The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times reports on a meeting yesterday between Joseph Muscat and Times editorial staff, saying Dr Muscat is not against adoptions by gays. It also highlights a press conference by Tonio Fenech, who said that under Labour's energy plan, tariffs would rise by 5%.
The Malta Independent says Joseph Muscat has proposed a more effective whistleblower act.
In-Nazzjon says that Labour’s energy plan would cause power tariffs to rise by 5%.
l-orizzont gives prominence to Labour's announcement that MPs will be paid according to attendance.
The overseas press
The world's biggest oil exporter Saudi Arabia has denied that a five percent cut in its crude output was aimed at boosting prices on international markets. Saudi Oil Ministry adviser Ibrahim Mehanna told AFP that several challenges to growth in the eurozone and fears about the US financial crisis have affected the demand for oil. He said Riyadh was fully prepared to respond to these changes and reaffirmed its commitment to meet the demands of its customers. "We are still firmly committed to ensuring the stability of the oil market."
Reuters reports President Obama has rejected any negotiations with Republicans over raising the US borrowing limit, accusing his opponents of trying to extract a ransom for not ruining the economy in the latest fiscal fight. At a White House news conference called to promote his position on the budget, Obama vowed not to trade cuts in government spending sought by Republicans in exchange for raising the borrowing limit. In separate comments on Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke warned that the United States could default on its debt if Congress did not increase the borrowing limit.
France 24 quotes French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying it was not France’s role or intention to continue to act alone in Mali, as French troops joined Malian forces on the ground to reclaim the country’s Islamist-controlled north for a fourth day. Speaking to journalists in Paris, Fabius said France’s intervention in the unstable West African country had received overwhelming international support, as well as the full backing of the United Nations. Fabius also announced that EU foreign ministers plan to hold an emergency meeting at the end of the week to evaluate the situation.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reports Islamist rebels chased Mali's army from a garrison town deep in its own territory on Monday, striking back at the weakest link in a nascent coalition after French fighter jets hit militant bases deep in the Sahara. Despite considerable loss of life, the rebels remain defiant, with Islamist leader Oumar Ould Hamaha telling Europe 1 radio that France had opened the gates of hell for all the French. He called on French forces to come down from the sky and fight on the ground like men, saying the rebels would greet them with open arms.
Huffington Post says New Zealand tops the list of 123 countries in the Index of Human Freedom – a survey on personal and economic freedom by Canadian think tank the Fraser Institute. It is followed by the Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United States, Denmark, Japan and Estonia – all 10 deemed to have "a harmonious relationship between the two types of freedom". Bottom of the list is Zimbabwe. Malta is in the 27th place.
Ansa reports former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has lost a legal attempt to halt his pay-for-sex trial so he could concentrate on next month’s general election campaign. Judges also ruled that they did not need to hear evidence from the young woman at the centre of the case, Karima el-Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer. Berlusconi is accused of paying for sex with her when she was 17, and then trying to cover it up. Both deny sexual contact.
The Daily Mirror says an Iranian immigrant who filmed himself raping a woman at knifepoint on his tablet computer has been jailed for six years. Hesam Khosravi, 24, kicked and beat his victim and threatened to tape her mouth up during the attack in Trafford, Greater Manchester. He pulled her around by her hair and forced her to strip and perform a sex act before raping her. During the harrowing 30-minute footage, which was shown in court, Khosravi could be heard laughing and commentating on the assault in Farsi as the woman cried and sobbed throughout.
The Oakland Press says suicides in the US military surged to a record 349 last year – far exceeding American combat deaths in Afghanistan. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta has called the suicides an epidemic, and some private experts are predicting the dark trend would worsen this year. The problem reflected severe strains on military personnel burdened with more than a decade of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, complicated by anxiety over the prospect of being forced out of a shrinking force.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong confessed to Oprah Winfrey that he used performance-enhancing drugs to gain an edge in cycling, a person familiar with the interview told USA TODAY. The interview airs on Thursday night. Armstrong had said he was prepared to "speak candidly" during the interview, which was held in Armstrong's hometown of Austin, Texas. Before recording, Armstrong issued an emotional apology to the staff at Livestrong, the charity he founded to support cancer survivors. Armstrong stepped down from the foundation's board in October after the US Anti-Doping Agency released a massive file of evidence against him that spelled out how and when he used performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions to boost his performance.