The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Times says that record funds were raised in the Dar tal-Providenza feast of generosity yesterday. It also quotes the Chief Justice lamenting the lack of judiciary unity when speaking with the President and the Archbishop during New Year greetings.
The Independent also quotes the Chief Justice, who hoped the public could regain trust in the judiciary. In another story, it says that an EU law to tackle banking secrecy has come into force.
L-Orizzont speaks to the director of Finco who criticises the MFSA for its decision to leave it up to BOV to inform investors in the La Valette Multi-Manager Property Funds who would be getting additional funds. In another story it says that Malta Enterprise chairman Lawrence Zammit is involved in a company being investigated for money laundering by the Italian police.
In-Nazzjon dedicates all its front page to the New Year greetings.
The international press
The Washington Post says President Barack Obama has hailed a deal reached to stave off a "fiscal cliff" of drastic taxation and spending cuts as "just one step in the broader effort to strengthen the economy". He was speaking after the House of Representatives passed a Senate-backed bill by 257 votes to 167. It raises taxes for the wealthy and delays spending cuts for two months. There had been intense pressure for the vote to be passed before financial markets reopened on later today. In Tuesday night's house vote, 172 Democrats and 85 Republicans voted in favour of the Bill. It had been passed in the Senate less than 24 hours earlier by 89 votes to eight after lengthy talks between Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate Republicans.
Abidjan Post says three days of national mourning have been declared in the Ivory Coast following a New Year's Eve stampede that killed at least 61 people in the capital. Hundreds of people leaving a fireworks event at a stadium in the Plateau district were jammed into a tiny street in the early hours of Tuesday and many were crushed while others suffocated. Many victims were said to be 15 or younger. President Alassane Ouattara, who described the deaths as a national tragedy, has ordered an investigation.
Luanda Digital reports 10 people have been crushed to death and 120 injured in Angola as they tried to enter an overcrowded stadium for a New Year's Eve vigil. The dead were asphyxiated or crushed at the gates of Luanda's Citadela Desportiva stadium, where a Pentecostal Church was to hold the event. Far more than an expected 70,000 people attended.
Euronews says Greek metro workers and train drivers were the first workers to lay down tools of 2013: they staged a 24-hour strike over public sector wage cuts of 20 per cent beginning in the first quarter of the year. The industrial action is the latest in a series against measures demanded by Greece’s European Union and IMF lenders as the price of bailout loans to keep the country afloat. Greece’s prime minister has implored everyone to endure the cuts and promised they would be the last. However, few are convinced. Unemployment in Greece tops 26 per cent and poverty levels have soared.
According to The Guardian, British Prime Minister David Cameron has made the establishment of a free trade agreement between Europe and the US a key priority during the UK's leadership of the G8 group of richest nations this year. In a letter to fellow national leaders in the group, whose economies make up more than half the world's output, Cameron said expanding free trade was one of three areas he wanted them to focus on.
Al bawaba reports that clashes between Syrian government troops and opposition rebels have forced the international airport in Aleppo to stop all flights in and out of Syria's largest city. Fierce battles also raged in the suburbs of the capital Damascus. The rebels have been making inroad in the civil war recently, capturing a string of military bases and posing a stiff challenge to the regime in Syria's two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo.
Al Ayyam says members of Al-Fatah have marked the 48th anniversary of the founding of the party with a formal ceremony in Hebron, in the West Bank and with fireworks and street celebrations in Gaza. Al-Fatah is the largest group in the PLO, born in 1964 as part of the struggle with Israel. The recent recognition of Palestine by the United Nations as a de-facto state has given many Palestinian officials renewed confidence in their ongoing fight.
Dawn reports that shooting gunmen on motorcycles have killed five female teachers and two aid workers. They were travelling in a van carrying employees from a community centre. The gunmen spared a child they took out of the vehicle before opening fire. It is thought that the attack is the latest in a series targeting anti-polio efforts in Pakistan. Some militants oppose the vaccination campaigns, accusing health workers of acting as spies for the US and alleging the vaccine is intended to make Muslim children sterile.
The BBC says a popular Egyptian political satirist is being investigated by prosecutors for allegedly insulting President Mohamed Morsi. A formal complaint was brought against Bassem Youssef for "undermining the standing" of the president in his television show. Separately, an independent newspaper, al-Masry al-Youm, says it has been accused by the presidency of "circulating false news" and was being investigated. Many journalists have joined critics of the new Islamist-backed constitution, saying it does not offer enough guarantees of press freedoms.
Pravda reports that the opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics will cost Russia about €40 million. The nonprofit agency for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will receive a subsidy for preparing and organizing the events. The opening ceremony is scheduled for February 7, 2014 and the Paralympic Games follow in Sochi in March 2014. Experts already say that the Winter Olympics in Russia's Sochi in 2014 will be the most expensive Olympics in history. Sochi 2014 may cost more than €22.6 billion in total.