A meeting between the Malta Resources Authority and 11 trade unions dominates the local front pages today. Following the meeting, the unions said the MRA would order a retroactive revision of the utility tariffs. The MRA promptly denied there would be any retroactivity.

The Times says this was "One meeting with two versions".

The Malta Independent says a meeting meant to clarify the utilities issue ended up with more confusion.

l-orizzont says a call has been made for the resignation of MRA officials for playing with words.

In other stories, The Times reports that the Malta plant of St Microelectronics is to be downsided and that of Morocco closed. The number of local layoffs could be substantial. The newspaper and The Malta Independent report that the issue was discussed at a meeting between the Prime Minister and the GWU.

In-Nazzjon says figures issued yesterday show that two of every three domestic consumers was eligible for the eco-reductions in the utility bills. It also reports on the record year for Malta International Airport.

The Press in Britain

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Gordon Brown appeals for optimism in the face of the economic downturn - despite conceding Britain is "in the eye of the storm".

Brown’s pledge to create "British jobs for British workers" has come back to haunt him, says The Times in reporting on the strikes in protest over foreign workers which it calls as the “dawn of new age of unrest”.

The Daily Express front page is dominated by the story of striking British workers protesting against the hiring of foreigners. The protests focused on Italian and Portuguese workers at construction sites.

The Independent also focuses on the bitter row over the use of foreign workers on construction projects which has ignited a wave of wildcat strikes.

The Guardian also reports on the wildcat strikes across the country but leads with the news that a plan to nationalise struggling private schools has been confirmed by ministers.

The Financial Times reports details on President Barack Obama's plan to reduce home foreclosures and possible help to kick-start credit markets.

According to the Daily Mirror, Madonna's ex-husband Guy Ritchie has dropped his opposition to her plans to take their children to live in America.

And elsewhere…

EU Observer reports that the European Union and China are to work together to combat the global financial crisis. The two agreed to convene an EU-China summit in the near future.

Berliner Morgenpost quotes German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling on delegates at the annual World Economic Forum to look beyond the current global crisis and seek ways of ensuring that it doesn't happen again.

Meanwhile, The Washington Times reports the US president urging the Senate to swiftly pass an $800-billion economic stimulus package.

Il Tempo quotes the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization saying the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip has badly damaged the territory's agriculture sector.

Zimbabwe Independent reports opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai saying his party has agreed to join a unity government with the ZANU-PF party of President Robert Mugabe next month.

L’Osservatore Romano says the Holocaust denier and conservative Bishop Richard Williamson has apologised to Pope Benedict for remarks carried last week by Swedish television in which he said no more than 300,000 Jews died in the Holocaust, and none in gas chambers.

Granma reports Fidel Castro has demanded that the US return the Guantanamo Bay military base to Cuba and criticised the US defence of Israel. In his latest essay, published on an official website, the ailing 82-year-old former president wrote that if the US doesn’t give the US base at Guantanamo back to Cuba, it will be a violation of international law and an abuse of American power against a small country.

Blesk says a Czech court has ruled that the families of two baby girls swapped at birth should receive €119,022 in compensation. The clinic had acknowledged responsibility.

The Times of Munster, Indiana reports that a woman who was not invited to her sister’s wedding reception showed up anyway and attacked the bride, pulling out clumps of her hair, police said today. Annmarie Bricker, 23, told police she went to the house because she “just wanted to talk” to her sister and parents about family problems. She was arrested for assault,