of Representatives in the US yesterday's mid-term elections, recapturing the chamber from President Barack Obama's Democrats. Mr Obama's foes had needed to net 39 seats to retake the chamber and easily reached that goal, with the party due to gain at least 50 seats. The new US Congress takes office in January.

The Washington Times says the results spell the end of Democratic representative Nancy Pelosi's four-year tenure as the first woman US House Speaker, the No.3 US elected official, now all but certain to be Republican House minority leader John Boehner. Controlling the House would give Republicans sweeping powers over the legislative agenda in Washington and hand them the chairmanships of key committees with the power to investigate the Obama administration.

Kathemerini reports Greece has suspended international air mail for 48 hours after parcel bombs exploded at two embassies in Athens yesterday, while several other explosive packages were intercepted by the police. Berliner Morgenpost and the Tagesspiegel report that explosive material was found inside a package addressed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. A bomb addressed to the German embassy was discovered at the office of a courier service.

Az-Zaman says a series of apparently co-ordinated blasts in the Iraqi capital Baghdad have killed at least 63 people. More than 280 people were wounded in the 10 attacks, which appeared to target Shia areas. The incident cames after at least 52 people were killed in Baghdad on Sunday as police stormed a Catholic church where hostages were being held.

Koha Ditore reports Kosovo's minority government has been brought down by a no-confidence vote in parliament. The fall comes less than three years after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia to become Europe's newest state. Snap elections will now take place in December.

The Daily Telegraph quotes Prime Minister David Cameron and President Nicolas Sarkozy insisting their countries' sovereignty was not threatened as they signed two treaties which would see Britain and France jointly testing nuclear warheads. The agreements also provide coordinating aircraft carriers and creating a combined expeditionary force training troops to deploy together. France will also be allowed to use British A400M fuelling aircraft when there is spare capacity and there will be joint work on drones, mine counter-measures and satellite communications.

The Manchester Evening News says 11 people were hospitalised after a gas explosion rocked a British residential street, destroying at least four homes in Salford, Greater Manchester. A 76-year-old woman sustained life-threatening injuries, and 10 others including five children, were also taken to the hospital, some in serious condition,

Lesotho’s Public Eye reports that miners have found a 185-carat white diamond. Gem Diamonds Ltd and the Lesotho government said the diamond was found in the Letseng mine. They said a 196-carat white diamond was found in the same mine in August.

France 24 describes as a "miracle" the unscathed survival of an 18-month-old girl who fell from a sixth-floor apartment. The girl was left unattended by her parents when she fell, then bounced off the awning of a cafe below. She had a further stroke of luck when a passing doctor saw her fall and caught her before she hit the ground. The doctor found no injuries but she was taken to hospital for a check-up.

Jakarta News reports that the Indonesian parliament has passed a new law stipulating all babies should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their life. From early next year, anyone who broke the law would be fined up to 100m rupiah (€8,000) and sentenced to up to a year in prison.