The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says over 1,000 jobless were struck off the unemployment register for arriving late at the employment office in August. It also reports that former GWU boss Tony Zarb is refusing to say who in authority told him to go ahead with the sub-lease of part of a property in Valletta.
The Malta Independent leads with the release of a Maltese man held in Libya for 47 days.
In-Nazzjon says Nationalist MP Joe Cassar yesterday revealed an attempted frame-up against him.
l-orizzont asks if Nationalist MP Joe Cassar tried to mislead Parliament in a speech he made in Parliament yesterday. The newspaper focuses on who actually paid for a CCTV system installed at the former minister's home.
The overseas press
Amnesty International has said China’s announcement that it was ending its one child policy did not go far enough. The measures, brought in over three decades ago to try to control the country’s population growth, have now been lifted and couples will be allowed to have two children. Metro quotes Amnesty International saying women will still be at risk of intrusive forms of contraception and coerced or forced abortions.
AP says China’s decision to abolish its one-child policy might help defuse economic stresses caused by an aging population.
ABC reports US intelligence whistle-blower Edward Snowden has hailed a European Parliament vote urging EU member states to take him in and offer protection as an “extraordinary” gesture of support.
RTL says an arbitration court in the Netherlands has ruled that it has jurisdiction to hear some territorial claims the Philippines has filed against China over disputed areas in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, the US and Chinese navies held high-level talks on Thursday after a US warship challenged China’s territorial assertions in the South China Sea. A US official said they agreed to maintain dialogue and follow protocols to avoid clashes. Scheduled port visits by US and Chinese ships and planned visits to China by senior US Navy officers remained on track.
El Mundo reports UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has urged participants at international talks aimed at resolving the war in Syria to show “flexibility” and welcomed Iran’s participation for the first time in the discussions.
The Irish Examiner says the EU has issued draft laws protecting people who book different parts of their holidays online. Consumers will be entitled to receive clear information on the deal, and who is ultimately responsible if anything goes wrong. Some small tourism operators were worried they might be held liable for poor services delivered by other travel businesses which they promoted.
The World Health Organisation’s warning on the cancer risks of eating processed and red meat “was not alarmist”. Kurt Straif, head of the monograph department of the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, has told Ansa, that “risks were identified” and the final report in mid-2016 will “reach the same conclusions”.
Space Daily reports American astronaut Scott Kelly continued his record-breaking month yesterday when the Expedition 45 Commander broke NASA’s record of 215 consecutive days in space. When the 51-year-old astronaut completes his latest mission, he will have spent a total of 522 days in space over four space flights. Spanish-American astronaut Michael López-Alegría set the previous record in 2007.
USA Today says a graduate of an exclusive New England prep school has been sentenced to a year in jail for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old freshman girl as part of a competition among upperclassmen to rack up sexual conquests. Owen Labrie, 20, was also ordered to register as a sex offender, perhaps for the rest of his life, and serve five years of probation after he gets out of jail. He could have received 11 years behind bars.