The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times of Malta says Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has claimed he has a solution to immigration. It also reports a statement by Environment Leo Brincat which showed that Wasteserv was littered with failings.
The Malta Independent reports how Dr Muscat argued that Libya has to be part of the solution of the migration problem.
l-orizzont says EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy told Malta the EU is listening to Malta’s concerns. It also says Arriva and the GWU are discussing drivers’ rosters.
In-Nazzjon says Simon Busuttil called for action on migration which respected everyone’s dignity. It also reports a comment by Van Rompuy that every country has to follow international law.
The overseas press
The United States says it is “disappointed” over China's failure to hand over fugitive intelligence analyst Edward Snowden. South China Morning Post says after talks with senior Chinese officials, US Deputy Secretary of State Edward Burns said Beijing's actions undermined “trust” in bilateral ties. Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi said Hong Kong, which allowed Snowden to leave Russia, had acted in accordance with the territory's law. Washington wants to prosecute the former CIA contractor over the leaking of thousands of classified US intelligence documents.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post reveals that Snowden may be on a flight to Cuba. The Aeroflot flight to Havana left Sheremetyevo Airport as usual but it did not follow the usual route, fuelling speculation that the American may be a passenger. Instead of flying over Scandinavia, Greenland, Iceland and then turning to Canada and the United States, this time the aircraft passed to central Europe through Belarus, Poland, Germany and then France. Three countries, Venezuela, Bolivia or Nicaragua have offered him asylum. However, the Post points out that many transatlantic flights are changing their routes because of turbulence.
London’s The Guardian reveals that new documents collected by Snowden show Microsoft has collaborated with US intelligence to ensure that users' communications could be intercepted. The claim has been denied by Microsoft, which said it did not grant, or offer the government any direct access to any of its products.
Cairo Times says rival rallies are expected in Cairo later today after Friday prayers amid rising tensions over the army's overthrow of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last week. On Thursday the Muslim Brotherhood vowed to continue “peaceful resistance to the bloody military coup against constitutional legitimacy”. The Obama administration and UN both raised concerns about Egypt's decision to issue arrest warrants for the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood – to which Morsi belongs – and nine senior figures of the movement.
Deutsche Welle reports EU anti-trust officials have launched surprise investigations at the offices of telecoms companies in several EU countries. The regulators suspect them of abusing their dominant positions in Internet markets by having conspired to manipulate prices for the service. According to Le Figaro, the regulators inspected the offices of French telecoms firm Orange, as well as Germany's Deutsche Telekom and Telefonica of Spain.
The Irish Examiner says lawmakers in the Republic of Ireland have voted to allow abortion under certain conditions for the first time, following a marathon debate. In a 127-31 vote, they backed allowing a termination when doctors deemed that a woman was at risk of taking her life.
O Globo reports tens of thousands of workers across Brazil have joined a day of strikes called by the country's largest trade unions. Key ports and several motorways were blocked, many schools and banks stayed closed and crowds marched through Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. The unions want improved working conditions and better public services.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the six Greenpeace activists who climbed the Shard in London have been arrested on the tip of the skyscraper after their venture to protest against the oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, which is planning major oil-and-gas drilling in the Arctic. One of the militants, who arrived at the tip of the building designed by Renzo Piano, has set a banner reading "Save the Arctic".
Avvenire reports Pope Francis has unveiled a raft of new laws – from harsher penalties for crimes inside the Vatican against children and those found guilty of stealing confidential documents, to abolishing life imprisonment and buffing up anti-money-laundering efforts. The laws were announced in a papal decree known as a Motu Proprio and were approved by the Pontifical Commission for the State of Vatican City. The decree also says the Church will carry out Benedict XVI's reforms begun in 2010 aimed at giving the Holy See more means for preventing and fighting money laundering and efforts to fund terrorism through the Vatican Bank.
Russian spies have returned to the old typewriter. According to Izvestia, Federal Guard Service (FSO), a powerful body tasked with protecting Russia's highest-ranking officials, has recently put in an order for 20 Triumph Adler typewriters. Each typewriter creates a unique “handwriting”, allowing its source to be traced, The paper links the purchase to the revelations of Edward Snowden, the mole of the National Security Agency (NSA). The Kremlin, it says, has expanded the use of paper documents only after Snowden told how during the G20 in London in 2009 the Americans had intercepted phone calls of Russian President Dimitri Medvedev. Typewriters are used to not leave electronic traces of the contents of the documents. According to the news agency Itar Tass, their use had never been completely abandoned by the Russian intelligence services.