The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times leads with the vote in the European Parliament to cap overtime. All Maltese MEPs voted against. It also reports how a man in Gozo has been accused of child pornography.
l-orizzont quotes Parliamentary Secretary Mario de Marco saying Malta is in for a tough year in the tourism sector next year.
The Malta Independent also gives prominence to that story and says the number of cruise line passengers has continued to grow. It also highlights the evidence given by a police inspector in a court case against a Somali man accused of assault.
In-Nazzjon features the investment of €4.4 million in a plastic card factory due to open in Gozo early next year, as well as the police promotions announced yesterday.
The Press in Britain…
The Daily Mirror leads with the images of the four young children who were killed when their father crashed his dangerously modified 4x4 into a frozen lake. Nigel Gresham was yesterday found guilty of causing their deaths.
The Times reveals expansion plans at Gatwick, including a potential second runway, are on the table as companies plot to buy Britain's second biggest airport.
The Daily Telegraph reports public warnings not to call on emergency services unless the situation is extreme, because NHS departments are so overworked.
The Daily Express says 27,000 jobs have been lost as moribund former high street favourite Woolworths comes to the end of the line on January 5.
The Daily Mail leads with news of the potential £1bn bailout of Jaguar-Land Rover, which it says could create a "politically explosive precedent".
The Financial Times says the Bank of England believes the UK bailouts haven't ended. Two months after the £37bn bank recapitalisation, the bank believes the government will be forced to pledge more funds to the country's beleaguered financial institutions.
The Independent dedicates its front page to the conflict in Iraq and suggests an independent inquiry is needed into "the causes, conflict and cost of war".
And elsewhere…
EU Observer reports the European Parliament has approved a deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions throughout the 27-member bloc. The climate package, which Europe hopes will serve as an international model, will oblige EU nations to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2020.
The Wall Street Journal says Central Banks all over the world have announced interest rate cuts, after the US Fed slashed its base lending rate from 1 percent to virtually zero. The measures are designed to stimulate domestic economies that have been hit by the financial crisis.
Meanwhile, the daily German business newspaper Handelsblatt reports that as the European business day closed, the euro was up by more than 3 cents, or 2 percent, against the dollar.
Quotidien d’Oran says OPEC has decided to reduce daily output by 2.2 million barrels – its biggest single production cut since 1982. The move, which will take effect on January 1, was agreed on during a meeting of oil ministers in the Algerian city of Oran and comes in response to weak demand and falling oil prices, which have dropped to less than $50 per barrel from a July peak of more than $147.
Athens News reports protesters hung two giant banners off the Acropolis with slogans calling for mass demonstrations across Europe today after days of violence sparked by police shooting dead a teenager in Athens last Saturday. The banners were taken down after two hours. Student demonstrations are already planned in Athens and Thessaloniki.
La Gazzetta del Sud says an alleged Mafia boss hanged himself in jail, hours after being arrested in a police swoop to prevent what they said were “mob efforts to rebuild Cosa Nostra”.
Al-Ayyam eports that the Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush has appeared in the Central Criminal Court which handles security and terrorism cases. Muntadhar al-Zeidi has been in custody since Sunday. His brother claims he was severely beaten by the police after his arrest.
The New York Times says US authorities have placed allegedly fraudulent Wall Street investment manager Bernard Madoff under house arrest and required him to wear a trackable electronic tag. Madoff is under investigation after being accused of orchestrating a $50 billion scam, in which he used new investors' money to pay interest to other investors.
Die Welt reports German police are holding a married couple for questioning in connection with the stabbing of a police chief who had been vilified by neo-Nazis. German authories estimate some 31,000 people belong to the country's extreme right-wing groups, about 10,000 of whom are potentially violent.
The Jerusalem Post says an Israeli air force plane will fly the dead and wounded from a bus accident near the Red Sea back to Russia. Twenty-four Russians from St Petersburg were killed in the accident, while 27 remained hospitalized in five hospitals around the country. Most of the injured are women.
New Jersey Globe quotes the father of three-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell calling for more tolerance after a supermarket refused to produce a birthday cake with the child’s full name written on it. Heath Campbell and his wife Deborah said people should look forward, not back, and accept change.
Christian Science Monitor reports that more than two-thirds of pet owners believe they understand their animals' noises and more than 50 per cent think they are understood when they speak to them.