The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says the University runs the risk of not paying employees every four weeks because of a strained cash flow caused by delayed government payments. It also reports a surgeon telling court that despite broken ribs and fractured lumbar vertebrae, the injuries sustained by a drama teacher in a fall at Dingli cliffs were “superficial”.
The Malta Independent says business owners believe people buy less daily necessities when a Super 5 lottery jackpot of over a million euros is announced.
L-Orizzont provides a plan of the primary school where a teacher allegedly installed a video camera to film one or more female colleagues using the toilet.
In-Nazzjon says that a few minutes before his alleged accident in Hamrun, Parliamentary Secretary Jose Herrera was attending a Christmas party at a bar in St Julian’s.
International news
Fox News reports President Obama has said Sony made a “mistake” by cancelling the release of the film “The Interview”, mocking the North Korean leader Kim Jung-un, after a cyber attack on its computer systems. Obama said he wished the corporation had spoken to him first.
The Washington Times says Obama spoke after the FBI linked North Korea to the hack, which saw sensitive studio information publicly released. He said the US authorities would respond but declined to offer specifics, saying only the response would be “proportionately and in a space, time and manner that we choose”. He added: “We cannot have a society in which some dictator some place can start imposing censorship in the United States.”
The head of Sony Pictures, Michael Lynton, later told CNN the studio had taken its decision only after most of the major US cinemas had decided not to screen the movie. He said Sony still wanted to release the film and was considering different platforms.
The New York Times quotes President Obama saying his decision to restore full diplomatic relations with Cuba creates an opportunity for change. He rejected critics who said he should not have opened American relations with Cuba because of that nation’s human rights record, saying the historic thaw would give the United States more sway with the Cuban government.
Bloomberg reports President Obama has introduced new sanctions against individuals and organisations operating in Crimea. The executive order prohibits the export from the US of goods, technology or services to the region which was annexed by Russia last March. It also bans the imports of Crimean products.
The Israeli military has said it had carried out an airstrike early today (Saturday) on what it called a “Hamas terror infrastructure site” in the southern Gaza Strip in response to a rocket strike from the Gaza strip into Israel. The Jerusalem Post reports there were at least two strikes by the Israel Air Force. The Israel Defence Forces said they would “not permit any attempt to undermine the security and jeopardize the well-being of the civilians of Israel”.
ABC reports the mother of seven of the children found dead at a house in the Australian city of Cairns yesterday has been arrested for murder. The bodies of eight children, aged between 18 months and 15 years, were discovered by their brother. The case, quickly labelled by police and reporters as one of the worst crime scenes in Queensland in recent memory, prompted Prime Minister Tony Abbott to echo the nation’s thoughts when he called it “unspeakable”.
According to Dawn, two prisoners have been executed after lifting the moratorium on capital punishment in response to the massacre at a school in Peshawar. One had been connected at masterminding an attack on army headquarters. The other had been found guilty of trying to assassinate former President Pavez Musharaf.
AFP reports the Christmas lights came on at the Vatican yesterday, sending out what Pope Francis described as a message of “light, hope and love” at the end of an extraordinary year for the Catholic Church. As the fairy lights sparkled into life on the 25-metre fir tree on St Peter’s Square, there was also an early unveiling of a giant nativity scene. And the famous facade and dome of St Peter's itself stood out brighter than ever in the Roman nightscape after being illuminated for the first time with a new LED system.
A new storm has hit the police in New York, after a video posted on YouTube and re-launched by the New York Daily News, shows a plain clothes official beating a 12-year-old Afro-American. The NYPD has announced that it had opened an investigation into the case and reported that the video refers to the detention of two young men, accused of assaulting a person with a stick.
It took three years to work out a $50 million settlement in the wake of a stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair. The settlement is historic – not because of the size of the award but because of who’s receiving it, CBS reports. Alisha Brennon and her partner Christina Santiago were among the very first couples in Illinois to enter into a civil union. They’ve broken another barrier in the most tragic way. Santiago, who fought her whole life for gay rights, was killed in the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair. And in a $50 million legal settlement announced Friday, her widow, Brennon, will be treated like any other spouse. It’s a first in Indiana and the country.
The BBC reports a French fishmonger has agreed to plead guilty to charges of indecent exposure after being arrested by police for sporting himself in women’s underwear in his shop window. He blamed the pressures of opening a new shop and seasonal festivities for his decision to spend his lunchtime break posing in a bra, stockings and suspenders but no knickers amid crab and cod. When summoned by passers-by, police found his alcohol level to be three times over the legal limit to drive.