The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times reports on the Pensions Working Group’s insistence that the introduction of a second pillar pension ‘can’t wait’.
The Malta Independent says financial stability is to dominate Brussels talks by EU leaders.
l-orizzont says the Speaker was kept in the dark about the increase in MPs’ income.
In-Nazzjon leads with the privatisation of the Msida yacht marina. It also says the rate of job creation in Malta is highest in the EU.
The overseas press
The Irish Independent reports the European Court of Human Rights is due to rule today on whether the Irish Republic's anti-abortion laws violate women's human rights. The case was brought to the Strasbourg-based court by three women who say their health was put at risk by having to travel abroad for abortions.
With the euro falling amid the concerns of investor confidence, EU leaders begin a two-day meeting in Brussels today. L’Echo says they are expected to focus on a bailout fund that would come into effect in mid-2013. To do this, they will propose changes of EU treaties that will need to be agreed to by legislatures in all 27 EU member states.
Deutsch Welle reports that a day ahead of a key EU summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel fortified her stand against eurozone bonds and increasing the EU's financial rescue fund. Merkel insisted that no European country would be abandoned should it face similar dire financial straits.
Kathemarini says anti-austerity demonstrations in Athens turned violent, with angry protesters throwing rocks, bottles and firebombs at riot police who retaliated with tear gas.
The Irish Times reports that Irish opposition politicians have vowed to renegotiate the €85 billion bailout after next year's general election. The approval by the Irish parliament of the loan facility clears the way for €35 billion to be set aside for the banks – €10 billion being drawn right away, and €50 billion for the state's running costs. The average interest rate is about 5.8 per cent.
The Wall Street Journal says Spain faces a key test of investor confidence in its economic survival plan today as it seeks to raise money from bond markets a day after ratings firm Moody's rekindled worries about the country's ability to service its debt. Spain is regarded as an essential barrier to the spread of financial contagion in the 16-nation eurozone after a year of financial turmoil in which bailout packages have been mounted to rescue the much-smaller economies of Greece and Ireland.
Wikileaks cables published by the Spanish newspaper El Pais reveal Cuban leader Fidel Castro came close to death in 2006 after suffering a perforated intestine during an internal flight. The cables show the extent of US diplomats’ intense efforts to find out the nature of Fidel Castro's illness and his chances of recovery. The illness led Mr Castro to hand power to his brother Raul, although he has since returned to public life. The 84-year-old's health is considered a state secret in Cuba.
Pravda says police in Moscow have arrested around 1,000 young people to prevent a repeat of last weekend's ethnic unrest between Russian nationalists and Muslims from the Caucasus and Central Asia. The unrest marks a new stage in the resentment of immigration to Russia's big cities from the southern republics and Central Asia.
The Finanial Times reports the US government is suing BP and eight other firms for allegedly violating federal safety regulations in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The lawsuit asks that they be held liable without limitation for all clean-up and damage costs. The drilling rig explosion in April killed 11 workers and spilled millions of barrels of oil over several months in the worst environmental disaster in US history.
Sky News reports airports, rail companies and breakdown services in the UK are preparing themselves for a fresh wave of snow and icy conditions, expected to hit Britain this morning. Temperatures are set to plummet to below freezing, causing widespread ice and snow showers.
Meanwhile, The Insurance Journal reveals that droughts and deluges in Australia, snow in Europe and cold snaps in the United States have oushed up prices of a range of commodities from sugar to heating oil and soybeans. China's top economic planning body has said some parts of China could run short of coal, oil, power or gas at times during the next few winter months.
Metro announces the UK National Audit Office has refused to sign off the House of Commons accounts for 2009/10 due to serious concerns whether some £14 million worth of British MPs' expenses paid out last year may were in fact used for parliamentary purposes. Amyas Morse, the head of the NAO, said he had not obtained all the information he considered necessary to carry out the audit.