The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says the Budget aims to make work pay.
In a similar vein, l-orizzont says this was a Budget for hard-working people.
The Malta Independent described the Budget as 'Business as usual'.
MaltaToday says the Budget kept the people happy.
In-Nazzjon says the Budget lacks any plan to create jobs.
The overseas press
AFP reports the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria will meet with senior diplomats in Geneva today in a new bid to prepare a long-delayed peace conference amid continued wrangling over who will take part.
Meanwhile, the Syrian official news agency SANA quotes the country's information minister, Omran al-Zohbi, affirming the Syrian regime will not attend the proposed Geneva peace conference if the aim is for President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power.
The New York Times reports UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has told the UN Security Council that 9.3 million Syrians now need outside help to survive, up from 6.8 million in September, and 6.5 million are now homeless inside the country, up from 4.25 million.
The German magazine Spiegel reports ECB’s futuristic tower in Ostend has been overtaken by overruns and delays: it will cost twice more than expected – €1.15 billion instead of the original estimated costs of €500 million – and is not expected to be ready until at least the end of 2014.
The first session of the trial of Mohamed Morsi was adjourned after a refusal by the ousted former Egyptian president to wear a robe mandatory for defendants. Al Jazeera says it was also stopped after slogans were shouted by the accused. The former leader is in the dock along with 14 co-defendants, all leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, accused with incitement and murder. Morsi told the court he was still Egypt's legitimate president and asked that the authors of the July coup be tried in his place.
Nigeria Independent reports at least 27 people were killed and 12 were injured when their village in northeast Nigeria was attacked by Boko Haram militants. At least 300 houses were burned. The gang arrived in trucks and motorcycles near Bama, which Boko Haram has attacked in the past.
Le Republicain says a dozen people have been arrested in Mali in the investigation of the murder of the two Radio France Internationale journalists, Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon. French media reported that the suspects are in the custody of French troops.
Pope Francis will bring about “a radical change” to defeat human and organ trafficking and prostitution. Avvenire quotes Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, forecasting the Pope would do “something important”. The bishop said apart from a document by Benedict XVI on the issue, the Holy See had not focused enough on the “gravity of the situation” and therefore he believes Pope Francis “will do something significant”.
Netherland Times says more than a thousand paedophiles from 65 counties have been reported to Interpol by the Dutch voluntary organisation “Terre des hommes” after they said they were ready to pay for a 10-year-old Filipina “girl” to perform sexual acts in front of the webcam. The NGO had created a virtual Lolita, a girl named 'Sweetie', and they launched it into the world of public forums of the network, discovering tens of thousands of “predators”. The children’s charity organization had stated it discovered a new, rapidly growing phenomenon of sexual child abuse: webcam child sex tourism. The Philippines alone involve tens of thousands of victims.