The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says two judges have been told to resign or face impeachment. It also reports how PBS stopped Xarabank when Franco Debono turned up instead of Anglu Farrugia.
The Malta Independent says impeachment motions against two judges are imminent.
In-Nazzjon refers to the developments in what was meant to be a deputy leaders’ debate and says the PL is based on gimmicks and dishonesty.
L-orizzont says Simon Busuttil was scared of debating with Franco Debono. It also says that 60 workers are being dismissed from Nylon Knitting.
The overseas press
Vigils have been held across the United States as communities struggle to come to terms with one of the worst school shootings in which a gunman killed 20 young children, aged between five and 10, and seven adults in the small community of Newtown, Connecticut. VOA News reports that with the St Rose of Lima church in Newtown filled to capacity, hundreds of people stood outside, some holding hands in circles and saying prayers, while others lit candles and sang “Silent Night”. State governor Dannel P Malloy was among the speakers at the service.
USA Today says carrying four weapons and wearing a bulletproof vest, the gunman opened fire on the mostly kindergarten students at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where his mother worked. A law enforcement officer said 20-year-old Adam Lanza, was dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The National Post said Lanza had a personality disorder and was bent to kill as many children as possible. The BBC quoted eyewitnesses saying they heard as many as a100 shots and saw frightened children running from school.
According to the Associated Press, this was the nation's second-deadliest school shooting and the third major gun attack in the US this year. At the White House, an emotional President Obama recalled these shootings and said, “Our hearts are broken today.” Wiping his eyes during brief comments to reporters in one of the most emotional public moments of his presidency, Obama said the nation had been “through this too many times” with recent mass shootings and has to come together to take meaningful action, “regardless of the politics.” He did not give details, even as the debate over the issue of gun control in America exploded once again.
Reuters reports that European leaders, echoing people across the continent, expressed horror in offering condolences to the United States after the school massacre. EU diplomacy chief Catherine Ashton expressed shock at the tragic shooting. In an open letter to President Obama, French President Francois Hollande said he was "horrified". Britain's Queen Elizabeth II sent a message to President Barack Obama in which she said she was "deeply shocked and saddened" to hear of the shootings. British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a statement his thoughts were with the injured and those who had lost loved ones. Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said. “Like President Obama and his fellow Americans, our hearts too are broken.”
Newspaper websites and broadcasters devoted non-stop live coverage as the events unfolded in Newtown. “Slaughter of the innocents” screams the big front-page headline of London’s Daily Star. "Panic! Screaming! Mass operation! Killing Spree in US School" headlined Germany's top selling Bild newspaper. Germany, France, Britain and other European countries have suffered similar mass shootings – in Norway, one man killed 77 people only last year – but commentators in Europe were quick to point to Americans' much higher levels of personal gun ownership as a factor in the frequency of shootings there. "If not now, when is the time to talk about gun control?" ran the headline on an article in Britain's Guardian newspaper.
Al Masry Al Youm reports clashes in Alexandria between supports and opponents of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi as the country prepares to vote in the first day of a referendum on a new constitution backed by Islamists. Some 130,000 police and 120,000 soldiers have been deployed to provide security. The powerful army, which is maintaining a neutral role, has been given powers of arrest until the referendum results are released to help police maintain order.
France 24 says European leaders meeting in Brussels delayed making a concrete decision on creating a eurozone "solidarity fund" until the middle of next year, a day after reaching a landmark deal on banking supervision and releasing aid to Greece. After more than eight hours of late-night talks, they promised to push ahead with setting up a mechanism to wind down problem banks, although it was unclear when the facility would be completed. They also launched tentative discussions on how to make countries stick to economic targets.
Nevada Appeal reports that a substitute teacher from California was found to be the only heir to a fortune of gold coins discovered by a cleaning crew in the home of a reclusive cousin who quietly stashed away a treasure of nearly $7.5 million before he died this year. Walter Samaszko, 69, lived a quiet life in Nevada's capital city since the late 1960s and no one apparently knew of his wealth. Records show he withdrew just $500 a month from his stock accounts to pay modest bills. A court hearing in Carson City is scheduled for Tuesday, when a judge is expected to certify first cousin Arlene Magdon as the lone heir to the treasure.
NBC News says the piano used in the classic film “Casablanca” has been sold at an auction in the United States for just over $602,500 (€458,000). The piano is used in the film by pianist Sam, played by Dooley Wilson, to play the song “As Time Goes By” during a key flashback scene set in a Paris bar. Rick Blaine, played by Humphrey Bogart, delivers the famous line as he and Ingrid Bergman's character Ilsa Lund lean on the piano, toasting with glasses of champagne. The piano's sale marks the 70th anniversary of the Oscar-winning World War II classic, which is largely set in the Moroccan port city of Casablanca, then part of unoccupied French North Africa.