The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta leads with the hunt for an accomplice involved in one of the terrorist attacks in Paris. It also gives prominence to the announcement that the hunting referendum will be held on April 11.
The Malta Independent on Sunday quotes Simon Busuttil saying the shadow cabinet reshuffle was 'just the beginning'.
MaltaToday says the anti hunting lobby may have bungled on the hunting question and people may be asked to say no if they want spring hunting removed.
It-Torca says people are bartering their homes for a bed in an old people's home.
Il-Mument says people in high places had put pressure for the granting of visas for travellers from countries such as North Korea to work at Leisure Clothing. It also says Malta is keeping a sharp look-out after the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Illum says security at Malta's airport and seaports has been stepped up after the events in Paris and the Police Commissioner says all necessary precautions are being taken.
The overseas press
France 24 reports Paris is gearing up for the security challenge posed by a giant rally that would be held this afternoon in honour of 17 victims killed in separate attacks that targeted a satirical newspaper, a kosher supermarket and the police. Three gunmen were also killed. Paris expects up to a million participants at today’s unity rally after an estimated 700,000 people marched yesterday in cities across France.
According to Europe 1 radio, Hayat Boumeddienne might not be in France but in Syria, where she arrived on January 2 from Turkey. French authorities think Boumeddiene, partner of hostage-taker Amedy Coulibaly, has vital information about an Islamic extremist cell and the links between the different attackers.
AFP says the family of one of the police officers murdered in Wednesday’s assault by Islamic extremists on the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris has appealed for the public not to blame all Muslims for the attack.
Deutsche Welle reports tens of thousands of people have marched in Dresden, taking a stand against the anti-Islamisation PEGIDA group and calling for “open mindedness and humanity”. On its Facebook page, PEGIDA wrote that the Charlie Hebdo shooting showed the “Islamists, which PEGIDA has been warning about for 12 weeks, showed they are not capable of democracy but rather look to violence and death as an answer”.
Handlesblatt says police in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia have taken an alleged member of the “Islamic State” terror organisation into custody. The 24-year-old supposedly went to Syria in 2013 to join the jihadist group.
According to Die Welt, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has criticised Russia for its attitude on Ukraine’s separatist forces. She said she was willing to attend a summit with the heads of state of France, Russia and Ukraine, but that the summit could only take place if there were concrete advances on the Ukraine crisis.
Metro reports unusually warm storms sweeping Europe have spoilt winter sports, caused flooding and stalled the arrival of the world’s largest container ship, the “Globe” – a 400-metre-long Chinese ocean giant, which can carry 19,100 containers. Temperatures as mild as 18 degrees Celsius had been measured in southern Germany and 15 degrees in London, contrasting with colder weather along the eastern Mediterranean which has brought misery to tens of thousands of Syrian war refugees at camps in Lebanon and Turkey.
Daily Post says a 10-year-old suicide bomber blew herself up in northeastern Nigeria, killing at least 20 people and injuring 18 more. The police believe the device was remotely triggered by a militant who was keeping at a safe distance, without the girl knowing or understanding what was going on.
al-bawaba reports a suicide bomb attack in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli has claimed at least seven lives. The blast occurred in a coffee shop in an area home to loyalists of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is incensed that her husband, former President Bill Clinton, has been tied to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who’s also at the heart of an investigation into Prince Andrew’s alleged sexual dalliances with a minor, the New York Post reports. The sources told the Post they witnessed at the funeral of Mario Cuomo an obviously upset Hilary “storm” past her husband, who waited for her at the door of the church. Mrs Clinton, widely considered the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential bid, is reportedly outraged that her husband’s name has again popped up in a sex scandal.
AGI quotes the anti-pedophilia association Meter saying that in a space of 16 hours, 35,546 visited, viewed and downloaded videos with babies sexually abused. Launching an awareness campaign, Meter also reported more than 350 infants had been enslaved and sexually involved, tortured, burned and killed.
EurasiaNet says Turkey’s top religious body has urged Muslims with tattoos to either remove them or at least repent for their sin. The first to criticise the widespread use of tattoos among Turkey’s youth was President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who labelled them as “immoral”.