The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says the cost of a tunnel to Gozo would be about €150 million. It also reports that the juvenile justice system needs overhaul, according to a board of inquiry appointed by the Commissioner of Children after two youngsters were refused bail after allegedly stealing €400.
The Malta Independent leads with political speeches made yesterday
In-Nazzjon says the IMF has praised the government’s financial and economic policies.
l-orizzont reports that long waiting times at the hospital emergency department have continued. It also reports Joseph Muscat saying Malta should launch a tourism publicity campaign amid the turmoil in North Africa.
The overseas press
Al Jazeera reports that as President Hosni Mubarak moved to reassert control of the country after six days of anti-government demonstrations, Egypt’s most prominent democracy advocate, Mohammed ElBaradei has called for his resignation. The former UN official and Nobel Peace laureate said what the people of Egypt had begun could not be turned back. He was speaking to thousands of protesters who defied a curfew for a third night, blocking a column of tanks that tried to enter Tahrir Square as military jets and helicopters made repeated low-level flights over the crowds. Police had earlier been ordered back onto the streets of Cairo and overnight curfew extended in further high-profile displays of authority over a situation spiralling out of control.
The Washington Post says President Obama has telephoned the leaders of Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Britain over the past two days to discuss the crisis in Egypt. US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has called for an orderly transition to real democracy. Mr ElBaradei, however, has said Washington is losing credibility by talking of democracy while still supporting a president viewed by Egyptians as oppressive.
The Egyptian Gazette reports that foreign governments have stepped up their warnings about travel to Egypt, with several urging their citizens to evacuate as soon as possible The fears of foreign tourists mirrored those of many Egyptians as dozens with the means to do so rented jets or hopped aboard their own planes in a mad dash that did little to boost confidence in the future of a country long viewed as a pillar of stability in a restive region. Those leaving included businessmen and celebrities.
Le Matin quotes Hillary Clinton saying the United States has no plans to halt aid to earthquake-ravaged Haiti in spite of a crisis over who would be the nation's next leader but does insist that the president's chosen successor be dropped from the race,. Clinton arrived in the impoverished Caribbean nation for a brief visit. She is scheduled to meet with President Rene Preval and each of the three candidates jockeying to replace him.
The leader of a long-outlawed Tunisian Islamist party has returned home after two decades in exile, telling the Associated Press that his views were moderate and that his Westward-looking country had nothing to fear. Rachid Ghanouchi and about 70 other exiled members of Ennahdha, or Renaissance, flew home from Britain two weeks after autocratic President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced from power by violent protests. At the airport, thousands of people welcomed him, cheering, shouting "God is great!" and drowning out his attempt to address the crowd with a megaphone.
Corriere della Sera says Italian prosecutors have questioned for three hours a regional politician accused for arranging for underage girls to go to parties held by the Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Nicole Minetti was due to be questioned latedr this week but prosecutors in Milian rescheduled the interview to avoid media attention.
Al Rayaam quotes Southern Sudan's referendum commission confirming that more than 99 percent of voters in the south opted to secede from the country's north in a vote held earlier this month. The announcement drew cheers from a crowd of thousands that gathered in Juba, the capital of what may become the world's newest country next July.
Irrawady says the new parliament in Burma has met for the first time since elections were held last November. Critics say the real power would still be in the hands of the army as the majority of seats are held by a party backed by the current military government.
Belfast Daily reports thousands of people in Northern Ireland have taken in the final official march to commemorate 13 people shot dead by the British army in 1972 on what became known as “Bloody Sunday”. Most of the victims’ relatives have agreed to end the annual march.
According to USA Today, a 63-year-old Southern California man who had explosives in his vehicle was arrested outside one of the nation's largest mosques in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn. Police accused Roger Stockham of being in possession of a large quantity of firework.