The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that Magistrate Consuelo Scerri-Herrera yesterday denied claims by Daphne Caruana Galizia in her blog. It also reports proceedings of a seminar where speakers said quotas may be necessary for the number of women in decision-making roles to be increased.
The Malta Independent reports that Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera claimed that Daphne Caruana Galizia insulted her as she left a court hall yesterday. She filed a report to the police. The newspaper also reports on plans by the EU to set up an IMF-like structure for the EU.
In-Nazzjon focuses on a 6.3 per cent increase in passenger traffic at Malta International Airport in February, as well as an increase of 4.2 per cent in seat capacity. It also says that jobs in the pharma industry tripled in three years.
l-orizzont quotes GWU General Secretary Tony Zarb saying that the union is holding the government responsible for the burdens being shouldered by the people. He also complained that some women were still being paid less than the minimum required by law and said such a situation was unacceptable.
The overseas press:
Público reports the Portuguese government has announced new austerity measures aimed at raising €6.6 billion from privatisations, trimming welfare benefits and slashing other state expenditure in an effort to reduce the country's heavy debt load.
The Washington Times says that as US Vice-President Joe Biden arrived in the Middle East, the State Department said Israel's authorisation of new building in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank did not violate a recently-announced moratorium. Israel claimed the 112 new apartments in Beitar Illit settlement were approved ahead of the moratorium being declared.
The Financial Times reports that the International Monetary Fund has suggested a plan for the world's governments to pool together to raise money needed to adapt to climate change. It was estimated that €730 million a year would be needed by 2020 to fund programmes, including those to help poor nations deal with droughts, flooding and food shortages expected to be caused by climate change.
Gazete Oku says 57 people were killed and more than 30 others injured when a 6.0 magnitude earthquake hit villages in eastern Turkey just before dawn yesterday. It caught many as they slept, turning buildings into piles of rubble.
Panapress reports mass burials have been held for the hundreds of victims slaughtered in the latest wave of violence in central Nigeria as the Vatican expressed "concern and horror" at the incidents. Some 500 people are believed to have been killed at the weekend when Muslim herdsmen attacked three mostly Christian towns near the city of Jos over control of fertile farmland in the state of Plateau.
El Mercurio says looters in Chile have handed back stolen goods worth €2 million as the country mourned the 450 people killed in last month's 8.8-magnitude earthquake and tsunami. Pressed by police and military patrols, Chileans returned hundreds of television sets, washing machines and other electronic and furniture items stolen from stores and warehouses.
Meanwhile, El Sur reports that the massive earthquake which struck the west coast of Chile last month moved the entire city of Concepcion more than three metres to the west. The capital, Santiago, also shifted 27.7 centimetres to the west. On South America's east coast, Argentina's capital Buenos Aires moved nearly four centimetres to the west and significant displacements were recorded as far away as the Falkland Islands.
The Australian reports the Family Court of Australia has given a couple permission to sterilise their disabled 11-year-old daughter, who is profoundly disabled and unable to communicate. The court's decision prompted an immediate reaction from disability organisations, who describe forced sterilisation of any girl as an abuse of human rights.
In the UK, The Independent says questions are being asked about the monitoring of the online activity of sex offenders after Peter Chapman was convicted of using Facebook to kidnap, rape and kill 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall. The body of the childcare student was found dumped in a farmer's field near last October near a known lovers' lane.
USA Today reports that the United States is set to ease sanctions against Cuba, Iran and Sudan by allowing the export of web services to them. The move is intended to ensure that people in those countries can exercise their right to free speech and information.
The Bristol Evening Post announces the death in a British care home of Andree Peel, a French resistance heroine who saved scores of Allied lives and survived a Nazi firing squad. She was 105. Known as Agent Rose, she was locked up in two concentration camps and narrowly escaped execution when a firing squad which was about to shoot her at Buchenwald, in Germany, fled from approaching US forces.
The Sacramento Bee reports that a California state senator who consistently voted against gay rights measures since he took office eight years ago has confirmed that he was gay. Republican Senator Roy Ashburn, a 55-year-old divorced father of four who has been on leave from the Senate since he was arrested and charged with drink-driving last week, admitted in an interview on KERN radio he was gay, saying his anti-gay votes were a reflection of what the majority of voters in his conservative district would have wanted.