The following are the top stories in the national and international press today
Times of Malta says the government has officially ditched plans to build three wind farms by the end of the decade and is instead shifting its renewable energy efforts into solar energy. In another story, it says the owner of a bird park in Salini has had to sack employees after a project to upgrade the Coast Road.
The Malta Independent quotes an Ombudsman case report saying that persons with vested interests pressured the Gozo Ministry on San Blas clean up.
L-Orizzont says Maltese descendant Paolo Vassallo was one of the hostages in the Lindt Café tragedy in Sydney.
In-Nazzjon says the police should have stopped the filming of a music video at the old Dowty factory after they received reports about the filming in May.
International news
Fox News reports prominent North Korean websites are back online after an hours-long shut down that led to speculation that the country's Internet connections could be under cyber attack. South Korean officials told the Associated Press that Internet access to the North's official Korean Central News Agency and the Rodong Sinmun newspaper were working normally this morning after being inaccessible earlier. Those sites are the main channels for official North Korea news, with servers located abroad. Officials would not comment on any US involvement in the current outages.
The New York Times says the UN Security Council has taken up North Korea’s human rights situation for the first time – a ground-breaking step toward possibly holding the country and its leader Kim Jong Un accountable for alleged crimes against humanity. North Korea quickly denounced the move. US envoy Samantha Power described North Korea as "a living nightmare", and said a UN report showed the country's brutality.
Deutsche Welle reports more than 17,000 protesters have rallied in Dresden against the “Islamisation of the Occident,” the 10th such demonstration in as many weeks. Around 4,000 counter-demonstrators marched through Dresden under the slogan “Nazi-free” warning there was no place for racism and xenophobia in a country marred by racial hatred during World War II.
France 24 says at least 10 people have been injured, five of them seriously, after a van drove into shoppers in Nantes, France. The driver is said to have shouted “Allahu Akbar” before carrying out the attack, the second such incident within days. A source close to the investigation said he then stabbed himself “at least nine times”, causing himself serious injuries. President Hollande said people should not panic.
Daily Record reports six people have died after an out-of-control bin lorry careered through streets packed with Christmas shoppers, knocking down pedestrians “like pinballs”. Witnesses described bodies lying in the road after the tragedy in Glasgow city centre which is being treated by authorities as a major incident. The police said seven people had been seriously injured.
Dawn says Pakistan has announced plans to execute 500 convicted extremists after a moratorium on capital punishment was lifted in response to last week’s Taliban school massacre that killed over 130 children. Six militants have been hanged since Friday amid rising public anger over Tuesday’s massacre in Peshawar, which left a total of 149 people dead.
Ansa reports Italian paramilitary police have busted an alleged Neofascist terror gang that was apparently stockpiling weapons “like toffees” for use in attacks on magistrates, police and Equitalia tax collection agency in an effort to destabilise the country. At least 14 people have been arrested.
Avvenire says there was silence at the end of a speech by Pope Francis in which he lambasted the Vatican’s bureaucracy, saying some within the Church had a lust for power, were indifferent to others and suffered from “spiritual Alzheimer’s”. The pontiff used a Christmas speech to cardinals, bishops and priests to list a catalogue of ailments plaguing some at the very top and urging a “cure”. He said the Vatican was like an “orchestra that plays out of tune” and warned against greed, egoism and people who think they are “immortal”.
El Pais reports the sister of King Felipe VI of Spain, Princess Cristina, is to stand trial on charges of tax fraud. The development came as judge Jose’ Castro concluded a four-year investigation into the role played by Cristina’s husband, Inaki Urdangarin, in a political corruption scandal. Cristina risks a four-year prison sentence if she is linked to her husband’s business dealings. According to the judge, Cristina enabled her husband to defraud Spanish tax authorities of €337,138 through Aizoon, a company they both own.
Bloomberg says Israel’s Bank Leumi Group has admitted to helping US taxpayers hide assets and agreed to pay a $270 million fine to settle a criminal investigation. From 2000 until early 2011, Leumi sent private bankers from Israel and elsewhere to meet with US taxpayers and help them conceal assets at Leumi locations in Israel, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Leumi, a unit of Bank Leumi le-Israel, also helped US taxpayers prepare and present false tax returns.
A New York Times editorial has called on President Obama to prosecute “torturers and their bosses” including former vice president Dick Cheney in connection with the CIA torture scandal that came to light following a Senate Intelligence Committee report earlier this month.The newspaper said such a criminal investigation “is not about payback - it is about ensuring that this never happens again, and regaining the moral credibility to rebuke torture by other governments”.
Sky News reports the death of Joe Cocker, the raspy-voiced British singer. He was 70. Cocker is known for his frenzied cover of “With a Little Help From My Friends”, the teary ballad “You Are So Beautiful” and a contorted performing style uncannily parodied by John Belushi on “Saturday Night Live”. His London-based agent, Barrie Marshall, said Cocker died of lung cancer in Colorado, where he has lived for the past 20 years.