The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that a general election looms closer as the opposition presented a no-confidence motion. It also says that Standard and Poor's cut Malta's rating and that of many eurozone countries.
The Malta Independent says the political crisis has thickened.
l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying he decided to file a no-confidence motion after the prime minister announced he was going abroad, despite the political crisis.
In-Nazzjon says Joseph Muscat has a ‘thirst’ for power. It also reports how Medserv is planning to open bases in Sicily and Cyprus.
The overseas press
EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn has criticised the decision by the US-based international credit agency Standard & Poor’s to downgrade the credit rating of nine eurozone countries, including France. Dow Jones reports from Brussels Rehn called the move “inconsistent”, recalling decisive action had been taken on all fronts. These initiatives, he said, pushed forward the necessary fiscal consolidation and structural reform in member states, addressed the fragilities of the banking sector, reinforced financial backstops and strengthened economic governance. Rehn also said it was important that euro members pushed forward the launch of the European Stability Mechanism, the bailout fund set to take the place of the European Financial Stability Facility, whose credit rating relies on the ratings of its backers.
Speaking on public television, France's Finance Minister Francois Baroin insisted that it was the government and not private agencies or the markets that decided France’s economic policy. "It's not good news, but it's not a catastrophe," Baroin told the France 2 network after crisis talks with President Sarkozy. He confirmed there would not be any austerity plan because “this was not a matter of budgetary discipline”.
Bloomberg says S&P’s downgraded France’s credit rating, from AAA to AA+, as well as that of eight other eurozone countries – Italy, Spain, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia, Malta, Slovenia and Cyprus. All nine nations also had their long-term ratings lowered. It pushed highly-indebted Portugal into junk status but confirmed Germany’s AAA rating. Malta now holds an A rating. S&P warned that that there was a great than 30 per cent chance that the 14 eurozone governments would be downgraded again. The agency argued that government plans to fix the eurozone crisis were inadequate.
The Wall Street Journal reports that President Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other top US defense leaders have delivered a string of private messages to Israeli leaders warning them about the dire consequences of any unilateral Israeli military action against Iran. The newspaper says the US, which has stepped up contingency plans to safeguard its facilities in the region in case of a conflict, wanted Israel to give more time for the effects of sanctions and other measures intended to force Iran to abandon its perceived efforts to build nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the new economic sanctions against Iran appeared to be having an effect. He told The Australian that if combined with a threat of military action led by the United States, they could succeed. “In any case, the Iranian economy is showing signs of strain,” he said. President Obama recently signed legislation imposing sanctions against Iran’s central bank intended to make it more difficult for the country to sell its oil. The European Union has taken steps toward an oil embargo.
China Times reports Taiwan’s 18 million voters are going to the polls today to elect a president and a new parliament. The election, expected to be extremely close, is seen as crucial to the future of relations with China. The main challenger to the incumbent President Ma Ying-jeou is the Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen, the island’s first female president candidate.
For the first time in two decades, the United States, has announced it would appoint an ambassador to Burma, which earlier freed more than 650 political prisoners. Voice of America says President Obama called Burma's decision to release the political prisoners "a substantial step forward for democratic reform". The release was in line with conditions for improving relations with Washington that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton imposed during a visit last month.
Hurriyet saysTurkish police have raided more than 100 homes and offices in 17 cities as part of an operation against the Kurdish nationalist movement. At least 30 people have been detained.
The BBC reports that Britain’s Royal Navy has captured a suspected Somali pirate vessel off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean in a joint operation with a US Navy destroyer. Royal Marines in speed boats moved aboard the Somali vessel when it did not heed warnings to stop. All 13 Somalis on board surrendered.
Dagbladet says a court in Norway has ordered a new psychiatric evaluation of mass killer Anders Behring Breivik after an earlier report found him legally insane. He had carried a bomb attack and mass shooting last July killing 77 people and wounding 151. He set off a bomb in the capital, Oslo, before travelling to the lake island of Utoeya where he shot young activists of the governing Labour Party who were attending a summer camp. He is due to go on trial on 16 April.
EU Times says the European Commission has said the PIP breast implant scandal reinforced the need to reform Europe-wide regulation and was likely to recommend tougher rules. Cosmetic surgeons have called for more spot checks and a register of all devices implanted into the body. About 300,000 implants were sold around the world, many of them to the European market. French, German and Dutch health authorities have all recommended that women fitted with banned PIP implants should have them removed as a precaution.