The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that a priest acquitted of child abuse has been told not to work with children.
The Malta Independent reports how the Vatican cleared the priest of the sex abuse allegations.
In-Nazzjon features protests in Greece and also highlights issues raised by Alfred Sant in Parliament last night during the debate on ratification of the EU financial stability facility.
l-orizzont leads with the GWU Congress. It also reports Joseph Muscat’s warning that the Opposition wants to be consulted before any further bailout commitments by Malta.
The overseas press
Deutsche Welle reports that nervous EU stock markets rose on Wednesday after eurozone finance ministers agreed to try to protect the banking sector. Much of the optimism was attributed to a Financial Times interview with the European Union's financial commissioner Olli Rehn, who suggested that there was new willingness to financially support European banks. The IMF has again called for capital injections for at-risk lenders.
Wall Street Journal says the boost on the markets came despite several setbacks on Wednesday, as Greeks launched a nationwide strike protesting austerity measure, and amid a decision from ratings agency Moody's to downgrade Italy's creditworthiness by three notches. It also coincided with continued efforts from the French and Belgian governments to get the flawed Dexia moneylender back on its feet.
Börzen Zeitung quotes European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso saying EU Treaty changes to achieve even closer European integration would "probably" be necessary to cope with the economic crisis. After talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels Barroso said the EU was putting in place a raft of economic plans which should reassure markets, including stronger eurozone regulation and supervision, a quadrupling to €440 billion of an existing bailout fund and a tax on bank transactions. But more might need to be done and it might require treaty change, he said – something Mrs Merkel said last month was necessary to get the EU out of the debt crisis.
The New York Times reports that protesters are gathering for a march on New York's financial district, with rallies also planned in several other US cities. “Occupy Wall Street” organisers hope to attract thousands of people to the rally in lower Manhattan, having won the backing of powerful unions. The demonstrations, now in their third week, have been venting grievances over the 2008 corporate bailouts, high US unemployment and home repossessions.
The death has been announced of Steven P. Jobs, the charismatic technology pioneer who co-founded Apple Inc. and transformed one industry after another, from computers and smartphones to music and movies. He was 56. Los Angeles Times says Apple announced the death of Jobs, saying the world was “immeasurably better because of Steve”. His legacy included the Apple II, Macintosh, iMac, iPod, iPhone and iPad. He had resigned as chief executive of Apple last August, after struggling with illness for nearly a decade, including a bout with pancreatic cancer in 2003 and a liver transplant six years later.
Al Jazeera reports Palestine has won a first diplomatic victory in its quest for statehood when the UNESCO executive committee backed its bid to become a member of the cultural body with the rights of a state. Palestine's Arab allies braved intense US and French diplomatic pressure to bring the motion before the committee's member states, which passed it by 40 votes in favour to four – the US, Germany, Romania and Latvia – against it, with 14 abstentions. The Palestinian bid will now be submitted to the UNESCO general assembly at the end of the month for final approval involving all 193 members based in Paris.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has declared she will not run for the White House next year. The Boston Globe reports that Palin said in a statement that the decision came after much thought, and that she and her husband, Todd, "devote ourselves to God, family and country". The 47-year-old's announcement ends months of uncertainty over her plans. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry now lead the Republican pack to challenge Barack Obama for the White House in 2012.
The Duchess of Alba, one of Spain's richest and most flamboyant women, has married again at the age of 85 – to a civil servant 24 years her junior despite her children's suspicions about the union. El Pais reports the aristocrat married Alfonso Diez Carabantes at a palace in Seville, emerging to throw her wedding bouquet into the crowd and dance flamenco. The duchess has wealth worth some €3.5 billion. On the eve of her wedding, she faced a topless photo scandal when a 30-year-old photograph of her as she sunbathed topless in Ibiza was splashed on the cover of the racy Spanish magazine Interviu, reportedly prompting a legal threat.