The following are the top items in the Maltese and overseas press today:
The Sunday Times reports that former Police Inspector David Gatt may face further charges. It also says that three people are to be charged after an elderly woman died following a bag-snatching incident in Sliema.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says grit blasting is to continue at the dockyard, amid concerns by neighbours for their health. It also features warning signs for 2011, as commodity prices are expected to spike.
Malta Today says the CVA system to control traffic in Valletta was doomed from the start because technology was poor. It also reports that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando has donated his parliamentary raise to the Divorce Movement.
Il-Mument highlights how a Maltese is on his way for Christmas missionary work in Guatemala.
It-Torca says that 2.5 per cent of births in Malta end in abortion. It says that last week's European Court decision on abortion may have an impact on Malta. It also reports that Malta has no guarantees of a secure electricity supply despite the interconnector.
Illum says that 30 of people, mostly elderly, say they feel sad at Christmas.
KullHadd reports that a Nationalist Mayor, John Zammit Montebello gave medical assistance to the alleged thieves in the HSBC depot attempted hold-up.
The overseas press
Arctic blizzards and freezing temperatures shut down runways, train tracks and highways across Europe, disrupting flights and leaving shivering drivers stranded on roadsides for hours. Airports in Britain, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark reported cancelations or delays to flights.
The Sunday Express reckons Britain was the worst affected with its busiest airport, Heathrow, still closed. Hundreds of motorists were left stranded on the major route in northwest England following a deluge, prompting police patrols to offer food and water to drivers. Britain is experiencing its coldest December on record, and the Met office predicted more snow in the eastern areas. The Times forecasts England might break the record of minus 26 degrees Celcius. Daily Star Sunday reports the "whitemare" would last all week, with shops fearing they would lose a total of £4 billion because of the bad weather.
Sporting Life reports horse racing meetings and dozens of soccer games in England and Scotland were called off as a result of the conditions, including the high profile match scheduled for today in London between Chelsea and Manchester United.
In Italy, Corriere della Sera says the Autostrada del Sole, the country's main north-south highway, was jammed with hundreds of vehicles, whose chilly occupants had to sleep in their cars, vans or trucks.
Le Journal du Dimanche reports Paris was sprinkled with a light coat of snow, leading civil aviation authorities to cancel 15 per cent of flights at the cities of Paris. The airports at Nantes and Rennes were also affected.
Deutsche Welle says a significant number of domestic and European flights were cancelled at Germany's Frankfurt airport as it dealt with the disruption. Some journeys were either cancelled or subject to delays. At one point, police were called to calm passengers who became abusive at a Lufthansa check-in counter and the unrest verged on violence.
Copenhagen’s Ekstra-Bladet reports that the icy weather also swept over large parts of Scandinavia, causing problems particularly in Denmark, where dozens of flights were cancelled. Train traffic between Denmark and southern Sweden were also disrupted due to track problems, partly due to the snow, forcing passengers to instead take buses between the two countries.
In Sweden, where Aftonbladet suggests the country was experiencing the coldest winter weather this early on in the season since the mid-1800's, several road accidents were reported, with more than 20 in the Stockholm area alone.
CNN reports the US Senate has voted to scrap the 17-year-old ban on gay men and lesbians openly serving in the armed forces. The vote was 65-31. The House had passed an identical version of the bill, 250-175, last week. President Barack Obama, who was expected to sign the Bill next week, called the vote a “historic step that would end the policy that violated the very ideas the military was fighting to defend”.
Ansa reports that Amanda Knox has won an important victory in her appeals trial of her murder conviction in Italy, when a court ruled that it will allow an independent review of crucial DNA evidence after defence claims that samples were inconclusive and possibly contaminated. The lower court trial, which convicted the American student a year ago and sentenced her to 26 years in Italian prison, had rejected a similar defence request.
Dhaka’s Weekly Blitz says at least 32 people – all women and children – drowned when a boat capsized on a river in northeastern Bangladesh after being hit by a cargo-laden ship.
Abrar reports Iran was cutting the large state subsidies which allow the Iranians to but cheap food and fuel. President Ahmedinejad said the country could not longer afford the cost which amounts to €76 billion each year.
Asia OIbserver says Russia has added its voice to warnings that tensions in the Korea Peninsula could escalate further and advocated that the UN stepped in. Earlier, China described the situation as precarious.
Grandma reports Cuban President Raol Castro has urged Cuans to support his programme of sweeping economic change, saying the future of the revolution was at stake. He said easing restrictions of private enterprise was designed to save the socialist system and was not a return to capitalism.
The New York Times says UN Secretary General Ban Ky-moon has strongly rejected the demand for all international troops in Ivory Coast to leave immediately. A spokesman for Incumbent Ivory Coast President Laurent Gbagbo, who is refusing to step down, said UN and French troops had to go because they were colluding with his rivals.
Leicester Mercury says the snowy weather helped uncover a cannabis factory in the city. Police officers raided the premises after spotting that snow had melted on the building's roof as a result of heat from industrial-strength lights used in the cultivation of the drug.
Jeune Afrique reports disturbances reports from the Congolese city of Lubumbashi after the local football club, TP Mazembe, was beating 3-0 by Inter in yesterday’s Club World Cup final in Abu Dhabi. There were also reports of sporadic looting, broken up by police who fires shots over the fans’ heads.
AFP says Pakistani advertisers in the feminine hygiene business have harnessed the political notoriety of WikiLeaks to tell women that while the US State Department might leak, they don't have to. Advertising sanitary pads on selected billboards in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi, the latest catchphrase is: "WikiLeaks... Butterfly doesn’t."