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

The Times says the utility bills of most households may rise by between €76 and €270 annually. Like the other newspapers, it also reports the swearing in of Joseph Muscat as MP and Leader of the Opposition yesterday.

The Malta Independent says the proposed utility tariffs are based on the polluter based principle.

In-Nazzjon says five options have been presented by the government for a revision of power and water tariffs which will replace the power surcharge. It also reports that 91% of dockyard workers have taken up early retirement schemes.

l-orizzont leads with the swearing in of Joseph Muscat as MP and Leader of the Opposition. It also focuses on the new power tariffs.

The Press in Britain…

The Times says France heaped pressure on Gordon Brown by floating an ambitious plan for a €300 billion bail-out fund to rescue crippled banks across Europe.

The Financial Times reports European policymakers clashed over how to protect the EU's financial system from the global credit crisis as France floated the idea of a single rescue fund to deal with bank failures.

Savers began a stampede for safe bank accounts, says the Express. Anxious investors have already withdrawn billions of pounds from British banks as Gordon Brown was accused of dithering amid the biggest financial crisis of modern times.

The Guardian, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling had to intervene twice with the Irish government on behalf of UK banks amid fears that Dublin's blanket guarantee for savers was causing an exodus of funds across the Irish Sea.

The Telegraph tells how savers have moved millions of pounds to safety and how British banks challenged the Irish Government over its promise to give 100 per cent protection for savers, suggesting the move was anti-competitive.

The Independent says Tory leader David Cameron has declared himself a "man with a plan" insisting he has the character and judgement to get Britain out if its economic crisis. The Daily Mail claims beleaguered Scotland Yard chief Sir Ian Blair used public money to pay a close friend a five figure sum to sharpen his image.

And elsewhere…

Wall Street Journal reports US Senators have approved amendments to the revised $700bn bail-out bill designed to shore up financial institutions with 74 senators voting in favour and 25 voting against. The senators will now face a second vote to determine whether the bail-out bill will be passed in full – paving the way for the controversial Wall Street rescue plan to be put before the House of Representatives again later today.

Handelsblatt says France and Germany are at loggerheads over the idea of a US-style bail out for Europe.

According to Svobodnaya Gruziya, EU observers have started to monitor a ceasefire between Russia and Georgia.

Le Parisien says European nations have agreed to launch an anti-piracy operation in the waters off the Horn of Africa.

The Washington Times reports that the top American NATO-commander in Afghanistan has requested 10,000 more troops as quickly as possible.

Pakistan Today quotes officials claiming a missile fired by a suspected US drone has hit a house in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, killing at least eight Islamist militants.

Pravda says Russia's Supreme Court has ruled that the country's last tsar, Nicholas II, and his family should be recognised as victims of Soviet repression.

Nature quotes a new work by the University of Arizona suggesting the Aids virus has been affecting people for about 100 years – decades longer than scientists had thought.