The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. All the local newspapers give prominence to the President's charity fun run, held yesterday.
The Times reports on the regulation of temporary work agencies and says the measures will benefit women.
The Malta Independent leads with the President’s charity fun run under the heading ‘A warm-up for l-istrina’, a comment made by the President.
In-Nazzjon leads with the commemoration held yesterday to mark the killing of Raymond Caruana.
l-orizzont focuses on the plight of a nine-year-old girl who is bullied because she is overweight. She is even forced to pay her ‘friends’ to accept her.
The overseas press
Results from the parliamentary election in Russia point to a sharp drop in support for the United Russia Party of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Ria Novosti says that with about 70 percent of the votes counted, United Russia, which used to control more than two-thirds of the Duma, led with a shade under 50 percent, trailed by the Communists at nearly 20 percent. In 2007, United Russia won more than 64 percent of the vote, while the Communist Party was a distant second with 11.5 percent. In brief remarks, Putin, who is still expected to win a presidential election in March, said voters had reaffirmed United Russia as “the nation’s leading political force” despite the challenges of recent years. Jubilant opposition leaders said the vote heralded a new era of shared government.
The two primary leaders of the euro zone, President Nicolas Sarkozy of France and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany meet in Paris today to try and work out a proposal on the currency crisis that they could present together at this week’s EU summit. Bloomberg says safeguarding banks, limiting the damage to Italy and Spain and finding additional rescue funds might hinge on the response to Franco-German demands for closer economic integration and tougher policing of fiscal rules.
Sole 24 Ore reports Italy’s new government has approved emergency austerity and growth measures aimed at helping save the euro from collapse. Prime Minister Mario Monti announced the approval of the measures, including cuts and measures to fight tax evasion, following a three-hour Cabinet meeting. He said the goal is to “re-awaken” the Italian economy.
Meanwhile, the Irish Independent says Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said that the country's economy remained fragile and was likely to take years to recover. In a televised address to the nation – the first of its kind in 30 years – Kenny warned the "four-year path to recovery" would be difficult for many, including home owners, the jobless, and people trying to fund an education. He said the country was spending €16 billion more than it was taking in from taxes.
Centre-left parties have the elections in two Balkan countries. Dnevnik reports that with most of the votes counted in Slovenia’s parliamentary polls, the newly-formed Positive Slovenia Party was the surprise winners. In neighbouring Croatia, Vjesnik says official results show a four-party opposition coalition bloc had taken more than half of the seats in parliament.
General-Anzeiger reports that delegates from 90 countries are meeting in Bonn on Afghanistan’s future – 10 years after the Taliban fell from power. Organisers want to bolster long-term international engagement with Afghanistan and support efforts to restore security. Pakistan is boycotting the conference after Nato air strikes in November killed 24 of its soldiers. The Taliban are also staying away.
Rhein Zeitung says bomb disposal experts in the German city of Koblenz have successfully defused two bombs from World War II found in the riverbed of the Rhine. The bigger of the two bombs weighed 1.8 tonnes and was dropped by the British RAF between 1943 and 1945. Some 45,000 people, including the inhabitants of two hospitals, seven nursing homes and a prison, had to be evacuated in the biggest bomb disposal operation in Germany since 1945.
O Globo reports that Brazil's Labour Minister, Carlos Lupi, has handed in his resignation to President Dilma Rousseff. In a statement, Mr Lupi said he had been subject to personal and political persecution by the media. He was being investigated after a local magazine, Veja, reported in November that he and some of his aides allegedly had demanded kickbacks from charities and non-governmental organisations in exchange for funding from the ministry. Folha de Sao Paulo also reported that he was being investigated for allegedly receiving a salary as a federal congressional employee, while at the same time serving, and receiving a salary from, the state legislature of Rio de Janeiro. Receiving two government salaries is illegal under Brazilian law. Lupi insisted he had a clear conscience and he would be proved innocent.