The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the CEO of Gozo Channel has resigned, just eight months into his term. His resignation is not thought to be related to the current inquiry into alleged lack of safety measures, made by one of the ferry company's captains. The newspaper also reports that most of the social partners agree on the need for a fresh effort to reach a social pact.
The Malta Independent reports that a consultation document on a strategy for the primary health service will be issued in the coming days.
That too, is the lead story in In-Nazzon. It also reports that a helpline on the Budget is to be set up by the Office of the Prime Minister.
l-orizzont says a man has been jailed for six years and fined €7,000 for providing the drugs which led to a youth's death from an overdose. It also quotes international media saying it was Israeli intelligence which first raised the alarm about bullet cartridges being carried on a cargo ship at Malta Freeport, and the issue was taken to the sanctions committee of the United Nations.
The Press in Britain...
The Independent bemoans the fact that Britain is still in recession "even after bailing out banks with £1 trillion, printing £175 billion of new money, slashing interest rates to 0.5 per cent, cutting VAT by 2.5 per cent and spending £400 million on a car-scrappage scheme".
The Daily Telegraph reports the British economy shrank by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter - and has been overtaken by Italy for the first time in years.
The Times also leads with the economic gloom, but in a second main story quotes the former Archbishop of Canterbury urging Dr Rowan Williams to 'express unhappiness' to the Pope about not being consulted over plans to admit disaffected Anglicans to the Roman Catholic Church.
As a poll following Nick Griffin's appearance finds more than a fifth of voters would now consider voting BNP, The Guardian quotes ministers fearing the BNP will receive a pre-general election boost.
The Sun reports the nation has turned on the BNP leader after his BBC appearance.
The Daily Star calls the BBC "loony" for making BNP leader Nick Griffin look like a "victim".
The Daily Mail talks of the "BNP backlash", reporting MPs have accused the BBC of playing into Nick Griffin's hands.
In an exclusive, the Daily Mirror quotes Stephen Gately's partner saying he wants none of the late singer's £10 million.
And elsewhere...
Wiener Zeitung reports that Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna that it was favorably examining a UN-brokered nuclear enrichment deal but said it needed more time to examine and respond to the proposals.
Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung says Israel would like two sophisticated German state of the art corvettes - worth between some €500 million- for free. Hamburg's Blohm + Voss shipyard confirmed an Israeli enquiry without divulging any further details on the potential deal. The ships' weapons would be supplied by the United States.
Le Parisien reports that a French court has ordered the French authorities to pay Mohamed Al Fayed €5000 compensation and a further €3000 in legal fees because problems over the inquiry into Princess Diana's fatal 1997 car crash in Paris had "delayed the case without good reason for nearly two years." Al Fayed has long claimed Diana and Dodi Fayed, her boyfriend and his son, were murdered as part of an establishment plot.
Slovensky Noviny reports that NATO nations have acknowledged that their operation in Afghanistan is not working and a new approach was needed. The statement was made at a meeting in Bratislava of Nato defence ministers, where the top US military commander in Afghanistan General Stanley McChrystal was briefing the group on his view of the war in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile,The International Herald Tribune says that the Netherlands and Denmark have announced a block on sending more troops to Afghanistan unless its election run-off creates a legitimate government and until President Barack Obama decides on a new strategy.
Ekstra Bladet quotes a Danish government official research showing gender-bending chemicals were increasingly being blamed for the mystery of the "lost boys": babies who should normally be male but who have been born as girls instead.
USA Today says that in the largest single strike at Mexican drug operations in the US, authorities arrested more than 300 people in 38 cities, clearly indicating that the tentacles of La Familia extend coast to coast and deep into America's heartland.
Variety predicts Julie Andrews could be back singing on stage within a year or two thanks to a revolutionary new treatment to repair her shattered vocal cords. She is expected to be one of the first patients in the world to have man-made tissue injected into her voice box. The Oscar winner has been unable to sing ever since surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules on her vocal cords in 1997.
Toronto Star reports former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson has joined several celebrities in a campaign to save seals from the annual hunt on Canada's East Coast - which sees an average of 300,000 harp seals killed annually.
The New Yorker says the United States has formally asked Switzerland to hand over fugitive film director Roman Polanski on child sex charges. The 76-year-old has been in custody since his arrest on September 26 as he arrived in Zurich to attend a film festival.