The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the European Parliament is to look into the accusations against John Dalli.
The Malta Independent says the Dalli resignation may pave the way for a reshuffle in the European Commission.
In-Nazzjon says the European summit is being held against an encouraging economic background
l-orizzont says there is serious concern about damage found at the Delimara power station. Like The Times is also reports on the successful operation in London to separate conjoined twins whose father is Maltese.
The overseas press
Le Soir reports that Eurozone leaders in Brussels have agreed on a timetable for the European Central Bank acts as a single supervisor for all the 6,000 banks in the 17countries using the euro. It is expected that the arrangements will begin sometime next year. Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has again called for the EU to be given the power to veto member states' budgets. She said the EU economics commissioner should be given clear rights to intervene when national budgets violated the bloc's rules.
Kathimerini says riot police in Athens have clashed with anti-austerity protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs on another day of general strikes that brought much of Greece to a standstill. Almost 70,000 demonstrators took to the streets shouting: "EU, IMF out". Riot police fired tear gas at protesters who threw projectiles and Molotov cocktails. A 65-year-old man died from a heart attack not far from the clashes, while three others were injured. Police detained about 50 protesters. A similar demonstration by about 17,000 people in the northern city of Thessaloniki ended peacefully.
al-bawaba quotes Syrian activists and medical officials saying a series of government airstrikes on rebel-held areas in the country’s north has killed at least 43 people, including many children. The reports came as international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi repeated calls for a temporary ceasefire which he says could be the basis for real truce in Syria. He arrives in Damascus today in an attempt to broker that ceasefire.
Tribune de Genève says the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights has warned Syria’s civil war threatens to engulf the region in conflict. Navi Pillay said the situation in Syria was “dire”. She called government bombings and attacks on civilians inexcusable and urged the UN Security Council to act. She warned that the longer the war went on, the greater the danger that the people would become immune to the suffering of the Syrian people. Pillay also condemned the Taliban’s shooting of Malala Yousufzai in Pakistan last week.
Two senior Pakistani officials have told Reuters they had identified the man who planned the attack on 14-year-old schoolgirl activist Malala Yousufzai. They say the man – identified only as Attaullah – was one of the two gunmen involved in the shooting and was acting on orders of one of the Taliban's most feared commanders Attaullah, who is believed to be in his 30s, is on the run and may have fled to Afghanistan.
CNN reports UN Security Council has voted to select its non-permanent permanent members and Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, Rwanda and South Korea have been elected. They will hold the position for two years from 2013. They have a vote on decisions, but lack the veto power of permanent members – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Science Daily says NASA's Mars rover has taken its first scoopful of dirt from the red planet's surface and found some bright-coloured objects that experts briefly thought might be man-made. In an update on Curiosity's two-and-a-half month mission, NASA said its Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument will analyse the soil to learn more about its make-up. Some suggested they could be man-made, but following discussions between scientists and engineers, there was a "strong consensus" that they were indigenous to Mars.
Newsweek, one of the most internationally recognised magazine brands, will cease publishing a print edition after nearly 80 years on newsstands. The decision to go all-digital, disclosed in a blog post on its companion website The Daily Beast, is indicative of the shift to media consumption on digital devices such as tablets and mobile phones, and underscores the problems faced by newsweeklies in an increasingly commoditised, 24-hour news cycle. The final print edition will hit newsstands on December 31.
VOA says two days after their contentious second debate, US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney will meet again in a far more congenial setting this evening (Malta time) in New York City. The two candidates will speak at an annual fundraising dinner hosted by the city's Catholic Archdiocese at the luxury Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. Unlike their heated exchanges in Tuesday's debate, Obama and Romney are expected to deliver humorous speeches in keeping with the spirit and tradition of the event.
Huffington Post reports that an 80-year-old US woman has been arrested after tearing down political posters showing an image of President Barack Obama with an Adolf Hitler-style moustache. Nancy Lack said she lived through World War Two and was angry that someone would portray the president as a Nazi. She was charged with larceny and breach of peace and released on a promise to appear in court next week.
Metro says Britain has launched a new spy recruitment drive aimed at "Xbox generation" youngsters without a university education but with social media and computer game skills to counter the threat of cyber attack. Britain's government communications intelligence agency is looking for 100 new recruits with A-level qualifications or vocational qualifications in science, technology or engineering.
AFP announces the death has been announced of Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel, who starred in the 1974 erotic French film “Emmanuelle”. She was 60. The actress, who had cancer, was admitted to hospital in July after suffering a stroke. Emmanuelle, which told the story of a sexually promiscuous housewife, spawned numerous sequels and played in a cinema on the Champs-Elysees for 11 years. Kristel went on to star in several Emmanuelle sequels, as well as more mainstream films – many of which, like “Lady Chatterley's Lover” and “Mata Hari”, played on her reputation as an erotic film star.