Press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The Times says Austin Gatt has denied ditching a favourable Italian gas pipeline deal, saying the decision was taken by the Cabinet before he became minister. The Malta Independent says the parties were in ping-pong in the Xarabank debate. In-Nazzjon leads with yesterday's debate, quoting the prime minister as saying that the PN government would create jobs and keep finances sound. l-orizzont focuses on Labour's plans to have free childcare centres. The overseas press The fate of foreign hostages held at the remote In Aménas gas facility in southeastern Algeria is hanging in the balance as their Islamist captors demand a prisoner exchange and an end to French military action in Mali. The Al Qaeda-linked gunmen, cited by Mauritania's ANI news agency, said they still held seven foreigners at the site deep in the Sahara desert near the border with Libya. An Algerian security official put their number at 10. The Algerian state news agency APS said nearly 100 of the 132 foreign nationals had been freed. Of the 650 hostages liberated, 573 were Algerians. APS said 12 Algerian and foreign workers died since a rescue...