The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the censor laws face the scissors. It also reports that the House Business Committee is to discuss the procedure for the no-confidence motion yet again.
The Malta Independent says with regard to today's House Business Committee that a Labour MP has spoken of a proposal to delay the electoral campaign till the summer.
MaltaToday says the PN has no option but to buy time before a general election is held because it has been caught logistically unprepared.
In-Nazzjon says Joseph Muscat has admitted that the PL has filed court cases to strike people off the electoral register.
l-orizzont highlights the PL's call for a timeframe for the debate on the no-confidence motion.
The overseas press
The European Union has launched legal proceedings against Hungary over controversial reforms seen as threatening the independence of the country's central bank, as well as the judicial system and its data protection authority. EU Times reports the European Commission was set to issue three letters of warning to Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, demanding that it scrap the three reforms or face legal action. Orban was due to defend his government during a debate in the European parliament later today.
Kathimerini says strikes and demonstrations over government cuts hit Athens as international debt inspectors returned to continue examining the reforms. Officials from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, which are lending money to Greece to keep it from bankruptcy, were expected to press the government for faster cost-cutting reforms. Around 10,000 people took part in rallies in central Athens over potential pay cuts in the recession-battered private sector. Strikes disrupted public transport and other services.
Corriere della Sera says the operation to salvage the wreck of the Italian cruise ship, the Costa Concordia, is expected to start later today. Rescue workers said it was unlikely that any more survivors would be found. Eleven people are known to have been killed and 24 people – 20 passengers and four crew members – are missing.
Meanwhile, Ansa reports that Italian judges have put Francesco Schettino, the captain of the ship, under house arrest. Prosecutors say he caused the crash and also fled the Costa Concordia while passengers were still stranded. A recording of a call between Capt Schettino and a port official after the crash appeared to support this, though Capt Schettino denies the claims.
A lawyer and spokesman for French consumer association INC has told Le Figaro, said that if the ship's captain were to be found guilty of "gross misjudgement", Carnival Group stand to pay record compensation. Consumer assessments were reflected in an RTL interview with Costa Crociere France president, Georges Azouze. He said the ship's 462 French passengers were to receive compensation offers covering the price of their ticket as well as indemnity. Consumers have declined to quote a likely figure for overall compensations, submitting that that would depend on damage and injuries sustained by each.
El Pais says one of Spain's best known judges has gone on trial in the country's supreme court on charges of abusing judicial powers. Baltasar Garzon, renowned for his investigations into human rights abuses in Spain and Latin America, appeared before the Madrid court on Tuesday to face the first of three trials, which his supporters say are politically motivated. Garzon has dismissed the accusations. Human rights view the accusations as attacks on Garzon for his investigation, launched in 2008, into alleged crimes against humanity committed by Spain's nationalist government during the 1936-39 civil war. The inquiry made him many enemies from Spain's political elite.
The BBC reports that a report by two of Britain’s leading aid agencies has said that thousands of lives were lost and millions of dollars wasted because of a failure to respond decisively to warnings of drought in East Africa. Oxfam and Save the Children said that it took agencies more than six months to act on information that famine was imminent.
Al Thawra says the Syrian government has rejected a call from the Gulf state of Qatar for Arab troops to be sent to end the violence in the country. Qatar's leader on Sunday proposed that some troops from neighbouring Arab countries be sent to Syria "to stop the killing". But Syria's foreign ministry has ruled out such a move, saying it would only worsen the crisis and pave the way for foreign intervention.
Kabul Post reports that an Afghan calligrapher has produced the largest Koran in the world. Working for five years, he aimed at showing the world that Afghanistan's heritage had been “damaged but not destroyed” by a 30-year war. The prestigious volume has 2.28 metres wide and 1.55 metres long pages and has been certified as the largest Koran in the world by the Afghan ministry for religious affairs. The Koran weighs 500 kilos. Its 218 pages in paper and fabric, bound with a leather cover – made with the skin of 21 goats – cost about €395,000
In the UK, the Daily Mirror leads with the story of a young woman who set up a double life as a boy so she could date teen girls she knew. A court has heard how Gemma Barker, 19, wore loose clothes and hoods and invented three male identities with their own Facebook profiles. Barker admitted sexual assault and fraud. She will be sentenced on March 2.