The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press today:
The Times leads with the statement by IT Minister Austin Gatt that a National Information Security Agency is to be set up in the wake of the potential breach in security at MITTS.
In-Nazzjon reports a statement by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi that the Maltese banking system is strong. It also reports that a man from Sliema was arrested after a stabbing in Attard.
The Malta Independent also leads with Dr Gatt’s statement to Parliament on MITTS and his charge that Dr Sant manipulated the story to mislead, something which Dr Sant denied. It also reports how a court found in favour of a married couple who complained of discrimination in having to wait for three years in order to adopt a child, while cohabiting couples did not.
Malta Today Midweek also focuses on Dr Gatt’s statement and says more than 20,000 passwords and usernames were extracted from a MITTS server. It also reports how l-istrina is moving to Montekristo.
l-orizzont’s focus is on the death of Karl Chircop. It says hundreds signed the book of condolence yesterday. The funeral will be held on Saturday in Paola.
The Press in Britain…
Metro reports warnings by regulators that a new breed of loan shark emerged during the credit crunch – companies which buy homes at a discount rate and allow owners to stay in the property as tenants – only to be evicted 12 months later.
The Scotsman is “demanding” answers about the Lloyds TSB takeover of the Bank of Scotland in a bid “to prevent the untimely death of one of our most venerable institutions".
The Times reveals that 10,000 jobs could be axed in the public sector and 100 courts may close as the effects of the credit crunch become more pronounced.
Daily Express predicts the cost of living is set to plunge despite recent rises in inflation.
The Guardian details the government's decision to abolish tests taken by pupils at 14, after a string of reports critical of the exams.
Daily Mail also reports on the decision, quoting Children's Secretary Ed Balls saying the tests "were not justified".
The Daily Star pictures what it claims is Britain's biggest 'scroungers': a 12-member family that claims £33,000 a year in benefits and get two free homes.
The Evening Standard says campaigners are seeking a posthumous pardon for the men and women who were executed as British witches centuries ago. More than 400 people were put to death in England for alleged witchcraft, and more than 2,000 were executed in Scotland.
And elsewhere…
Wall Street Journal leads with President Bush’s decision to introduce a plan to invest up to $250 billion in American banks similar to those unveiled by a number of European governments over the past few days.
The International Herald Tribune reports US crude finished trading at under $79 a barrel on Tuesday as concerns the global economy could slip into recession and drag down demand outweighed optimism over the bank bailout plans.
Aftenposten quotes Iceland's Prime Minister, Geir Haarde, revealing that his government intends to honour all its obligations even though the country is on the brink of national bankruptcy.
Toronto Star quotes exit polls after the close of voting in Canada’s general election indicating that, as expected, Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservatives would be returned to power but likely in another minority.
LA Times reports powerful winds fanned three major southern California wildfires after destroying dozens of homes and forcing thousands to flee.
Sydney Morning Herald says a faulty computer has been blamed as the likely cause of a Qantas airliner’s midair plunge last week.
Pravda leads with the Russian Soyuz spacecraft’s successful docking with the international space station. Apart from two astronauts, the capsule also carries American millionaire Richard Garriott, who paid a reported €22m for a 10-day stay on the station
Times of India reports an overcrowded, speeding bus crashed into a stationary truck in north-eastern India, killing 23 people and wounding 44 others.
Variety reports that filming of a John Travolta movie, partly set in one of Paris's toughest estates, was suspended after 10 cars set to be used in the film were torched.
USA Today reports that a 41-year-old double murderer, who claimed he was too fat to be safely executed, was put to death by lethal injection at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville. Richard Cooey, 5ft 7ins and 19 stone, had tried to escape his death sentence for killing two Ohio university students in 1986 by claiming his obesity would cause difficulty in finding suitable veins for the shots.