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

The Times reports that Switzerland is prepared to remove the blacklist of Libyan travellers, raising hopes that the month-long dispute which has affected all Schengen area countries will be resolved. It also reports on the accident which left a worker dead in Mosta yesterday, and an EU survey which found that the majority of Maltese feel poverty has increased.

The Malta Independent features the testimony given in court by Vince Farrugia who described how he was assaulted in his office earlier this month.

In-Nazzjon says Vince Farrugia revealed the SMS addressed to the labour leader but sent to him by mistake. The newspaper also reports that two bonds of a total of €50 million were snatched up within hours.

l-orizzont gives prominence to a GWU statement criticizing the way the government is going about the privatization of the shipyard. It also says that Mepa will decide the fate of City Gate today.

The overseas press

The Washington Times reports frantic diplomatic activity to agree on steps Israel should take to get peace talks with Palestinians back on track. After the White House confirmed that President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had failed to resolve their differences, Mr Natanyahu twice extended his visit in Washington to try to find a compromise in a meeting with the US Middle East peace envoy, George Mitchell, who returned to the US following a meeting in the West Bank with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

European Voice says the European Commission has put extra pressure on EU leaders on the eve of their two-day summit to agree to a standby aid plan for Greece amid concern that further delay would damage the stability of the euro.

In the UK, the nationals are dominated with claims that Chancellor Alistair Darling's pre-election Budget squeezed the better off while offering help to new homebuyers, the elderly and the young unemployed. The Daily Telegraph says the described it as a £15-billion stealth tax raid on the middleclass.

Börzen Zeitung reports United States has filed criminal and civil charges against German automaker Daimler for bribing foreign officials. The case has led some analysts in Germany to ask whether Germany could have done more to prevent it.

Gulf News leads with Saudi Arabia's crackdown on al Qaeda terrorists with the arrest of more than 100 terror suspects accused of planning attacks on its oil installations. The Interior Ministry said security forces foiled several such attacks.

Tribune de Genève says the Swiss government has finally agreed to take two Chinese nationals, both Muslims from the Uighur ethnic group, from the US Guantanamo Bay prison, which President Obama had promised to close. Many American politicians have strongly opposed allowing them to stay in US territory.

The Irish Independent leads with the Pope's acceptance of the shock resignation of a second bishop over child sex abuse scandals, with another three senior clerics expected to face the same fall from grace. The church's own watchdog had found Mgr John Magee, the only cleric to serve as personal secretary to three popes, took minimal action on accusations against two of his priests and branded his child protection ‘dangerous'.

According to East African Standard, private security guards aboard a merchant ship off the coast of East Africa fired on and killed a Somali raider after a group of pirates attacked their vessel. An EU Naval Force frigate was dispatched to the scene and launched a helicopter that located the pirates. Seven were found, including one who had died from small-calibre gunshot wounds. The six remaining pirates were arrested.

Texas Globe reports the US Supreme Court has stayed the execution of a convicted murderer, less than an hour before he was due to die, after an appeal for new DNA tests. Henry Skinner, 47, was convicted in Texas in 1995 of the murders of his girlfriend and her two sons. The stay of execution grants a delay but does not ensure the DNA tests will be carried out.

US Space and Aviation News reports some 25 million bags went missing in the world's airports in 2009, costing the airline industry some $US2.5 billion. Just over half of the bags, 52 per cent, were misplaced during aircraft transfers, while another 16 per cent did not arrive at the destination on time as they were not loaded on planes, luggage. China Daily says a nursery teacher, overwhelmed by the number of children in her care, was sentenced to three years in jail in southwest China for stabbing more than 60 children with an empty syringe to discipline them.

Russian television has aired a video of a wedding guest shooting himself in the head with a rubber bullet in a game of Russian roulette. An excerpt from a wedding video airing on NTV shows a man shooting himself in the temple and falling to the ground. Komsomolskaya Pravda reported the victim in the December incident was hospitalized with a severe head wound. It says the man who gave him the gun has been charged with hooliganism.

According to a report in French bi-weekly magazine France Football, 22-year-old Barcelona star Lionel Messi has taken over from Milan's David Beckham as the world's highest-paid footballer, earning €33 million in wages, bonuses and endorsements in 2009. Beckham saw his total 2009 income drop from €32.5 million in 2008 to €30.5 million last year.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.