The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times says an Algerian company offered Enemalta a gas solution in 2004. The newspaper also focuses on the PN election proposals.
The Malta Independent says the political parties yesterday dangled the technology carrot.
In-Nazzjon says the PN's election proposals mean a leap in the people's quality of life.
l-orizzont focuses on the PN's election proposals and says the PN is promising lower power rates for the night only.
The overseas press
Britain, Germany and the Netherlands have urged their citizens to immediately leave Benghazi after London warned of a "specific and imminent threat" in the Libyan city. AFP reports that Britain's warning sparked an angry response from the Libyan government, which said there was "no new intelligence" to justify such concerns. The alert came just hours after British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that last week's deadly attack on a gas complex in Algeria was only one part of what would be a "long struggle against murderous terrorists" around the world.
Senator John Kerry, the man nominated by US President Barack Obama as his next Secretary of State, has made a call for fresh thinking across a range of policies. The veteran Democrat was addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which must decide whether or not to confirm him in the post. CNN quotes Kerry saying America’s economy must be put in order as the first priority for US diplomatic credibility. He also said that foreign police was not defined by drones and deployments alone but concerned issues such as aid, food security and tackling climate change.
According to The New York Times, the UN has launching an investigation into the use of unmanned drones in counter-terrorism operations as criticism continues to grow into the number of innocent civilians killed by the air strikes. The inquiry, to be led by the UN special rapporteur on counter-terrorism and human rights, Ben Emmerson, would investigate 25 drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and the Palestinian territories.
Al Ahram says the police in Egypt are bracing themselves for mass street protests called by opposition group against President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood on the second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak. Five policemen were injured yesterday as protesters in Cairo hurled rocks at riot police, who responded with tear gas. President Morsi has urged Egyptians to mark the revolution's anniversary in a “peaceful and civilised way”.
The European Commission has threatened Bulgaria with a fine of €8,500 a day as it has not fully introduced the EU directives on electricity and natural gas. EC spokesperson Marlene Holzner told the Trud every EU citizen must be entitled to switch to another energy supplier in a term of three weeks free of charge. She said the deadline for Bulgaria expired last March 2012 and the EU Court of Justice must now rule on whether there would be a fine. Holzner also told the Sega that the market must be open for both local and foreign suppliers. Bulgaria’s refusal not to allow other companies to use the gas network hurt the interests of consumers.
Israel has said military action against Iran needed to stay on the table. Haartez says that speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Israeli President Shimon Peres and Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the threat of military action was vital to efforts against Iran's nuclear programme. Israel and Western powers accuse Iran of seeking to acquire a weapons capability under the guise of its nuclear energy programme but Iran denies the charge, saying its work is for peaceful purposes only.
The White House has condemned North Korea's threat to carry out a third nuclear test aimed at the United States as "needlessly provocative". In a statement yesterday, North Korea said it had planned the test and more rocket launches in response to tightened UN sanctions. The Washington Post quotes White House spokesman Jay Carney said a nuclear test would be a significant violation of UN sanctions and would further isolate Pyongyang. UN leader Ban Ki-moon said the international community must put pressure on North Korea to stop it carrying out a nuclear weapons test. The UN threatened significant action if it did.
Al Jazeera reports Mali's army has sealed off a central town amid allegations that some of its soldiers had summarily executed dozens of people allegedly connected to rebel fighters. The International Federation of Human Rights Leagues said on Thursday that in the central town of Sevare at least 11 people were executed in a military camp near a bus station and the town's hospital. Credible reports also pointed to around 20 other people having been executed in the same area and the bodies having been dumped in wells or otherwise disposed of. The army said it was investigating the reports.
Global Post says an American who played a key role in the 2008 attack on the Indian city of Mumbai has been given a 35-year-sentence by a US judge. David Coleman Headley, 52, had pleaded guilty to conducting scouting missions on behalf of the Pakistani militants who killed more than 160 people.
Times of India reports that a far-right political party in India has started distributing knives to women to help them protect themselves after a fatal gang rape last month. Shiv Sena, a party with a reputation for intimidation and unrest, intends to distribute 21,000 of the knives across Maharashtra state, their main base, of which Mumbai is the capital. The brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in the capital New Delhi in December outraged the nation and sparked protests over the lack of safety for women. The student later died in a Singapore hospital.