The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that investors have threatened to sue the MFSA if is does not publish its full report on the La Valetta Multi-Manager Fund. It also says that a Boiler 7 failure was the cause of yesterday’s widespread power cut.
The Malta Independent says BP Energy is to take over the Enemalta petroleum section, but the deal has yet to be announced by the government. It also reports that the bus drivers’ company has turned down the opportunity to buy 10% of Arriva Malta.
In-Nazzjon reports comments by PN deputy leader Tonio Borg that the party is conservative in its values but liberal and radical in its reforms.
l-orizzont says George Pullicino is refusing responsibility for the fact that buses will drive through pedestrianised Bisazza Street. It also says that EU aid for the modernisation of Sant’ Antnin waste treatment plant may have been €5m lower than the government claimed.
The overseas press
There are new hopes that Greece will get a second bailout and avoid a devastating debt default. Kathimerini reports that Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou replaced his finance minister in a broad cabinet reshuffle that won strong support from markets, optimistic that crucial austerity measures would now be passed. Shortly after his appointment, the new finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, vowed to back the austerity measures as part of his plan to "carry out a real war" on the country's debt crisis. The Greek Socialists' reform plan involves €28 billion worth of new taxes and spending cuts, and a privatisation of state assets worth around €50 billion.
After two days of political chaos that threatened to bring down the Greek government, Börzen Zeitung says the German and French leaders say they have found common ground on the Greek economic crisis, and urged Greece to continue with its ambitious reform and austerity programme. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Greece would need a second bailout package to buttress a €110 billion bailout agreed last year. The issue of a second aid deal, expected to be worth around €80 billion to €120 billion, has divided eurozone members, with the two leaders saying they had reached a "breakthrough" on the matter and that time was of the essence.
Meanwhile, The Irish Examiner reports that the President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, has urged governments blocking Ireland's interest rate cut on the bailout to "reach a deal". Speaking after meeting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny in Dublin, he said there are prospects for a compromise on cutting Ireland's interest rates.
France 24 quotes Colonel Muammar Gaddafi vowing to defeat Nato and stay in power in Libya, saying not even nuclear bombs would drive him away. The Libyan leader made his latest comments in an audio message to thousands of supporters demonstrating against Nato in Tripoli's Green Square. He also referred to the rebels seeking to overthrow him as "traitors" and "cowards". State television carried the Libyan leader's message live, then repeated it a few minutes later. Meanwhile, Nato has released footage showing what is says is pro-Gaddafi forces hiding in and firing multiple rockets from within a mosque.
Al Jazeera says Syrian security forces have shot dead at least 16 people during protests demanding the fall of President Bashar al Assad's regime. Tens of thousands of people took part in rallies across the country, defying the leader's military crackdown. The worst violence was in Homs, where activists said eight protesters were killed and state television said a policeman was killed by gunmen.
USA Today reports police in the US blocked off roads around the Pentagon and searched the surrounding area after arresting a man in Arlington National Cemetery overnight. An FBI spokesperson said the man was carrying a backpack with suspicious items and products. However, no explosive devices or materials were found. US authorities are on alert for revenge attacks following the killing last month of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in a US raid in Pakistan.
El Mundo says bloody riots at a Venezuelan prison turned into a gunfight between thousands of troops and inmates, after violence that left at least 22 people dead. A least one soldier was killed as members of the National Guard stormed armed convicts at El Rodeo jail, while another 19 were wounded. The violence broke out as troops were carrying out a search operation to disarm inmates.
Sky News says a husband has been cleared of harassing his wife's millionaire lover over the internet. Plumber Ian Puddick, 41, tweeted, blogged and posted videos online after being enraged by his spouse's 10-year relationship with City director Timothy Haynes. Haynes admitted he had been deceitful but said Mr Puddick should have taken up his anger with him alone.
El Pais says prosecutors in Spain are investigating 849 cases of newborn children stolen from their mothers and sold to other families for profit. The country’s attorney general, Candido Conde-Pumpido, said babies were taken from women who had supported the defeated Republican side after Spain’s 1936-39 civil war.
However, some of the baby trafficking cases are as recent as the mid-1990s.
Mr Conde-Pumpido’s office was alerted to the cases by an association of people searching for lost children or parents.