The following are the top stories in the local and international press today.
Newspapers in Malta lead with yesterday’s resignation of PL deputy leader Anglu Farrugia.
The Times says that the election for the vacant post is scheduled for Thursday and nominations will start being accepted today. There are 36 people who are able to contest this election.
In another story the newspaper says that carnival enthusiasts’ appeal to postpone carnival has been rejected.
This story is also given prominence by l-Orizzont, which also gives prominence to Mepa’s approval of a major project at the former Lowenbrau factory.
The Mepa process is also dealt with extensively in The Malta Independent, which says that the concerns given about the project did not stop the authority from approving it. In another story, it also deals with the end of the world predictions which, it says were debunked by NASA.
In-Nazzjon says that the appointment of Simon Busuttil as the PN’s deputy leader set the PL’s agenda as it made Dr Farrugia resign. It also reports on the PM’s reaction to the resignation who said that there was more to the resignation than what had been revealed.
The international press
The BBC reports hundreds of people across the world have been preparing for what they believe would be the end of the world today – December 21, 2012.The date is the apparent end of the "long count" calendar of the ancient Mayan civilisation. Believers have gathered in Mexico near Mayan ruins, and in other supposedly spiritual places around the world. Last year, experts said a new reading of the calendar revealed that it did not in fact predict the apocalypse. Many believe the date in fact marks the start of a new era in the calendar
El Pais reports the Spanish parliament has approved the 2013 budget with savings of €39 billion amid plans for a mass demonstration in Madrid where one group labelled it as “one of hunger and misery”. The government says the tough cuts were needed to fix the public finances in a country where the unemployment rate is over 25 percent. Conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has warned that next year would also be difficult one.
Wall Street Journal says the Speaker in the US House of Representatives, John Boehner, has cancelled a scheduled vote on a Republican tax Bill which would limit any tax rises to people earning more than a million dollars a year. It was designed to help avert the so-called “fiscal cliff” – spending cuts and tax rises due to come into effect in the new year. Many economists warned they would plunge the US – and the world – back into recession.
The New York Times quotes the UN saying 55 Somalis and Ethiopians have died after their boat capsized off the coast of Somalia – the biggest loss of life in the Gulf of Aden since February last year when 57 Somali migrants drowned. The overcrowded boat ran into trouble soon after leaving the port in northeastern Somalia on its way to Yemen.
Pravda reports Russian President Putin has held the first major news conference of his third presidential term, saying he would consider a ban on Americans being able to adopt Russian children, after Russian authorities were prevented from observing cases in the US where abuse against these children was alleged. Turning to Syria, Putin said first people needed to agree on how they would live from now on, their participation in power-sharing and how to provide their own security, and only then could the existing status quo start to change.
Euronews reports WikiLeaks would release one million documents next year affecting every country in the world. In a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he sought refuge from extradition to Sweden six months ago, founder Julian Assange said the door was still open to negotiations.
Pakistan’s Dawn says hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of another victim of the attacks on UN-backed polio eradication teams. The total number of deaths has now risen to nine. Demonstrations against the killings were held in Islamabad while an alliance of Pakistani clerics has added its voice to the protest. Twenty-four-thousand mosques are set to preach against the killings during today’s Friday prayers. It had been claimed the programme is a plot to sterilise Muslim women or to spy on them. It was revealed last year the CIA had used the cover of a fake campaign to gather intelligence on Osama bin Laden.
Newtown Bee reports a fourth day of funerals has been held in and around this small town in Connecticut, as attention turns to other factors that may have caused gunman Adam Lanza to go on the rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary killing 26 people, including 20 children just six and seven-years-old, last Fruiday. A US senator has demanded a study be carried out on the impact of violent video games. Hollywood has cancelled several movies and TV shows, now deemed inappropriate. At a vigil on Wednesday at West Connecticut State University, Newtown representative Pat Llodra said the community had become closer following the tragedy.
Meanwhile, according to CBC, firearms enthusiasts across the US have been stocking up on semi-automatic rifles in anticipation of tighter gun control measures as President Barack Obama demanded “real action, right now”. The latest rampage has generated record sales in some states, particularly of assault weapons similar to the AR-15 rifle the used in the massacre. Records were set in Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee, California and Virginia.
L’Avvenire reports Pope Benedict XVI has put one of his predecessors on the first step to sainthood. The pontiff signed a decree recognising the late Pope Paul VI’s “heroic virtues”. During his pontificate between 1963 and 1978, Pope Paul oversaw the series of reforms. But he was also much criticised for banning the use of contraception, even within marriage.