The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
All national newspapers lead with yesterday’s election of Louis Grech as the PL’s new deputy leader for Parliamentary Affairs.
The Times also has a story about actress Cate Blanchett in Gozo. In another story, the newspaper says that the inquiry into Malian detainee Kamara’s death is still under wraps.
L-Orizzont says that the prison’s chemist was back to work under a continuous escort by a prison official after he had been caught taking alcohol to prisoners.
In-Nazzjon quotes former PL deputy leader Anglu Farrugia’s mother criticising PL leader Joseph Muscat and comparing him to Alfred Sant.
The Independent quotes the President praising the Maltese for their contribution to the fund raising event L-Istrina, which he hailed as incredible.
The international press
President Mahmud Abbas has warned he would disband his Palestinian Authority if there was no Israeli movement toward renewing peace talks after Israel's elections on January 22. In an interview with the Israeli daily Haaretz, Abbas said that if such a situation arose he would hand full responsibility for the occupied West Bank to the Israeli government. He said that once the new government in Israel is in place, “Netanyahu will have to decide – yes or no." Talks between the two sides have been on hold since September 2010, with the Palestinians insisting on a settlement freeze before returning to the negotiating table and the Israelis insisting on no pre-conditions.
The Wall Street Journal says President Barack Obama will meet congressional leaders later today as members of the House of Representatives prepare to return to Washington for a last-ditch attempt to head off the year-end fiscal cliff budget crisis. Republican speaker John Boehner warned politicians they might be working through next Friday – after the 31 December deadline – to reach a deal to avert massive tax hikes and spending cuts. The decision to call House members back came after fierce criticism from Democrat Senate leader Harry Reid, who accused Republicans of "watching movies" while the budget crisis deepened.
Ria Novosty reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has echoed a call from international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi to resolve Syria's civil war through a government-backed national dialogue and political process. The Russian foreign ministry quoted Lavrov as telling the visiting Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad there was "no alternative" to a peaceful solution of the conflict. Meanwhile, Brahimi will fly to Moscow on Saturday for talks with Lavrov on how to end the crisis in Syria, which has claimed 45,000 lives.
The son of Pakistan's slain former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has launched his political career on the anniversary of his mother's death, vowing to continue her fight for democracy. Dawn says Bilawal Bhutto Zardari told some 200,000 party supporters that she had "sacrificed her life to uphold democracy". Ms Bhutto died in a gun and bomb attack during her 2007 election campaign. The 24-year-old Oxford graduate has been PPP chairman since his mother's assassination, blamed on Taliban militants. He cannot contest an election until his 25th birthday.
According to Globalpost, King Albert of Belgium has enraged Flemish nationalists after apparently likening them to fascists. During his annual Christmas speech, the king said Belgians needed to be vigilant about populist sentiment that sought to make foreigners the scapegoats for the country's economic problems. That was seen as a reference to Flemish nationalists who collaborated with the Nazis during World War II, and to current Flemish nationalists who want to break away from Belgium's French-speaking areas.
L'Osservatore Romano has endorsed outgoing Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti's announcement that he might run for a second term, leading a new coalition. The Vatican newspaper said Mr Monti, a loyal Catholic, had launched an appeal to restore the most noble sense of politics to Italy. The caretaker Prime Minister, who took charge in late 2011, resigned after predecessor Silvio Berlusconi withdrew his support. Italians vote to choose a new government in February.
Kiev Post says the cold weather is continuing to take its toll in the Ukraine, where 90 people have now died. Temperatures as low as -23oC and heavy snowfall have left most of the country under a thick frozen layer. Hundreds have been treated in hospitals, the majority of those people being the homeless.
VOA says a severe US snow storm is threatening more devastation as it heads east after pounding the Midwest, killing 15 people. Up to 18 inches of snow is forecast inland, from western New York to Maine, before tapering off into a mix of rain and snow closer to the coast. It follows snowy gusts of 30mph and an outbreak of 34 tornadoes on Tuesday in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama – causing travel chaos and power cuts, which left 100,000 in the dark.
According to The Egyptian Gazette, Egypt's state prosecutor has ordered that the former president be moved to an army hospital amid reports of declining health. Mubarak is serving a life term for his role in the death of protesters during the uprising that ended his 30-year rule.
Surging sales of tablet computers are driving a fundamental change in how Americans read books. The Los Angeles Times quotes the results of a new survey from the Pew Research Centre which show that 23 per cent of Americans aged 16 and older say they have read an e-book in the past year – up from 16 per cent a year ago. At the same time, the number of those who read a printed book in the last 12 months fell to 67 per cent – a decline of five percentage points.
KSDK Radio announces the death of R&B singer Fontella Bass of a heart attack. She was 72. She's best known for the classic "Rescue Me", which topped the R&B charts for a month and was in the top five of the pop charts.
Hundreds of visitors are flocking daily to a botanical garden in southeastern Brazil to watch the rare blooming of the Titan arum, the world's smelliest and largest tropical flower. Also known as the "corpse flower" because of a smell likened to rotting flesh, it began blooming on Christmas Day and is already beginning to close, botanist Patricia Oliveira told AFP. The flower has a lifespan of 72 hours, during which its stink and meat-coloration attract pollinators: carrion flies and beetles. It rarely flowers, is incredibly difficult to cultivate and takes six years to grow.