The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times says a new EU treaty is on the way as a means to overcome to euro crisis. It also says that 'dirty' oil is to be used for the power station after Mepa approval yesterday.
The Malta Independent leads with the resignation of Mita chairman Claudio Grech and also features the power station permit debate.
In-Nazzjon remembers the death of Raymond Caruana. It reports how PL deputy leader Toni Abela was fined after he shouted and insulted a court. It also reports the Mepa approval of the use of HFO in the power station extension.
l-orizzont also features the Mepa approval of the power station contract. It also gives prominence to the funeral of the policeman who drowned at Cirkewwa yesterday.
The overseas press
The Wall Street Journal reports that the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has placed almost the entire eurozone on a negative credit watch – a move which means it could be downgraded in the coming months. Standard & Poor’s explained the move by saying that systemic stresses in the eurozone had risen in recent months. The move comes days before a meeting of EU government leaders convened to discuss ways of solving the crisis. Amongt the countries on the negative credit watch were Germany and France.
The Financial Times says President Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Merkel of Germany have issued a joint statement in response to the latest developments. They said they had taken note of the warning by S&P’s but underlined their view that new proposals for tougher budgetary controls in the eurozone would strengthen coordination within the eurozone’s 17 countries. This would boost stability, competitiveness and growth.
Bloomberg reports stocks fell for the first time in seven days when Asian markets opened today after Standard & Poor’s put 15 European nations on watch for potential downgrades. Oil and U.S. equity futures dropped. The euro was little changed.
Vedomosti reports that several thousand people protested in Moscow last night against Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his party, which won the largest share of a Russian parliamentary election. A group ranging between 5,000 and 10,000 marched towards the Central Elections Commission near the Kremlin, but were stopped by riot police and taken away in buses. The OSCE says the vote was slanted in favour of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party, United Russia, which took about 50 per cent of Sunday's vote. More than 400 Communist supporters also gathered to express their indignation over the election. The Communist Party finished second with about 20 per cent of the vote.
Le Soir says Belgium's prime minister-designate Elio Di Rupo has managed a slimmed-down coalition in one of the final steps before his team formally ends the record 541 days the country has gone without a government. The swearing-in today will be a long-awaited relief to the nation of 6.5 million Dutch and 4.5 million French speakers who are frustrated with the deadlock between politicians over linguistic differences. Di Rupo will be the first French-speaking prime minister in almost 40 years. The grand coalition of Socialists, Christian Democrats and Liberals, each split in Dutch and French-speaking parties, would include only 13 full ministers.
Al Jezeera reports Syrian activists say at least 34 civilians are believed to have been kidnapped and killed in the city of Homs. The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights says the victims were seized from districts opposed to President Assad.
Chilevision says the Communist Party in Chile has requested the exhumation of the remains of the poet and Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda. He died in Santiago in 1973 just after the military coup that bright General Pinochet to power. A judge is investigating new allegations that the poet, who was thought to have died of cancer, might have been murdered by the authorities.
The New York Times reports that the UN Security Council has toughened sanction against Eritrea after its East African neighbours accused the Eritrean government of continuing to provide support to Islamist militants. The resolution requires that foreign companies involved in Eritrea’s mining industry ensure that funds from the sector are not used to destabilise the region. Eritrea denied the allegations against it.
San Francisco Chronicle reports that scientists from Columbia University have warned Middle Eastern countries to do more to conserve and manage water resources in the light of new discoveries about the Dead Sea. The researchers say that new drill samples from the bed of the Dead Sea show that it all but dried up about 120,000 years ago. Climate models predict this region would again become extremely arid in the future.
Scientific American says Nasa has confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet beyond out solar system, where there could be water in liquid form. The planet, Kepler 22-b, is about 2.4 times the size of Earth and has a temperature of about 220C. It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours - an "Earth 2.0". However, the team does not yet know if Kepler 22-b is made mostly of rock, gas or liquid – something which is hard to confirm because it would take man 600 years to arrive on the planet!