The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times reports how Judge Ray Pace was granted bail yesterday as the compilation of evidence started after he was accused of bribery. It also reports that an usher has been questioned by the police over missing court documents related to a drug case.
The Malta Independent also leads with the bail granted to Judge Pace. It also says that a campaign against drink driving was launched yesterday.
MaltaToday says that Darren Desira, who was jailed 18 years after admitting association to import drugs, is set to appeal. A judge and two men face charges of bribery and trading in influence to raise his prison term. It also says that the OLAF report is unclear in Dalli’s involvement in the Silvio Zammit trading in influence case.
In-Nazzjon says Methode is investing $50m on new technology which will be based in Malta. It also reports how Judge Ray Pace has been granted bail.
l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying he will announce his tariff reduction plans in the first week of the electoral campaign.
The overseas press
Newtown, Connecticut, returned its students to their classrooms on Tuesday for the first time since last week's massacre of 20 schoolchildren and six adults – and faced the agonising task of laying others to rest, as this grieving town wrestled with the same issues gripping the country: violence, gun control and finding a way forward. Newtown Bee says funerals were held for two more of the tiny fallen – a six-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl.
The debate over gun laws in America has moved up a gear. The Washington Post quotes President Obama saying he was supporting a total ban on the sale and ownership of the type of assault rifles used in the Sandy Hook school massacre last Friday - in which 20 young children were killed. Killer Adam Lanza used a Bushmaster AR-15, a civilian version of the military’s M-16, which were outlawed in the US under the 1994 assault weapons ban. But the law expired in 2004.
Associated Press reports Congressional gun rights supporters have shown an increased willingness to consider new legislation to control firearms in the aftermath of the Connecticut school shootings – provided it also addresses mental health issues and the impact of violent video games. New York’s mayor Michael Bloomberg has again pressed the president and Congress to toughen gun laws and tighten enforcement.
Bloomberg says the powerful US gun lobby felt the first backlash from the Newtown massacre when a leading private equity group decided to sell its stake in the company that made the killer’s assault rifle. Cerberus Capital Management said it would sell its stake in Bushmaster, calling Friday’s attack a watershed event in the national debate on gun control. The group said it was deeply saddened by the shooting.
Chicago Tribune reports that the National Rifle Association has pledged to help prevent future tragedies like that at Sandy Hook. In its statement, the NRA said its members were “shocked, saddened and heartbroken by the news of the horrific and senseless murders”.
An 11-year-old US primary school boy caught with a gun at school told staff he brought the weapon to defend himself in case of an attack similar to the mass shooting in Connecticut. The Salt Lake Tribune reports that two classmates at reported the gun to a teacher toward the end of the school day on Monday. The teacher “immediately apprehended the student” and police responded shortly after.
Kyiv Post reports 10 people have died of exposure in Ukraine amid temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius, bringing the toll this month to 37. The health ministry said some 190 people asked for medical attention due to hypothermia and frostbite, and 162 of them were hospitalised. The country was hit with a cold snap and snowstorms which left nearly 600 villages without electricity last week. Temperatures fell to minus 16 degrees Celsius in the centre and south of the country and to minus 23 degrees Celsius in eastern Lugansk region.
Euronews says the European Union has announced it would donate its Nobel Peace Prize money to projects that help child refugees. The award will benefit some 23,000 children across three continents. Officials in Brussels said the €930,000-prize money would be increased to €2 million, for projects that support refugee and displaced children Syria, Iraq, Colombia, Congo, Ethiopia and Pakistan.
The Wall Street Journal reports the World Bank has announced a $900 million support plan for Iraq aimed at helping the war-ravaged country better manage its human and vast oil resources. The World Bank's four-year support for Iraq, through 2016, will focus on job creation, social inclusion and building stronger institutions, the institution said.
Kathemerini says ratings agency Standard & Poor's has raised Greece's credit rating by six notches to B. The ruling pulls Greece out of what S&P deems to be "selective default", though the agency still considers Greek bonds to be "speculative" or "non-investment grade" papers. Greece's economy, which has been in recession for the past five years, is anticipated to contract by 6.5 percent in 2012.
Interfax news agency says Russia has sent warships to the Mediterranean after some of its senior diplomats said last week that Moscow might call for the evacuation of Russian citizens in Syria if the government in Damascus falls. The Russian Defence Ministry said ships from its Baltic Fleet would replace other vessels that have been patrolling the Eastern Mediterranean since November.
The Korea Times says millions of South Koreans have began voting in a tightly-contested presidential election. Park Geun-hye of the governing Saenuri party is looking to make history as South Korea's first female president. But she faces a tough challenge from Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party who has been steadily eroding her lead in the polls. The country's slowing economy, welfare and jobs creation has dominated the election campaign.
Mail & Guardian announces that South African President Jacob Zuma has won a landslide victory to remain the head of the governing African National Congress, despite being trailed by corruption allegations. He won 2,983 out of 3,977 votes cast, making him the odds-on favourite to retain the presidency after the 2014 general elections. Zuma faced a challenge from his deputy, former trade unionist Kgalema Motlanthe, who won 991 of the votes.
Al Ahram reports that Egyptians opposed to the constitution put forward by President Mohammed Morsi have been protesting in Cairo. Opponents of the draft document argue that it tramples civil liberties and ultimately will give Islamists control of the judiciary. With the second round of voting taking place in districts considered more sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood on December 22, the constitution appears likely to pass.
International Business Times says the Taliban have murdered five women polio health workers in a series of attacks in Pakistan. The victims were shot in the head at close range, two of them as they administered vaccine drops to young children. The killings halted a polio campaign which the Taliban claim is a cover for US spies.
Huffington Post reports President Jalal Talabani of Iraq has had a stroke and his medical team in Baghdad were fighting to stabilise his condition. Talabani, a rare unifying figure who is seen to rise above the country's ethnic and sectarian fault lines, has been actively involved in trying to mediate the crisis between Iraq's central government and the country's Kurdish minority.
The Guardian says a UK Independent Party candidate has been suspended for comments on abortion. Geoffrey Clark suggested compulsory terminations should be considered for foetuses with Down's syndrome or Spina Bifida. The would-be Kent county councillor said if born, they would become a "burden on the state as well as on the family". The party has apologised, calling the views "abhorrent".
Miami Herald reports Paula Broadwell , the mistress of former CIA head David Petraeus, has escaped charges over e-mails she sent to a supposed rival. The US Justice Department has announced it was dropping its investigation into whether Broadwell stalked her romantic rival online. Petraeus resigned as CIA director last month after acknowledging the extra-marital affair, which was exposed after Broadwell emailed Tampa socialite Jill Kelley, allegedly warning her to stay away from Petraeus..
Aceshowbiz says a beauty queen who claimed this year's Miss USA contest was fixed has been ordered to pay the pageant organization $5 million for defamation. The arbitrator found that the comments from Miss Pennsylvania USA Sheena Monnin were false, harmful and malicious. Monnin had alleged that the five finalists had been selected in advance of the pageant's live telecast.