Press digest

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

The Times reports that the President is to dissolve Sliema council on Thursday. It also reports on illegal dumping in Dockyard Creek..

The Malta Independent says emergency nurses have demanded urgent action to tackle overcrowding.

In-Nazzjon reports that 500 Air Malta workers have applied  for early retirement schemes.

l-orizzont says Malta has seen the biggest drop in retail sales in the EU.

The overseas press

Deutsche Welle reports that the European Commission has put its gas coordination committee on alert after confirming that Russian gas deliveries to at least nine countries had fallen by up to 30 per cent. The situation has not yet reached an emergency level. The whole of Europe has been caught in the grasp of a Siberian cold snap for around a week, which has already caused over 220 deaths. Weather forecasters say there is no end to the cold spell in sight.

The Wall Street Journal says the US economy created 243,000 jobs in January, the highest total for nine months. The rise was much more than the expected 150,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dropped to 8.3 per cent, which was the lowest rate in nearly three years, and down from a revised rate of 8.5 per cent in December.

Al-Arabiya reports Syrian opposition activists have said more than 200 people have been killed across Syria as protestors commemorated the massacre of tens of thousands of people in Hama in 1982 ordered by President Bashar al-Assad's father, Hafez. The Syrian Observatory for Human rights group said the death toll was now at least 217 people killed in Homs, 138 of them killed in the Khalidiya district, a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime.

Meanwhile, The New York Times points out that the UN Security Council votes later today over a revised Arab and Western draft resolution condemning current Syrian authorities for a military crackdown on an 11-month-old revolt in which thousands of people have been killed. It is not known how Russia would vote.

Al Ahram says at least four people have been killed and some 1,500 others injured in the latest unrest in Egypt, amid anger over 74 deaths after a football match in Port Said on Wednesday. Many Egyptians blame the authorities for failing to protect fans. Hundreds more activists are flocking to the area, bent on taking part in another demonstration today against the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, the military junta that took power after the fall of Hosni Mubarak's regime, just under a year ago.

Abrar quotes the Islamic Republic's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying his country would help any nation or group that confronted what he called “the cancer Israel”. He told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran that Israel was a tumour that should be cut. He also said that the country would continue its controversial nuclear programme, and warned that any military strike by the US would only make Iran stronger.

According to Australia’s ABC, heavy rain is easing across northern New South Wales, offering some relief to flood-stricken communities. About 17,000 people are isolated across the state, with floodwaters moving south from Queensland. The floods represent the worst in 35 years.

Al Jazeera reports the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organisation says Somalia's famine is over, but has warned that 2.3 million people, or 31 per cent of the country's population, remain in a food crisis situation. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled to refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and the Somali capital Mogadishu in search of food. The famine was exacerbated by the Somali militant group al-Shabab, which has let few aid agencies into the area it controls in south-central Mogadishu.

Aviation Week & Space Technology says American and German astrophysicists have detected a planet similar to the Earth, 22 light years away. They said it is likely to contain water and possibly even life like the one we know. The new Super-Earth has a volume 4.5 times greater than that of our planet; it makes one revolution every 28 days around its own sun, which is much smaller than the Earth's.

An Uzbeki woman has claimed to be 128 years old, the oldest reported person in the world. Turkey's Cihan news agency says Tuti Yusupova's birth is documented as July 1, 1880. However, there is no independent confirmation of her age. Yusupova says her health is fine but she has problems with her hearing.

The Washington Post announces the death in Manhattan of Ben Gazzara, whose powerful dramatic performances brought an intensity to a variety of roles and made him a memorable presence in films, on television and on Broadway in the original "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". He died of pancreatic cancer aged 81. During his long career he won an Emmy Award and was nominated for three Tonys.