The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that no licence has been issued to the Lija fireworks factory over fears over the storage of dangerous materials in proximity to houses.
The Malta Independent reports comments by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech that there is nothing stopping three MPs from working within the party, despite being banned from seeking re-election on the party list.
In-Nazzjon leads with a press conference by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech and MEP Simon Busuttil, who said a Muscat government would mean more taxes.
l-orizzont says Simon Busuttil burst the bubble by saying he is writing the PN electoral programme but will not reveal details before the election is called.
The overseas press
Arutz Sheva repots Israel has approved the call up of as many as 75,000 army reservists as it continued its air attacks on Hamas and other militants in the Gaza Strip which, in the latest sortie killed Ahmed Abu Jalal, a senior Hamas commander, along with three of his brothers. The action came as Gaza militants fired rockets at both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, aiming for Israel's political and commercial hearts.
The call-up adds to speculation that Israel was preparing a ground invasion of Gaza. Ynet reports thousands of reservists, over the past few hours, have been trickling into the enlisting point in the south. Hundreds of military trucks with supplies, ammunition, water and gasoline, alongside tank-carriers, armoured-personnel carriers and jeeps are filling the Gaza vicinity roads in a sight that has not been seen in the area for a long time. The Israeli military said it had sealed off all the main roads around the Gaza border, declaring the area a closed military zone.
Israeli Home Front Command the commander General Eyal Eisenberg has asked local authorities to prepare for a seven-week period of combat as part of Operation Pillar of Defence and to prepare emergency supplies. Maariv says the general estimates that the militants in the Gaza Strip are still capable of launching long-range rockets, even further than a 75-kilometre range.
Earlier on Friday, a rocket landed in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem. Haaretz says it was the first time since 1970 that a rocket had been fired into Jerusalem. Neither rocket caused casualties or damage, police said, but they sowed panic in both of the Jewish state's main population centres, setting off warning sirens and sending people scurrying to shelters. The two rockets were the farthest Gaza militants have ever fired into Israel, exceeding even the 60 kilometers (36 miles) achieved Thursday by a rocket that hit the sea off Jaffa, just south of Tel Aviv – the first time the city has come under attack since the 1991 Gulf War.
USA Today reports President Obama has reiterated US support for Israel's right to defend itself. A White House statement says during a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the conflict in Gaza. Netanyahu, who initiated the call, expressed his deep appreciation for US investment in the Iron Dome rocket and mortar defence system, "which has effectively defeated hundreds of incoming rockets from Gaza and saved countless Israeli lives". France 24 reports at least 27 Palestinians and three Israelis have so far been killed since the fighting erupted on Wednesday. Obama on Friday also spoke with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, commending his country's efforts to de-escalate the situation and expressing his hope that these efforts would be successful.
The New York Times says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit the Middle East next week to push for a truce between the Israelis and Hamas. President Mahmud Abbas also confirmed Ban will visit the Palestinian territories in "two or three days". Ban went to the region during the last Israeli offensive against Gaza in 2009 and worked hard to end that conflict.
Jordan Daily reports clashes in Amman between anti-government protesters and supporters of King Abdullah. The unrest followed a demonstration by thousands of people after the government announced on Tuesday increases in fuel prices, following the lifting of government subsidies.
Balkan Times quotes President Tomislav Nikolic of Serbia saying the acquittal of two senior Croatian officials was a political decision by the UN war crimes tribunal which would only open old wounds in the Balkans. He said “it was quite clear the tribunal has made a political decision and not a legal ruling”. The tribunal's appeals court acquitted ex-general Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, a Croatian police commander, of war crimes during the bloody 1990s breakup of Yugoslavia, overturning earlier prison sentences.
The BBC says the former mayor of Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, has been found guilty of stealing millions of dollars from public funds and diverting them to his offshore accounts in Jersey. A court in the British tax haven island ordered Paulo Maluf, 81, to pay back $10.5 million (€8.25 million) with interest to the Sao Paulo authorities. The court said Maluf had overcharged on construction projects and channelled the money into the Jersey accounts. He denies the charges.
A digital TV channel in the UK was handed a £40,000 (€49,704) fine today for screening a back-to-back series of racy shows featuring nude Playboy models before the watershed during the Christmas holidays. TV regulator Ofcom had found E! Entertainment breached the broadcasting code by showing the editions of 'Girls Of The Playboy Mansion' throughout the day when children could be watching.
ABC says Milan's Duomo cathedral is putting its 135 gargoyles up for adoption in an attempt to raise money for renovations. For €100,000 donors will have their name engraved under their very own gothic gargoyle. The Cathedral's management says it wants "to encourage the Milanese and citizens of the world to be protagonists in the history of the cathedral". The Duomo is the fourth-largest cathedral in the world and took six centuries to build.