The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the prime minister yesterday promised a 'responsible' budget. It also says a decision will be taken by the Cabinet today over whether a jailed mother will be pardoned.
The Malta Independent reports that Joseph Muscat has accused the government of gambling with the government's stability. It also reports Dr Gonzi saying the Maltese will pick the PN again.
In-Nazzjon says Joseph Muscat is saying nothing on the people's priorities.
L-orizzont say the Prime Minister has been described as being a coward for going ahead with the acquisition of St Philip's Hospital despite calls in parliament for a review of the process.
The overseas press
Tripoli Post reports Libya's national congress has elected Ali Zidan, a human rights lawyer, as the new prime minister. An independent, he won 93 votes – a majority among those present – and has 15 days to propose a new cabinet. His predecessor Mustafa Abushagur was dismissed after just 25 days for failing to present a satisfactory cabinet list. Zidan was a career diplomat for Gaddafi’s regime before defecting in 1980 and joining the opposition in exile. He served the former transitional government as its European envoy.
Le Monde says President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania has been flown to France for surgery after the Western ally against Al Qaeda was shot by soldiers in what he said was an accident. The shooting late on Saturday set the coup-prone north-west African country on edge and, in a televised message from his hospital bed, he appealed to Mauritanians to keep calm. He was covered in a sheet up to his neck and the extent of the wounds was not clear. Medical sources said he had been shot in the abdomen.
A party that wants to split up Belgium appears to have made widespread gains in local elections. De Morgen reports that with most of the ballot counted, the Flemish Nationalist Party has won more than 36 per cent of the vote and it looked set to make strides in pulling away from French-speaking Wallonia.
Lithuanians have handed a stunning victory to the opposition Labour Party, led by Viktor Uspaskich. According to the Baltic Times, it was leading with 23.4 per cent of the vote after nearly three-quarters of precincts were counted. The victory set the stage for a coalition with the Social Democrats, who were second with 19.4 per cent, and Order and Justice in fourth with 9.2 per cent.
Vijesti says unofficial results show Montenegro's ruling coalition has won the parliamentary election and is set to stay in power after ruling the Balkan country unchallenged for more than two decades. The vote – the third since Montenegro gained independence from Serbia in 2006 – was held as the country seeks membership of the European Union and battles an economic downturn.
Bangkok Post announces the death in China of the former king of Cambodia Norodom Sihanouk, who played a central role in the region’s politics for more than 60 years. He was 89. Installed by the French in 1941, he led his country to independence before twice abdicating. Kind Sihanouk saw his country drawn into the American war in neighbouring Vietnam and made an ill-judged alliance with the Khmer Rouge before they took over Cambodia.
Newsday says an Austrian parachutist has successfully completed a record-breaking leap from the stratosphere – 39 km above the earth. Felix Baumgartner became the first skydiver to break the speed of sound during his descent, reaching a maximum velocity of 1,342.9 km/h. The 43-year-old told reporters in New Mexico that he struggled to control a spin as he fell through the air before opening his parachute.
Australia’s ABC says an Ombudsman's report has revealed that the New South Wales education department allowed a teacher to keep teaching students, despite knowing he had paid for membership to a number of child pornography websites. The report noted the department had reprimanded and cautioned the teacher and transferred him from a role which involved one-on-one contact with children, to a classroom teaching position. But the department did place any restrictions on his duties. It also did not restrict or monitor the teacher's use of departmental computers.
The Commercial Appeal says a member of rock'n'roll star Jerry Lee Lewis's band has been killed in a shootout in Memphis. Police said BB Cunningham Jr was working as a security guard at an apartment complex when he went to investigate a gunshot at the neighbouring property. When officers arrived, Cunningham and a 16-year-old boy were found dead from gunshot wounds. Cunningham's brother Bill – a founding member of 60s Memphis pop-soul band The Box Tops – confirmed his brother was killed.
The Irish Examiner reports research carried out at the University of London and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine showed that more than one in 10 people's hands are so contaminated with faecal organisms that the levels of bacteria detected were equal to what you would expect to find in a dirty toilet bowl. Out of the samples taken, 11 per c ent of hands, eight per cent of bank cards and six per cent of bank notes showed this form of gross contamination, including bacteria such as E-coli. The results revealed only 39 per cent of respondents washed their hands before eating. Washing hands with soap can reduce diarrhoeal infections by up to 42 per cvent but only 69 per cent of people reported doing this whenever possible.