The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says there is deadlock in gas strike talks, but the talks will resume today.
The Malta Independent says the Mayor of Mosta did not want residents to read on the council’s magazine about parliamentary questions on Mosta roads made by a Labour MP, viewing it as an unfair advantage for the MP.
In-Nazzjon says Puttinu Cares is working on another hostel in the UK. It also reports that divisions in the Labour ranks at Mosta have been exposed.
l-orizzont says that 924 new members joined the GWU since September, including a majority of workers at the dockyard.
The overseas press
The Washington Times leads with the ratification by the US Congress of a new treaty cutting down American and Russian nuclear weapons. The final vote was 71-26, well above the necessary two-thirds majority needed for ratification, with several Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the treaty. President Obama described the treaty as “the most significant agreement of its kind in nearly 20 years”.
Kathemerini reports that public transport unions have staged a further strike in Greece as the country's parliament approved the 2011 budget. The budget imposes more spending cuts and tax raises designed to satisfy bail-out requirements by the EU and IMF to tackle the country’s debts. The new measures come on top of earlier austerity measures.
Az-Zaman says Christians in Iraq have been advised by some church leaders not to hold Christmas festivities after Islamists threatened more attacks on the Christian community there.
Ansa reports that Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has criticised the European Union for not doing more to combat Christian persecutions in Iraq and other Middle Eastern Countries. Middle Eastern Christians are leaving the region in increasing numbers, especially from Iraq, where they have been the victims of a series of bomb attacks this year.
And London’s Daily Star leads on claims that Muslim extremists sparked outrage by branding Christmas evil. Posters have started to appear in east London saying the festive season leads to teen pregnancies, rape, paedophilia, domestic violence and drug abuse.
Deutsche Welle says passengers stranded around northern Europe have been boosted by the news that most main airports were resuming near-normal service on Wednesday.
Metro reports that London’s Heathrow airport was hoping to operate 70 percent of a normal day's service as both of its runways were open again. However, BAA confirmed that many of those stranded there were not expected to be able to leave until after Christmas.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times says a huge storm that’s sweeping the United States has brought Los Angeles nearly half its annual rainfall in just six days.
The New York Times that international pressure was building to get the incumbent president of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, to accept defeat in last month’s presidential election. The UN, which supports Gbagbo’s rival Alassane Ouattara was reported to have accepted the credentials of a envoy representing Ouattara’s administration. It came as the World Bank cut off funds to the country and the French government urged its nationals in Ivory Coast to leave.
Liberal Democrat ministers in the British cabinet have criticised their Prime Minister and his deputy, the Daily Telegraph reveals on its front page. In secret recordings revealed by the newspapers, the ministers have claimed David Cameron was insincere and not to be trusted while George Osborne had "no experience of how ordinary people live".
Il Tempo says Italian Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo has quit Premier Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party but said she would join the House's so-called 'mixed group', which several opposition MPs defected to last week after breaking ranks with their parties to back the government in the confidence vote.
Corriere dela Sera reports Italian students caused disruption with nationwide protests, when the government's contested education reform bill had been expected to win final approval in parliament. Demonstrators blocked roads in Rome and Turin and a sit-in on the tracks at Naples main train station caused mayor problems for rail services.
Russia's leading opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta said it would publish new WikiLeaks disclosures unmasking corruption among Russia's "highest political echelons". The weekly is known for its critical, anti-Kremlin investigative reporting. President Dmitry Medvedev has already angrily dismissed as irrelevant US diplomatic cables published so far which cast Russia as corrupt.
New Age, a Bangladeshi newspaper says a 46-year-old man was clubbed to death allegedly by his four wives for cheating on them by keeping his marriages a secret. According to Shariah law, a man is allowed to take four wives with their consent.