The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reveals that last week’s shooting incident involving the driver of the Minister of Home Affairs was filmed by two women.
The Malta Independent quotes Finance Minister Edward Scicluna saying the future is looking brighter for pensions, particularly because of economic growth and an increase in the number of gainfully occupied persons.
In-Nazzjon says Asian workers at Leisure Clothing were forced to give a routing welcome to two company officials who were taken to court last week.
l-orizzont reports how a company which is seeking an injunction to stop the signing of a contract with the new bus operator is taking €30,000 a day for renting buses to the government.
The overseas press
Australia’s ABC TV reports a huge clean-up operation is under way in Brisbane after a severe storm with 140km/h winds swept across south-east Queensland – the worst in 30 years.
AFP says Pope Francis heads to Turkey today with a brief to use his populist touch to rebuild bridges with the Islamic world that were damaged by his predecessor Benedict XVI.
The Daily Telegraph leads with British Prime Minister’s long-awaited speech to the European Union in which he will outline his plans to overhaul the benefits system making European migrants wait four years before receiving welfare or council houses.
Le Soir says the European Commission’s new president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has survived a no confidence vote in Strasbourg with 461 against the motion and 101 for. There were 88 abstentions. It comes as the latest political storm in Juncker’s term, which began earlier this month.
TV Azteca reports Mexican President Pena Nieto has announced proposals for a series of constitutional reforms that would allow the country's 1,800 municipal forces to be dissolved and taken over by state agencies.
VOA News says calm has returned to the St Louis suburb of Ferguson after an outburst of violence sparked by the decision not to charge a white police officer over the fatal shooting of a black teenager, Michael Brown. The number of police on Ferguson’s streets was scaled back on Thanksgiving.
According to Ethnos, Greece came to a standstill after tens of thousands of workers took to the streets in a 24-hour nationwide strike. New austerity policies and tax raids have ignited further discontent among the Greek population.
Kathemerini reports more than 700 migrants aboard a stricken smuggling ship attempting to reach Europe have disembarked on the Greek island of Crete. It is one of the largest refugee boats to make the crossing in recent months.
Blick says Swiss people are to vote next Sunday on a referendum that could limit immigration to protect the environment. The Population and Ecology Association wants to restrict the annual migration growth to 0.2 per cent of the population, or 16,000 people.
Spain’s Sport reports Real Madrid football club has unveiled a new badge as part of a sponsorship deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi. On a credit card that doubles as a membership card, a small cross on the top of the logo has been removed. Sources said it’s believed the design had been edited to avoid offending Muslim sentiments. The original emblem would still be used in Europe.
The Times says an outpouring of grief from the international community over the death of cricketer Philip Hughes, two days after he was hit by a ball at the Sydney Cricket Ground, has also reached Lord’s cricket ground in London, the spiritual home of cricket.