Press digest

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

The Times gives prominence to the plight of children at risk who are awaiting protection. 164 children are at risk of neglect and abuse. The newspaper also reports Dr Gonzi's address at yesterday's PN council meeting and Labour's reaction.

The Malta Independent leads with Dr Gonzi's call for the PN to be closer to the people. It also quotes Joseph Muscat saying the PN leadership contest was futile.

In-Nazzjon leads with a quotation by the prime minister that he was encouraged more than ever to be closer to the people.

l-orizzont says the Graffitti group yesterday placed 'plaques' instead of trees which were uprooted in Marsa. It gives prominence, however, to Joseph Muscat's comments that Lawrence Gonzi is facing more problems after the leadership election than he did before.

The overseas press:

The Los Angeles Times announces that the silent movie The Artist has won a total of five Oscars in the 84th Academy Award: best picture, best director, best actor for Jean Dujardin, best original score and best costume design. It was the first time a silent film has won the Oscar since the first ceremony back in 1929.  Meryl Streep won best actress for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. The films also won the award for best make-up. Hugo won five Oscars: art direction, cinematography, sound editing, sound mixing and visual effects. Christopher Plummer won the supporting actor Academy Award for Beginners while Octavia Spencer was the supporting actress winner for her role in The Help. The Iranian film A Separation took home the Oscar for foreign language.

Bloomberg says the world's leading economic powers said they would not out up more cash to fight Europe's debt crisis until the eurozone members increase their own contributions – a move that piles pressure on Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels. G20 finance ministers meeting in Mexico City said a decision by eurozone leaders to boost their own firewall was "essential" before any more external resources were allocated thriough the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They said euro area countries would reassess the strength of their support facilities in March, providing “an essential input in our ongoing consideration to mobilise resources to the IMF”.

Ahead of a vote in the Bundestag later today, EU Commission President José Manuel Barroso has called on Germany to approve the Greek rescue package. He told the German daily Die Welt that the rescue package was designed to stabilise Greek finances and enable sustained economic growth. German lawmakers will on a package hammered out by eurozone finance ministers to give Greece a further €130 billion to help avert a March debt default.

ABC reports that Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has won Labor's leadership ballot in Canberra, defeating Kevin Rudd 71 to 31 votes, making it the biggest win in a Labour leadership ballot in 30 years. She called the ballot after weeks of speculation that Rudd was going to challenge her for the top job. A cabinet reshuffle is now expected to fill Rudd's position as foreign minister, from which he resigned last week. He is now expected to retreat to the backbenches as promised.

Reuters report Syria is expected to announce a vote of approval for constitutional changes later today when it announces the result of a referendum dismissed as a sham and a “farce”' meant to justify the bloody crackdown on dissent by the US and its allies. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CBS News in Morocco, that the poll was “a cynical ploy” and urged Syrians who still supported Assad to turn against him. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told journalists on the sidelines of the G20 Conference in Mexico that the referendum was a “farce” and a “sham vote”. As the vote was going in progress, more than 45 people were reported killed nationwide, including 21 in Homs province.

Syria’s official news agency SANA said that President Assad and his wife Asma voted on the draft of the new constitution at the TV and Radio Centre in Damascus. He said Syria was under a “media attack” He said in footage broadcast on state TV, “They may be stronger on the airwaves but we are stronger on the ground, and we aspire to win both on the ground and on the airwaves.” The new constitution allows for the formation of competing political parties and limits the president to two seven-year terms. Syria has been ruled by the Baath Party since it seized power in a coup in 1963 and the Assad family has ruled since Bashar's father Hafez took over in another coup in 1970.

Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned Western and Arab nations against military intervention in Syria. In an article on foreign policy in the Moskovskiye Novosti newspaper y, six days before a March 4 presidential election he is almost certain to win, Mr Putin also said Russia was concerned about the "growing threat" of an attack on Iran over its nuclear programme, warning that the consequences would be "truly catastrophic".

Voice of Nigeria says the Islamist sect Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack that killed at least three people outside a church in the central city of Jos, and has warned of more such assaults. Around 50 worshippers were injured in the blast. A group of young Christians then carried out apparent reprisal attacks, in which at least two Muslims were killed and shops were set alight.