The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports how workers at Leisure Clothing were paid €1.40 per hour. It also says a charity shop thief wrote to say 'sorry' and handed over a €50 donation.
The Malta Independent says the rival Libyan factions in Malta are troubling the Maltese government.
MaltaToday celebrates 15 years since it was launched.
In-Nazzjon focuses on how a 14 year old girl has been missing for 17 days, saying she had been denied love. The police have appealed for information about her.
l-orizzont reports how Shanghai Electric has transferred €250m to the Maltese government for a 33% shareholding in Enemalta.
The overseas press
The New York Times reports the UN Security Council, in a 8-2 vote with five abstentions, has voted down a Palestinian statehood resolution that set a deadline for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian territories by 2017. Jordan, which sponsored the resolution, and three permanent Security Council members – China, Russia and France – voted for while the United States voted against. Itar Tass quoted an advisor to Israel’s UN envoy accusing the Palestinians of avoiding direct talks with the Israelis.
AGI says Italian authorities have warned more bodies would likely be found when the blackened hulk of a Greek ferry Norman Atlantic is towed to Italy, as part of a criminal investigation into the fire that engulfed the ship at sea, killing at least 11 of the more than 400 people on board. Survivors continued to reach shore two days after the accident, amid confusion over the number of missing due to huge discrepancies between the names on the manifest and those rescued.
The Daily Express claims nine British cabinet ministers are threatening a fresh split over the EU referendum, pushing for an early EU exit. The Times says tensions continue to grow within the Tory party in the wake of the general election in May.
NBC reports a man who had posted an online video threatening to kill police and FBI agents tried to use his car to run down officers seeking to arrest him and was shot and killed. The officers ordered him out of the car and he appeared ready to accelerate at them as they manned a blockade.
Edmonton Examiner says a man shot and killed eight people in western Canada, including two children, before committing suicide. Police said the incident unfolded in three different locations in Edmonton, in the western province of Alberta. Seven of those killed – three women, two men and the two children – were found in the same house. The eighth victim was a woman.
VOA News reports a two-year-old boy accidentally shot and killed his mother after he reached into her purse at a northern Idaho Wal-Mart and her concealed gun went off. The 29-year-old woman was shopping with her son and three other children. Her family had gone to the area to visit relatives.
Moscow Times says thousands of opposition supporters defied freezing temperatures and a ban on protests last night to condemn the conviction of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in the boldest display in years of discontent with the leadership of President Vladimir Putin. Navalny was already under house arrest and awaiting sentencing after violating the terms of a five-year suspended term handed down last year for his alleged theft of about $276,000 from a timber firm in 2009
Berliner Zeitung quotes the commander of US troops in Eruope saying the United States has decided to deploy by the end of 2015 at least 150 tanks. Ben Hodges said in the light of the Ukrainian crisis, these would be deployed in rotation in Poland, Romania, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – the most “worried by the threat of neighbouring Russia”.
Dawn says militants have torched two schools in northwest Pakistan. No one has claimed responsibility, but the Pakistani Taliban is known to target schools as it opposes secular education and the teaching of girls.
Ansa reports forest rangers in Italy have broken up a gang smuggling protected birds from Tunisia for consumption in today’s New Year's Eve dinners. The alleged smugglers reportedly planned to “import” 16,000 birds worth some €400,000, mainly starlings and songbirds. Eight people have been charged in connection with the case and face up to six months jail for violating wildlife protection laws.
We all know that sarcasm can be hard to detect on social media, but Ryanair really should have seen through this tweet. The Irish Examiner says Ryan Hand from Belfast yesterday joked that he just saw the discount airline charge a woman more for her emotional baggage. A fairly obvious joke, yes? Not to Ryanair, who replied within two minutes asking “Which airport is this happening at?” Amused tweeters were quick to chime in with jokes of their own. One guy reckoned the emotional baggage charge will go in Ryanair's “corporate suggestions scheme”.
Happy New Year!