The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times leads with a Church statement yesterday on legislation to cover new methods of assisted procreation, and says it has left the door ajar for IVF methods. It also reports on the power tariffs issue and says the Prime Minister has all but ruled out a meeting the trade unions. A deadline for a meeting, given by the unions, expires today.
l-orizzont said a boy found in the street in Qawra early yesterday is back with his mother. He was cared for by a policewoman at Qawra station for some two hours. He apparently slipped out when his father went out to work.
In-Nazzjon says talks have resumed between the University and the trade unions on a new collective agreement for academic staff. It also reports Slovak euro adoption celebrations and says passengers will travel free on the Gozo Channel ferries on Sunday to mark the company’s 30th anniversary.
The Malta Independent says consumer and industrial confidence is at its lowest levels. It also asks if the new President will be a Gozitan - Giovanna Debono.
The press in Britain
According to The Guardian, US President-elect Barack Obama's team could be willing to begin a dialogue with Hamas – reversing President Bush’s policy of isolation.
The Financial Times says that the Bank of England yesterday cut interest rates to 1.5 per cent, the lowest since the Bank was founded in 1694 even if some business leaders had wanted an even bigger cut.
The Daily Telegraph says the move will immediately benefit more than four million households with tracker mortgages but spells more misery for savers.
The Daily Express reports Britain's vital North Sea oil gas supplies could be taken over by the European Union under emergency plans.
The Daily Mirror and The Sun lead with the story that football ace Christiano Ronaldo has written off his £193,000-Ferrari only two days after getting it.
The Times leads with US President-elect Barack Obama's economic strategy, declaring that only unprecedented and urgent government spending could prevent the deepening recession stretching for years.
The Daily Mail says a vulnerable patient was starved to death in an NHS hospital after 26 days without proper nourishment.
And elsewhere…
The world media leads with the approval by the UN Security Council of a resolution calling for ‘an immediate and durable’ cease-fire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces now fighting in the Gaza Strip. The vote was 14-0, with the United States abstaining. It followed three days of intense negotiations between ministers from key Arab nations and the council's veto-wielding Western powers — the United States, Britain and France.
The International Herald Tribune says international aid groups lashed out at Israel, saying access to civilians in need is poor, relief workers are being hurt and killed, and Israel was woefully neglecting its obligations to Palestinians who are trapped, some among rotting corpses in a nightmarish landscape of deprivation. So far at least 765 Palestinians, including 257 children, have been killed by Israeli forces, while 14 Iseraelis, including eight soldiers have been killed. Hamas rocket fire has killed four Israeli civilians.
Lebanon’s An-Nahar quotes the radical Islamist organisation Hezbollah denying firing several rockets from southern Lebanon into northern Israel, injuring two people in the coastal city of Nahariya.
EU Observer says the Ukraine has signed an agreement with the European Commmission inviting independent monitors to verify Russian gas shipments to Europe.
Afghan Observer says President Karzai has accused the US-led military coalition of killing 17 civilians in an operation against militants in the eastern Laghman province. He also condemned the insurgents for deliberately using civilians as "human shields".
The Washington Post quotes US counter-terrorism officials saying they believe a senior member of the al Qaeda has been killed in Pakistan.
Pakistan Today says at least 38 people have been killed and 25 wounded in a fire that ripped through dozens of homes in a slum near Karachi.
Le Monde reports German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for the creation of a UN economy council to prevent a repeat of the current financial and economic crisis.
Bilbao’s El Correo reports that Basque regional leader Juan Jose Ibarretxe and two members of Spain's governing Socialist party, Patxi Lopez and Rodolfo Ares, have gone on trial accused of meeting with leaders of the banned Batasuna party in 2006. Batasuna has been outlawed since 2003 for refusing to condemn violence and cut its links to ETA.
L’Osservatore Romano says 20 missionaries were killed last year, one less than 2007. The list includes an archbishop, 16 priests, a monk and two lay missionaries.
Costa Rica’s La Nacion says a strong earthquake has killed a child and sent frightened residents running into the streets of the capital San Jose.
Toronto Sun reports that the leader of a polygamous community in British Columbia has said he being persecuted because of his religious beliefs.