The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times reports that Moody’s downgraded Malta’s bond ratings. It also says that a Magistrate was forced to jail an ‘abandoned teenager’.

The Malta Independent says that 82.5% of students proceeded to post-secondary courses last year.

MaltaToday says that Libyan officers had plotted to defect to Malta. They unsuccessfully tried to obtain safe passage from Nato.

l-orizzont says that the relatives of a woman who died 18 months ago were surprised that she received a personalised invitation for a reception by Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said.

In-Nazzjon reports that 3,000 more workers have started working full time in a year.

The overseas press

The Wall Street Journal reports US and European shares have both fallen as concerns continued about the high level of eurozone debt, as well as the risk of a return to recession on both sides of the Atlantic. Banking stocks again notched up the biggest declines. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that the euro, which had been falling in recent days, received a temporary boost after Switzerland announced it was pegging the Swiss franc to the euro in an attempt to weaken its currency. The Swiss franc has been strengthening in response to the recent financial turmoil in the eurozone, as some investors consider it a relatively safe currency.

Deutsche Welle says that Germany's Constitutional Court was expected to announce later today whether Berlin's contribution to loans for Greece and other struggling eurozone countries was legal. Plaintiffs have argued that the bailouts break the no-bailout clause in the EU treaty, which says neither the EU nor member states should take on other governments' liabilities. The 17-nation bloc would be watching the verdict closely: an adverse ruling could call into question a planned permanent EU bailout mechanism. 

A heavy-armed convoy of Libyan vehicles is driving the African state of Niger after crossing the desert border from Libya. The Washington Times quotes aUS State Department spokeswoman saying senior members of Gaddafi’s leadership were in the convoy but the US did not believe that they included Gaddafi himself.

Meanwhile, Le Pays quotes a spokesman for the government of Burkina Faso saying his country had not offered Gaddafi asylum. His comments follow speculation that the convoy that left Libya could be taking the deposed Libyan leader through Niger to Burkina Faso.

Day Press News says the Secretary General of the Arab League has postponed his planned visit to Damascus later today at the request of Syrian authorities. Nabil al-Arabi had been expected to convey Arab concerns about the Syrian government’s crackdown on dissenters and outline Arab proposals for reforms.

The Nato-led mission in Afghanistan has suspended the transfer of detainees to some Afghan jails following allegations of widespread torture. The BBC has been told that the suspension applied to eight provinces and also to the country’s counter-terrorism unit. An unpublished UN reports says prisoners had been subjected to systemic abuse.

USA Today says wild fires raging across the US state of Texas have now destroyed more than 1,000 homes. Texas is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years and over the past few days fierce winds caused fires to spread.

Sky News reports James Murdoch has hit back at two former executives who said he had been informed of an email that suggested phone hacking went beyond a lone reporter at the “News Of The World”. The News International chairman, who had previously told MPs he had no knowledge of the email, said he stood by his evidence. He spoke after Colin Myler, the Sunday tabloid's former editor, and Tom Crone, the former legal chief of its publisher, said they were certain Mr Murdoch knew about the notorious "For Neville" email, which had raised serious questions about the company's stance that former royal correspondent Clive Goodman was the only journalist involved in hacking.

The Irish Examiner quotes Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny accusing the Holy See of unwarranted interference in a government-ordered inquiry into clerical child abuse over three separate years. Amid calls to clarify allegations that the Vatican had frustrated the state investigation, Kenny said the Catholic Church must be warned that nothing less than full co-operation was good enough. He said the Murphy inquiry – which exposed devastating abuse and cover-ups in the Dublin Archdiocese and Cloyne Diocese – was separately denied information at least three times.

The New York Times says a US couple who used artificial insemination to conceive a baby seven years ago has found that their sperm donor had fathered no less than 150 children. As more women choose to have babies on their own, the number of children born through artificial insemination increased – causing concern among parents, donors and medical experts about potential negative consequences, including the increased odds of accidental incest between half sisters and half brothers, who often live close to one another.