The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says the Health Department will not suspend the H1N1 vaccination process as no relationship has been found between the vaccine and the death of a young man. He died four days after taking the vaccine. An investigation has been launched but the Health Department said the man may have had a medical condition. The newspaper also reports that as from next month people under arrest may request legal aid.
The Malta Independent leads with the hand-over of command at the Armed Forces of Malta. It also features the exchange of greetings between Maltese leaders and the Diplomatic Corps.
In-Nazzjon quotes comments by President George Abela that timely government measures eased the impact of the international financial crisis on Mata. It also says the right for legal aid for arrested people is to be brought into force.
l-orizzont leads with a hold-up of a hairdresser's shop. It also quotes President emeritus Guido de Marco saying the GWU had always worked for the country.
The international press
The United States has taken charge in earthquake-devastated Haiti as thousands of troops and tonnes of aid have begun pouring into the island, hoping to unblock an aid bottleneck in a desperate race to help millions left destitute and reach scores still trapped in the rubble.
USA Today reports the nuclear-powered US aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrived in the Caribbean nation three days after a 7.0 quake tore through the capital Port-au-Prince in a wave of destruction. The massive US ship - equipped with 19 helicopters and a water-purification plant, and carrying tonnes of medicines - was the vanguard of about 10,000 US troops due in Haiti over the coming days to help supervise a massive aid operation, with planeloads of badly-needed supplies already clogged at the damaged airport.
The Daily Telegraph leads on US government claims that Britain has the highest number of Islamic extremists linked to al Qaeda of any western country. According to a detailed US intelligence assessment, conducted in the wake of the failed Christmas Day Detroit bomb plot, Al-Qaeda has successfully restructured its global network and now has the capability to carry out a wide range of terror attacks against Western targets.
Le Parisien reports an actress was doused with petrol in Paris in an attack thought to be related to her role in a feminist play she wrote about Algerian women. The 45-year-old, who goes by the name of Rayhana, said two men approached her while she was walking to the theatre, grabbed her from behind, slapped her face and poured petrol on her. She said a flame brushed her hat and then she ran. She has since been placed under police protection and the investigation into the attack was being led by the anti-terrorism unit.
EU Observer says the dependents of suspected terrorists could soon have benefit payments reinstated, following opinions expressed by the senior advocate of the European Court of Justice, Paulo Mengozzi, who said the decision to halt the payments was unfair on the grounds of human rights.
Corriere della Sera reports Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi did not attend a hearing in a case accusing him of bribing a British lawyer to lie in evidence. Prosecutors allege he ordered the 1997 payment of €417,000 to lawyer David Mills in exchange for his false testimony in two trials. Both Mr Berlusconi and Mills have denied wrongdoing. The case restarted after Italy's Constitutional Court overturned a law sparing Mr Berlusconi from prosecution while in office.
East African Standard reports an eclipse of the sun has passed across central and eastern Africa, setting a record that will remain unbeaten for more than 1000 years. The moon's shadow first struck the southwestern tip of Chad and western Central African Republic and then flitted across Uganda, Kenya, and Somalia.
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says customs officials at Frankfurt airport have seized an 86.7-carat uncut diamond worth an estimated €2.5 million from an Angolan man arriving from Namibia
Filmmaker Roman Polanski has won damages of €3,000 from a French newspaper that photographed him and his wife and son at his chalet near Gstaad, where he's confined pending extradition proceedings on rape charges. A Paris court convicted French daily Aujourd'hui en France, with its Paris edition Le Parisien, of breaching Polanski's privacy and the right to the use of his image - rights strictly protected by French law.
Pravda says the Russian police are investigating a possible hacker attack which resulted in an electronic highway billboard in Moscow showing a two-minute pornographic video instead of its regular advertising clips.
Metro reports the world's oldest dog has died, after making it to the grand old age of 146 in dog years. Otto, the sausage dog from Shrewsbury, has had to be put down only 31 days short of what would have been his 21st birthday in human years after he developed a stomach tumour. The Guinness Book of Records gave Otto his title last October.
San Jose Mercury News quotes police in California saying a car dealer who repossessed a woman's car left with something a bit more valuable: her two-year-old son. The child was sleeping in the back seat on when the car was taken away because the boy's mother, was behind with her payments. Officers found the toddler half an hour later. They said kidnapping charges did not appear to be warranted.