The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that according to PN sources, the PN 'will not run to early election'. It also reports in detail how a migrant girl has been allowed to join her parents as they started their new life in Switzerland.
The Malta Independent reports how an Eritrean child was reunited with her biological parents a few minutes before they left to Switzerland.
In-Nazzjon features Lawrence Gonzi’s visits to workers in various sectors, including a Birkirkara bakery. It also carries a reaction by Joseph Muscat on the alleged assault by a councillor on a patient.
l-orizzont says the GWU is making proposals to end precarious work. They include the setting up of a task force on the issue, and insistence that workers in companies which win government tenders have to be unionised.
The overseas press
European Central Bank President Mario Draghi has called for a "growth compact", to go with the balanced-budget pact agreed last year. Börzen Zeitung reports that speaking to the European Parliament, Draghi acknowledged that austerity in Europe – which has brought waves of protest in Greece, Spain and beyond – has curtailed growth without doing much to reduce fears that governments might be unable to repay their debts. He said the benefits of spending cuts and tax rises had not been seen and what was most present in his mind was to have a “growth compact”.
The Financial Times says the UK economy has returned to recession – shrinking by 0.2 per cent in the first three months of 2012 after contracting by 0.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2011. A sharp fall in construction output was behind the surprise contraction. Prime Minister David Cameron said the figures were "very, very disappointing". Labour leader Ed Miliband said the figures were "catastrophic".
A new survey for the BBC World Service has found widespread perceptions of economic unfairness. The poll found that more than 50 per cent of respondents in 17 out of 22 countries believed economic benefits and burdens were not fairly distributed in their own nation. But there was also strong support for free market capitalism – most holding that view that problems could be addressed through regulation. The survey does not explain the differences between countries.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has ruled out doing any election deal with the far-right National Front. Sarkozy, who needs to win over far-right voters for the second round, told France Info radio those who voted for the FN should not be demonised. He did not regard the 18 per cent of the electorate who voted for Marie Le Pen as people with extreme-right ideas. Le Pen is not expected to make her position clear until next week when she addresses a party rally on May 1
Antenna 1 says European Council President Herman Van Rompuy has warned that the "winds of populism" were threatening the EU's Schengen Treaty on open borders. Speaking in Romania, which is lobbying with neighbouring Bulgaria to join Schengen this year, Van said that in Europe “there is no room for stigmatisation of foreigners". He was speaking on the eve of EU justice ministers' talks in Luxembourg, expected to cover Schengen, which is now under review.
In an interview with Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the head of Israel's armed forces Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz has said he did not think Iran would develop nuclear weapons and that the current Iranian leadership was very rational. General Gantz said he thought the international sanctions against Iran were starting to bear fruit. Observers said his public stance runs counter to the views of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
ABC reports that violence in Syria has claimed the lives of at least 30 other people as France told the UN Security Council may need to consider approving military action with the current peace plan looking increasingly likely to fail. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the UN-backed peace plan had been "seriously compromised" and joined UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan in calling for a rapid increase in the deployment of more UN observers. Both urged the full deployment of the 300-strong observer team agreed by the UN Security Council within a fortnight, not three months. At the moment, there are only 15 observers in the country.
Al Ahram says Egypt's election commission has reinstated former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq as a candidate in the country's forthcoming presidential election. The commission had barred Mr Shafiq on Tuesday under a law that prevents senior officials from the era of President Hosni Mubarak from standing. No reason for the reinstatement has been given.
The Los Angeles Times reports that US presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was expected to drop out of the race for the Republican nomination and endorse Mitt Romney. The decision comes a day after Romney swept another five primaries. The former Speaker's withdrawal further clears the way for Romney, who has now claimed the unofficial mantle of the Republican nominee in November's election against Mr Obama.
USA Today says military judge Colonel Denise Lind has rejected a request to dismiss all charges against WikiLeaks suspect Bradley Manning, paving the way for him to be tried on September 21 over the worst breach of US intelligence. Manning is accused of passing hundreds of thousands of military field reports from Iraq and Afghanistan and US diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks between November 2009 and May 2010.
An Australian Federal Police employee has lost an appeal against her sacking after inappropriately using police data in a bitter legal battle with her former husband. Sydney Morning Herald reports Fair Work Australia heard the woman breached the police code of conduct by asking a fellow worker to give her information from police databases about her husband's business. The woman believed her husband was avoiding taxes and child support. She had also asked another colleague to visit her husband's business posing as a customer to obtain information. The woman told the hearing she had been dealt with unfairly because she was a civilian staff member and not part of what she described as the "boys' club". But Fair Work Australia found her dismissal was not unjust and dismissed her appeal.