The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the MV Arctic Sea will be inspected off Malta before it enters harbour today. It also reports that the police had investigated a commotion without realising that a man was being tortured in the same premises in Valletta.
The Malta Independent also says the Arctic Sea will enter Grand Harbour today. It also reports that a Czech court has started hearing arguments by those wanting the Czech Republic not to sign the Lisbon Treaty.
l-orizzont says 9% of the population is below the poverty line. It also reports that the GWU is backing policemen who filed a judicial protest calling for payment for overtime. In another story, it raises concern that very few University students live in Cottonera.
In-Nazzjon says former Labour MP Maria Camilleri blamed Nationalists for political violence of the past. It also reports compensation to a worker injured at work.
The Press in Britain...
The Financial Times reports the race to become the first president of the EU heated up after Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker put himself forward as a potential rival to Tony Blair.
The Daily Express says it has seen secret plans for an EU tax which would cost every British family at least £155 a year.
According to The Guardian, Iraq is seeking approval to rebuild at least one of the nuclear reactors bombed at the start of the first Gulf war and again become a nuclear player.
The Independent says Lloyds, RBS and Northern Rock will be broken up and parts of their businesses sold off to create three new banks in an attempt to promote more competition in the market.
The Daily Telegraph leads on MPs' expenses as Sir Christopher Kelly's inquiry is expected to ban MPs from claiming the cost of mortgages and from employing members of their family.
The Times says MPs will also be banned from claiming for a second home if their nearest railway station is within 60 minutes of the Houses of Parliament.
The Daily Mirror reports the body of a 17-year-old girl was found after she was lured to her death by a man she met on Facebook.
The Daily Record leads with the seizure of a British couple aboard their yacht, sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania, by 13 heavily-armed Somali pirates.
The Herald quotes a survey showing Scots are less likely to fall victim to crime than people living south of the border but are more likely to suffer violence.
And elsewhere...
The International Herald Tribune reports eight American troops have been killed in multiple bomb attacks in southern Afghanistan, making October the deadliest month of the war for US forces since it began in 2001.The eight deaths occurred during "multiple, complex" bomb strikes that also killed one Afghan civilian. Several troops were also wounded.
The Washington Post says a former US Marine-turned diplomat has become the first American official to resign in protest at the war in Afghanistan. Matthew Hoh, said in his resignation letter he believed the war was simply fuelling the uprising.
Iran's Al-Alam says Teheran would agree to the "general framework" of a UN-drafted plan to ship enriched uranium out of the country for processing, but would seek "important changes" in the deal. The plan calls for Iran to ship 70 per cent of its enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment.
Courant quotes the prosecutor in the trial of Radovan Karadzic at The Hague allege he was the "undisputed leader" of Serbs responsible for war crimes during the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict that killed 100,000 people and displaced 2.2 million others. Karadzic wasn't in court to hear the charges personally, as he is boycotting the trial.
Meanwhile, Blic reports former Bosnian Serb President Biljana Plavsic has arrived in Belgrade from Sweden after serving two-thirds of her 11-year sentence for war crimes. Swedish law allows an inmate who has served two-thirds of a sentence to be paroled. Dubbed the "Iron Lady" for her ruthless leadership, the 79-year-old former ally of Radovan Karadzic was a fervent nationalist who publicly supported the persecution of non-Serbs.
The Miami Herald quotes President Barack Obama declaring that he was "serious" about closing down Guantanamo Bay but made no mention of when the process would be complete, stoking speculation that the planned closure is behind schedule. The decision to shut the controversial Cuban base was one of the first announcements made after his inauguration at the beginning of the year.
Corriere della Sera says an appeals court in Milan has upheld a four-and-a-half jail sentenced passed on British lawyer David Mills for accepting a bribe to lie in court to protect Silvio Berlusconi. The judges ruled that Mills received £400,000 to give false evidence in two 1990s trials to shield the Italian premier and his Fininvest holding company from charges relating to the purchase of US film rights. Berlusconi's trial in the same corruption case is expected to restart soon after he was recently stripped of his parliamentary immunity.
Kathemerini says sic police officers have been inured, one seriously, after gunmen fired a hail of bullets as they rode by a police station on a motorcycle. Leftist and anarchist groups have been launching a series of attacks against police, businesses, public institutions and politicians after a policeman shot dead a teenager in Athens in December, prompting Greece's worst riots in decades.
The Irish Examiner reports that a Ukrainian ship captain, a Lithuanian first office and seven Irish men were being interrogated by detectives after customs officials seized Europe's largest ever haul of smuggled cigarettes. More than 120 million cigarettes, valued at €50m, were stuffed in animal feed bags in a vessel that sailed from the Philippines. The haul would have cost the Exchequer €40m.
Nepal Monitor announces that tiger experts from 20 countries - including the 13 where tigers are still found - are gathering in Kathmandu for a conference to discuss the declining population of the animal and to find measures to try to save them. Participants hope to make high-level policymakers in those 13 countries more aware of the likely extinction of the animal.
China Daily reports a 24-year-old female kindergarten teacher has been detained in south-west China after allegedly stabbing more than 20 children with a syringe to discipline them. The woman was taken into custody after angry parents complained to police about the alleged abuse at an unlicensed school in Jianshui.