The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta and the Malta Independent report how the Valletta terminus is to be expanded to double its present size.
In-Nazzjon says the GWU is isolated on the monti transfer issue.
l-orizzont says Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola was absent from a Brussels meeting of the Petitions Committee where a matter involving Malta was discussed.
The overseas press
The Guardian reports HSBC admitted failings by its Swiss subsidiary after news outlets published allegations about its Swiss private bank. Documents obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists allegedly showed bankers had helped clients evade tax and offered deals to help tax dodgers stay ahead of the law. The bank said in a statement that since the period in question, it had “implemented numerous initiatives designed to prevent its banking services being used to evade taxes or launder money”.
Kathimerini quotes Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras saying he did not want to extend the EU’s bailout deal. Athens needs a “bridge programme” until a new deal is finalized. In an address to parliament, he also announced his government would stick to its electoral campaign promises and provide free food and electricity for those who had suffered from the previous government’s austerity programme and also battle against corruption and tax evasion on a priority basis. EU officials have rejected his efforts to renegotiate Greece’s bailout terms. Eurozone finance ministers are due to meet on Wednesday to discuss Greece’s debt proposals.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has urged an end to disunity after surviving a party confidence vote on his leadership. Liberal Party MPs voted by 61 to 39 not to open up his position to challengers. Guardian Australia says the fact that 39 members of his Liberal party effectively lodged a no-confidence vote against him, their pointed public criticism and devastating polls that put the Labour party ahead mean many in the party are sceptical the prime minister would survive in the long term.
The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France will meet in Minsk on Wednesday to continue hammering out a new peace plan for eastern Ukraine, amid fears the crisis is worsening. Kyiv Post reports that after phone talks on Sunday, Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko said progress had been made and he was hopeful the Minsk meeting would lead to a “swift and unconditional ceasefire”.
Meanwhile, AFP says President Obama hosts Angela Merkel at the White House today, as worsening violence in Ukraine confronts them with a choice between throwing more weapons into the war and risky peace talks. The German Chancellor will visit the Oval Office for a tete-a-tete as divisions grow over how to stop bloody fighting between Kiev and Russian-backed rebels.
Iraqi troops will begin a ground offensive “in the weeks ahead” to take back swathes of the country seized by the Islamic State. The US coordinator for the international coalition against the jihadists, John Allen, told Jordan’s Petra news agency, the coalition would provide major firepower, stressing that the Iraqis would lead the offensive.
Meanwhile Ad Dustour quotes the Jordanian army saying it had destroyed 20 per cent of ISIS’s military capabilities after three days of reprisal raids that hit “56 goals”. The statement said that after hitting the coordination centres on the first day, then arms and deposits, the third “we hit the militants, where they ate and slept”.
Anonymous has announced that it had violated dozens of ISIS’s Twitter accounts and Facebook profiles. In a video posted on YouTube, the worldwide network of hackers has also claimed to have catalogued dozens of addresses of jihadist propaganda.
Ansa reports that ISIS has banned Apple products – iPhones, iPads and iPods – for fear of being tracked. In the territories under its control, ISIS locked the GPS service.
People’s Post says South African police have discovered the frozen corpses of four newborn babies in freezers at a house in the South African city of Mthatha. The infants were estimated to be aged between just one and two months. The police are looking for the owner of the house, a woman, who was away in Johannesburg at the time of the search.
Cairo Radio reports the Egyptian authorities have suspended football league matches indefinitely after clashes at a stadium in Cairo left at least 24 people dead. People were crushed after police fired tear gas at supporters of Zamalek who were trying to force their way in for a match against city rivals ENPPI. The fans blamed the authorities for opening only a single gate.
Meanwhile L’Equipe says Ivory Coast became the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations champions on Sunday after beating Ghana 9-8 in penalties following a 0-0 draw after extra time in the Equatorial Guinea city of Bata. Goalkeeper Boubacar Barry converted the decisive spot kick.