The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says the majority are optimistic for the country and themselves in the New Year.
The Malta Independent focuses on the New Year messages by the President and the Prime Minister.
L-orizzont says a fifth of people in Malta in 2061 will be foreigners.
In-Nazzjon leads with Simon Busuttil’s calls for consensus in his New Year message.
The overseas press
Global Post reports more than one million people crammed the Sydney Harbour foreshore to watch the exploding fireworks at midnight as the world ushered in a new year. Closer to the edge of the International Dateline, New Zealand bid farewell to 2013 two hours before Sydney. East Asian cities were next to ring in the new year, with Beijing, Jakarta and Singapore all hosting celebrations. Brazil was among the latest countries to welcome in the new year with a huge firework display in Rio de Janeiro.
The Financial Times points out Romanians and Bulgarians will have the right to work in any of the European Union's 28 countries as of today, sparking fears of mass invasion and benefits tourism in Britain and Germany. Britain rushed through a series of measures to ban EU migrants from claiming unemployment handouts from the moment they arrive, while German lawmakers raised concerns about social benefits fraud. But Bucharest and Sofia slapped down the fears, saying their countrymen are not planning an exodus en masse.
Baltic Times reports that Latvia officially adopted the euro at the stroke of midnight, making the former Soviet state of two million people the 18th member of the eurozone. As a huge firework display roared in Riga, the people of the Baltic state bade a reluctant farewell to their cherished lat – seen as a symbol of independence from the Soviet Union – to switch to the troubled European single currency. Only a quarter of Latvians approved the change while half the nation cringed with the fear of rising prices amid already draconian austerity cuts.
Voice of Russia says a bomb placed under a car has killed Rasul Gasanov, the assistant public prosecutor for Buinaksk in Dagestan. The attack follows bombings in Volgograd, which have claimed 34 lives after three people in critical conditions succumbed to injuries.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has hailed the recent execution of his powerful uncle as a “resolute action”, labelling Jang Song-Thaek as “scum”. In his New Year message broadcast on state TV, Kim said the party “took resolute action to remove... scum elements” and accused Jang of trying to build his own powerbase within the ruling party. “Our party's timely, accurate decision to purge the anti-party, anti-revolutionary elements helped greatly cement solidarity within our party,” he said.
Euronews says passengers on board a research ship trapped in Antarctic ice for a week are pinning their hopes on a helicopter rescue after three icebreakers failed to reach the paralysed vessel. The 74 scientists, tourists and crew on the Russian ship MV Akademik Shokalskiy, which has been stuck since Christmas Eve, were hoping the Australian icebreaker Aurora Australis would be able to get through the thick ice and allow them to continue on their way. But fierce winds and snow forced it to retreat to open water.
New Nation says anti-government rebels in South Sudan have taken control of nearly all of a strategic city on Tuesday, even as officials announced that representatives from the government and the rebels agreed to hold talks for the first time. The announcement that talks would soon take place in neighbouring Ethiopia was the first political breakthrough since ethnically-based violence began on December 15. The violence has killed more than 1,000 people.
Burma FM reports the Government of Myanmar has taken a further step to put an end to the dark years of the military dictatorship. It announced that “there are no more political prisoners” in the country after the passing of the amnesty that followed President Thein Sein's commitment to release all dissidents by the end of the year.
The Lancet quotes researchers saying vitamin E might slow the progression of mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease – the first time any treatment has been shown to alter the course of dementia at that stage. In a study of more than 600 older veterans, high doses of the vitamin delayed the decline in daily living skills, such as making meals, getting dressed and holding a conversation, by about six months over a two-year period.
Hawaii Star says a woman whose last name is 36 characters long has finally got it to fit on her driving licence and state identification card. Janice “Lokelani” Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele received her new licence and ID after her campaign to get her full name on the cards prompted the state’s Department of Transportation to change its policy and expand how many characters can appear on them. Hawaii driving licences and ID cards previously had room for names of up to 35 characters. But Ms Keihanaikukauakahihuliheekahaunaele’s name has 35 letters plus an okina, a mark used in the Hawaiian alphabet. The new policy allows 40 characters for last names, 40 for first names and 35 for middle names.