The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta and Il-Mument report how a policeman is being investigated after he allegedly threatened a man who took a photo of him in a gentleman’s club.
The Malta Independent on Sunday takes a look at the bold and not so bold political moves in 2014. In a similar vein, Illum looks at who went up and who went down.
MaltaToday says 2014 was the year of disruption for many on the international scene.
KullHadd quotes Fr Mark Montebello saying the Pope is voice of good but may have come too late.
It-Torca recalls the letter bomb explosion which killed Karin Grech. It also says a Libyan consulate is operating as an embassy, meaning Malta has two, rival, Libyan embassies.
The overseas press
al arabiya reports an AirAsia flight, with more than 160 passengers travelling from Indonesia to Singapore, has gone missing. The plane, which lost contact with the Jakarta air traffic control tower at 0117 Malta time, was carrying six crew members and 155 passengers – 138 adults, 16 children and a baby. A Transport Ministry official said the aircraft pilot had asked for an unusual route before it lost contact. Singapore airport said on its website the status of the flight was “delayed”.
The New York Times reports thousands of uniformed police turned their backs on New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, in a pointed display of protest as he delivered a eulogy for Rafael Ramos, one of the two officers who were shot dead as they sat in their NYPD patrol car. The killer said he was avenging the deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of police.
Berliner Zeitung quotes German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble saying immigration was good for the country. In response to the rise of a new movement opposing an influx of Muslim immigrants, Schaeuble said politicians must explain better that everyone stood to gain from it. The number of asylum seekers in Germany has more than doubled this year to around 200,000, and net immigration is at its highest level in two decades. Many Germans are concerned about the related costs and worry about refugees taking jobs.
According to AGI, Libya has asked Italy to help control the fire that is ravaging Libya’s largest oil depot in Sidra, near the Ra’s Lanuf oil terminal. The fire was caused by a rocket which hit the huge oil depot in the eastern Libyan port last week during clashes between armed forces fighting to take over the government. The fire has spread to five deposits. Italy had expressed its willingness to help extinguish the fire on condition that the fighting between militias stops.
Channel News Asia quotes Libyan Health Minister Rida al-Awkali saying four people have died of bird flu in the country in recent days and a fifth person suspected of having contracted the virus was currently in hospital in the far eastern city of Tobruk. Three of the victims died in Tripoli, while the fourth died in Tobruk, he added, without saying which strain of the disease they caught. Tobruk is across the border from Egypt where at least eight people have died of bird flu this year.
Ansa reports Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) has released the latest issue of its magazine “Inspire”, which urges “lone wolves” to hit the US economy. It also says they should target various airlines, including Delta, Air France, Easyjet and others, and provides an updated manual on how to build a bomb.
The Washington Post says North Korea has hurled racial slurs at President Obama – calling him a “monkey inhabiting a tropical forest”. It also accused Washington of being responsible for intermittent shutdowns of North Korean websites this week amid the Sony hacking row and said America would face consequences for its hostility.
Somali Press reports a leader with the Islamic extremist group al-Shabab has surrendered in Somalia. Zakariya Ismail Ahmed Hersi had a $3 million bounty on his head.
Al Thawra announces the Syrian government is prepared to attend peace talks Russia plans to hold next month. Russia’s foreign ministry had said it hoped to host peace talks after January 20 between the Syrian government and its fractured opposition. The conflict has claimed more than 200,000 lives and displaced a third of Syria’s population.
Delo reports Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has sacked the country’s Prime Minister Mikhail Myasnikovich and a number of top ministers in the biggest reshuffle in years. He also dismissed the head of the country’s central bank in what analysts say was a move to protect the country’s economy.
Avvenire says Ali Agca, the man who shot Pope John Paul II in May 1981, has laid flowers on his tomb. Agca served 19 years in an Italian jail for shooting the Pope twice at close range. His motive remains a mystery. He spent another 10 years in prison in Turkey on charges related to the earlier murder of a newspaper editor.