The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times lifts the lid slightly on the composition of the Muscat Cabinet, set to be announced today. It also says that voting has started in the conclave, but there is no smoke yet.
The Malta Independent says the prime minister has promised a role for every MP.
The Malta Today also reports on the expected Cabinet appointments.
l-orizzont ponders on whether parliament will have 69 or 65 MPs.
In-Nazzjon says Lawrence Gonzi will serve as leader of the opposition until a new leader of the PN is appointed.
The overseas press
Black smoke appeared over the Vatican following the first day of the cardinals' conclave to elect Benedict XVI's successor on Tuesday, signalling that a new pope had not been chosen. Avvenire says thousands of onlookers expressed disappointment after hours of waiting in stormy Roman weather to see if white smoke would indicate that a new pope had been elected. The conclave will now continue this morning, with two rounds of voting every morning and afternoon until one of the Cardinals has the 77 votes required to become the next pontiff.
According to USA Today, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay four men almost $10 million (€7.67 million) to settle allegations of sexual abuse by a former priest who more than 25 years ago had confessed to molesting children. The settlement is the first since the Catholic Church released thousands of internal records detailing the actions of the defrocked priest, Michael Baker, and how church officials responded. Baker was convicted in 2007 of child molestation and paroled in 2011.
Meanwhile, Associated Press reports the Los Angeles school district will pay millions of dollars to settle dozens of legal actions stemming from an abuse case in which a former teacher is charged with lewd acts on children in his classroom over five years. The settlement will cover 58 of the 191 claims and lawsuits filed against the district after the January 2012 arrest of former third-grade teacher Mark Berndt on 23 charges of lewd behaviour at Miramonte Elementary School.
Euronews says heavy snow and high winds in France, Germany and Belgium have disrupted travel by road, rail, air and sea, leaving thousands stranded. The high speed main international train connections were interrupted and some airports were closed and hundreds of flights cancelled. In south-eastern England, hundreds of people were stranded in their cars by the snow as emergency services struggled with road chaos. There were huge traffic jams in Belgium and northern France.
EU member states must make sure all bills are paid promptly as part of efforts to help struggling small- and medium-sized companies, the backbone of the economy. AFP reports that as of Saturday, all 27 European Union countries will have to apply a Late Payment Directive intended to help SMEs as mounting unpaid bills put jobs and businesses at risk. Under the directive, public authorities must pay for goods and services within 30 calendar days or, in very exceptional circumstances, within 60 days. Businesses have 60 calendar days, unless agreed otherwise
Al-Ayyam says Israeli troops have shot dead a Hamas militant and wounded two other Palestinians with live fire during a clash with stone-throwers near the southern West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday. The Israeli military said that soldiers entered the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, close to the Jewish settlement of Beit Haggai, after Palestinians hurled rocks and petrol bombs at passing Israeli vehicles.
France 24 reports that Syria government forces have killed over 30 deserters from the Syrian army in an ambush on the road to Damascus airport. The opposition activist organization Local Coordination Committees of Syria made the claim on its Facebook page. The London-based Human Rights Observatory activist group reported violent clashes overnight along the Damascus airport road near Beit Sahm, Aqraba e Jaramana.
Huffington Post says police Officer Gilberto Valle's lawyers said he was just spinning sick and twisted fantasies for his own pleasure when he chatted online about abducting, roasting and eating women. A jury, though, decided he was deadly serious. Valle, 28, was convicted on Tuesday of conspiracy in a macabre case that opened a window on a shocking Internet world of cannibalism fetishists. He could get life in prison at sentencing on June 19.
The New York Times reports that drilling into a rock near its landing spot, the Curiosity rover has answered a key question about Mars: the red planet long ago harboured some of the ingredients needed for primitive life to thrive. Topping the list is evidence of water and basic elements that teeny organisms could feed on, scientists said Tuesday.
Metro says a six-month-old baby girl has been shot dead after she was hit five times in a suspected Chicago gangland attack on her father. The girl was shot while her father, believed to have links to the city’s gangs, was changing her nappy. Jonylah Watkins died in hospital. Her father, Jonathan Watkins, was also shot and remains critically ill in hospital.