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

The Times quotes the bishop of Gozo saying the Church needs to evaluate the services it provides. The comment follows the publication last week of the outcome of an investigation into abuses at Lourdes Home for children. It also reports that a judge has ordered the widow of the Naxxar fireworks explosion not to dispose of any property.

In-Nazzjon carries a front page picture of Presidents Bush and Putin at their last meeting. Its lead story is how residents of the area around St Paul's Bay will start to benefit from the Pharmacy of Your Choice scheme from today. It also reports that George Abela will address a mass rally at Cospicua on Sunday.

l-orizzont says farmers are concerned that fodder prices may continue to rise because of record prices over the past few weeks abroad. It also reports how the London Times Travel Supplement has urged readers to avoid Malta where, it claims, prices have risen by more than 10 percent after euro adoption.

The Malta Independent says Air Malta has no plans to fly to the United States following the EU-US open skies agreement. It also carries an interview with President Eddie Fenech Adami, who says the President should have a seven-year term.

The Press in Britain...

With a play on the Olympic motto 'Citius, Altius, Fortius' - or 'Faster, Higher, Stronger' - the Independent casts a wry glance at the chaotic Olympic torch relay through London that was hit by a series of pro-Tibet demonstrations and attempts by protesters to extinguish the flame..

The Telegraph leads with a striking picture of the protests along the relay route and an article that claims the procession was "almost abandoned". Police made 35 arrests

It's a similar front page for the Scotsman, which sees the irony of the parade being billed as a journey of harmony and peace.

The Daily Mail describes the event as a farce as activists tried to interrupt the relay, with one managing to get his hands on the torch

For Metro it was nothing short of a five-ring circus, at the start of which at Wembley, protesters tried to storm the official bus and clashed with police.

The Guardian also has a picture of an incident during the torch relay, but leads with the news that a leading scientist has warned that the EU has grossly underestimated the scale of the climate change problem and must review emissions targets.

The Daily Express says the wintry weather that swept Britain on Sunday sparked travel chaos.

And elsewhere...

The Moscow Times reports that outgoing Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President George W. Bush ended their meeting in Sochi with kind words, but failed to resolve their dispute over Washington's plans to build a missile defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic. Putin said he welcomed confidence-building measures proposed by Washington, while Bush said the two sides had come a long way on the issue.

Harare's Daily News says President Robert Mugabe's ruling party demanded a vote recount, and a further delay in the release of results from Zimbabwe's presidential election today, prompting outrage from the opposition party. The Movement for Democratic Change - which claims its leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the March 29 presidential ballot outright - said it would not accept a recount, did not want a run-off and pressed ahead with legal attempts to force the publication of the results. Zimbabwe's High Court says it will rule on an opposition petition calling for the immediate release of election results later today.

Podgorica' pro-government daily Pobjeda reports that Montenegro's incumbent president Filip Vujanovic has declared victory in the country's first presidential elections since it gained independence from Serbia two years ago. With more than 95 percent of ballots counted, observers give pro-European Vujanovic of the Democratic Party of Socialists a substantial lead of 52.2 percent.

Albuquerque Journal reports that the senior strategist of Hillary Clinton's beleaguered United States presidential bid has left the campaign. Mark Penn quit after it was disclosed he met with representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement which Mrs Clinton opposes.

Al-Quds al-Arabi says rocket attacks on the Green Zone and a military base in Baghdad have left three US soldiers dead and 31 wounded. In earlier clashes, Iraqi troops backed by US forces battled Shia fighters in the Sadr City neighbourhood. At least 22 people were killed and 50 wounded. Meanwhile, gunmen have released 42 college students seized from a bus near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul.

Colombo's Daily Mirror claims a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide attacker bombed the opening ceremony of a marathon outside Sri Lanka's capital , killing a powerful government minister, a former Olympian and 12 others. Nearly 100 were wounded. The bombing was the second this year to kill a senior government official.

The New Zealand Herald reports that children at a primary school north of Auckland have been banned from bringing cakes to share on their birthdays, due to new government healthy eating guidelines.The paper said pupils have been told they are allowed to celebrate their birthdays, but the cake must stay at home.The Ministry of Education has been on a fat-busting crusade, introducing sweeping guidelines against unhealthy food in New Zealand schools.