The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta, In-Nazzjon and The Malta Independent report how a police sergeant was arraigned and accused of deleting a police report about the shooting involving the driver of the Minister of Home Affairs. He denied the charges. The newspapers also report how the PN released transcripts of phone calls immediately after the incident.
l-orizzont says an attempt was made to disrupt Mita computer systems.
The overseas press
Deutsche Welle reports European ministers have called for a “more ambitious” response to the problem of young Europeans going to fight in Syria and Iraq. They also warned that the threat of an attack in Europe by returning fighters was “real”. The EU estimates that some 3,000 European foreign fighters have been involved in the crises in Syria and Iraq. In several European countries there’s concern over the potential threat from jihadis returning home from Iraq and Syria.
Euronews reports a young German man has been sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for having joined the self-proclaimed Islamic State organisation in Syria. Also on Friday two British men, who joined Islamist fighters in Syria, were jailed for 12 years and eight months each after admitting terrorism charges. In a separate trial a third man was jailed for four years for preparing for acts of terrorism in Syria.
Xinhua state news agency says China’s former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, has been expelled from the Communist Party and arrested as part of an investigation launched by the party in July. Zhou was one of nine leaders in the Communist Party’s ruling inner circle until his retirement in 2012 following allegations of serious violations of party discipline.
The New York Times reports UN human rights experts have expressed “legitimate concerns” about US juries failing to charge policemen involved in the deaths of two black civilians. The UN said in a statement it was part of a broader “pattern of impunity” concerning minority victims. Thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest over the deaths of two black men at the hands of white officers in recent months. Grand juries in Missouri and New York failed to charge either officer.
Meanwhile, CNN says Arizona police are monitoring the city of Phoenix for any additional protests following the fatal shooting of an unarmed African-American man on Tuesday. Rumain Brisbon, 34, was unarmed when he was fatally shot on Tuesday during a struggle with a white police officer.
Fox News reports the US space agency’s new Orion crew capsule has completed its maiden, unmanned voyage with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off Mexico. Orion is designed eventually to take humans beyond the space station, to destinations such as the Moon and Mars.
The Washington Times says President Obama has nominated Ashton Carter as his next Defence Secretary, following Chuck Hagel’s resignation last month. Carter was previously the Pentagon’s chief arms buyer and an assistant Secretary of Defence under former President Bill Clinton. After the appearance of the “Islamic State,” Obama and Hagel found themselves at odds.
Ansa says more than a dozen people have died on a migrant boat heading for Italy. The Italian navy reported that the harsh elements killed the refugees, who were seeking asylum in the EU.
The Standard reports Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said he had been “vindicated” after the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor dropped charges of crimes against humanity against him on Friday. The announcement came two days after the ICC’s judges gave prosecutors one week to strengthen or drop the charges against Kenyatta, saying a trial could no longer be postponed.
Le Soir announces the death of Belgium’s former queen Fabiola. She was 86. The Spanish-born monarch had been suffering from ill-health for some time, her breathing having never recovered from a lung infection in 2009. She faced criticism last year over plans to pass on an estate in Spain to relatives via a trust to avoid paying tax. It led the government to cut allowances to the royal family, and forcing them to start paying taxes.
The British Museum’s decision to send one of the Parthenon Elgin Marbles on loan abroad for the first time was “an affront to the Greek people”, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told CNN. The statue of the river god Ilissos, part of the carved frieze, will be displayed at the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, as part of an exhibition to celebrate the museum’s 250th anniversary, until mid-January. The Elgin Marbles were named after the diplomat who removed and took them to Scotland.
France 24 announces an epic battle between the teenage offspring of two leading figures in French politics has erupted on Twitter, with the son of former President Nicolas Sarkozy and former “first girlfriend” Valérie Trierweiler sparring in a war of words. Since July this year, Louis Sarkozy, the former French president’s 16-year-old son, and Léonard Trierweiler, the 17-year-old son of current President François Hollande’s former girlfriend, have been trading insults on everything from football to mothers in what has been dubbed ‘Le Tweetclash’ by the French media.