The following are the top stories in the Maltese press and a section of the overseas press.
The Times of Malta and Malta Today report that the Mepa chairman has stayed in his post despite calls for his resignation in the wake of the Planning Ombudsman’s report on the Mistra project permit.
The Malta Independent says boathouse owners have been spared Caqnu’s fate.
In-Nazzjon reports how environment NGOs called for the resignation of the Mepa chairman.
l-orizzont says there is a discrepancy of €2m in what the owner of the Mare d’Oro will get for his property following a decision of then minister Jason Azzopardi. He will get €6.2m.
The overseas press
Fox News says US Vice-President Joe Biden is in Beijing on his latest leg of a tour of Asia that has been dominated by rising tensions between China and the United States and its regional allies. Biden said he would raise with Chinese President Xi Jinping concerns about China’s declaration of an air defence zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The Ukraine appears mired in a political standoff, as massive protest rallies showed no sign of letting up and the government warned of its capability for force after a failed attempt to take it down. Radio Svoboda reports the opposition lost its attempt to topple the government by parliamentary means when a vote of no-confidence failed by a sizeable margin. Soon after Tuesday's vote, about 5,000 protesters gathered outside the presidential administration building, then moved to the capital's central Independence Square, where the crowd grew to more than 10,000.
Detroit News says a federal judge has ruled that the heavily-indebted city of Detroit is eligible for bankruptcy. The municipality, without Chapter 9, would no longer benefit from protection from its creditors, and it would worsen its state of insolvency. Pensions would be hard-hit and the famous Detroit Institute of Arts may see its collection sold. The ruling paves the way for Detroit to file a financial readjustment plan.
French experts have ruled out a theory that Yasser Arafat was killed by poisoning, a source close to the investigation into the Palestinian leader's 2004 death told Associated Press. The French experts' findings differ significantly from those of Swiss scientists, who said last month that their research offered some support for the suggestion Arafat was killed by polonium poisoning. Arafat died at a French military hospital near Paris in 2004, with doctors unable to say what killed him. At the time, an autopsy was never carried out – at his widow's request.
South China Morning Post says Hong Kong will quarantine up to 17 people after the city confirmed its first human case of the deadly H7N9 bird flu. Officials the 17 are mostly relatives of the employer of a 36-year-old Indonesian domestic helper, who is in critical condition in a Hong Kong hospital after a visit to mainland China.
USA Today reports President Barack Obama has named Christine H. Fox to be acting deputy Defence secretary, making the former chief of weapons cost analysis the most senior woman in Pentagon history. Fox will replace Ashton Carter, who has stepped down. Her hiring reflects the administration's need to place an experienced manager in the Pentagon's second-ranking position at a time when it is facing steep budget cuts.
L’Echo says more than 100 cars and lorries have been involved in three pile-ups on a fog-shrouded Belgian autoroute leaving at least one person dead and 54 injured. Rescuers freed injured passengers from the twisted metal of their vehicles hours after the crash, and the fog grounded emergency helicopters. With temperatures hovering close to freezing, thermal blankets were handed out to people who were still trapped in their cars.
Ansa reports a 43-year-old priest in the north-eastern Italian city of Pesaro has been handed a 30-month suspended jail sentence for having sex with a 13-year-old girl. Father Giangiacomo Ruggeri is still at liberty to travel within Italy and abroad, with two restrictions: he is not allowed to approach the town of Orciano, where his victim lives, and he is not allowed to celebrate Mass in public. The Vatican's measures against him are still unknown.
FIFA has said that three of 12 World Cup finals venues would be delivered after its December 31 deadline. O Globo says officials indicated ahead of Friday’s draw that the stadiums at Sao Paulo, Curitiba and Cuiaba would not meet a deadline and are now expected for February, just four months before the World Cup starts.