The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times says that the Prime Minister has denied that Joe Borg was kept in the dark about Malta's nomination for the European Commission. It also reports that a vegetable vendor complained to the police of sex-for-debt blackmail.
The Malta Independent says there was one new Aids case and 11 HIV infections in Malta this year. It was reporting on events to mark World Aids Day. It also reports a protest by the Coalition for Animal Rights against the use of animals in circuses.
MaltaToday says Joseph Mizzi, the local agent of Danish company BWSC, could not be contacted to comment on allegations related to the power station extension.
In-Nazzjon says the Prime Minister discussed immigration in talks in Helsinki. He also discussed bilateral relations with Finland. In another story, it says the Data Protection Commissioner dismissed a complaint by Labour leader Joseph Muscat.
l-orizzont also leads with World Aids Day events and says a national campaign has been launched to promote condom use as a means to stop the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
The press in Britain...
Writing in The Times, Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling delivers a blunt warning to the EU's new French finance chief Michel Barnier against meddling with the City of London: it would be a "recipe for confusion" if firms were supervised by the EU as well as national watchdogs.
The Financial Times reports that as Dubai's ruler sought to reassure investors that his debt-laden economy remained sound, bondholders and creditors have begun mobilising in response to Dubai World's $26bn (€17bn) restructuring plans.
The Guardian says Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke to his Iranian counterpart after Tehran warned of 'hard and serious' measures for five British yachtsmen who strayed into Iranian waters on their way to an international yacht race.
The Daily Telegraph reports thousands of British and American troops in Afghanistan will be deployed in a major new offensive to "deliver a punch" to Taliban insurgents.
The Daily Express quotes leading academic Professor Ian Plimer saying the scientific consensus that mankind has caused climate change was nothing but a "load of hot air underpinned by fraud" and that governments were using climate change to increase taxes.
The Daily Star claims Jordan's "shocking sex secrets" could wreck her chances of a reunion with Peter Andre.
Metro says Tiger Woods was told to pay a £100 (€110) motoring ticket over the crash outside his home - but faces more questions over the state of his marriage after two women claimed to have had affairs with him.
The Sun features Jaimee Grubbs, 24, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, who said she had a 31-month affair with the golfer, and that she has more than 300 text messages - some of them described as "racy" - to prove it.
The Daily Mail reports that government's statistics agency has found that, despite huge investment, value for money from schools has fallen steadily.
And elsewhere...
Expresso leads with the celebrations held by European dignitaries in Lisbon to celebrate the 27-member bloc's new reform treaty, signed in the Portuguese capital two years ago. The Lisbon Treaty, which officially took effect as of midnight on Tuesday, aims to streamline decision-making in the EU and provide the Union with more clout on the global stage.
The Washington Times reports President Obama will be sending an additional 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan at "the fastest pace possible," swelling the total American presence in the region to almost 100,000 by next summer. It is envisaged that an Afghan security force will be trained to a sufficient level to enable the US to start pulling troops out as early as July 2011.
Gazeta Polska says Poland's ombudsman has asked prosecutors to investigate the government for refusing to import swine flu vaccines, calling it an "unacceptable" failure that endangers public health.
The New York Times says a lone policeman on routine patrol has shot and killed a 37-year-old Maurice Clemmons, an accused child rapist at the centre of a huge manhunt after the murder of four other police officers in a Seattle-area café on Sunday. Clemmons, who managed to elude the police for two days, was confronted by an officer patrolling a working-class district of the city who spotted a stolen car in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The New York Post reports a judge hearing the case of alleged New York Mafia boss John Gotti Junior has declared a mistrial when the jury failed to reach a verdict on the eleventh day of its deliberations. It was the the fourth mistrial in five years Gotti Jr, 45, who is accused of racketeering and murder.
Il Tempo announces that Italian police have broken up a major mafia clan, arresting 74 people and seizing assets worth €217 million. Local politicians and businessmen in Bari were among those implicated as part of a three-year operation for collaborating with the Parisi clan. The 48-year-old head of the clan, Savino Parisi, was also arrested.
Ekstra Bladet says hundreds of Norwegians have taken to the streets of Oslo to urge politicians to act over the murder in Britain of a 23-year-old business student, who was raped and killed after a night out with friends in London in March last year. Scotland Yard named her billionaire 22-year-old playboy friend as the prime suspect. But detectives have been unable to question him after he fled to his native Yemen where there is no extradition agreement with Britain.
Times of India says all mobile phones in India without an international identity number are being disconnected in a bid to crack down on the security threat they could cause. The 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity number helps trace any handset whether lost or stolen or those needed to be monitored by security agencies. More than 20 million such phones, mainly cheap Chinese models, are thought to exist in India.
Corriere della Sera says a distracted motorist of a slow-moving Seat Ibiza, who emerged without looking from a service station near Cremona, clipped one of the two Italian police's Lamborghini patrol car, sending the vehicle swerving into a line of parked cars so hard that one of the stationary vehicles ended up on the police car's roof. The front end of the Lamborghini Gallardo, worth €150,000, was crushed in the accident.