The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says Malta has been told by the European Commission to amend the law on parental leave or risk being taken before the European Court. The issue is over a loophole which can allow employers not to allow such leave. In another story, the newspaper reports how Libya yesterday stopped all travel visas issued in the Schengen area, also affecting Maltese travellers.
The Malta Independent leads with a press conference held yesterday by the National Commission, Persons with Disability, which reported an increase in complaints, mostly on lack of access to public buildings.
In-Nazzjon says bouncers are expected to be taken to court for allegedly assaulting and injuring two Italians in Paceville. It also quotes Gejtu Vella, UHM General Secretary, saying solutions should be found at the MCESD and not in the street. He was referring to a protest to be held by other trade unions over the utility tariffs.
l-orizzont quotes John Bencini, chairman of the Ghaqda Unions Maltin, saying the protest over the utility tariffs is non political. The newspaper also reports on poor working conditions at Gafa Saveway and Panta Contracting.
The overseas press:
Ansa reports that the European Commission has condemned Libya’s decision to suspend all entry visas issued in the Schengen area. Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom described Libya’s decision as “unitlateral” and “disproportionate” and promised that the EU would soon announce its “appropriate reaction”. Libya’s decision is apparently in retaliation after Switzerland issued a 'black list' of 188 'undesirable' Libyans who should be denied entry into the Schengen area. The list includes one of the sons of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and other family members. Switzerland has since not commented on the issue.
Belgium’s Le Soir says an investigation has been launched into the rush-hour train collision outside Brussels which killed 18 and seriously injured 55 commuters. Rescue workers spent all of yesterday searching the twisted wreckage for victims, fearing that the death toll in the head-on crash could rise. The cause of the crash was unknown, but driver error was suspected.
EU Observer says that in an effort to better monitor financially troubled countries like Greece, Brussels has agreed to new rules for data inspections. EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Olli Rehn said the changes allow for more "frequent and comprehensive" inspection visits by Brussels statisticians, with beefed-up powers to gain access to government information where potential problems are identified.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Wall Street tactics worsened Greece's crippling debt. It said that with Wall Street’s help, Greece had engaged in a decade-long effort to skirt European debt limits. But Greek Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou insisted that "derivated contracts" used to borrow money, without increasing official debt levels in the eyes of Brussels, were at the time legal. He underlined that since they were made illegal, Greece has not used them.
Afghan Times says five Afghan civilians have been killed accidentally in a NATO airstrike. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said they had been mistaken for insurgents planting improvised bombs. The incident came a day after ISAF said 12 Afghan civilians were killed by two rockets missed their intended target in Helmand's Nad Ali district and slammed into a residential compound.
Ak Jazeera reports that Nato-led and Afghan forces were targeted with heavy gunfire, sniper fire and booby-traps as they attempted to push forward in Marjah and the surrounding areas on Monday. A spokesman said that they were making steady but slow progress, but being very methodical about detecting and clearing routes in an area heavily saturated with IEDs (improvised explosive devices).
France 24 reports French President Nicolas Sarkozy has met with union leaders and sought to reassure them that he would not "force through" any new measure in the potentially explosive issue of pension reform. The government is considering increasing the number of years workers must contribute to the national pension plan from the current level of 41 years, and raising the legal retirement age of 60.
L'Équipe says a French judge has issued an international arrest warrant against American cyclist Floyd Landis for the suspected hacking of an anti-doping laboratory computer. Landis tested positive for banned testosterone during the 2006 Tour de France.
Gulf News says police are hunting 11 suspects with European passports, including a woman, for the murder in a Dubai hotel room of a top militant of the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. The hit team which killed Mahmud al-Mabhuh on January 20 was made up of six British passport holders, three with Irish passports, including the woman, and the holders of a German and a French passport. Gulf emirate's police chief Dhafi Khalfan said he was not ruling "the involvement of (Israel's spy agency) Mossad or other parties in the assassination".
Alhatif Alarabi reports that Somali Defence Minister Sheikh Yusuf Mohammad Siad has survived a suicide car bomb attack in the capital Mogadishu. Five Somali ministers have been killed by suicide bombers since June as fighting continues between the government and insurgents.
The market in counterfeit medicines in Europe is worth an estimated €10.5 billion a year, according to research commissioned by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Wall Street Journal Europe says one in five of respondents admitted buying prescription-only medicines without a prescription, with people in Germany (38 percent) and Italy (37 percent) the worst offenders. Italians and Germans are also thought to have spent the most on fake prescription-only medicines -- an estimated €3.6 billion and €2.7 billion respectively. The most popular kinds of medicines to buy are those related to weight loss (45 percent), flu (35 percent) and erectile dysfunction (25 percent).
The British Medical Journal quotes UK scientists saying people who get plenty of vitamin D can cut their chance of developing heart disease or diabetes by 43 per cent. Exposure to sunshine and a healthy diet rich in oily fish can provide adequate protection. The team, from Warwick Medical School, reviewed 28 existing studies on almost 100,000 middle-aged and elderly people.