The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that the police strip search procedure is under review following allegations of abuse of power.
The Malta Independent features comments by the party leaders on ministerial pay. It also reports how the Speaker said the honoraria raise was not in contempt of the House.
In-Nazzjon quotes the Prime Minister who said that the European Commission had confirmed Malta’s progress to control the deficit.
l-orizzont reports how the Speaker said it was anomalous that a Cabinet decision on raising honoraria was not immediately notified to him or the Clerk of the House.
The overseas press
Leaked confidential records released by al-Jazeera TV suggest Palestinian negotiators at one stage in 2006 privately agreed to Israel keeping large parts of illegally occupied East Jerusalem. The papers also reportedly show Palestinian leaders proposing a joint committee to take over Jerusalem's holy sites of Haram al-Sharif/Temple. The chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who features in many of the leaked papers, has strenuously denied he had made these sorts of offers.
Al Ahram quotes Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adli saying they had "decisive proof" that the Army of Islam, a Palestinian militant group linked to Al Qaeda, was behind the New Year’s Day bombing of a church in Alexandria which killed 23 people and injured some 75 others. The Gaza-based group immediately denied any responsibility for the attack but a spokesman added: "We praise those who did it."
Assabah says hundreds of protesters have gathered outside the office of Tunisians Prime Minister Mohammed Gannouchi in defiance of a overnight curfew. They were demanding the resignation of the interim government. For the first time, the protestors were joined by the once-feared members of the police.
Le Soir says some 15,000 of Belgians have taken to the streets of the capital, Brussels urging politicians to put aside their differences and form a government. Belgium has been without a government for 224 days, with politicians from Flanders in the north and Wallonia in the south deadlocked in coalition negotiations.
Korrieri reports that Albania’s political crisis has continued to escalate as the government and its opposition traded blame for the deaths of three protesters during a violent demonstration against an administration accused of deeply-rooted corruption. Tensions rose sharply last week when deputy prime minister Ilir Meta resigned after a private TV station aired a video that it said showed him asking a colleague to influence the awarding of a contract to build a power station.
The Irish Independent reports that the Green Party has pulled out of the coalition government in a move that could lead to a general election earlier than the date of March 11th announced by prime Minister Brian Cowen. John Gormley, leader of the junior coalition partner, said people have lost confidence in politics and there was a complete breakdown in trust, patience and communications Fianna Fáil. Te party would continue to support legislation to implement an austerity budget demanded by creditors.
Portuguese voters have re-elected incumbent President Anibal Cavaco Silva to a second term. Expresso says he achieved 55 percent of the vote on a record low turnout of under 47 percent. Cavaco Silva's nearest rival, Manuel Alegre of the ruling Socialists, had garnered only around 19 percent of vote.
Al Ayyam says that with all but a handful of votes now counted in the Sudanese referendum, nearly 99 per cent of those polled have voted for the south to become and independent state. The final vote is expected early next month.
The Age reports that parts of the south-eastern Australian state of Victoria are braced for the approach of a giant lake of floodwater 90km long, as Australia's worst floods since records began 130 years ago continue. More than 75 towns have been affected, and the Victoria State Emergency Service said up to 10 towns remained in the floodwaters' northern path across flat, wheat-growing country.
O Globo reports that more than 800 people are now known to have died in floods and landslides in the south-east of the country this month. More than 400 people are still missing after torrential rain caused whole hillsides to collapse. The flooding is considered the worst natural disaster Brazil has ever experienced.
El Universal reports that the police in Mexico have arrested a man they claim is responsible for the killing of 22 people in the beach resort of Acapulco earlier this month. The man is believed to be the leader of a local drugs cartel, known for its extreme violence. Nearly all the dead men were beheaded and their severed heads dumped next to them outside a shopping centre.
Dawn says a bus collided with an oil tanker in southern Pakistan, setting off a blazing inferno that killed 32 people and injured nine others. The accident reportedly happened because the bus driver fell asleep and lost control. Survivors told authorities that passengers twice asked the driver to stop the vehicle and rest to avoid an accident. The dead included women and children.