The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says the new Parliament can host MPs from January.
The Times of Malta and The Malta Independent report how a Vietnamese worker took a loan in order to be able to work in Malta on a ‘dream job’ but ended up being was paid €150 every two months for 14-hour daily shifts at Leisure Clothing, according to evidence given in court yesterday.
In-Nazzjon reports that Minister Manuel Mallia and constable Paul Sheehan, his driver, knew each other for years, contrary to what the minister had said.
l-orizzont says a Commission for Human Rights will be set up soon.
The overseas press
A US general has claimed Islamic State militants have set up training camps in eastern Libya. Fox News quotes Army General David Rodriguez saying hundreds could be training in a “nascent development”. The general said it appeared that many of the trainees were members of Libyan militias who were seeking to make a name for themselves and establish connections.
Meanwhile, CNN reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has told a meeting of officials from 60 different countries involved in the US-led coalition against IS that a campaign launched in August which has since involved some 1,000 airstrikes had dealt a “significant” blow to the Sunni group. The coalition was prepared to battle the jihadists “for as long as it takes”.
As hundreds of New Yorkers took to the streets in protest, the Los Angeles Times says the federal government said it would investigate the case of Eric Garner, a black man, who died during a videotaped confrontation with a white police officer. A Staten Island grand jury on Wednesday decided not to charge the officer. The decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo came just over a week after a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict Officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man in Ferguson.
El Peruviano reports the United Nations has warned that this year is set to be the hottest on record, or at least among the warmest. Delegates were told at the UN climate talks in Lima that there were “alarming” signs of global warming.
Meanwhile, Euronews says Germany intends to reduce its 1990 level carbon by 40 per cent by the end of this decade. For Germany, it means cutting 78 million tonnes of emissions faster. The government counts on boosting energy efficiency by offering tax incentives for building renovation, to improve heating performance.
AFP reports Europe's drugs watchdog has said it found no evidence to link the Novartis flu vaccine Fluad to a scare in Italy, where 19 people are reported to have died after being given the jab. The European Medicines Agency said that four million doses of Fluad had been distributed for the current vaccination campaign in Italy, and the vaccine had also been used in Austria, Germany and Spain.
ABC says a coalition of 17 US states has sued the Obama administration accusing it of acting illegally by issuing an executive order to ease the threat of deportation for millions of immigrants who are in the country without the proper documents. The case, being led by Texas, said the executive order violated constitutional limits on presidential powers.
Metro reports freezing weather has arrived in Europe with a vengeance with a layer of ice blanketing parts of Austria, Germany and the Czech Republic and causing traffic chaos. In Austria a mother died after skidding on the near invisible ice and smashing against two trees. The thick layer of ice adding led to many trees to collapse as a result.
Austria Times says China has been accused of turning a blind eye to the fact that the shortage of women in the country was leading to brides becoming younger and younger. The problem was highlighted when a 13-year-old girl was married to a 16-year-old boy in a traditional ceremony in the village of Jinping Miao, in the Yunnan Province. The government has rejected the suggestion that they have been allowing child brides to solve the problem.
L’Osservatore Romano says Pope Francis has dismissed the head of the Swiss Guard, Colonel Daniel Rudolf Anrig because of his excessive strictness in applying military rules. However, speculation in the Vatican suggests a more personal reason – possibly an apartment that Anrig built and allegedly expanded by using terrace space from the barracks near St Anne's Gate.
Immigrants and Roma people were the main racket of an alleged mafia syndicate in the Italian capital. Il Tempo reports former centre-right Rome mayor Gianni Alemanno was among 100 people under investigation in a probe into the alleged mob that rigged public contracts that has netted 37 arrests so far.
Deutsche Welle says hundreds of mourners have paid their last respects to a young woman hailed as a hero, who suffered fatal injuries after intervening to help two teenage girls being harassed by a group of men. Tugce Albayrak had been in a coma since mid-November following an early-morning altercation in Offenbach, near Frankfurt. She died on Friday, her 23rd birthday, after her family gave permission to switch off her life support.
New Musical Express reports American pop star Lady Gaga has revealed that she was raped when she was 19 years old. The singer made the revelation when asked on a radio show about her song Swine, which seems to allude to a sexual assault.
A court has fined a Femen activist 1,200 euros for baring her breasts in a church last Christmas. Bild says the verdict came almost a year after Josephine Witt climbed topless onto the altar of the Cologne Cathedral during Mass.