The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that drugs are being delivered by courier. It also reports that a recent abortion ruling by the European Court is not relevant to Malta.
The Malta Independent reports how the GRTU called off a strike by petrol station owners. It also carries comments by the Pope on how the Church must reflect on what allowed abuse.
In-Nazzjon says that Mosta council has a €67,000 deficit. It also says that the Local Councils Department told the police immediately it was informed of alleged abuses by the former Sliema Mayor.
l-orizzont says a 14-year-old boy had a pact with a friend to take a drug overdose.
The overseas press
Air and land transport in mainland Europe continue to be heavily as thousands of flights and train services have been cancelled across Europe because of snow and ice, leaving many travellers stranded.
Le Soir says Brussels Airport was forced to cancel flights when it ran short of de-icing liquid and could not guarantee safe departures. The shortage was because of transport problems in France.
Deutsche Welle reports that more than 1,000 flights at airports in Frankfurt, Munich and Berlin were cancelled and more delayed after up to 40 cm of fresh snow blanketed Germany. Airlines advised passengers to use trains but rail operator Deutsche Bahn urged them to stay home.
According to Le Parisien thousands of Eurostar passengers were stranded at the Gare du Nord station in Paris after the operator faced delays and cancellations. About 3,000 people were stranded at Charles de Gaulle airport and airlines have been asked airlines to reduce services into the city’s two airports by a third.
In Italy, La Nazione says Florence’s airport was closed after snow and ice storms hit last Thursday.
The front pages of most of the British nationals are also dominated by the travel misery faced by "more than half a million" Christmas travellers as snow and ice grip the UK. The Daily Morror said some 1,000 flights have been cancelled while Metro says the big freeze has left as many as 10,000 Eurostar passengers stuck in Britain. The Daily Star says temperatures could sink to a record low of -270C in England.
The European edition of The Wall Street Journal focuses on the arrests of 12 people over a suspected terrorist plot targeting the UK. British police described the arrests as "absolutely necessary" for public safety. The Guardian says counter-terrorism officials acted over fears of "multiple bomb attacks" with Christmas shoppers in the West Midlands allegedly among the targets.
The New York Times says the UN Security Council has urged all parties in Ivory Coast to recognise opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as president and extended the mandate of the peacekeeping force for six months. Incumbent President Laurent Gbagbo had ordered the 10,000-strong force to leave the country after the UN said he lost November's disputed run-off vote. Meanwhile, officials said the EU would impose a travel ban on Mr Gbagbo
Julian Assange, the man behind WikiLeaks, has launched a wide ranging series of attacks on both his enemies and allies as he defended his public and private conduct. In his first UK newspaper interview since releasing hundreds of secret diplomatic cables last month, he told The Times that he predicts the US would face reprisals if it attempts to extradite him on conspiracy charges. Mr Assange also accused his media partners at The Guardian of unfairly tarnishing him by revealing damaging details of the sex assault allegations he faces in Sweden. He insisted that the women behind the claims were motivated by revenge.
Asia Observer says artillery drills by South Korea passed without incident despite threats from North Korea of ‘catastrophic retaliation’ if they went ahead. Pyongyang failed to react as it did last month when similar exercises resulted in Yeonpyeong island being shelled, killing four people.
A strong earthquake has shaken south-eastern Iran, leaving a number of buildings damaged. Iranian state TV said there were no reports of injuries following the 6.5-magnitude quake in Hosseinabad, an area close to the historical city of Bam, where a quake of a similar strength killed more than 26,000 people in 2003. Telephone contacts to the stricken area have been cut off, and relief teams have been dispatched to the area.
Minsk Times reports that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has hit back against international criticism of his reelection and the violence that followed it on Sunday. Both the EU, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe and the United States had accused the violent dispersal by riot police of a post-election protest rally on Sunday night. At a news conference in Minsk he praised his security forces for putting down the "banditry" of the "vandals" in the streets. Seven of Lukashenko's nine challengers have been arrested and are still being held.
Kyiv Post says Ukraine's former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has been accused of misappropriating more than €151 million in state funds while she was in office. If convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison, followed by a three-year ban from politics. She has denied the charges, saying they are politically motivated.
Metro reports that the brother of young Harry Potter actress Afshan Azad was warned he faced jail for attacking his sister over her relationship with a non-Muslim. Prosecutors said Ashraf Azad branded his sister a prostitute and subjected her to a “wholly unnecessary and unpleasant assault” when he discovered her boyfriend was a Hindu. The 22-year-old victim who played Padma Patil, a classmate of the teenage wizard in the JK Rowling films, was so scared she fled the family home by climbing out of a window.