The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Sunday Times reports that the police are urging vigilance as burglars target gold. It also reports that the EU is to drop power station proceedings against Malta.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says that John Dalli has told journalists that his ‘four-year sentence’ in Brussels will end soon. He indicated he will return to the Maltese political fray.
Malta Today says that one of the owners of the Phoenicia hotel is being seen as responsible for the Irish financial crisis as he owes Irish banks some €1 billion.
Il-Mument reports that the EU found no case against Malta in the power station extension contract.
It-Torca says an 82-year-old woman had lost her electricity grant because it was sent late. It also says that the President’s former secretary, Olaf Terribile, has been acquitted of all claims made against him.
Illum raises questions of a possible link between the murder of businessman Ray Agius in April 2008 and the attempted murder of Joe Baldacchino last week.
KullHadd says Tonio Fenech has lost his right to institute libel proceedings against the newspaper over reports that Rainbow Turnkey Projects carried out works at his private home.
The overseas press
As EU finance ministers prepare to meet in Brussels to finalize a bailout deal for Ireland before markets reopen on Monday, The Irish Times reports tens of thousands of protesters marched through the Irish capital Dublin to protest against severe austerity measures announced this week. The state deficit is currently at a crippling 32 percent.
The Irish Independent predicts that some of the €85-billion-bailout loans to Ireland would ost the Irish taxpayer “a penal 6.7pc in interest” – a much higher-than-expected interest cost that would run into billions of euro a year. By contrast, Greece, which earlier this year borrowed almost €115 billion from the European bailout fund and the IMF, was paying an average interest rate of about 5.2 per cent for its loans.
Deutsche Welle quotes German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle saying that Germany was not considering issuing eurozone bonds to counter Europe’s debt crisis. But the German news weekly Focus cited sources claiming that Germany might drop its objections to such bonds, if strict conditions for tougher sanctions on countries running up excessive deficits were imposed. The solution would help troubled eurozone countries by bringing down their borrowing costs.
The Oregonian says a Somali-born US citizen, 19-year-old Mohamed Osman Mohamud has been arrested and charged after attempting to detonate a bomb in Portland moments before the city's annual Christmas tree-lighting ceremony today. But the supposed explosive was a dummy that had been supplied to him by FBI operatives. According to court documents, Osman plotted "a spectacular show" of terrorism for months, saying he didn't mind that children would die if he bombed a crowded Christmas tree-lighting ceremony.
The New York Post reports the United States and South Korea began joint war games today, as South Koreans demanded vengeance over the deadly North Korean artillery bombardment that has raised fears of more clashes between the bitter rivals. Four South Koreans, including two civilians, died after the North rained artillery on the small Yellow Sea island of Yeonpyeong, which is home to both fishing communities and military bases
Meanwhile, Choson Sinbo quotes a statement by the North saying civilians were used as a "human shield" around artillery positions in what it called a "propaganda campaign" against Pyongyang. It claimed the United States orchestrated last Tuesday's clash so that it could stage joint naval exercises in the Yellow Sea with the South that include a US nuclear powered super carrier — enraging the North and making neighboring China uneasy.
The Dominion Post says there was another explosion at the Pike River Coal mine in New Zealand, where 29 miners were killed. The blast, the fourth at the mine since an initial November 19 explosion trapped the men, demonstrated the colliery's volatility. Emergency crews have been unable to recover bodies from the remote South Island mine because it remains flooded with explosive methane gas.
Al Jazeera reports Egyptians go to the polls to elect a new parliament amid fears of vote fraud, following a campaign marred by violence and a crackdown on the opposition. As the Middle East's most populous nation prepared to elect 508 members of parliament, security forces were on high alert after violent clashes erupted throughout the Nile Delta and in the south of the country.
Le Matin says Haitian voters also prepare to pick a new president to rebuild a nation crippled by mismanagement, an earthquake that killed 250,000 people and now cholera outbreak that has claimed 1,648 lives. At the head of the 18-strong presidential field are a 70-year-old academic and former first lady who could become Haiti's first woman leader, and a young technocrat plucked from obscurity to be the ruling party's candidate.
According to Obozrenie, Moldovans go to the polls today to elect a new parliament disillusioned with politics and full of apathy. In 18 months, voters in Moldova have been called to the polls three times. In April 2009, a rigged election caused serious turmoil, and the communists had to hand over power to an alliance of four former opposition parties.
Tages Anzeiger says Swiss voters are to go to the polls today to decide on a proposal that would see foreigners who commit crimes become subject to automatic deportation.
Corriere della Sera reports that three hikers have died after being caught in an avalanche in northern Italy. They were hiking in a spot known to be at risk of avalanches, in the Mortirolo Pass, north of Brescia. One of the three was extracted alive by rescue teams, but subsequently died.
China Daily says seven workers were killed and three others injured when a bridge under construction in eastern China collapsed. The accident occurred in the city of Nanjing when part of the steel structure gave way, plunging the workers more than 10 metres to their deaths.
The Globe and Mail reports that a two-year-old was among seven people killed when lightning struck a large tent erected for a Christmas party at a kindergarten in South Africa. A further 67 people, including parents and toddlers, were injured during the storm.
O Globo says police in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro have intensified a crackdown on drug gangs in the city's sprawling shantytowns, that has resulted in the death of at least 45 people and the detention of 192 others since the operation began last week. Amid intermittent gunfire, security forces were preparing to enter Alemao, a grouping of a dozen slums where more than 85,000 people live, a day after troops entered Vila Cruzeiro, a neighbouring slum.
Tribune de Genève quotes the International Federation of the Red Cross saying the spread of HIV and AIDS among millions of people could be slowed if addicts who inject drugs were treated as medical patients rather than as criminals. An estimated 16 million people worldwide inject drugs. The launch of the federation’s report to promote a new strategy for nations to stop the spread of the virus among injecting drug users, comes in the week before World AIDS Day on Dec. 1.