The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that today’s vote on Tonio Borg’s nomination is too close to call as socialists yesterday said they opposed the Maltese commissioner-designate.
The Malta Independent says that the government has asked Sargas for a full feasibility study of its power station proposal. It also reports how the socialists are set to reject Borg’s nomination.
MaltaToday says there is panic in the Busuttil camp as Tonio Fenech makes gains in the election for PN deputy leader.
l-orizzont says a GRTU waste recycling company is offering a ‘suspicious’ €2,000 grant to companies who buy its services.
In-Nazzjon says the vote on Tonio Borg’s nomination will be taken today.
The overseas press
Reuters reports that Israeli air strikes shook the Gaza Strip and Palestinian rockets struck across the border as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks in Jerusalem in the early hours of this morning, seeking a truce that could hold back Israel's ground troops. Hamas, the Islamist movement controlling Gaza, and Egypt, whose new, Islamist government is trying to broker a truce, had floated hopes for a ceasefire by late Tuesday. But by the time Clinton met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu it was clear there would be more argument, and more violence, first. Hamas leaders in Cairo accused the Jewish state of failing to respond to proposals and said an announcement on holding fire would not come before daylight on Wednesday. Israel Radio quoted an Israeli official saying a truce was held up due to "a last-minute delay in the understandings between Hamas and Israel". Clinton, who flies to Cairo to see Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi later today, spoke of a deal "in the days ahead".
The Daily Star quotes a UNICEF statement saying more than five million children in Iraq were deprived of "basic rights" – inadequate access to and promotion of health services, lack of access to quality education, violence in schools and families, and psychological trauma from years of bloody unrest,. It called on all stakeholders to take urgent action as basic services, especially for vulnerable populations including widows, children and people displaced by violence, remained starkly lacking.
The New York Times reports a UN report says the number of AIDS-related deaths worldwide has fallen for the fifth year in a row to 1.7 million people in 2011 – down 5.6 per cent from 2010 and 24 per cent when compared with 2005. The annual report by UNAIDS on the state of the global pandemic estimates the number of people living with HIV rose slightly to 34 million from 33.5 million in 2010.
Euronews says EU President Herman Van Rompuy has said he would draft a fresh proposal on the bloc's contested trillion-euro budget in the hope of saving an extraordinary summit this week from collapse. EU leaders begin the two-day talks tomorrow evening. Austerity-driven nations led by British Prime Minister David Cameron are demanding huge cuts to EU spending to match domestic belt-tightening, but face opposition from poorer nations to the east and south who benefit from the Brussels budget.
The European Commission has called on Europe's governments to take immediate action to ensure that young people develop the skills and competences needed by the labour market. Euronet quotes Education and Culture Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou telling MEPs in Strasbourg that national education authorities needed to step up the focus on entrepreneurial and IT skills, set a foreign language learning target of 2020 and invest more in education. The Commission pointed out that the EU youth unemployment rate was close to 23 per cent and yet about two million job vacancies could not be filled.
El Punt reports that Catalonia's leader has accused the Spanish ruling party of waging an "all-out dirty war" to derail his campaign for nationhood ahead of weekend elections. Artur Mas denied as "libel and slander" El Mundo’s allegations that he had a Swiss bank account beyond the reach of the taxman. The nationalist alliance, Convergence and Union, has sued for libel against the conservative daily which published the allegations citing a police report.
The Church of England is in turmoil after narrowly voting against the ordination of women bishops six votes shy of the threshold. The Times says they would hold an emergency session this morning to consider the consequences of the vote – a major setback for efforts to modernise the mother church of millions of Anglicans worldwide.
The New York Daily News reports the UN Security Council has strongly condemned M23 rebels in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo for seizing a provincial capital. The Congolese rebel group marched into the strategic eastern city of Goma on Tuesday after capturing its airport following days of intense fighting with government troops.
The Dominion Post says New Zealand's Mount Tongariro volcano has erupted, sending a column of ash two kilometres high into the atmosphere. No casualties were reported. New Zealand's Civil Defence has urged people living nearby to stay indoors and close all windows.
Environmentalists are warning that Mexico, the cradle of corn, risks damaging its staple if the government gives US firms the green light to plant genetically-modified maize in huge swaths of land. Silvia Ribero, a spokeswoman for the Canada-based ETC Group, which monitors the ecological impact of new technologies on poor regions, told AFP there was every indication President Felipe Calderon could give his authorization before he leaves office on December 1.
A Singaporean taxi driver has been heralded as a hero after he returned $SG1.1 million (€703,000) in cash to a vacationing Thai couple who left the money in his cab. Sia Ka Tian, 70, told the Straits Times he was shocked to find the money in a black paper bag on the back seat after he dropped the couple off at a shopping centre. The Thai couple reported the loss to the transport company and Sia was waiting for them when they arrived to claim the money. The driver received an undisclosed cash reward from the grateful couple.