The following are the top stories in the local and international press today:
The Times leads with a story saying that a third of judges are due to retire within five years. In another story it reports Labour leader Joseph Muscat who yesterday promised to work to destroy corruption and that a Labour government would reopen the investigation on the BWSC.
The Malta Independent quotes Dr Muscat saying that the BWSC contract was signed four days before the last election. In another story it says that renewable energy is saving Malta €7,000.
l-Orizzont says that the incidence of cancer in Malta is on the increase. It reports that Lifecyclists have returned home.
in-Nazzjon says that the privatisation of yacht marinas has been a big success. It says that 6,700 families have invested in alternative energy.
The overseas press
Al Jazeera quotes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas warning he would not back down from his threat to pull out of new peace talks with Israel – set to resume in Washington this week –if it resumed construction in West Bank settlements. Speaking in a televised address recorded earlier in Jordan, Abbas said the Israeli government held full responsibility for the failure and the collapse of these negotiations if it continued settlement expansion in all the occupied Palestinian territories – a clear reference to east Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, The Jerusalem Post says that both the Israeli government and the Obama administration have condemned a spiritual leader who said in his weekly Sabbath sermon that the Palestinians and Abbas should "perish from the world". The 89-year-old former chief rabbi of Israel, Ovadia Yoef, also described Palestinians as "evil, bitter enemies of Israel".
Il Tempo reports Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will attend ceremonies later today to mark the second anniversary of an Italo-Libyan friendship treaty and underscore tightening relations between the two countries. The Libyan leader will also attend conferences and exhibitions on the North African state, as well as a series of meetings with Italian business leaders.
Mexico’s El Diario reports that the mayor Hidalgo has been assassinated – the second killing of a mayor in the area in two weeks. The daughter of Mayor Marco Antonio Leal Garcia was wounded in the attack by gunmen that killed her father. Hidalgo is located in the border state of Tamaulipas, where gunmen believed to belong to a drug gang massacred 72 migrants last week.
Jakarta Post says some 18,000 people had to flee from their homes following the eruption of a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra – the first time in 400 years. While there were no reports of any deaths or injuries, reports said many had experienced breathing difficulties.
El Universal reports that miners who have been trapped 700 metres underground in Chile for more than three weeks have had their first telephone contact with loved ones. Until now only handwritten notes have been passed through the bore holes. The breakthrough came as workers were due to start drilling later this afternoon an escape shaft, an operation likely to take between three and four months.
The Times-Picayune says President Obama has paid tribute to the people of New Orleans, five years to the day after Hurricane Katrina destroyed large parts of the city and left 1,800 dead. He promised his administration would stand by them and continue rebuilding "until the job is done". The president added that Katrina was a natural disaster but also a man-made one which saw a "shameful breakdown" of government.
Pak Tribune reports floodwater has submerged Sujawal, a town of some 250,000 people in the southern province of Sindh, and threatened another being used as a key staging post for flood relief workers. The authorities were still trying to rebuild levees around Thatta against the raging Indus river.
According to Russia’s state TV news channel Rossiya-24, scores of bare-chested skinheads have attacked a crowd of about 3,000 people at a rock concert in Miass, 1400 km east of Moscow, beating them with clubs. A 14-year-old girl was reported killed and dozens of people were left bloodied and dazed in the attack. The motive for the attack was not known.
The British nationals report that cricket has been rocked by fixing allegations as he man at the centre of betting scam concerning the Pakistan team has been bailed without charge. Mazhar Majeed, 35, was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud bookmakers. Meanwhile, three Pakistan players have been questioned by police over claims they were involved in the alleged scam.