The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times carries comments by the former governor of the Prisons Board, Mario Felice, who says he had warned the former prisons director of the deteriorating situation at the prisons when Josette Bickle was behind bars. The newspaper also reports that at Europol investigation into internet child porn netted 112 people in 22 countries including Malta.
The Malta Independent highlights the grounding, on the Frnech coast of a Maltese-registered ship as a storm batters the region.
In-Nazzjon gives prominence to the call for tenders for a new ferry service in Marsamxett and Grand Harbour.
l-orizzont says Foreign Minister Tonio Borg and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici have refused to give explanations on the situation at the prisons. Borg was home affairs minister before Mifsud Bonnici at the time of the drug trafficking by Josette Bickle.
The overseas press
The New York Times says the UN has lifted sanctions on Libya’s central bank, clearing the way for the new government to gain control of tens of billions of dollars of frozen overseas assets. Libya’s new administration had been pleading for the release of the funds which, it said, were essential for the country’s economic stability. The UN decision prompted other countries, including the US and Britain, to lift their own sanctions imposed in Libya last February when Col. Gaddafi tried to crush the uprising against him.
Le Soir quotes European Union leaders saying they had distributed the text of their proposed new budget-stability treaty, a pact designed to deter runaway deficits and supposed to become EU law by March. But as growth prospects fade across the continent, governments were facing the likelihood that Europe's debt crisis will prove longer and tougher to overcome than even their most recently revised forecasts.
Börzen Zeitung reports that the Fitch ratings agency announced it was considering further cuts to the credit scores of six eurozone nations – Italy, Spain, Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland and Slovenia. It said all six could face downgrades of one or two notches. Meanwhile, Wall Street Journal says Moody's Investors Services downgraded Belgium's credit rating by two notches, from Aa1 to Aa3.
The Irish Examiner announces that Ireland's economy shrunk again much deeper than had been expected, with its third-quarter gross domestic product falling 1.9 per cent. Ireland is one of three eurozone nations kept solvent only by an international bailout.
Le Figaro says France, the second-largest eurozone economy after Germany, warned that it faced at least a temporary recession next year. On the positive side, Fitch said France should keep its top AAA credit rating even though the country's debt is projected to rise through 2014.
According to Sole 24 Ore, Italian lawmakers overwhelmingly approved by 495 votes in favour and 88 against, Prime Minister Mario Monti's new austerity package in a confidence vote, even though lawmakers on both the left and right criticised the pension reforms as too harsh. The plan raises €30 billion in extra taxes and pension reforms and ploughs about €10 billion of it back into growth measures.
In Portugal, Expresso reports that the main opposition party is refusing to support the government's plan to amend the constitution to include a budget-deficit limit. All 17 members of the eurozone are supposed to make such commitments as part of the bloc's week-old plan to enshrine spending controls in a new treaty. In another development, ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded the credit rating of six leading Portuguese banks to junk status.
Al Ahram reports three people have been killed and more 200 have been injured during clashes in Cairo. The trouble broke out when Egyptian troops attempted tp end a three-week old protest outside Parliament.
Al Bawaba says opposition protesters in Syria have been on the streets in several cities including Damascus, demanding that the Arab League take decisive against President Bashar al-Assad. After suspending Syria last month and threatening sanctions, the League has now postponed a meeting of its foreign ministers.
CNN reports that a defence lawyer for Bradley Manning, the 23-year-old American soldier accused of passing hundreds of thousands of secret files to the Wikileaks website, has questioned what harm was done by the leaked information. Manning faces 22 charges of obtaining and distributing government secrets. The pre-trial hearing resumes today.
De Telegraf says a long-awaited investigative report reveals that as many as 20,000 children endured sexual abuse at Dutch Catholic institutions over the past 65 years, and church officials failed to adequately address it or help the victims. The findings detailed some of the most widespread abuse yet linked to the Roman Catholic Church, which has been under fire for years over abuse allegations in Europe, the United States and elsewhere.
The Daily Mail reports that British Prime Minister David Cameron ha urged people not to be afraid to describe Britain as a Christian country. He said the Bible had helped to create a set of values and morals that should be actively defended. Passive tolerance and immoral behaviour had helped fuel rioting last August as well as excesses by bankers and Moslem extremists.
Billboard announces that the founding members of the classic rock group The Beach Boys – Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine – are reuniting to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They're working on a new album and also plan a 50-date tour that would take them around the world. The group also includes Bruce Johnston and David Marks, who had been with the band for decades. The Beach Boys’ first concert is scheduled for April 27 at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.