The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports how contractor Charles Polidano said ‘sorry for any inconvenience caused’ in a letter to the prime minister after Mepa moved in to demolish illegal structures. The newspaper also reports that a John Dalli adviser is devising the Mater Dei Hospital IT system.
The Malta Independent quotes the Mepa CEO saying the action taken at Monekristo has nothing to do with today’s environment protest.
In-Nazzjon says the PN has asked Parliament to investigate Labour’s Australia Hall property.
l-orizzont reports that Mepa has warned Polidano about further illegal development.
The overseas press
Deutsche Welle reports the European Union's Vilnius summit has ended with top European Union officials accusing Russia of meddling in its affairs after Ukraine rejected a landmark accord with the EU designed to draw the ex-Soviet state into the Western fold. Georgia and Moldova initialled political and trade agreements but Brussels has seen Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus turn back towards Moscow. The EU's Eastern Partnership project aims to strike trade and aid deals on its eastern periphery and counter Russian influence.
Meanwhile, Baltic Times reports the Ukrainian opposition at a mass rally in Kiev has demanded that President Viktor Yanukovych step down. Speaking to some 10,000 supporters, opposition leaders said Yanukovych had until mid-March to sign a political and free trade deal with the bloc. “Failure to sign the Association Agreement is state treason,” the crowd was told.
China says its air force is on “high alert” and has dispatched its own aircraft in a regional dispute over an island group. This follows flights over the islands by Japan, South Korea and the US in recent days. China's Global Times has warned of “confrontations” reminiscent of the “Cold War” after its Asian neighbors defied China's territorial claim. The European Union called on all sides to “exercise caution”.
The Egyptian Gazette reports Islamists clashes with Egyptian police after defying a new law banning unauthorized protests. Some 200 demonstrators were arrested. In Cairo, police used tear gas against hundreds of Morsi supporters who had gathered in front of one of the capital's presidential palaces. They also fired tear gas at dozens of Islamists in the capital's Mohandessin district and on a key road leading to the Giza pyramids. Protesters retaliated by throwing stones and burning tyres. The Muslim Brotherhood has vowed to continue demonstrations it has organised every week since the country's July coup.
Al-Ayyam says a wave of violence has killed 52 people in Iraq, most of whom were kidnapped and shot dead with their corpses abandoned, in scenes harking back to Iraq's sectarian war.The killings come amid a surge in violence that has left more than 600 people dead this month. More than 6,000 people have been killed this year, forcing Baghdad to appeal for international help in battling militancy
According to Corriere della Sera, Milan's public prosecutors claim that Lega's leader Umberto Bossi should be charged for “aggravated fraud” following parliamentary audits of reimbursements to fund his party in 2008 and 2009. The public prosecutors maintain that Bossi and other individuals under investigation deceived the Chairs of both the House and Senate.
Le Parisien says France's parliament has begun debating a controversial new bill which would punish the clients of prostitutes. The radical about-face aims to reduce the demand for paid sex.
Associated Press reports a six-month-old pit bull that was buried under a pile of rubble for more than a week after a tornado ripped through a central Illinois city has been coaxed to freedom with hot dogs and reunited with his owner. Jacob Montgomery, a member of the Illinois National Guard, was separated from the dog, Dexter, when the November 17 tornado destroyed his third-floor apartment in Washington.