The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports how David Spiteri Gingell, former CEO of Enemalta, blamed the Finance Ministry for problems at Enemalta which led to his resignation. He was testifying before the Public Accounts Committee.
The Malta Independent reports Mr Spiteri Gingell's comments. It also reports how the Whistleblower Act has come into force.
In-Nazzjon says the stake in Enemalta which is being sold to China could reach 35%. It also says that Nationalist workers were excluded from social activities for Transport Malta workers.
l-orizzont also leads with the evidence given by Mr Spiteri Gingell before the Public Accounts Committee.
The overseas press
Cheers, hugs, applause and the blowing of sirens of ships around the island of Giglio greeted the news at 4.13 this morning that the 20-hour salvage operation to upright and stabilise the Costa Concordia cruise liner had been successful. Ansa quotes the head of Civil Protection Franco Gabrielli telling a news conference the parbuckling operation of the ship had been completed.
Fox News reports a lone gunman shot and killed 12 people and wounded dozens of others before being felled by police inside a US naval complex in central Washington. The police identified the gunman as Aaron Alexis, a former serviceman in the US Navy reserve, who had been working for a company upgrading the navy’s computer equipment. President Obama called the attack “a tragedy” and “a cowardly act”. Investigators originally thought two other shooters were involved but they later determined that Alexisa acted alone. Hours after the shooting, there was a security scare at the White House when a man threw fire crackers over a perimeter fence.
CNN says President Obama has signed an executive order directing the government to provide some factions of the Syrian opposition with aid and training to deal with any future chemical weapons attacks. The directive came just hours after UN inspectors issued a report on Monday citing “clear and convincing evidence” that deadly sarin gas was used on a relatively large scale in a chemical attack near Damascus last month that Washington says killed 1,400 people. The inspectors said environmental, chemical and medical samples show evidence that surface-to-surface rockets, containing the nerve agent sarin were used in the August 21 attack.
The New York Times says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned the findings, calling the incident a “war crime”. The UN report did not speculate on who launched the attacks on the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus but Ban urged the Council to impose “consequences” should Syrian President Assad fail to hold to a US-Russia brokered agreement to destroy the country's chemical weapons stockpile.
Earlier, the United States, France and Britain agreed on the need for a strong UN resolution that sets precise and binding deadlines for Syria to give up its chemical weapons. Le Monde reports US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking in Paris, said anything less than full compliance by the Syrian government with a UN resolution will not be accepted. Kerry spoke alongside British counterpart William Hague and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, after talks aimed at solidifying Western resolve to force the Assad government to eliminate its chemical stockpile.
However, Pravda says there is disagreement with Russia about the consequences of Damascus failing to comply, with Moscow cautious about any wording that might stipulate punitive measures. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said such an approach threatened to derail the Geneva peace talks proposed by Russia and the US.
Syria has condemned Turkey for shooting down a Syrian military helicopter on the Turkish side of the border. Al-bawaba quotes a statement by Syria’s armed forces saying Turkey’s “hasty reaction to an inadvertent incursion” showed the Turkish government’s true intention was to escalate the situation.
Le Soir says international donors have pledged more that €1.8 billion to rebuild Somalia. Delegates from 50 countries across Africa, Europe and the Persian Gulf came together in Brussels yesterday to sign a “New Deal Compact” to help rebuild Somalia, after two decades of civil war and lawlessness. The EU would give €650 million in addition to the €1.2 billion it gave Somalia from 2008 to 2013.
According to VOA, for the first time in its history, a woman could succeed Chairman Ben Bernanke to lead the US Federal Reserve, the country's key monetary policy agency and an important link in the world economy. A key White House economic adviser in the early years of Obama's presidency, Lawrence Summers, withdrew his name Sunday from consideration to lead the central bank and his withdrawal could lead to the appointment of the first woman chairman of the Fed, Janet Yellen, currently the central bank's vice chairman. Economic observers said Yellen is the likely choice.
AFP reports Amnesty International announced early this morning it had awarded its highest honour to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager shot in the head last year by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education. Malala will share the 2013 Ambassador of Conscience Award with American singer and human rights activist Harry Belafonte.The award, which acknowledges “individuals who have promoted and enhanced the cause of human rights through their life and by example”, will be presented by Irish rock singer Bono at a ceremony in Dublin, later today.