Press digest

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

The Times reports on the situation of the bus service. It also reports that power tariffs are expected to rise in January to compensate for losses which Enemalta is suffering this year.

The Malta Independent reports how Nationalist MPs were silent after yesterday’s meeting of their parliamentary group ahead of today’s confidence debate.

In-Nazzjon highlights the confidence vote due to be debated and voted on in Parliament today. It also reports how MIA removed winter landing fees for scheduled airlines.

l-orizzont says the €277,000 façade of the new Mita offices in Sta Venera does not have permits.  

The overseas press:

USA Today reports that a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck in waters off Okinawa island today, but there were no concerns about a tsunami. The US Geological Survey said the quake occurred in the East China Sea, 218 kilometres west of Naha, Okinawa prefecture. The quake's depth was 222 kilometres. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the quake, which happened at 11:59am (0359 Malta time).. A devastating tsunami on March 11 left about 22,000 people dead or missing and triggered an atomic crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant in the northeast of the country.

CNN reports that there were hugs, tears and shrieks of joy among Michael Jackson’s fans packed outside the Southern California courtroom after a jury unanimously found physician Conrad Murray guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the singer's death from a dose of propofol. Jackson’s sister La Toya was the most vocal in her reaction, saying her dead brother was watching the proceedings and guilty verdict from above. Later on Twitter, La Toya posted the announcement: "VICTORY!!!!!! Murray sat stone-faced, his chin held high, as he heard the verdict that could send him to prison for up to four years and cost him his license to practice medicine. He was handcuffed and immediately led off to jail without bail to await sentencing November 29.

Bloomberg reports that the euro fell for a third day before Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faces a budget vote amid pressure to quit and a surge in borrowing costs, stoking concern the region’s debt crisis is spreading. Berlusconi plans to stake the survival of his government on a confidence vote next week on implementation of measures pledged to the European Union that aim to boost growth and trim the region’s second-largest debt. The first test however comes today on a normally routine vote to rubber-stamp last year’s budget report that may indicate whether Berlusconi still has a majority in the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies.

L’Echo says eurozone finance minister decided last night that Greece could get the crucial €8 billion instalment of bailout money this month if the leaders of the two main parties both commit in writing to the terms of the country's two massive bailouts and the austerity measures and economic reforms that they require. Meanwhile, a former deputy head of the European Central Bank, Lucas Papademos, has emerged as frontrunner to become Greece's prime minister as party leaders bargained over who will lead a "100-day coalition" to push through a bailout before the country runs out of money.

Canberra Times reports that the Australian Senate has passed Bills that would make the nation's 500 largest polluters pay a tax on the carbon they release into the atmosphere. Members of the public applauded Tuesday when the bills were passed with support from her Labour Party minority government and the minor Greens party. Critics including the centre-right Liberal Party say the tax will drive up the cost of producing energy and make everything else more expensive.

Associated Press quotes a former top US cyber security official saying America's critical computer networks were so vulnerable to attack that it should deter US leaders from going to war with other nations. Richard Clarke, a top adviser to three presidents, said the country simply could not protect its critical networks.

The New York Times says that a Chicago-area woman on Monday accused Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain of groping her more than a decade ago when she was seeking his help finding a job. "Come clean," Sharon Bialek challenged Cain at a news conference in New York at which she described herself as "a face and a voice" to support other accusers who have so far remained anonymous.

Der Kurier quotes the results of a survey of Roman Catholic priests in Austria which found that the majority of respondents believed that reforms to the church were urgently needed. The survey of 500 local clergy found that 66 per cent felt there was a dramatic split between the church and “modern culture”. More than 50 per cent said they supported the idea of women priests.

A surprise inspection of a prison in Mexico has revealed the presence of 19 live-in prostitutes, 100 plasma TVs, video games, two sacks of marijuana, alcohol and 100 cockerels for cock-fighting. The BBC says police officers, entering the jail to transfer some of the inmates to a high-security prison, were stunned by what they discovered at the Acapulco penitentiary.