The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says dozens of passengers booked on Fly Hermes, a new Maltese airline owned by a Sicilian family, were yesterday left stranded at Torino, Comiso and Malta airports. In another story, the newspaper says Malta has a low suicide rate but, unlike other European countries, there was an increase in the number of people ending their lives since the 1980s.
Malta Today says human traffickers are advertising trips to Europe on the social media starting from €5,500 ‘on a well-equipped ship’.
L-Orizzont says that the influenza vaccine given free of charge at the beginning of winter did not work this year and the number of deaths caused by the virus in question could increase as a result.
In-Nazzjon says the Commission for the Administration of Justice has not been requested to see whether there was a case for the impeachment of Magistrate Carol Peralta.
The Malta Independent says Leisure Clothing is still seeking foreign help and is set to take on an additional 12 north Koreans.
International news
The New York Times quotes Mali’s foreign minister telling the UN Security Council that an international force could help stabilise Libya and the entire Sahel region and check the threat from Islamist groups. Mali is among five countries that launched an appeal to the United Nations and the African Union for foreign intervention to fight Libyan armed groups and to help build stable institutions.
French Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron has told Les Echos that “Germany must invest more” and argues that Berlin and Paris must act together to push European economic growth. He noted that France was doing its part by implementing economic reforms, adding that Germany, has “an urgent responsibility” to invest.
The Times reports British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are set to thrash out his plans for renegotiating Britain’s relationship with the EU when they hold talks in London later today. These include Cameron’s desire to limit the influx of migrants from the EU into Britain, which he admitted in November would require a revision of European treaties.
According to AFP, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres has warned that the world was losing its ability to prevent conflicts and the lack of “effective leadership” has led to the worst displacement situation since World War II. in an address to the annual meeting of Turkey’s ambassadors stationed abroad, Mr Guterres said more than 13 million people have been displaced by the conflicts in Syria and Iraq. The situation is exacerbated by the crisis in South Sudan, Libya and Ukraine.
ABC News reports Indonesian officials believe the black box of AirAsia flight QZ8501 might be buried in the seabed, or muddy waters may be impeding its signal. Nine days after the plane crashed, officials say there was still no sign of the crucial black box flight recorders.
The Japan Meteorology Agency has recorded 2014 as the hottest year in more two centuries. Scientific American says the temperature increase was equal to 0.63 degrees above the average of the twentieth century, stressing that 2014 has beaten the previous record of 1998.
The Washington Times reports John Boehner has narrowly won a third term as US House of Representatives Speaker, surviving a stiff challenge from 25 conservative Republicans. He received 216 of 408 votes, with a growing faction of dissident House Republicans opposing him because they said he had done too little to cut spending and fight President Barack Obama’s immigration and healthcare policies.
The Jerusalem Post says an Israeli military court on Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian to three life terms over the killing of three Israeli youths. Their death in the occupied West Bank had set off a chain of events leading to the 50-day Gaza war last summer.
Ansa reports Sarah Ferguson has defended her former husband, Prince Andrew, embroiled in a sex scandal with an under-age girl over 10 years ago. Fergie said he was “a great man, the best man in the world”. Meanwhile, alleged “sex slave” Virginia Roberts has announced she would be writing a book that would name the famous people with whom she had had sex.
Hollywood Reporter says the controversial North Korea satire “The Interview” has made over $31 million on the Internet and other small-screen formats, becoming Sony’s best-grossing online film ever. Including box office takings the movie has made some $36 million.
AFP reports the United States has denounced a flag-raising ceremony at Taiwan’s de facto embassy in Washington, saying it violated a long-standing pact on US-Taiwan ties. Taiwan’s English-language daily, China Post said the island’s flag was raised over the building on Thursday, for the first time in 36 years since the US switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.
Fox News reports former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has been sentenced to two years in prison for accepting lavish gifts from Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams, including a Rolex watch and $177,000 (€148,000) in “sweetheart” loans, in exchange for promoting a dietary supplement produced by the firm. His defence team had lobbied the judge to sentence him to three years community service instead of jail time, while prosecutors sought a 10 to 12 year prison term.
Bloomberg announces that with chocolate prices surging, a former Credit Suisse Group banker wants to help revive cocoa farming in the Amazon basin, where the beans are thought to have evolved about 15,000 years ago. His campaign, located in Peru, is part of a Latin American push to gain more control of an industry now dominated by West African farmers who provide 70 per cent of the market. The effort comes as drought, disease and government price controls have cut into the ability of Africa’s suppliers to meet demand, boosting prices by 7.4 per cent in 2014.