The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says Brussels has accused the government of discrimination in the way it changed emission threshold regulations when tendering for the power station extension contract was in progress. It also reports that a PN councillor in Sliema is considering resignation following pressure to sign a no-confidence motion in Mayor Nikki Dimech.
The Malta Independent says new law amendments are needed to counter a new drug which is three times stronger than cocaine.
l-orizzont also leads with the EU claims on the power station tender. In another story, it also highlights criticism by the FORUM trade unions following comments made by UHM General Secretary Gejtu Vella.
In-Nazzjon says the government has replied to the clarifications sought by the EU on the power station extension tender.It also reports that there has been success for the Pharmacy of Your Choice Scheme in Gozo, and hundreds have applied to the Second Step ICT tuition programme organised by the government.
The overseas press
The TimesAl Jazeera reports that the last brigade of US combat troops left Iraq in the early hours of this morning, bringing combat operations to an end in a war that has lasted more than seven years and claimed the lives of more than 4,000 US troops. About 50,000 US troops will remain in the country in an advisory capacity, helping to train Iraqi forces in a new mission which will run until the end of 2011.
The Wall Street Journal says Russia is negotiating the sale of about 20 helicopters to Afghanistan, stepping up efforts to help the country's government battle the Taliban insurgency and drug traffickers.
Pak Tribune reports more aid pledges for Pakistan have come through after complaints that the international community's response to the devastating floods was inadequate. The UN has said it has now raised nearly half of the 359 million euros it needs for initial relief efforts after the EU promised an extra 30.5 million euros following higher commitments from Australia, Saudi Arabia and Japan. The Islamic Development Bank has pledged 8.7 million euros.
La Journada says Mexican security forces found the body of a slain mayor, days after he was abducted by hitmen from drug cartels. President Felipe Calderon, who has staked his presidency on a faltering drug war, condemned the "cowardly assassination" of Edelmiro Cavazos, the mayor of a town on the outskirts of Monterrey, an industrial centre with close US business ties.
The New York Times reports a Colombian guerrilla who was responsible for half the world's cocaine smuggling has been jailed for 29 years by a judge in New York. Erminso Cuevas Cabrera directed the production of massive quantities of the drug at hidden jungle laboratories controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) The 49-year-old had been found guilty of conspiring to import tonnes of the narcotic into the US.
London's The Times says two 11-year-old boys have each been given a three-year supervision order for attempting to rape an eight-year-old girl. They were aged 10 last October when the girl told her mother she had been assaulted. The defence claimed the boys were just being naughty or playing a game, but jurors rejected the argument.
The Daily Mail announces a £20,000 reward has been offered for help in finding the killer of a 90-year-old war veteran, who served as a driver for General Eisenhower during WWII. Geoffrey Bacon died after being violently robbed of £40 and a travel pass in his home in London four months ago.
Pravda says sales of vodka and other types of strong alcohol between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. are to be banned in Moscow in a bid to tackle the capital's growing alcohol problem. A new minimum price for spirits is also to be introduced to stop the sale of cut-price black market booze.
Los Angeles Times reports cleaners have uncovered the mummified bodies of two babies, wrapped in pages of the newspaper from 1930, in the basement of a Los Angeles flat. Letters referring to family members were also found in the trunk. The coroner's office is trying to determine the cause of death.
Diario de Navarra says a bull leapt out of the arena at a bullring in northern Spain and charged into a crowd of terrified spectators, injuring some 30 people. Spanish public television showed dramatic images of screaming spectators, including children, frantically trying to avoid the animal after it hurdled a security barrier that surrounds the arena as well as a fence and clambered into the crowded stands.
CNN reports that a DNA test on the remains of chess legend Bobby Fischer has determined that he was not the father of a Filipino girl. The girl's lawyer is quoted as saying that results of the test "excluded" the possibility that Fischer, who died in January 2008, was the father of Jinky Young.
Metro carries an appeal by a 29-year-old mother to dog owners to clean up after their pets after being told her two-year-old daughter could lose an eye and was lucky to be alive after contracting a rare infection from dog mess as she played in a park. Her left eye is now swollen almost shut and, if antibiotics cannot combat the toxocariasis infection, surgeons will have to remove the eye to stop it spreading to her brain. A council spokesman said irresponsible dog owners must understand the very real consequences of failing to pick up after their dogs.