Press digest

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

The Sunday Times features comments by a power generation expert who said that the Sargas electricity plan will cost more. It also says that barriers have gone up where a police constable died when his car ended up in the sea at Cirkewwa.   

The Malta Independent features an interview with Joseph Muscat, who reiterated his call for a Constitutional convention ahead of a Second Republic. It also focuses on the ‘crunch time’ for the euro.

MaltaToday says Franco Debono is the most trusted backbencher, according to a survey.

It-Torca criticizes the government over the exploitation of workers employed by contractors to do work for the government.  It also says that the government is increasingly turning to borrowing from the banks to fund its projects.  

KullHadd asks if Friday’s tragedy at Cirkewwa could have been avoided. It also reports how Edward Scicluna will be a candidate at the next general election. 

Il-Mument says Prof Scicluna had voted in favour of a motion which considered abortion as legal as a means to stop the spread of HIV/Aids.  It also says that a survey showed strong support for the government’s jobs policy.  

Illum features comments by former Nationalist MP and magistrate Joseph Cassar who says the prime minister and other Nationalist MPs should not have voted against the people’s will on divorce.

The overseas press:

Pravda says the United Russia party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev looked set to win a lower house State Duma poll as voters began casting ballots in Russia's far east region for the country's parliamentary elections amid allegations of violations of election law. The party is expected to secure a victory but with a reduced majority. A presidential poll will be held on March 4, when Putin will stand for election having served two previous terms in the post.

Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that US presidential hopeful Herman Cain was suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination. He blamed political and media pressure on his family in the wake of "false" allegations of sexual harassment and a 13-year-long extra-marital affair. Cain made his announcement before the series of state-by-state contests, known as primaries and caucuses, begins next month in Iowa to choose a Republican presidential candidate for 2012.

Al Ahram confirms that latest results from the Egyptian elections indicate that Islamist parties are likely to have a strong majority in the new parliament. Preliminary results show the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, is in the lead. The ultra-conservative Salafist al-Nour Party is in second place, followed closely by the coalition of liberal parties known as the Egyptian bloc. Salafists call for a return to the way Islam was practised during the time of the Prophet Muhammad and his companions, in the 7th Century.

Bloomberg reports that the Arab League has frozen the assets of 19 Syrian officials, banned their travel and reduced air travel to the nation yesterday as 25 more people died protesting the regime of President Bashar Al Assad as violence between army defectors and troops loyal to the president escalated. The UN estimates 4,000 people have been killed during a crackdown on anti-government protests.

USA Today says the continued unrest came as the US Vice President Joe Biden warned that events in Syria threatened to fan the flames of sectarian conflict. Speaking in Istanbul, he described the situation in Syria as a "brutal repression". He welcomed the UN Human Rights Council's condemnation of the violence, which Syrian authorities blame on armed gangs and foreign meddling.

Durban’s Sunday Tribune reports that thousands took to the streets of South Africa’ third largest city, shouting and singing against a backdrop of drums and vuvuzelas, to voice their exasperation at the lack of progress of UN climate change talks that end next week. The demonstrators called for "climate justice". Their appeal was aimed at diplomats in negotiations under the 194-nation UN Framework Convention for Climate Change, which is tasked with beating back the ever-mounting threat of global warming.

According to O Globo, at least 33 people died and another 13 others were injured  - some seriously – as a tractor-trailer slammed into a bus carrying sugar cane cutters. A police spokesman said the lorry driver lost control as its driver was rounding a corner and heading down a hill near a town called Miracles in the north-eastern state of Bahia. The lorry was carrying a load of construction materials, which also slammed into the bus.

The BBC reports that a Hong Kong judge ordered a wealthy real estate mogul to pay his former wife $154 million in one of the city's largest divorce settlements, dwarfing even famous settlements in other countries. The ruling  includes a home in the city, a London residence and money million to buy two cars. Samathur Li Kin-kan and his wife, Florence Tsang Chiu-wing, married in 2000 and separated in 2008.