The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times reports that the Labour Party had admitted befriending 'betrayed' businesses. It also says Enemalta will reveal its oil procurement history as Tonio Fenech intervenes.
The Malta Independent says the prime minister yesterday questioned Labour’s links with contractors. It also quotes Joseph Muscat saying anti-corruption measures will be Labour’s first priority.
l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying the issue regarding corruption had reached a certain seriousness and a new government would legislate against it immediately.
In-Nazzjon says the PN offers the best in jobs, health and education.
The overseas press
Bloomberg reports Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s assurance that allegations of illegal payments were false have failed to contain criticism, with Opposition Leader AlfredoPerez Rubalcaba demanding he step down to restore faith in the political class. Records published in El Pais, Spain’s biggest newspaper, show Rajoy allegedly received €25,200 each year for 11 years from a secret fund set. Rajoy denied he ever received illegal payments. Protests against Rajoy were held on Saturday in several cities and an online petition demanding the leader's resignation has gathered more than 740,000 signatures.
A new opinion poll shows a massive slump in support for the Julia Gillard’s Labour government. The poll, published in The Australian newspaper, shows Labour's primary vote has dropped six points to 32 per cent in the past three weeks, giving the coalition a thumping lead after preferences – 56 per cent to 44 per cent. The poll also shows voter satisfaction in the performance of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has improved, while there has been a drop in personal support for Ms Gillard.
Corriere della Seria reports former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised Italians he would not only abolish an unpopular tax on primary residences, but refund property taxes Premier Mario Monti's government made them pay in 2012. He said the revenue lost by reimbursing homeowners the €4 billion they paid in property taxes could be compensated for by eliminating state financing for political parties, raising cigarette taxes and taxing Italians' assets in Switzerland. The populist's centre-right forces trail a centre-left coalition in opinion polls ahead of the February 24-25 elections.
The Metropolitan police in London, are investigating a claim that undercover officers used the identities of dead children to avoid detection when infiltrating groups of political activists. According to a report in The Guardian newspaper, a now-disbanded covert unit stole the identities of about 80 children.
The BBC reports British Prime Minister David Cameron has hosted a dinner at his at his country retreat Chequers outside London for President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. They discussed ways of securing peace across the Afghan-Pakistan border. Cameron will then hold a trilateral summit with both leaders and their aides on Monday, to discuss the prevention of aTaliban resurgence when foreign troops leave.
al bawaba says President Bashar al Assad has said his country would not be destabilised by such as the recent Israeli airstrikes in southern Syria. He said Syria was capable of confronting any assault and accused Israel of cooperating with Syria’s enemies inside and outside the country. It was his first remarks on last week's reported Israeli air strike in Syria. Syrian TV has shown images of the raid Damascus says Israeli jets carried out on a military research centre in Jamraya last Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Newsday reports US Senator John McCain has criticised global leaders for not doing enough to end the violence in Syria – not only for the good of Syrians but for the rest of the world. At a conference in Munich, McCain also disputed the prevailing international view that there was no way in helping the opposition militarily, suggesting Patriot missiles station by Nato in Turkey could take down Syrian government aircraft in the north.
France 24 says 30 French warplanes have carried out airstrikes in northern Mali targeting areas north of the town of Kadal where dissidents are believed to be hiding. Officials said the strikes targeted logistics bases and training camps used by Islamist rebels.
Niger has confirmed French special forces are protecting the country’s uranium mines, run by the French state-owned nuclear power company Areva. Le Point reported that French government officials had taken the decision following the botched attempt to rescue the French hostage, Denis Allex, in Somalia and the recent bloody hostage-taking incident and siege at the Armenas gas facility in Algeria, where over 80 people were killed.
NBC News reports a grieving community is preparing to bury a driver murdered trying to protect children on his bus, as the police stand-off with an Alabama man accused of the killing and holding a five-year-old boy hostage continued. Authorities say retired lorry driver Jim Dykes, 65, boarded a school bus filled with 21 children and demanded two boys between six and eight years old. When Charles Poland, 66, tried to block his way, the gunman shot him several times and took a five-year-old boy – who police say remains in an underground bunker with Dykes.
Huffington Post says anline activists in Saudi Arabia are calling for harsher punishments for child abuse after reports that a prominent cleric received only a light sentence after confessing to the beating to death of his five-year-old daughter. Saudi media reports say Fayhan al-Ghamdi, a frequent guest on Islamic TV programmes, was arrested in November on charges of killing the girl. He was freed last week after serving a short prison term and agreeing to pay €36,651 in “blood money” to avoid a possible death sentence. The money is thought to have been offered to the girl’s mother or other relatives.