The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports how the Prime Minister yesterday called for public help in the Transport Malta blast probe. It also reports that the dockyard has been ordered to pay €103,000 to a worker who died from cancer caused by asbestos.
The Malta Independent features several pictures of yesterday’s President’s Charity Fun Run. It also quotes Justice Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici saying that a Bill on parole is not intended to relieve prison overcrowding.
In-Nazzjon too leads with a big picture of the President’s Charity Fun Run. It also carries a call by the Prime Minister asking Joseph Muscat to explain ‘contacts’ with one of the bidders for the power station extension contract.
l-orizzont says a woman recorded her husband swearing and verbally abusing her. The tapes were used in a separation case.
The overseas press
Balkan Web reports that more than 12,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in north-western Albania after the country’s worst flooding in living memory. Other Balkan countries have also been badly hit, with three people killed after their home collapsed following a landside in the Bosnian city of Tuzla.
The Australian says that thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes as massive floods work their way down fast-flowing swollen rivers charging through large areas of eastern Australia.
Al Jazeera says that the latest revelations of classified documents by Wikileaks show that the European Union no longer believed that US and Nato forces could succeed in Afghanistan. EU President Herman Van Rompuy, who at the time was president-designate, was quoted as telling Howard Gutman, the US ambassador to Belgium, in December 2009 that the EU continued to commit troops to the fight "out of deference to the United States". He said 2010 would be the "last chance" for Afghanistan in European eyes.
Afghan Times reports two Nato soldiers and two Afghan troops were killed in a suicide attack close to a joint military base in Gardez, the provinical capital of eastern Paktia province. More than 670 foreign soldiers have been killed this year, according to a count based on figures kept by the independent icasualties.org website. This is an increase of 150 from 2009 when 521 were killed.
According to The New York Times, the released Wikileaks documents also contain a memo by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warning last year that donors in Saudi Arabia were the "most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide". The groups funded include al-Qaeda, the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba. The memo also criticised efforts to combat militants by the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait.
Meanwhile, a lawyer for Julian Assange, the founder of the Wikileaks website, said he was holding back secret material for release if anything happened to him. Mark Stephens told the BBC that a rape case being prepared in Sweden against Assange, an Australian national, was politically motivated.
The Baltic Times reports that Latvia's parliamentarians may face 100 Lati (€141) pay cuts, bringing their monthly wages to 1,413 Ls (€1,991) a month. They might also lose some of their additional benefits, whih include payments for housing, transportation, entertainment, and communication. Moreover, MPs receive hefty bonuses for participation in committees.
Le Jour says South African former prsident Thabo Mbeki has held talks with electoral rivals in the Ivory Coast, in an effort to mediate in the country's leadership crisis. Both the incumbent, President Laurent Gbagbo, and opposition candidate Alassane Ouattara have declared victory in last Sunday's presidential run-off.
The Dawn reports a Pakistani court has issued arrest warrants for two senior police officials accused of negligence in the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Prosecutors accused one of the officials of failing to provide proper security for Bhutto and the other of cleaning the crime scene before evidence could be collected. Bhutto was killed on December 27 2007 in a gun and suicide-bomb attack.
Four German former presidents – Horst Koehler, Roman Herzog, Walter Scheel and Richard von Weizsaecker – have urged Iran to release two German reporters held in Tehran since October. The joint plea, which appeared in the mass circulation weekly Bild am Sonntag, the paper for which the two reporters were working, has led to Tehran indicating the two might be permitted to celebrate Christmas with their families.
El Pais says the scenes at airports throughout Spain continued to be one of chaos, as thousands of passengers were still facing travel disruptions in the wake of a wildcat strike by air traffic controllers. Spanish airspace was reopened on Sunday after the military stepped in and forced the controllers to return to work – with the threat of jail if they refused the order.
The UK Lib Dem MP whose assistant has been detained on suspicion of espionage says it is "absolutely ludicrous" to suggest she may be a Russian spy. Mike Hancock told Sky News his parliamentary aide Katia Zatuliveter was a "conscientious worker" and denied she has done anything improper. Ms Zatuliveter, 25, was taken into custody on Thursday and is awaiting deportation.
Ansa reports that eight cyclists have died after being mowed down by a speeding car in the south of Italy. The victims were knocked down as they enjoyed a leisurely ride together. A police spokesman said the driver, a Moroccan, had a suspended driving licence and had tested positive for marijuana.
Al Ahram reports a German tourist has been killed by a shark while swimming off Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. The 70-year-old woman is the fifth person to be attacked on the same stretch of coast in a week.
La Vanguardia says more than 50 animal rights activists staged a nude protest at a square in the Spanish city of Barcelona to in protest over the torture and slaying of animals to make fur coats. Millions of foxes, minks, otters, beavers, lynxes and other species are raised in captivity or captured and then killed in often brutal ways to make fur coats, according to the group, which added that Spain, Greece, Germany and Italy are key manufacturers of fur garments.
Metro reports that the Mayor of London Boris Johnson has withdrawn the offer of a free stay in London's exclusive Dorchester Hotel for Fifa executives during the 2012 Olympics. The offer was withdrawn after Fifa's decision on Thursday's 2018 World Cup vote – which saw the England bid get just two votes out of a possible 22. Russia was chosen to host the tournament instead.