The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times reports that an elderly patient who was taken home from hospital wearing only a nappy had been aggressive with hospital staff. It also says that the smoking ban has failed to stuff out the incidence of heart disease.
The Malta Independent says that according to an EU report, Malta’s power stations cost Malta up to €126m in health and environment costs.
MaltaToday leads with the same story on the power station costs. It also says that according to its survey, the PL is continuing to lead in the polls, but the PN is edging closer.
It-Torca says that an EU report has pointed to high tax evasion in Malta. It also reports that a new tax on oil bunkering activities could result in the loss of 600 jobs.
Il-Mument carries comments by the prime minister that Malta needs to reduce dependence on energy. It also says that the PL promises on electricity are similar to the promises on VAT made before 1996.
KullHadd says €1.1m in direct orders have been awarded to the company where Tonio Fenech used to work.
Illum says Gozo Channel has been renting a €40,000 office from a relative of the chairman who just resigned.
The overseas press
Welt am Sonntag reports that German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are considering a new stability treaty that would be limited to only a few countries in the eurozone, including Italy. Paris and Berlin will make the proposal in the days ahead of the December 9 EU summit, government sources told the newspaper. The EU's current stability pact requires the 17 countries of the eurozone to limit budget deficits to three percent of gross domestic product and debt to 60 per cent of GDP.
Meanwhile, The New York Times says that banks in the United States and Europe – including such giants as Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital and Nomura – were bracing themselves against the collapse of the eurozone because of the ongoing sovereign debt crisis. In the US, the regulatory authorities have been pushing the banks, including Citigroup, to decrease their exposure to the euro. Banks in France and Italy did not believe the disintegration of the euro was impossible.
Kathimerini quotes a junior partner in debt-stricken Greece's new interim government sayng the next national election might be held later than the provisional February 19 date to allow the coalition to complete its mandate. Giorgos Karatzaferis, leader of the right-wing populist LAOS party, said the three-party coalition was finding it difficult to operate under the "very tight deadline" set when the government was formed on November 11. The coalition government - headed by former central banker Lucas Papademos - includes Greece's majority Socialists, LAOS and the main opposition conservatives.
Corriere della Sera reports that 33 people are missing after a sailing boat with more than 75 illegal immigrants on board hit a reef and capsized off the Italian coastal town of Brindisi. The passengers – Afghans, Pakistanis, Kurds, Iranians and Iraqis – had left Turkey five days ago. Three corpses have been washed ashore but the authorities are not excluding that some of the missing persons managed to make their way inland and vanished. According to Fortress Europe, more than 2,000 people drowned during the first nine months of the year while trying to reach European shores, bringing the figure for the last 20 years to nearly 18,000 dead.
Tripoli Post says dozens of Libyan women have rallied outside the office of Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib in Tripoli to pressure the new government to do more to help women raped during the country's civil war. They accused the government, that in its focus to help wounded soldiers, it was failing to help women sexually assaulted by Gaddafi’s forces during the war. There are no official figures on the number of women raped, but the International Criminal Court's prosecutor has said there was evidence indicating hundreds of cases.
A senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has said the country will target Nato’s missile defence shield in Turkey if the US or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic. General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, is quoted by the semi-official Mehr news agency as saying the warning is part of a new defence strategy to counter what it sees as an increase in threats from the US and Israel. He says Iran will now respond to threats with threats, rather than a defensive position.
Dawn says Pakistan has ordered a review of all co-operation with the US and Nato after the alliance struck a Pakistani army checkpoint, killing at least 24 people. A committee chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also decided to cut supply lines to Nato in Afghanistan. Mr Gilani called the attack a "grave infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty". A Nato spokesman admitted it was "highly likely" that Nato aircraft were behind the strike at the Afghan border.
Al Ahram reports members of the Arab League are to vote later today on a draft list of economic sanctions on Syria for its continuing brutal crackdown on protesters. The proposals, drafted after a meeting in Cairo, include the halting of dealings with the Syrian central bank, the suspension of commercial flights and a travel ban on senior officials. Syria's foreign minister has accused the League of meddling in its affairs.
The Mail in Sunday reports that a Tokyo Christmas tree has a special glow even amid the global economic gloom – it’s made of pure gold, and valued at €1.5million. A jewellery store in Tokyo's posh Ginza district teamed up with flower arrangement artist Shogo Kariyazaki to create the lavish Golden Christmas Tree. The 2.5metre-tall tree is made from 12kg of gold and is adorned with ribbons, hearts and orchids, also made of gold. The craftsmen spent four and a half months to complete the creation. The tree has set a new world record for the world's most expensive Christmas tree, according to World Records Academy. Other festive world records have been made in Belgium, where Kiwanis Melmedy from Haute Fagnes, set the record for most lights lit simultaneously on a Christmas tree – totalling 194,672. And Erin Lavoire in the US has set the new record for chopping the most Christmas trees chopped in two minutes – 27.