The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times leads with the accent for change made in yesterday’s MLP general conference which is discussing amendments to the party statute. It also reports that the government has offered tax credits to SMEs to ease the new utility tariffs.
The Malta Independent reports the passing away of the Prime Minister’s mother and Social Policy Minister John Dalli’s announcement that the rent reform will not interfere with existing commercial agreements.
In-Nazzjon features the same two stories, reporting that the Bill for rent reform will be published today.
l-orizzont leads with the MLP general conference, quoting party leader Joseph Muscat saying the party cannot live in fear of losing.
The Press in Britain…
Reaction to the Chancellor's Pre-Budget Report dominates the front pages.
The Daily Telegraph describes the report as a 'middle-class tax time bomb' and says millions of workers earning £40,000 or more will be left worse off.
The Independent calls the report a 'huge £20bn gamble' and says the battle lines have been drawn for the next general election.
The Guardian says the national debt will rise to a trillion over the next four years.
The Times says Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling are leading Britain 'into the Red' with the wealthy bearing the brunt of tax increases.
The Daily Express calls it 'the biggest tax raid in living memory' where the middle classes are the ones who will foot the bill.
And elsewhere…
Le Monde focuses on the summit in Paris between President Sarkozy of France and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the eve the European Commission plans to unveil a spending programme to help kickstart Europe's economy. At a joint meeting of their cabinets, Chancellor Merkel said her administration was still reluctant about Sarkozy's suggestion that Germany provide more funds.
The Irish Times reports that Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen will fly to Scandinavia this week to discuss the Lisbon Treaty with Finnish and Swedish leaders ahead of December’s European Council. The European Union reform was plunged into chaos in June when the Lisbon Treaty was rejected in an Irish referendum by 53.4 per cent to 46.6 per cent.
Chicago Tribune announces that US president-elect Barrack Obama has nominated Timothy Geithner as his Treasury Secretary. Geithner is currently the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank.
Jerusalem Post reports that the Israelis have allowed deliveries of basic humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip, briefly easing the closure it imposed almost three weeks ago in reaction to rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled territory. An Israeli defence ministry spokesman said trucks with grain, food, medical supplies and fuel had entered Gaza.
Berliner Zeitung says the German government has rejected as "absurd" a claim by Kosovan authorities that German agents might have been involved in the throwing of an explosive device at an EU office in Pristina 10 days ago.
Al-Ayyam reports three separate bomb attacks have killed at least 22 people in Baghdad. In one of the attacks, a female suicide bomber blew herself up killing seven people and wounding 13 others in the heavily-fortified Green Zone, which is home to Iraqi government offices and foreign embassies.
El Universal says President Hugo Chavez's allies have won a strong majority in Venezuela's local elections, but the socialist leader's opponents have also made important gains, capturing the Caracas mayor's office and three of the most populous states.
O Globo says nearly a week of severe flooding and landslides in southern Brazil has killed at least 50 people and forced more than 23,000 residents from their homes.
Der Kurrier reports that Austria's Social Democrats and conservative People's Party have announced their ministers in the new coalition cabinet. It will be sworn in by President Heinz Fischer next week.
The East African Standard quotes President Kgalema Motlanthe of South Africa saying Zimbabwe was on the brink of collapse, battered by economic chaos and weakened by disease.
Shipping World says tanker owners from around the world have called for a anti-pirate military blockade along the coast of Somalia.