The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports that cancer patients are to get lower drug doses after it was found that doses were too high. The newspaper also quotes the prime minister saying the waiver granted to Franco Mercieca had been used by his critics.
The Malta Independent quotes the president of the Armenia FA denying match fixing claims in the game against Malta. It also says that the prime minister defended Franco Mercieca's conduct and pointed his finger at the media.
l-orizzont gives prominence to the high presence of herbicide on Maltese people.
In-Nazzjon says a ministry interfered in Mepa with regard to works at Ramla Bay in Gozo.
The overseas press
President Obama has authorised sending weapons to Syrian rebels. The Associated Press says the decision comes after the White House disclosed that the United States had conclusive evidence that President Bashar Assad's government had used chemical weapons against opposition forces trying to overthrow him. Obama has repeatedly said the use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” triggering greater American intervention in the two-year crisis. The US has so far provided the Syrian rebel army with rations and medical supplies.
Meanwhile, President Assad's surging forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies have turned their guns on the north. Reuters reports Assad's forces fought near the northern city of Aleppo on Thursday and bombarded the central city of Homs, having seized the initiative by winning the open backing of Hezbollah last month and capturing the strategic town of Qusair last week.
The arrival of thousands of seasoned, Iran-backed Hezbollah Shi'ite fighters to help Assad combat the mainly Sunni rebellion has shifted momentum in the two-year-old war, which the United Nations said on Thursday has killed at least 93,000 people.
Gazete Oku says Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been meeting members of a key protest group, hours after issuing a “final warning” to demonstrators. The meeting, which was also attended by two representatives of umbrella group Taksim Solidarity, has been described as a “last-ditch” attempt to find a solution after two weeks of anti-government protests. Taksim Solidarity is opposed to the redevelopment of Istanbul's Gezi Park, the issue that sparked the unrest. Erdogan's party has proposed a referendum over the future of the park, but that is unlikely to appease many of the protesters still encamped there.
Euronews reports Iran has imposed strict media restrictions on both foreign and Iranian journalists as Iranians go to the polls today to elect a new President as Mahmoud Ahmadinajad is replaced after serving his maximum eight years in charge. There are six candidates but Iran's Guardian Council has restricted those who can stand, banning women or other candidates with an agenda considered to be reformist or liberal. Hardliners are still split on one candidate to support, potentially splitting their vote, increasing the chances of victory for moderate candidate Hassan Rohani.
The Washington Post says the US Supreme Court's rejection on Thursday of natural DNA patent protection could hurt biotech companies, but specialists said it left enough safeguards for the industry to keep innovating. The court ruled that Myriad Genetics, which sells expensive tests for the genetic markers for cancer, could not claim patents on the DNA it identified in the 1990s to develop the tests. But the high court also approved for the first time the patenting of synthetic DNA, handing a victory to researchers and companies looking to come up with ways to fight, and profit from, medical breakthroughs that could reverse life-threatening diseases such as breast or ovarian cancer.
La Prensa reports the Nicaraguan Congress has approved a proposal to have a canal built linking the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. A Hong Kong-based company has been granted a 50-year concession to build the waterway, which will rival the Panama Canal. President Daniel Ortega says the project will bring prosperity.
Police in London have arrested a man after a spray paint attack on a painting of Queen Elizabeth. Sky News quotes the advocacy group Fathers 4 Justice, which campaigns for fathers denied contact with their children, saying one of their members was responsible. It said the man painted “Help” on the picture as part of a desperate appeal to the Queen.
Protests in Brazil against bus and underground fare rises have turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with riot police in the country's largest city, Sao Paulo. Folha de Sao Paulo reports police fired rubber bullets and tear gas, detaining some 40 people in the city centre. They said they seized petrol bombs, knives and drugs. At least 55 people, including six of the newspaper’s journalists, have been injured in the violent clashes. Two of them were shot in the face.
According to Ansa, Pope Francis decried the number of Catholics now cohabiting and said he would order a study of the family later this year to tackle the question. He was addressing members of the Vatican's Synod of Bishops, which studies specific issues in the Catholic Church in depth and put forward solutions.
Sydney Morning Herald reports Australian endurance swimmer Chloe McCardel has ended her attempt to swim from Cuba to the US after suffering a "severe debilitating jellyfish sting". The 28-year-old had hoped to swim non-stop from Havana to Florida without a shark cage in a journey expected to take about 60 hours..
ABC reports a commercial radio presenter in Perth has been suspended after asking Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard whether her partner Tim Mathieson was gay. Fairfax Radio host Howard Sattler asked the question during an interview with Gillard, in which he challenged her to answer a series of myths, rumours, and innuendos. During the exchange Ms Gillard said the questioning was absurd and "bordering" a line.
The BBC reports an Englishman has been warned after he dialled 999 to complain that a prostitute was not as attractive as she had claimed. West Midlands Police said they were contacted by the caller who said he “wished to report her for breaching the Sale of Goods Act”. Officers have now sent the man a letter warning him about wasting police time.
San Francisco parking spots are not immune from the recent surge in real estate prices. The San Francisco Chronicle reports a spot in the city's trendy South Beach neighbourhood last week sold for $82,000. The 8- by 12-foot parking space is in an enclosed garage in a condominium building. While it may seem like a lot of money, real estate agents say parking could be a good investment. It can add as much as $100,000 to the purchase price of a property, or be rented out at rates of $400 to $450 a month – the going rate in South Beach.