The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that the new ministerial code of ethics allows ministers to keep private practices. It also says that the property given to Mark Gaffarena as part of payment for half ownership of a property in Valletta is worth double.
The Malta Independent says the Delimara gas power station works are ‘in motion and on schedule’. It also says Malta has registered the second highest use of heroin in the EU.
In-Nazzjon leads with the tragic death of a young worker in a woodworking factory yesterday.
l-orizzont says the GWU has won a vote for recognition at Malta Freeport.
The overseas press
The Obama administration has announced what appears to be one of the largest breaches of federal employees’ data, involving at least four million current and former government workers in an intrusion that officials said apparently originated in China. The Wall Street Journal reports the compromised data was held by the Office of Personnel Management, which handles government security clearances and federal employee records. The breach was first detected in April, the office said, but it appears to have begun at least late last year.
Euronews announces the European Union has denounced “most serious violation of the ceasefire” in eastern Ukraine since February, calling on all sides to respect the Minsk peace accord. At least 24 people died in violence near to Donetsk over 24 hours between Wednesday and yesterday. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has warned the threat of pro-Russian rebels resuming large scale attacks remains “huge”. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting this evening to discuss the renewed tensions.
An Egyptian appeals court has ordered former President Hosni Mubarak to stand trial again over the killing of 800 protesters in 2011 during the uprising against his decades-long rule, according to Al-Ahram. Egypt’s Cassation Court overturned an earlier court’s decision to drop charges against 87-year-old Mubarak for complicity in the deaths of the protesters, saying it would try him on November 5. The trial will be the third and final Mubarak has faced over the protester deaths, as Cassation Court rulings are final and cannot be appealed
Politicians of various stripes were among 44 people arrested in Italy over alleged ties to a powerful mobster, graft and embezzling public funds for migrant camps, waste management and parks maintenance. Il Tempo says the suspects face charges including of bid-rigging, false invoicing, fraud and alleged mafia connections. Police said they were also searching the businesses or offices of 21 other suspects in the investigation led by Italy’s anti-mafia police.
Avvenire says Pope Francis has appealed to the faithful to “save yourselves from the risk of corruption”, calling on followers to “not debase yourselves”. The Pope also told those present at the mass at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran, “don’t water down your dignity”.
Lebanon’s Daily Star reveals Iran has dispatched 15,000 fighters to Syria to help government troops reverse recent battlefield defeats to a rebel-Jihadist coalition. A Lebanese political source told the newspaper the force, made up of Iranians, Iraqis and Afghanis has arrived in the Damascus area and in the coastal province of Latakia, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s heartland
The Cairo Post says an administrative court in Cairo has started considering an Egyptian request to repatriate the famous 3,300-year painted limestone bust of ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, currently on display in Berlin’s Neues Museum. The iconic 50-centimetre high statue was stolen in 1912 by German archaeologist Ludwig Borchardt, head the German archaeologicial mission, and remains one of Egypt’s top plundered artefacts. Queen Nefertiti was the wife of ancient pharaoh King Akhenaten (1353 -1336 BC).
Drinking and driving don’t mix. And who better to stress the point than Anheuser-Busch InBev, the number one in Germany that produces Budweiser, Corona and Stella Artois by firing its head of operations for driving under the influence. Bild reports Tell Hedrich crashed his car last April on the A95 and spontaneously reported he had been “significantly altered by alcohol.” The company has has long launched a campaign involving zero tolerance for drunk driving and driving.
Belgian police have discovered at least two photographs that show champagne flowed and selfies were taken after the autopsy on the bodies of the terrorists killed in Verviers last January. La Derniere Heure says the Attorney General of Liege confirmed investigations are taking place to identify who uncorked the champagne to ‘celebrate’ next to the bodies of jihadists Soufiane Amghar and Khalid Ben Larbi. “Such behaviour is unacceptable and inadmissible,” said the prosecutor.
A US advisory panel has urged regulators to approve a drug nicknamed the “female Viagra” because it could help increase women’s sex drive. The American Journal of Medicine says experts voted 18-6 in favour of allowing the drug on the market, but with some additional risk-control measures to make sure doctors prescribe it only to patients who need it and that women are aware of the risks. Flibanserin, which is aimed at pre-menopausal women, can have significant side effects including nausea, dizziness and sleepiness. If the US Food and Drug Administration gives flibanserin the go-ahead, it would be the first drug on the market to boost female libido.
Speaking to RTE Radio One, Irish Football Association chief executive Delaney has confirmed Ireland had received a substantial payment, of approximately €5m, from FIFA following the controversial handball that kept Ireland out of the 2010 World Cup. FIFA have also verified that Ireland received significant funding from both FIFA and UEFA, to help to build a stadium. FIFA gave this money to the FAI to prevent Ireland from pursuing any legal claims with FIFA after the 2010 World Cup.