The following are the top stories on the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times and all the other newspapers lead with the announcement that 14 offers have been submitted for the privatization of the various sections of Malta Shipyards. The Times also follows up the decision to abandon the underground extension of St John’s Co-Cathedral museum, quoting Richard Cachia Caruana, a member of St John’s Foundation, as saying there was no choice but to abandon the project.
In-Nazzjon says there was strong interest in the privatization of Malta Shipyards. It also reports on the opening of a business centre in Swatar by the Regus Group.
l-orizzont leads with the shipyards privatization. It also reports a Eurobarometer survey which shows growing local pessimism of the outlook for the next 12 months.
The Malta Independent says there were 14 submissions for the sale of Malta Shipyards, but none for the whole operation. It also reports the Eurobarometer survey.
The Press in Britain
The Daily Star says fury has erupted over plans to axe England's biggest St George's Day parade for being "racist".
The Daily Telegraph features a picture of school receptionist Jennie Cain who is facing the sack for seeking support from her church when her daughter was scolded for talking about Jesus.
According to The Independent, the British government has paid record compensation to a family of asylum-seekers whose children were forcibly detained for two months in a UK immigration centre.
The Daily Mail claims top civil servants have been wined and dined by blue-chip companies and treated to days at the races, nights at the opera and tickets to major sporting events.
The Times says the scale of the hospitality accepted by senior civil servants has been revealed for the first time.
The Daily Express reports Gordon Brown's pledge to provide "British jobs for British workers" lies in tatters, after claims that a new high-speed rail network will create just 500 posts in this country.
The Guardian claims the cost of Britain's military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq this financial year has soared to more than £4.5bn.
The Daily Mirror reports the heartbreak of Coronation Street actress Kym Marsh who has lost her premature baby.
and elsewhere…
Al Jazeera reports that an 18-month truce between Hamas and Israel will most likely be announced within the next few days after the Palestinians gave their final reply on an Egyptian proposal yesterday.
Meanwhile, official Egyptian news agency MENA quotes Marzouq saying both Fatah and Hamas have been invited for direct talks in Cairo on February 22. Representatives of the rival Palestinian movements have held preliminary talks this week on forming a national unity government that can move ahead with peace negotiations with Israel.
And in Israel, Yediot Aharonot says Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu is ahead of centrist Kadima chief Tzipi Livni in the fight to form a workable coalition after an election produced a shift to the right which has raised concerns over the future of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
L’Osservatiore Romano says the Pope yesterday condemned all forms of anti-Semitism. In his first face-to-face meeting with Jewish leaders since the start of a row over a bishop who said Jews were not killed in Nazi gas chambers, Benedict told a delegation of the Conference of American Jewish Organizations that the Catholic Church remained "profoundly and irrevocably committed to rejecting all anti-Semitism and to continuing to build good and lasting relations between our two communities”.
The Washington Post quotes President Barack Obama making a fresh plea for Republicans to back his economic stimulus plan, a day before the $789 billion package is expected to finally clear Congress. Speaking during a visit to machine giant Caterpillar in Peoria, Illinois, which recently laid off 20,000 workers, Obama stressed that it was time for the Congress to act in a bi-partisan fashion.
The Wall Street Journal says that in another setback for the Obama administration, Republican Senator Judd Gregg has withdrawn his nomination to be Commerce secretary. Gregg said he was dropping out because of differences over policy.
Asian Observer reports that a senior Pakistani official has admitted for the first time that last year's attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai were partly planned in Pakistan.
De Telegraf says the Dutch government has regretted a British decision to bar far-right politician Geert Wilders from Britain because of his anti-Islamic views.
Berliner Morgenpost reports that Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung has promised extra help for soldiers who return psychologically traumatised from conflict zones such as Afghanistan. Last year, 245 returnees were diagnosed as traumatised, representing about one percent of the 7,200 soldiers deployed abroad, mostly in NATO operations.