The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says MPs in the Social Affairs Committee have concluded a discussion on embryo freezing, without taking decisions. It also says that Bank of Valletta chairman Roderick Chalmers said he would not resign.
The Malta Independent reports how the sea around Malta is among the cleanest in the EU.
In-Nazzjon reports that employment growth in Malta is higher than the EU average. It also highlights comments by PN General Secretary Paul Borg Olivier calling for an analysis of the makeup of society.
l-orizzont highlights an MUMN statement which complained that nurses are carrying out ECG tests in Gozo, when they are not qualified to do so.
The overseas press
The United States will hunt down and kill new al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as it did Osama Bin Laden. The Washington Times quotes the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen telling journalists that al-Qaeda still posed a threat to the US. Zawahiri's appointment was posted on a militant website and attributed to al-Qaeda's General Command. For a long time, Egyptian-born Zawahiri has been the militant group's second-in-command.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Greece's international rescuers have pledged to dispense a promised installment of last year's bailout loan – enough to carry Greece through September – but demanded that Prime Minister George Papandreou forces through unpopular budget cuts even as he struggled to quell a revolt within his governing Socialist party.
Kathimerini says that in an address to an urgently-called meeting of deputies from his Socialist Party, Papandreou appealed for unity, as he sought to win parliamentary approval for a key €28 billion package of tough austerity measures. He vowed he would stay on as the nation's leader to see the measures through. In a speech to Parliament yesterday Papandreou said his government had made mistakes in handling Greece's economic crisis, but he also criticized other European leaders for failing to stem the wider debt crisis.
Cesky Noviny leads with Czech transport workers’ 24-hour strike to protest against the center-right government's austerity measures aimed at getting the country's finances back on track. An estimated 1,500 workers marched through the streets of Prague, before assembling at a rally, where trade union leaders called on the center-right government of Prime Minister Petr Necas to resign.
The Irish Examiner says the Irish Parliament has passed legislation to raise the pension age to 68 and to reverse the cut in the national minimum wage. The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill was rushed through, despite objections from the Opposition.
France 24 reports that seven children have been hospitalised in France with E. coli infections after eating meat that manufacturers said could come from Germany, where the outbreak had already killed 39 people and sickened 3.300 in 16 countries. The children, the youngest of whom is 20 months old, had eaten defrosted hamburgers made by the French company SEB. One of them was in critical condition. SEB said it had recalled them and Lidl, where they had been bought, said it had removed them from its shelves in France.
The New York Times says disgraced US politician Anthony Weiner has resigned from his post after admitting to a series of inappropriate online relationships with women. The embattled congressman from New York apologised and thanked his constituents and his family, particularly his wife, who is a top aide to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and is pregnant with the couple's first child.
The Washington Post quotes US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying she was "deeply concerned" by reports that Libyan government forces were raping civilians. She also noted that in other parts of the Middle East and North Africa there were even reports of "virginity tests". Meanwhile CNN reports that rebels in Libya said they had confiscated cell phones that contained video showing Gaddafi loyalists raping women and torturing people.
Al Jazeera reports that Libya's Muammar Gaddafi was willing to hold elections and step aside if he lost – an offer quickly dismissed by rebels and US officials. The rebel leadership in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi described the offer as "wasting our time".
El Universal reports that 33 people have been killed in the space of 24 hours in Mexico's industrial capital, Monterrey. Most of those killed had links to the country's drug cartels but two of the victims were identified as bodyguards of the governor of Nuevo Leon, Rodrigo Medina. Police said a threatening message addressed to Mr Medina had been found next to the bodies. Medina said the threats would not stop his determination to beat organised crime.