The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that the Occupational Health and Safety Authority is failing to understand why a wall fell at the SeaBank Hotel.
The Malta Independent reports how the Attorney General has lost an appeal on a rape ruling involving a former priest. It also says that a Turkish claim about a Malta trial exonerating his country of the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 is nonesense.
In-Nazzjon says Norweigan killer Breivik has refused to reply to questions on connections he had in various countries, including, possibly, Malta.
l-orizzont reports on the fishermen's dispute with the government. It also says that demolition of a Valletta building which was an eyesore has started.
The overseas press:
The head of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, Martin Callanan, has urged EU politicians to put economics before politics and let Greece ditch the euro. The Irish Enquirer quotes him saying Greece was now a “lightning rod” for the continuing crisis and should revert to the drachma.
The International Monetary Fund has raised the prospect of a second global credit crunch as European banks slashed their balance sheets in the face of the euro crisis. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Washington-based organisation said it expected the world's biggest banks to slash their size by $2.6 trillion (€1.98 trillion) by the end of next year. Analysts say that this represented a seven per cent squeeze in the size of their combined balance sheets and meant businesses throughout Europe were likely to face even more trouble borrowing from banks.
The future of the Czech Republic’s government looks uncertain after seven members of the centrist Public Affairs party, a junior coalition partner, walked out on their party following a corruption scandal. Magyar Nemzet quotes Prime Minister Petr Necas saying he might call early parliamentary elections for June. N
The Swiss government has decided to reimpose quotas on immigrants from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and five other Central and Eastern European nations. Tages Anzeiger says the Swiss Cabinet ha said residents from these countries – which also include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Slovenia – would be subject to quotas starting in May when they apply for residency permits needed to work more than a year in Switzerland. The government said the quotas fall under a “safeguard clause” of an agreement with the European Union.
CNN announces that three members of the US Secret Service have been forced to leave the agency in a prostitution scandal that has embarrassed President Barack Obama's administration. The scandal erupted last week after 11 Secret Service agents were sent home from the city of Cartagena after a night of partying that reportedly ended with at least some of them bringing prostitutes back to their hotel.
Most British nationals report that terror suspect Abu Qatada has lodged an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights which effectively blocks the British government's attempts to deport him to Jordan. The Times quotes the Home Office claiming his appeal was 24 hours too late. The 51-year-old has fought off every attempt to deport him to Jordan, where he has been convicted in absentia of terror charges in 1989.
All eyes will be on Anders Behring Breivik as he enters court later today to see if he makes his now familiar right-wing salute when his handcuffs are removed. Dagbladet says the families of his victims have complained about the clenched fist gesture the killer has made at the start of each day of his trial. Breivik's legal team has spoken to him, and the families are hoping he would respect their wishes and refrain from doing so at the beginning of day four of proceedings.
Sky News reports that a new survey by privacy solutions provider Truste has found the UK's most popular websites have on average 14 tracking tools which store information about the person who is browsing.
The winners of the third and final share of the record $656 million (€500 million) US lottery jackpot have been revealed as husband and wife Merle and Pat Butler. Illinois Globe quotes Merle Butler and his wife of 41 years, Patricia, saying managing their windfall from the Mega Millions lottery might be a full-time job. They said they planned to invest it wisely, use it to help their children and grandchildren, and that they may even splash out on a new car.
Metro says research from uSwitch.com found that nearly a third of new mothers go into debt due to taking maternity leave, while one in 10 cut their time off short to ease financial pressures. Some were forced some to borrow cash from relatives or rely on credit cards, loans and overdrafts to help tide them over. Families' incomes have been squeezed by stagnating wages, high inflation and soaring bills at a time when people are seeing little return on their savings due to three years of record low interest rates.
In a case that has shocked America, a nurse in Texas has admitted to shooting a young mother dead and kidnapping her three-day old baby. Voice of America says, the mother was leaving a paediatric clinic with her child when her attacker, Verna McClain, fired at her repeatedly. The killer then drove away with her infant son who was then found on Tuesday evening unharmed. McClain pleaded guilty to shooting 28-year-old Kala Marie Golden and abducting her newborn baby, Keegan. Authorities say McClain had suffered a recent miscarriage and had reportedly told her fiancé that she had given birth to his child and pretended Keegan was her own baby.