The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.

All national newspapers today have a story on the arraignment of Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia’s former driver, Paul Sheehan. Mr Sheehan was remanded in custody after denying a charge of attempted murder over last week’s shooting incident in Gżira.

Times of Malta says the presidential office wage bill is expected to boom by almost €500,000 next year, according to Budget estimates.

In-Nazzjon says that two separate Libyan factions are trying to take control of the Libyan Embassy in Malta.

The Malta Independent says the partner of the German woman who tried to kidnap their son from outside his home has fled Malta on a flight to Hungary.

L-Orizzont leads with the General Workers’ Union reaction to the Budget.

International news

New EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker has unveiled an eagerly awaited €315 billion investment plan to “kickstart” the economy, saying it would show the world that Europe was back in business after years of crisis. EU Observer quotes Juncker saying the proposal, which must be approved by European leaders at a summit next month, would mix an investment fund with a scheme to match new projects with private money.

Researchers say they are one step closer to developing an Ebola vaccine, with a Phase 1 trial showing promising results. Results published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine showed all 20 healthy adults injected with a higher or lower dose of the vaccine developed antibodies needed to fight Ebola, which has killed 5,500 people so far, mostly in West Africa.

Protesters have taken to the streets for a third day over a US grand jury’s decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. VOA News reports hundreds of people demonstrated in front of the St Louis City Hall, chanting “Shame, Shame.”  The demonstrations also spread to other US cities, notably New York, California, Georgia, Colorado and Oregon.

Police in Norway will be armed for the next four weeks at least. Euronews says security services believe an attempted terror attack is “probable” in the months ahead, with police and soldiers likely targets. They fear the return of jihadists who have been fighting in Syria, estimating that around 60 people with Norwegian links have joined extremist groups in the war-torn country.

El Pais reports the resignation of Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato after a judge said she had “personally profited” from crimes allegedly committed by her former husband, linked to a major kickbacks-for-contracts corruption scandal. She is suspected of benefiting from paid-for trips, plane tickets, designer goods and family events worth €55,000.

El Mundo says Spanish police have broken up a human trafficking ring smuggling people fleeing the Syrian conflict into Europe. At least 18 arrests were made in Madrid. Those detained include the suspected head of the operation, a Lebanese national. Migrants are said to have paid up to €10,000 each.

More than 30 high school students were rounded up in broad daylight on the last day of classes last July 7 – and have not been heard from since. The southern Mexican city of Cocula grabbed global headlines after being named by officials as the place where 43 students who went missing in September were likely murdered. A witness to the latest kidnapping told France 24 that during and after the abduction, the kidnappers told residents they would kill them if they spoke out. Terrified families did not report the incident to authorities or the media, until now.

Al Ahram reports an Egyptian court has sentenced 78 teenage boys to between two and five years in prison for taking part in protests demanding the return of the ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. The authorities have been cracking down on the jailed former president’s supporters since the army deposed him last year.

Le Matin reports Haiti’s cholera epidemic has killed 132 people and may have infected nearly 15,000 others so far this year. The Caribbean country’s cholera outbreak started in 2010 and since nearly 712,330 people have been affected, of whom 8,655 have died.

Il Tempo says restoration work is underway at Rome’s Colosseum after a Russian tourist carved a 25-centimetre-high ‘K’ onto a wall of the amphitheatre. The 42-year-old was given a fine of €20,000 and a four-month suspended prison sentence after being caught red-handed.

Radio Nigeria reports a 14-year old Nigerian child bride is accused of murdering four people, including her 35-year-old husband, by lacing food she had prepared for a post-marriage celebration with rat poison. Wasila Tasi’u, from a poor rural family in the mainly Muslim north, could face the death penalty if convicted. The case has outraged human rights activists, who said a girl married to a man more than twice her age should be treated as a victim, not a criminal.

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