The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports that Arriva had been heading downhill fast, according to a report tabled in Parliament yesterday.
The Malta Independent says Malta and Italy bickered on the October 11 Lampedusa rescue, according to a survivor.
Malta Today leads with the losses and debts incurred by Arriva.
l-orizzont highlights remarks by the prime minister that local councils will benefit from funds from the citizenship scheme.
In-Nazzjon leads with comments by Labour MP Marlene Farrugia that the citizenship scheme could have been handled without bringing the country to ridicule.
The overseas press
The United States says thousands of photographs which allegedly show the torture and killing of prisoners of the Syrian government underline the need to get the Assad regime out of power. The Washington Times quotes State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf condemning the alleged killing of 11,000 prisoners, documented in a report by international prosecutors.
Avvenire reports Pope Francis has called on the world business elite at the World Economic Forum in Davos to put their work at the service of humanity. In a message read out by an African Cardinal Peter Tuirkson at the start of the forum, the Pope asked those attending to seek a better distribution of wealth, although he also acknowledged the role played by business in reducing poverty.
Al-Arabiya reports Libya's Justice and Construction Party, linked to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, has withdrawn its five ministers from the government for its “failure” to guarantee safety in the country. The ministers included petrol minister Abdulbari Al Arus and deputy prime minister Awad Ibraik Ibrahim Al-Baraasi. The authorities have struggled to secure Libya since the 2011 war that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, with militia and armed gangs still controlling large parts of the country.
Ansa says a freighter carrying chemical weapons handed over by Syria will transfer its cargo to another ship in February, off the coast of Calabria. Regional governor Giuseppe Scopelliti said an exact date is yet to be decided, but the transfer will take place off the port of Gioia Tauro
Leaked documents have revealed that close relatives of some of China’s political elite have set up offshore companies in international tax havens. A report carried by a number of newspapers around the world, including The Guardian in the UK, names the brother-in-law of President Xi Jinping, as one of those involved.
Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has warned that the security services could use force to end anti-government protests under new laws. He told Russia TV that the government would have no choice but to use the new legislation if violence continued. Hundreds of people have been injured during two nights of clashes between protesters and demonstrators in Kiev.
Al Ayyam reports from the northern Gaza Strip that two Palestinian militants have been killed in an Israeli airstrike. Their car was hot near the city of Beit Hanun. According to Haretz, Israel said that one of the men was responsible for firing rockets into Israel during the funeral of the former prime minister Ariel Sharon.
ABC says passengers who had to be rescued from a Russian research ship that became trapped in thick pack-ice in Antartica last month have finally arrived back ashore in Australia. More than 50 scientists and tourists had to be airlifted from the Akademik Shokalsky onto another vessel after several failed rescue attempts.
The Washington Post reports federal prosecutors in Connecticut say an Iranian-American engineer has been indicted on charges of attempting to send secret documents about a military plane to Iran. The US Attorney for the state says Mozaffar Khazaee allegedly stole thousands of documents from the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
O Globo says FIFA has warned the Brazilian authorities that the southern city of Curitiba may be excluded from this year’s World Cup unless work speeds up at the local stadium. FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valke says renovation work at the stadium is running “seriously behind schedule”.