The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The local press is dominated by the hold-up yesterday at the Casino' di' Venezia.
The Times says a six-figure sum was stolen from the Casino' di Venezia. The Malta Independent says this was a Hollywood Ocean's 11-style theft. In-Nazzjon and l-orizzont highlight the fact that the thieves escaped on a speedboat.
In other stories The Times reports that France has switched sides and is backing the ban on the international trade in tuna, denying Malta and other countries a blocking minority.
The Malta Independent says Malta will not to take part in Frontex operations if draft rules are not changed.
l-orizzont says the situation at the emergency department in Mater Dei is precarious and a man died on a stretcher because there was no bed.
In-Nazzjon features the agreement reached on compensation for Gozitan bus owners. It also highlights the favourable report on Malta issued by credit rating agency Moodys.
The overseas press
The International Herald Tribune says European powers have reacted sceptically to Iran's offer to send uranium abroad for enrichment as a way of ending its showdown with the West. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said his personal interpretation of the Iranian offer is that they are "trying to buy time". German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told journalists that Iran has to be "measured by its actions, not by what it says". President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran was ready to send its uranium abroad for further enrichment as requested by the UN.
EU Observer reports that the European Union has endorsed a Greek plan to bring its national budget deficit back within the prescribed euro-zone limit of three percent of gross domestic product by 2012. EU Economy Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said Greece's plan was "achievable" but "not easy". However, Brussels would monitor the progress and was reserving the right to call for further measures.
Earth News quotes French Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo saying his government favours a ban on the export of bluefin tuna proposed by Monaco - but wants an 18-month delay before the measure would be imposed. Bluefin species numbers have fallen by nearly 75 per cent since 1957, and conservationists say the fish faces extinction. The proposal would allow only domestic consumption within European Union countries, lowering the catch substantially because shipments to Japan would be prohibited.
In an interview with Augsburger Allgemeine, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has appealed to tax cheats to turn themselves in after the government agreed to buy a CD with details of around 1,500 suspects. Three other EU states - the Netherlands, Belgium and Austria - have reportedly asked for copies of the CD.
Corriere della Sera reports that Silvio Berlusconi's coalition has pushed through another proposed law would allow the premier and cabinet ministers to postpone for six months hearings in any ongoing trial in which they are implicated. They say the Bill is part of a thorough reform aimed at modernising Italy's justice system. But critics say the measures are meant to shield Mr Berlusconi from ongoing trials in Milan.
Dawn says three American soldiers were killed and two others injured in a bomb attack that marked the first fatal Taliban ambush on the US military in Pakistan. Dozens of teenage girls were among some 70 civilians caught up in the blast outside a secondary school in Lower Dir, in the country's north-west. Three girls were killed along with one paramilitary force member.
Los Angeles Times reports prosecutors investigating Michael Jackson's death plan to charge the singer's doctor with involuntary manslaughter rather than seek a closed-door grand jury indictment. Dr Conrad Murray and lawyer Edward Chernoff have travelled to Los Angeles from Houston, Texas, where Dr Murray practices, and the lawyer said his client was prepared to turn himself in.
The Daily Telegraph says a life-size bronze sculpture of a man by Alberto Giacometti, titled "L'Homme Qui Marche", was sold at auction for the world record price of €74,439,116.19. In so doing it beat the €67,016,626.79price paid for the previous auction record holder - Pablo Picasso's "Garçon à la Pipe" which was sold in New York in 2004. Giacometti's sculpture is considered to be one of the most important by the 20th century Swiss artist.
Dnevnik reports that a Slovenian doctor who won a four-year legal battle to save his three dogs from being put down for attacking humans has been mauled to death by the animals. The 52-year-old victim was attacked in his garden in Ljubljana and died before police arrived. Four years ago the pets had seriously injured a passer-by outside the owner's house.
Dominion Post quotes Auckland police say that a teenager who auctioned her virginity online for €27,500 to raise tuition money did not break any law but it might be risky for her to follow through on the deal,. The anonymous 19-year-old student offered her virginity to the highest bidder to pay her university fees. She said in a post that around 30,000 people had viewed her advert and more than 1,200 had bid.