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

The Times reports how an Italian surgeon is wanted by the Malta police for the death of a patient at St Luke's Hospital six years ago.

The Malta Independent leads with the death of Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.

In-Nazzjon says the Employment Relations Board has approved the extension of maternity leave as of January 2.

l-orizzont, like The Times, leads with the search for the Italian surgeon. The newspaper also reports that according to the auditor's report, almost a billion euro due to the government, including tax arrears going back many years, may never be recovered.

The overseas press

The Washington Times reports that the United States has been consulting its allies in Asia following the death of the North Korean leader Kim Jung Il. President Obama telephoned South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton met her Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba in Washington and later said both counries wanted a stable transition in North Korea.

Manila Times says the official death toll in the Philippines after Sunday's tropical storm has risen to more than 960. The government said more bodies had been recovered from the ocean. As aid agencies were trying to reach more than 120,000 people affected by flash flooding on the island of Mindanao, mass burials were being organised as bodies were rapidly decomposing in the heat.

The BBC quotes European Central Bank president Mario Draghi saying he had "no doubts" about the euro's ability to survive the current crisis. Speaking to the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, he was asked about a Financial Times interview in which he warned of the costs of a eurozone break-up. But he said he believed in the currency's permanence. "The one currency is irreversible," he said. Draghi told the FT that trust needed to return to the eurozone. He said that countries that left the eurozone would create "a big inflation" and would find themselves in "a much weaker position".

Börzen Zeitung reports the ECB has warned that risks to the eurozone's stability had increased. In its twice-yearly Financial Stability Report it said that, in the worst case, there could be a return to a global recession. It added that the risk of two large banks defaulting within the next year had risen to the highest level in four years and it warned that some eurozone banks had become addicted to central bank funds, and could face "significant challenges". The ECB again criticised politicians' response to the crisis, saying the lack of rapid action had made things worse.

EU Times says a teleconference among EU finance ministers has ended with an agreement by eurozone nations to contribute around €150 billion through the IMF. European leaders had committed to contribute "up to €200 billion" at a summit in Brussels on December 9. Though non-euro members like Poland and Sweden are contributing to the fund, Britain said it would not decide until early in the new year.

Al Bawaba says Syrian forces are reported to have shot dead more than 70 army deserters as they tried to join the revolt against President Bahar al-Assad. They were cut down by machinegun fire as they tried to flee their military base in Idlib province.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports that Damascus has agreed to an Arab League deal to allow monitors in. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the Arab League had accepted amendments demanded by Damascus. The Arab League said an advance team of observers would go to Syria this week.

In a separate development, The New York Times says the UN General Assembly voted by a strong majority to condemn the Syrian authorities for the crackdown, which has left some 5,000 people dead since the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began in March.

Iraqi State-run television Al Sumaria reports that a judicial committee has issued an arrest warrant for the most senior Sunni politician, Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi. The warrant was issued under anti-terrorism laws. The decision came after arrested bodyguards of Hashemi reportedly accused him of links to terrorism.

Le Point announces that Anne Sinclair, wife of FMI's former director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, has been crowned "Woman of the Year" by the feminine French website Terrafemina as a symbol of courage and tenacity in the face of adversary. She garnered 25 per cent of the votes in a reader survey – one percentage point ahead of the new FMI director Christine Lagarde and two points ahead of French Socialist Party secretary general Martine Aubry. At the very bottom of the league, with just four per cent of the votes, came Tristane Banon, the Frnech writer and journalist who accused Strauss-Khan of rape.

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