The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that Malta ranks low ina cancer rates list. It also reports how S&P has downgraded Enemalta’s ratings.
The Malta Independent reports that MIA is being prudent in its financial projections because of Air Malta’s restructuring.
MaltaToday says Enemalta’s debt has returned to haunt the government.
In-Nazzjon says MIA is aiming to consolidate last year’s record numbers.
l-orizzont also features the cancer rates. It also reports that the Greek government is to take court action against Siemens, a subcontractor of BWSC, for alleged bribery.
The overseas press
US President Barack Obama focused on economic concerns in his State of the Union address – an assessment of the country's wellbeing during the halfway point of the leader's term. CNN reports he laid emphasis on efforts to create jobs and cut the national debt through a five-year partial freeze on spending and urged the two main political parties to work together in order to ensure economic recovery. But Republicans in Congress, unhappy with proposals, are likely to rewrite budget and cut $100 billion from non-security spending.
Three people have died following a day of violent protests across Egypt demanding an end to President Hosni Mubarak's rule. Al Ahram says two protesters were killed during a rally in the city of Suez, while a policeman died in Cairo after he was hit on the head by a rock. Tear gas and water cannons were used against protesters and, as darkness fell, thousands remained on the city's streets. The protests have been planned against a backdrop of growing anger in Egypt over poverty and a deteriorating economy.
An-Nahar announces that in a fundamental shift in power, the Shia militant organisation Hezbollah has gained control of the Lebanese government. The move led to Sunni Muslims, Hezbollah's rivals, carrying out a day of violence on the streets of Lebanese cities. Hundreds burned tyres, blocked roads and attacked security forces in Beirut and Tripoli. They accuse Hezbollah of carrying out a coup by persuading prominent politician Najib Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, to join its government as prime minister.
The Guardian publishes more secret files concerning the Middle East peace process – and claims that MI6 helped draw up a plan for a crackdown on Hamas. The plan asked for the internment of leaders and activists, the closure of radio stations and the replacement of imams in mosques. The bulk of the British plan has since been carried out by the West Bank-based PA security apparatus.
Pravda suggests that it was a female suicide bomber – possibly accompanied by a man – who was behind Monday’s Moscow airport blast which left at least 35 people dead and as many as 180 wounded. Earlier reports suggested the bomber was a man. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has described the attack at Domodedovo airport as a "well-planned act of terror" and vowed to "liquidate" the militants responsible. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said retribution was inevitable but he did not go into detail on his plans.
The Swiss business newspaper Cash says more than 2,500 corporate, government and social leaders, meeting at today’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2011 in the Swiss village of Davos, would discuss the shift of political and economic power to emerging and developing nations. President Medvedev would still make the opening keynote address despite the events in Moscow.
The Independent features the shock news that the UK economy contracted in the last quarter of 2010, and the Bank of England Governor Mervyn King sees further difficult times ahead. His warnings are also reported in The Daily Telegraph, which says households face the most dramatic squeeze in living standards since the 1920s.
According to Sky News, its sports presenter Andy Gray has been sacked after he made sexist remarks about a female football match official – and new evidence of "unacceptable behaviour" emerged. Gray and his colleague Richard Keys originally came under fire after they were filmed agreeing women "probably don't know the offside rule". Sky Sports reporter Andy Burton has also been taken off the air for his involvement in another exchange with Gray.
Time reports some of the greatest minds in science met urgently at the Royal Society in London to in search for a non-physical way of defining the kilogramme. The mass of a small cylinder of plutonium-iridium alloy, kept locked in a vault outside Paris, has defined the kilogramme for the past 121 years. But measurements show the international prototype has lost 50 micrograms – the equivalent of a small grain of sand.