The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that delays in the building of the new Parliament are being blamed on delivery of stone quarried in Gozo and polished and prepared in Italy.
The Malta Independent says dredging has started off Delimara ahead of the building of a new power station and the berthing of a gas tanker.
In-Nazzjon reports that the police and Interpol are seeking a Maltese businessman who fled Malta after defrauded businesses of some €40 million.
l-orizzont reports how a survey has found Malta to be attractive for foreign investment.
The overseas press
Islamic State fighters have renewed their advance in the Syrian border town of Kobane, as the US warned that air strikes alone could not save it. A Kurdish leader in Kobane told Reuters IS militants had entered parts of the city amid heavy fighting.
Le Republicain reports the leaders of Niger, Nigeria, Chad and Benin have announced plans to step up the fight against the militant jihadist group Boko Haram, which they described as “a threat to regional stability”. The regional military force will begin operations by November.
Tribune de Genève quotes a WHO statement confirming the death toll from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa had reached 3,865 people, and more than 8,000 have been infected. The worst affected countries are Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Fox News reports a Dallas County Sheriff officer has been hospitalised after showing symptoms of Ebola. He claimed to have had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Ebola patient who died in Dallas on Wednesday.
According to El Pais, three more health workers in Spain have been admitted to hospital for monitoring for Ebola. They include two doctors who had contact with a nurse who has been infected with the disease. The third new patient is a nurse who had contact with one of the two Spanish missionaries who died from Ebola after being repatriated from West Africa for treatment.
Il Tempo reports Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi won the most important parliamentary confidence vote of his eight-month-old government in the early hours of this morning on a labour reform proposal. The vote in the Senate was 165 in favour, 111 against and two abstentions. The legislation now goes to the lower house Chamber of Deputies.
Meanwhile, Corriere della Sera says European leaders have met in Milan to discuss Europe’s persistent unemployment problem but failed to reach agreement over any new strategy or new funds. Instead they pledged to focus on spending the €6.4billion already earmarked for Europe’s young jobless, of which only 12 per cent has been spent so far.
The Daily Telegraph reports British Prime Minister David Cameron secured a major victory in Brussels after the European Commission indicated that it would impose tough new immigration restrictions on countries that join the EU. The commission said it would create a “safeguard mechanism” that countries like the UK could use to restrict immigration in the event of a large influx, like the one seen when Poland joined the EU in 2004.
Pope Francis said the European Day for Organ Donation and Transplants, that the donation of organs was a special form of testimony of loving your neighbour. Avvenire says the Pontiff, however added there must be safeguards to make sure the donor is dead and to avoid abuse, trafficking and trading.
The New Yorker reveals a New York State appeals court has been hearing arguments about whether chimpanzees in captivity should be recognized as “legal persons.” Such a definition would give the animals a legal entitlement to freedom.
Hamilton Spectator reports an Australian female primary school teacher who propositioned a 10-year-old boy for sex and had his name tattooed on her chest has avoided jail. Mother of eight Diane Brimble from Hamilton,Victoria, was sentenced to a two-year community service after she pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in an indecent act with a child. The court heard the 47-year-old propositioned the boy for sex when he was at her home to play with her children, but he rejected her advances.
Bristol Post says a new cafe serving meals made from food rescued from skips has opened in the UK. Customers at Skipchen in Bristol are not charged a set price for items on the menu but asked to “pay-as-you-feel” instead. Every scrap of food served at the 20-seat eatery was due to be wasted, having reached its sell-by date or been surplus to the needs of restaurants and organisations. Teams go out to supermarkets in the city each evening to go “skipping”, pulling out from skips items that have been thrown away.