The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta and l-orizzont lead with the arraignment of a young man accused of causing the New Year fatal car crash in Gozo. Times of Malta also gives an update on the medical condition of young patient Leah Xuereb.
The Malta Independent reports that wild animals have kept enforcement officers at bay. Malta lacks structures to keep exotic animals seized from their owners.
In-Nazzjon publishes a greeting sent by Matt Meilak to his parents shortly before the car crash which took his life on New Year's Day.
The overseas press
AFP reports the EU has vowed to fight people smugglers’ new tactic of abandoning “ghost ships” full of migrants off European coasts. The crewless Ezadeen merchant ship had drifted toward Italy’s southern shores with 450 migrants aboard before Italian sailors took control of it yesterday. It was the second incident in two days after the Blue Sky M ship was abandoned on Wednesday by smugglers who set it on autopilot toward Italy’s rocky shores with nearly 800 migrants aboard.
Jakarta Globe says 30 bodies have been recovered from the Java Sea after the crash of AirAsia flight 8501, but the fuselage and the black box flight recorders are proving elusive. Bad weather has been hampering the search, but on Friday, more than 20 bodies were found, some still buckled into their aircraft seats.
Ansa reports investigators have recovered the black box of the stricken Norman Atlantic ferry, which was towed into port in the southern Italian city of Brindisi yesterday. The black box is a key element to ascertaining the causes of the fatal fire that broke out on board last Sunday, claiming at least 11 lives. But Bari Prosecutor Giuseppe Volpe did not rule out that more bodies might be found as there might be some bodies in the interior of the ship.
All India Radio announces the crew of a Pakistani fishing boat laden with explosives blew up and sunk their vessel, killing all four people on board, after trying to evade capture by the Indian navy. Indian intelligence said the crew planned “an illicit transaction”.
Al Ayyam reports the Palestinians have delivered to UN headquarters documents on joining the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and other international treaties. The ICC move paves the way for the court to take jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed in Palestinian lands and investigate the conduct of both Israeli and Palestinian leaders over more than a decade of bloody conflict. Neither Israel nor the United States belongs to the ICC.
Haaretz says Jewish settlers have attacked US consular officials during a visit to the West Bank to investigate claims of damage to Palestinian agricultural property. Israeli police said the settlers threw rocks at the officials who were forced to return to their vehicle.
According to Kathimerini, former Greek prime minister Georges Papandreou today officially launch a new political party just weeks before snap elections this month, sparking anger in his own Socialist party. Pasok, the party created by Papandreou’s father Andreas in 1974 and which has largely ruled Greece ever since, accused him of trying to divide the party.
The Washington Post reports the United States has imposed fresh sanctions on North Korea, targeting top state officials and defence-related organisations in an attempt to punish North Korea for a crippling cyber attack against Sony Pictures after the studio made madcap film about a fictional CIA plot to assassinate the North’s leader. The sanctions marked the first public act of retribution by the US.
Most British papers lead with Buckingham Palace’s strongly-worded denial of allegations that Prince Andrew was involved in “impropriety with underage minors” after the Duke of York was named in a US lawsuit. The Guardian says the woman who has made the allegations claims she was “forced to have sexual relations with this prince when she was a minor” in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island.
Times of India reports the police have arrested three men for allegedly gang raping a Japanese research scholar and keeping her captive in a Buddhist pilgrimage centre. Officers are looking for two more suspects after the 22-year-old woman was allegedly held as a hostage for nearly three weeks. She managed to escape on December 26 and iled a police complaint.
Meanwhile, AFP quotes official statistics showing that the number of rapes reported in New Delhi increased by nearly a third in the last year – a total of 2,069 rape cases as against 1,571 reported the previous year. The city sealed its reputation as India’s “rape capital” two years ago when a medical student died after being gang-raped on a moving bus, prompting mass protests and triggering a series of policing and legal reforms.
Hurriyet says Turkey’s Health Minister Mehmet Muezzinoglu came in for a barrage of criticism after suggesting that women should prioritise the “career” of motherhood before anything else. The comments caused a furore on social media, with many women venting their anger at what they saw as the latest in a string of sexist comments by the Islamic-rooted Turkish leadership.
Il Tempo quotes Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi saying 2015 will be the year of reforms in order to prevent a repeat of December 31, when 83 per cent of Rome’s traffic cops reportedly called in sick or alleged they were donating blood. Also, the Strike Guarantee Authority opened an inquiry to determine if the absenteeism amounted to an unofficial strike.
France 24 says a collection of dozens of antique cars dating between the 1930s and 1970s – including very rare models – has been found in a small town in western France. The stash of antique automobiles, which experts described as the discovery of a lifetime, includes 60 models that have been valued by a French auction house at over 16 million euros.