The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times leads with the parliamentary approval of the EU rescue fund and loans to Greece. It also reports how Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando said officials asked journalists to attack him.
The Malta Independent says Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando in court yesterday gave different versions of events surrounding the Mistra case. The newspaper also reports financial losses suffered by the Church.
l-orizzont says Peppi Azzopardi was asked to coach Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando before a 2008 televised press conference given by Alfred Sant.
In-Nazzjon says Parliament approved help to Greece despite difficulties raised by Alfred Sant.
The overseas press
The Financial Times reports European Union leaders have given themselves a two-week deadline to agree a comprehensive deal to tackle the eurozone debt crisis, a grand bargain senior European officials said would include a final decision on Greece’s bail-out and a new strategy to recapitalise Europe’s banking sector. European Council president Herman Van Rompuy said EU leaders would meet on October 23 to finalise the comprehensive strategy, allowing Europe to present its plan for restoring confidence in the euro to the G20 summit on November 3-4. The troika negotiators are expected to wrap up their talks in Athens today, but a complete evaluation of Greek finances was unlikely to be finalised until the middle of next week, forcing EU leaders to delay Monday’s planned summit until October 23.
Slovakia's governing coalition failed on Monday to strike a deal to prevent the collapse of the plan to rescue heavily-indebted European nations. Bratislavske Noviny reports Prime Minister Iveta Radicova said her four-party coalition, which met for three hours, was unable to agree on a compromise deal. She declined to answer questions, but said the coalition's talks would continue on Tuesday, the day Slovakia's Parliament is scheduled to vote on the EU bailout fund. Sixteen governments have approved the package of measures agreed by eurozone leaders during a special summit in July.
Asian stock markets surged higher this morning following a pledge by European leaders to defend the region’s banks against a continent-wide debt crisis. Associated Press reports that the gains in Asia followed a strong rally on Wall Street on Monday. A default by Greece could cause the value of Greek bonds held by European banks to plunge, hurting their balance sheets. US banks would also be affected if Greece goes through a messy default, since they own Greek bonds and also have close ties to European banks.
Al Ahram says thousands gathered at the largest cathedral in Cairo to mourn the death of Coptic Christian demonstrators killed on Sunday in clashes with security forces. Witnesses, victims and doctors said the 22 demonstrators were killed when military-led security forces drove armoured vehicles over as many as six people and fired live ammunition into the crowds. More than 325 others were wounded in four hours of street fights. The civilian cabinet, meanwhile, announced a series of measures to deter discrimination, including imprisonment and large fines on anyone found guilty of discrimination on the basis of religion. Government employees face heavier penalties.
Al Jazeera reports that Libya's governing council believes deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi is hiding in the southwestern desert near the borders with Niger and Algeria Howver, it denied allegations that the Tuareg minority ethnic group was protecting the fugitive leader. Moussa al-Kouni, who is a Tuareg representative on the revolution's leadership body, claimed Gaddafi had sent his son Khamis to the area to set up a radio station and make preparations for a possible escape route two months before Tripoli fell to revolutionary forces in late August.
The Dominion Post quotes New Zealand officials saying a "significant" amount of oil was leaking from the cargo ship Rena stranded on a reef off the country's North Island. Between 130 and 350 tonnes of oil is thought to have leaked from the vessel – far more than the 30 tonnes earlier estimated. The container ship ran aground on Wednesday. Bad weather has put a temporary halt to operations to pump oil off the vessel.
According to the BBC, two families in Russia are suing their local maternity hospital for damages worth (€116,000 for giving them the wrong babies 12 years ago. The truth only emerged after the former husband of one of the mothers refused to pay maintenance for their daughter, saying she looked nothing like him. DNA tests showed she was not related to the parents. Police later traced the girl's natural parents, who were found to have been raising the other family's child. Neither girl wants to leave her home. The two families cannot press criminal charges against individual staff because so many years have passed since the babies were handed to the wrong parents.