The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the Air Malta pilots’ strike has been called off. It also reports how the Divorce Bill was approved on second reading, with the Prime Minister voting ‘No’.
The Malta Independent also leads with the same stories, pointing out that only 13 Nationalists had, like the PM, voted against the divorce bill.
l-orizzont says the Prime Minister went against the majority by voting against the Divorce Bill on second reading.
In-Nazzjon says 44 voted in favour of the Divorce Bill and 13 voted against. It too reports how the Air Malta strike has been cancelled.
The overseas press
The International Monetary Fund has asked Italy to ensure "decisive implementation" of spending cuts to reduce the country's debt. Il Sole 24 Ore says the IMF comment came as concerns continued that Italy might be the next country to be hit by the eurozone's debt crisis. The IMF also called for growth-boosting reforms and reiterated that Italy's high debt, the second-biggest in the eurozone after Greece's, made it "vulnerable" to the crisis.
Meanwhile, Ansa reports that Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti has told the annual general meeting of the Italian Banking Association that Italy's austerity package would be bolstered and approved by the end of the week to calm fears of contagion from the Greece debt crisis. The €50 billion four-year package would be "strengthened over the whole four years," Tremonti said as Italian bonds and stocks held on to a recovery
The Wall Street Journal says the IMF has said that Greece needed an additional €71 billion in EU aid and €33 billion from private creditors. The international lender predicted a deeper recession in the country this year than previously thought, with the economy contracting 3.9 per cent. Separately, credit ratings agency Fitch downgraded Greece deeper into junk territory, citing "the absence of a new, fully-funded and credible EU-IMF programme" for the country. It cut Greece's rating by three notches from B+ to CCC, a rating that implies a substantial risk of default.
Bloomberg reports that one of the three big international credit agencies, Moody’s, has put the United States under review with the possibility of a downgrade of Washington’s AAA status. The national debt is more than $14 trillion (€9.8 trillion) and talks between Congress and the Obama administration appear close to deadlock.
Euronews quotes EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki saying the value of Europe’s struggling fishing industry would almost double in a decade to €2.95 billion under sweeping reform plans if Europe’s governments accepted the most radical shake-up of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) in its 28-year history. The plans would end a long-standing system of catch quotas which encouraged fishermen to dump surpluses back in the sea – adding to the severe depletion of white fish stocks. Environmental organizations welcomed the intention of the proposals, but criticized them for not being strong enough.
The New York Times says the UN Security council has condemned the bombing in Mumbai, in which 21 people have been killed and 113 injured. It said terrorism constituted the most serious threat to international peace. The three near-simultaneous explosions shock India’s commercial capital during the busy evening rush hour. The attacks are the deadliest in Mumbai since November 2008 when 10 gunmen launched a three-day coordinated raid in which 166 people were killed.
The Washington Times says there have been more calls in the US Congress for an investigation into whether the News Corporation of media magnet Rupert Murdoch, already facing police inquiries in the UK, also broke American law. Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller called on the Justice Department to determine whether News Corp bribed officials in London.
Murdoch and his British newspapers came under heavy criticism in the House of Commons. The Tines says there was almost unanimous condemnation of their actions in tapping thousands of private telephone calls, accusations of bribing police officers and other illegalities. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, devastated by allegations that The Sun had illicitly obtained information on the state of health of his son, told the House that lawbreaking had taken place "on an industrial scale".
The Vatican has announced plans for a 2012 war on European “secularisation” in some of the continent's biggest cities. Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelisation, announced the "Metropolis Mission" re-evangelisation campaign on Vatican Radio and in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano. He said the six-week campaign during Lent, would give a sign of unity among the diverse dioceses present in the largest European cities that have been particularly affected by secularization.
Deutsche Welle reports that the United States and Japan will meet in the final of the Women’s World Cup on Saturday. The US, two-time world champions, booked a place in the final by beating France 3-1 while Japan beat Sweden with an identical score to make their first final appearance. The game will be played in Frankfurt.