The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that Malta is moving slowly towards the EU education targets of raising the number of students in post-secondary courses.
The Malta Independent reports how during the Times debate yesterday, the Prime Minister said he was optimistic of a solution to the Franco Debono issue, while Joseph Muscat accused Gonzi of playing for time.
In-Nazzjon reports the Prime Minister’s announcement during the Times debate that a big Brazilian company is to relocate business to Malta.
l-orizzont leads with Muscat’s comments during the same debate that there was a difference between reality and the prime minister’s rhetoric.
The overseas press
Reuters reports that Greek political leaders failed have to reach agreement on a tough reform and austerity programme. After seven hours of negotiations ending in the early hours of this morning, Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said leaders of the three parties in his coalition had agreed on all the points to secure the €130 billion bailout, except for one. But Papademos, a technocrat who leads a cabinet of party politicians, said he wanted agreement to be reached before eurozone finance ministers meet in Brussels this evening.
The New York Times quotes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warning of the dangers of the growing crisis in Syria. In a strongly-worded statement, but without naming any countries specifically, Ban said that the veto by Russia and China on proposed UN action on Syria had encouraged the Syrian government to step up the war on its own people. He also said the Arab League intended to re-start its observer mission in Syria.
L’Osservatore Romano reports that claims of sexual abuse by the clergy have cost the Catholic Church more than €1.5 billion. According to a report presented to the international symposium to address the Church sex-abuse scandal, “financial losses are affecting the current mission of the Church”. Bishops from 100 countries, the leaders of 33 religious orders and medical professionals are in Rome for a four-day Vatican summit to find ways to root out paedophilia in the clergy.
Al Ahram says Egyptian judges were refusing to back down from their investigation of American pro-democracy activists, despite warnings it could seriously strain relations with Washington. Nineteen US citizens face trial for operating "without a licence" in the country following raids on 17 NGOs in December. Judges involved in the cases have accused the activists of meddling in Egyptian politics. US senators have warned the cases risk a disastrous rupture in relations.
ABC quotes the NSW government saying it would cost some €115 million if sprinkler systems were installed across the state's nursing homes. After 11 elderly people were killed in a fatal fire in Sydney last November, an audit found that only 300 of the state's 900 homes for the elderly had sprinklers in place.
According to Hindustan Times, three Indian politicians from a morally conservative party, including a women's affairs minister, have resigned after being caught watching pornography on a mobile phone in parliament. The three men, who deny they were deliberately looking at porn, said they did not want to cause any embarrassment for their party, which rules the state and is in opposition at a national level. The ruling Congress party has called for the assembly to be dissolved.
USA Today reports that an American teenager who strangled and stabbed a nine-year-old neighbour because she wanted to know how it felt to kill someone has been jailed for life. Alyssa Bustamante, 18, was 15 when she confessed to the murder of Elizabeth Olten in their small Missouri town. In her diary, she described the experience as “pretty enjoyable”.
Bild has dismissed as “crazy” a Russian news agency report that Adolf Hitler’s corpse might have been buried in Antartica. Ria Novosti said on Tuesday that the Nazis could have smuggled the remains of the Fuehrer, who committed suicide in 1945, by submarine U-977 to a secret bunker in Antarctica to carry out cloning experiments.
In London, The Times leads with the resignation yesterday of England football team manager Fabio Capello, who had been in dispute with the Football Association after it removed John Terry as captain. Terry is facing charges of racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand. Capello told Italian TV on Sunday that the FA had been "absolutely" wrong in making the decision, which was taken without consulting him. He quits just four months before the European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine. According to Sky News, there are six leading contenders for the post: Harry Redknapp (Tottenham), Roy Hodgson (West Brom), Alan Pardew (Newcastle), Stuart Pearce (UK Olympic team), José Mourhino (Real Madrid) and Arsene Wenger (Arsenal).