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

The Times carries a front page picture of the Pope's trip in Washington. It reports how four new MPs have been elected to Parliament, and proposals made by a think tank on Mepa reform. It also carries comments by Sam Mifsud, chairman of the Malta Tourism Authority, on how tourism strategies will need to be adjusted if the temperature continues to rise.

In-Nazzjon also leads with the proposals presented to the Prime Minister for a reform of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. It also says that yesterday's casual elections saw three new MPs elected for the PN - Stephen Spiteri, Philip Mifsud and Charlo' Bonnici.

l-orizzont says the composition of the House of Representatives has been concluded with the election of 12 MPs from casual elections. It also reports a speech by GWU general secretary Tony Zarb saying globalisation needs to be turned into an opportunity to benefit the workers.

The Malta Independent leads with the casual elections. It also quotes a report in the London Times saying there should be a total ban on hunting in Malta.

The Press in Britain...

The Guardian says a Chinese cargo ship believed to be carrying 77 tonnes of small arms, including more than 3m rounds of ammunition, AK47 assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades, has docked in the South African port of Durban for the transportation of the weapons to Zimbabwe.

Metro says Gordon Brown is facing growing unrest in his own party as he labours to woo support from American leaders. Brown, who is on a visit to Washington, underlined the close relationship that exists between their two countries, heaping praise on the American leader for his strong stance against terrorism. He also called for tightening European sanctions against Iran .

The Daily Mail reports on the devastating scale of rising prices in its new Cost of Living Index. It says families are having to find more than £100 a month extra this year to cope with increases in the cost of food, heat, light and transport.

The Daily Express reports that families have been left reeling by a £4,000 council tax bombshell under Labour.

The Daily Telegraph says Britain's second biggest bank is to make a plea to the City to try to raise billions of pounds to help shore up its finances, which have been hit by the global credit crisis. The Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns NatWest, is to launch a rights issue for at least £5 billion.

The Independent says a new scientific technique for cloning is being developed which could be used to save doomed species such as the white rhino and avert their extinction.

The Times reports that head teachers from grammar schools could see their pay double to £200,000 a year in return for also taking over the management of failing schools in their area.

The Mirror's front page features an exclusive interview with TV host Trisha following her diagnosis of breast cancer.

The Daily Star claims a former bisexual lover of David Beckham is to spill the beans about their secret fling on a new TV show.

And elsewhere...

As pressure continues on President Mugabe over the publication of the presidential election results, The International Herald Tribune says the European Union has called for their immediate publication, saying further delays would be unacceptable. The Commission said further postponement would be viewed as stalling the democratic process. South Africa's government has also, for the first time, called for the rapid release of delayed results from last month's poll.

Meanwhile Mugabe has accused his main opponent Morgan Tsvangirai of treason and in return was warned he may face "justice" over his corrupt regime. Mr Tsvangirai was in South Africa when Zimbabwe's state mouthpiece The Herald said Tsvangirai was in league with Gordon Brown to overthrow the government. Mr Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change party, dismissed the claims as "outrageous".

The American media leads with the 25-minute meeting Pope Benedict has had with a small group of Catholic Church sexual abuse victims. The pontiff, on an official visit to the US, met with five victims from the Boston area, seen as the epicentre of revelations that have plagued the Roman Catholic church since the 1990s. A statement from the Vatican said Benedict prayed with the victims and offered them encouragement. Earlier, more than 46,000 people converged on Washington's new babseball stadium to head the pope's first public mass of his visit at.

The Times of India says the Olympic torch relay has concluded its run in India's capital, Delhi, with some scattered Tibetan protests occurring without major incident amid unprecedented security measures. The brief relay of 2.6 kilometres in the heart of Delhi was particularly sensitive as India is home to the largest community of Tibetan exiles, including the Dalai Lama. Meanwhile, The Kathmandu Post reports that around 500 Tibetan exiles have been arrested in the Nepalese capital following protests outside the Chinese embassy.

Al Zaman says at least 50 people were killed when a suicide bomber targeted the funeral of two anti-al-Qaeda Sunni tribesmen in a mainly Sunni town north of Baghdad. Officials said the suicide bomber walked into a tent crowded with mourners and detonated explosives strapped to his body.

And in Afghanistan, Anis Daily reports a suicide bomber killed at least 17 people when he blew himself up in the middle of a bazaar near to a mosque. More than 30 people were injured in the attack in the town of Zaranj, the capital of the province of Nimroz. Taliban militants have recently favoured the use of suicide attacks, a tactic unknown in Afghanistan until 2003 and widely believed to have been copied from Iraqi insurgents.

Berliner Zeitung reports that Germany has slammed President Bush's blueprint on climate change as "Neanderthal" and accused him of backtracking on earlier pledges to fight global warming. German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel said that the president's speech prior to a climate conference in Paris failed "to take account of global challenges." Bush had said that imposing limits on greenhouse gas emissions before 2025 was the wrong way to combat global warming.

European Voice quotes a consumer safety report claiming the number of dangerous products taken off markets last year rose by 53 per cent. One third were toys and childcare goods, and more than half of the 1,605 EU-wide product risk alerts registered involved items made in China. About 21 million toys were removed from shelves as part of just four product alerts last summer, which raised concern about manufacturing standards.