The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta leads with the arraignment yesterday of a jobless man who stands accused of killing his former partner’s father.
The Malta Independent reports on the costs of IVF hormone treatment.
In-Nazzjon says Norman Vella has filed a court application for the release of his mobile and tablet by the police.
l-orizzont also reports on yesterday’s arraignment after Sunday’s murder in Kalkara. It says the aggressor fired at the victim and continued to beat him.
The overseas press
Euronews reports at least 14 people were killed across northern Europe in the storms, which hit the region late on Sunday, packing winds of up to 170 kph. Of these, seven were killed in Germany, including at least three hit by uprooted trees. Four people were killed in the UK and on each in France, the Netherlands and Denmark. The storms caused major disruption to public transportation and fell trees and power lines, leaving thousands of homes without electricity.
According to Huffington Post, the Senate Intelligence Committee will launch a “major review” of US intelligence operations after its chair, Senator Dianne Feinstein, warned she had not been “satisfactorily informed” about the spying now roiling US-European relations. She said it was clear to her that certain surveillance activities had been in effect for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, the United States has defended the use of mass surveillance in foreign countries as necessary to safeguard its own citizens. VOA News quotes White House spokesman, Jay Carney saying President Obama expressing “full confidence” in the leadership of the National Security Agency. Carey said it was now a question of how to ensure a better balance between the need to protect national security and defence needs of privacy. France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Sweden have all publicly complained about the NSA surveillance operations.
On the other side of the Atlantic, The Guardian reports British Prime Minister David Cameron made “veiled threat to media over NSA and GCHQ leaks” and has called on newspapers to show “social responsibility” in the reporting of the leaked NSA files to avoid high court injunctions or the use of D notices to prevent the publication of information that could damage national security. In a statement to MPs on Monday, the prime minister said his preference was to talk to newspapers rather than resort to the courts. The D-notice system is a voluntary code between government departments with responsibility for national security and the media.
Libya Herald says10 heavily armed gunmen have attacked a Libyan Central Bank van in Sirte, stealing $54 million in different currencies, the official. According to Lana news agency, only one security vehicle had been assigned to protect the van, and the guards “were unable to resist the 10 attackers”.
Moscow Radio says President Putin has promised gay athletes and guests at the Winter Olympics in Sochi would feel at ease. Speaking at a meeting with heads of Russian winter sports federations, which was also attended by visiting IOC president Thomas Bach, Putin said Sochi would be fully tolerant. Preparations for the Sochi Olympics have been overshadowed by international criticism of a recently-enacted Russian law outlawing “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations among minors.”
Corriere della Sera reports Silvio Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina has dismissed rumours that she might take over from her father as leader of his re-launched centre-right Forza Italia. The 47-year-old businesswoman is chair of the Berlusconi family's Fininvest media company and and Italy's largest publisher Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. Speculation has been rife that she would follow her 77-year-old father in to politics following his supreme court ban from political office.
Prince Harry has broken a toe in a minor accident but does not intend to give up the extreme race to the South Pole which he will attend next month with a group of Afghanistan veterans. Metro says Kensington Palace assured he would still take part in the 335-km walk organised by the “Walking With the Wounded” that raises funds for wounded soldiers, even if it would not be easy for him with the broken toe.
Ansa reports a mother was among five people arrested on Monday for pimping two girls, her daughter aged 15 and her friend aged 14. The mother of the other girl went to police after noticing a big change in her daughter's behaviour. The girls were paid for sex in a flat in the Italian capital's plush Parioli district. Some of the earnings were used to buy drugs.
France was shocked Monday after the discovery of an underfed and dehydrated baby girl who had been forced to live hidden in a car boot, possibly since birth. AFP reports the little girl, aged between 15 and 23 months, was found by mechanics on Friday when her mother took the car to a garage in Terrasson, in central France. She was naked, lying in her own excrement, dehydrated and feverish. The girl was taken to hospital where doctors said she was suffering from delayed growth and mental problems. The girl's mother, 45, and her 40-year-old partner were arrested and charged with child abuse and endangering a minor. They face up to 10 years in prison.