The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times asks, So...what's next? with reference to the outcome of the no confidence vote.
The Malta Independent reports that the government survived the confidence vote.
In-Nazzjon in bright red letters says Joseph Muscat lost the no confidence vote which the Opposition moved in parliament
l-orizzont says the political crisis deepened with Franco Debono's abstention in yesterday's confidence vote. It also says that more than 20,000 families pay power bills by instalments.
The overseas press
Ansa reports that a report presented to the United Nations this morning claims that many arms from the Libyan civil war could have ended up in the hands of fundamentalist organisations. The report analysed the impact of the conflict between the former regime of Muammar Gaddafi and Libyan rebels on countries like Nigeria, Chad and other regions of the Sahel. It also said that some Islamist groups may have strengthened their ties with the North African wing of Al Qaeda.
Meanwhile, Le Monde reports that the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders has suspended its work in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata because it says detainees are being tortured. The group said that since August its medical teams have treated 115 people in Misrata who bore torture-related wounds. Two detainees died after being interrogated. The BBC reports that Amnesty International has also reported that several people have died after being tortured by militias in Libyan detention centres. It claimed to have seen patients in Tripoli, Misrata and Gheryan with open wounds to their head, limbs and back. There was no immediate response from Libyan authorities.
The New York Times says the UN Security Council is to discuss the crisis in Syria later today. The council’s five permanent members are thought to have a new draft resolution which supports the Arab League’s call for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
The Pentagon has unveiled a 2013 budget plan that would eliminate nearly 100,000 ground troops, mothball ships, and trim air squadrons in an effort to reduce spending by $487 billion (€371.5 billion) over the next decade. The Washington Times says the cuts come as the US ends a decade of war and tries to curb trillion-dollar budget deficits. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said he would ask for a $525 billion (€400.5 billion) base budget for the 2013 fiscal year – $6 billion (€4.6 billion) less that this year.
USA Today reports Newt Gingrich is promising to establish a permanent base on the moon by 2020 if he is elected president. Mr Gingrich, the former House speaker, told a crowd gathered on Florida’s space coast that he wants to develop a robust commercial space industry in line with the airline boom of the 1930s. He also wants to expand exploration of Mars. Florida’s space coast is still suffering from a recent round of federal cuts to the space programme.
Tribune de Genève says Microsoft founder Bill Gates has ridden to the rescue of a beleaguered health fund by pledging $750 million (€569.57 million) to fight three of the world's killer diseases. Gates made his pledge at the World Economic Forum in Davos, saying the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's donation to the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria comes on top of $650 million (€493.6 million) it contributed to the fund over the past decade.
Il Tempo reports that the Vatican has threatened to take legal action against Italian broadcaster La7 for alleged slander. The Church was responding to Wednesday's episode of the investigative programme 'Gli Intoccabili' (The Untouchables) in which presenters quoted a letter from a former Church official accusing members of the Vatican's Finance and Management Committee of serving their own greed. The programme claims it did nothing wrong by sharing the letter and has invited members of the Church to present their side of the story. La7 is Italy's fourth-biggest commercial TV channel.
New research published in the European Respiratory Journal shows healthcare costs of asthma caused by traffic-related air pollution are much higher than previously estimated. The price tag for just the two communities in southern California amounts to $18 million (€13.7 million). Researches said the results could also be applied to densely settled regions of Europe, especially since previous research suggests that over 50 percent of the population in 10 major European cities live within 150 metres of major roads.
JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, says research by Ohio State University reveals that infection with human HPV virus heightens the risk of developing cancer of the mouth and throat. The findings indicate that most cases of oral HPV can be traced to oral sex, rather than to kissing or casual contact. HPV causes cervical, head and neck cancers. Smoking and drinking are significant known risk factors for head and neck cancers. But oral HPV infection increases cancer risk by around 50 per cent.