The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times reports how a teacher was jailed for sexually abusing a boy. It also says the health minister’s partner has been appointed as his aide in the health ministry.
The Malta Independent reproduces an article by Al Arabiya saying that sunny Malta hopes to dispel economic gloom as 'Europe's Dubai'. It also reports how a Magisterial inquiry has been appointed into a prisoner’s death.
In-Nazzjon gives prominence to the appointment of Marlene Farrugia in the health ministry. She is the minister’s partner.
l-orizzont says the former Mepa chairman had no contract despite a €93,000 salary. It also reports on the imprisonment of two men for child sexual abuse.
The overseas press
The Financial Times reports German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President François Hollande of France have snubbed the UK coalition’s much-heralded review of the relationship between Brussels and EU member-states. British Prime Minister David Cameron had hoped the exercise would prompt a Europe-wide reappraisal of the way in which Brussels’ rules have encroached on national life. But after high-level discussions between the French and German governments, they have decided not to assist the British review. The exercise, launched in July, has been blackballed by most other member states.
Libya Herald says a senior assistant to Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has been kidnapped. Ali Ghatus was returning from Misrata late on Sunday afternoon when he was seized at a checkpoint outside Tripoli. He had last spoken to his family by mobile phone from his car before he was taken. An investigation has been launched but so far there is no information as to his whereabouts or his kidnappers.
CNN quotes a US Defence Department official saying the US Navy was moving a warship and a sea-based radar platform closer to the North Korean coast in order to monitor that country’s military moves, including possible new missile launches. They follow weeks of belligerent rhetoric from North Korea, including threats to use nuclear weapons. Meanwhile, South Korea's newly-elected President Park Geun-hye said in Seoul on Monday that if there was any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations.
The UN General Assembly is expected to vote later today on what would be the first UN treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar international arms trade after Iran, North Korea and Syria blocked its adoption by consensus. Assembly spokesman Nikola Jovanovic told The Associated Press the resolution to adopt the treaty requires support from a majority of the 193 member-states. There has never been an international treaty regulating the estimated $60 billion global arms trade.
Globalpost reports that the United States has urged Serbia and Kosovo to reach an agreement when the two former foes meet for a highly anticipated round of EU-sponsored talks later today. The latest round of talks in Brussels is aimed at normalizing relations between Serbia and breakaway Kosovo, paving the way to eventual membership of the European Union.
Cyprus plans to lift a ban on casinos and offer firms tax exemptions on profits reinvested on the island under a package of reforms to kick-start its ailing economy. Cyprus Mail says President Nicos Anastasiades, who briefed ministers on the economy during an informal meeting, said the 12-point growth plan includes measures to attract foreign investment to the island – a hub for offshore finance.
Meanwhile, Der Spiegel reports several Cypriot companies were allegedly able to move millions out of the country ahead of tight capital restrictions imposed as part of the recent bailout. President Anastasiades has been accused of passing on insider information to relatives to help them avoid losses.
Veteran Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal has been elected for a new term as head of the Palestinian Islamist movement at a meeting in Cairo. AFP says there had been speculation that Meshaal, who is based in exile, would be forced aside by the movement's powerful leaders in the Gaza Strip, which it has controlled since 2007. Hamas officials were in Cairo on Sunday and Monday for the vote, and to discuss with Egyptian leaders reconciliation with the rival Fatah faction of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas.
Times of India reports the country’s Supreme Court has rejected a bid from Swiss pharmaceuticals group Novartis to patent a cancer drug. Novartis was attempting to patent Glivec, a treatment for chronic myeloid leukaemia and other forms of cancer. The company said the ruling was a setback for patients because it could keep big drug companies from researching new options to treat disease. However, health advocates say the ruling would actually make it easier for generic companies to produce alternatives to the expensive Swiss drug now used by 16, 000 cancer patients in India. A month's supply of Novartis' Glivec costs approximately €2,000, compared to generic versions by Indian pharmaceutical producers that run around €170.
CBS News says the1958 manuscript of “Breakfast at Tiffany's”, Truman Capote's book on which the film with the legendary Audrey Hepburn was based, is to be sold at an auction in New Hampshire in April. The document, which contains the author’s marginal notes, is expected to fetch at least $250,000 (€195,000).