The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta in a court report says the police often illegally share login details.
l-orizzont reports that an establishment is charging men €40 more than women for a New Year’s Eve party because they drink more.
In-Nazzjon quotes Libyan protesters in Valletta saying the government is committing a major mistake by not recognising the Tripoli government.
The Malta Independent says Malta now appears to have two Libyan embassies.
The overseas press
As rescuers continue their search for 38 passengers who are still missing after the fire that engulfed the “Norman Atlantic” ferry on Sunday, Ansa announces that the ship’s captain and the owner, are being investigated by the Italian authorities for shipwreck, multiple manslaughter and negligent injury. Ten passengers are confirmed to have died while 427 people have been saved.
According to the Greek To Vima, authorities are not sure whether the unaccounted passengers have drowned, or whether the ferry’s manifest lists were inaccurate. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had hinted the survivors might include a number of migrants travelling illegally trying to reach Italy. The ship has been impounded.
Channel News Asia reports rescue teams are again scouring the seas of Indonesia for a third day as more nations joined efforts to find the missing AirAsia jet, carrying 162 people. Around 30 ships and 15 reconnaissance planes have been sent to look for the liner. Fox News says the US navy responded positively to Indonesia’s request for help and was sending one of its destroyers to join the international search.
Bloomberg reports the IMF has said it would not finish Greece’s latest bailout review until a new government is formed, after a snap election was called after parliament failed in its third attempt to approve Stavros Dimas as president. Kathimerini says Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras announced elections would take place on January 25.
Many British nationals lead with the news that a case of Ebola has been diagnosed in Glasgow – the first in Britain. The Scotsman says the patient is a female health care worker who had returned from Sierra Leone. WHO said on Monday the number of Ebola cases in West Africa had risen to over 20,000, with a death toll of more than 7,800. The three worst-affected countries are Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia.
The Los Angeles Times reports the authorities have released a post-mortem examination on the death of an unarmed black man killed by police last August. The police said Ezell Ford was shot while struggling with two officers and attempting to remove the pistol from the holster of one of them.
Kyiv Post says Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has announced he would meet with the leaders of Russia, Germany and France on January 15 over his country’s ongoing conflict. The meeting will take place in the Kazakh capital Astana.
AFP reports UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a South Korean proposal to hold high-level talks with North Korea and urged Pyongyang to accept the offer. Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, said dialogue was the only way forward to build trust and promote relations on the peninsula, which has been divided since 1945.
Hollywood Reporter quotes Sony Pictures saying “The Interview” has earned more than $15 million in online sales and another $2.8 million in theatres – an impressive return made possible by the publicity surrounding the cyberattack blamed on North Korea.
New York Daily News reports 27-year-old Ashley Gardner, whose priceless expression went viral when her husband snapped a photo of her as she found out she was pregnant with two sets of identical twins, has given birth to the four girls after a little more than 29 weeks.
The BBC says an international survey of world happiness shows that 70 per cent of respondents from 65 countries are happy with their lives – a 10 per cent increase from last year. Fiji appears to be the happiest nation in the world and Iraq the most unhappy.