The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta and most of the other newspapers lead with yesterday's kidnapping and subsequent release of the Libyan prime minister. The newspaper quotes Joseph Muscat saying Malta stands by the Libyan people. The Times of Malta also reports oil trader George Farrugia saying in court that he was 'forced' to pay commissions on contracts he was awarded.
The Malta Independent says the government has identified candidates to fill the second post of deputy governor at the Central Bank.
In-Nazzjon says there have been resignations to enable the prisons to pass to a Labour activist's hands.
L-orizzont also leads with the evidence given yesterday in the Enemalta commissions-for-contracts case.
The overseas press
Libya Herald reports Prime Minister Ali Zeidan has appealed for calm in his first comments since being freed from captivity on Thursday. He appeared live on television just hours after his release was confirmed. Reports differ on the nature of Zeidan's release, although it appears the abductors did not release the prime minister voluntarily.
Deutsche Welle says EU lawmakers have approved the Eurosur border surveillance programme. It aims to reduce the number of undetected illegal migrants to the EU, including those who arrive by boat, and seeks to prevent cross-border crime. The EU Commission plans to launch the new state-of-the-art surveillance system in December with a budget of €244 million between 2014 and 2020.
Agi reports rescue divers have found two more corpses in the shipwreck off Lampedusa, raising the death toll of the disaster to 311. There are 155 survivors, but about between 50 and 80 people are still missing. Searches are being carried out with robots, sonars and cameras around the sunken ship.
Bloomberg says that as International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings got underway in Washington, global finance chiefs have called for the US to quickly resolve the political stalemate over the budget and debt ceiling to avoid damaging the world economy.
Top finance officials from China, Europe and Latin America joined IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim in warning of the potential catastrophe looming if Washington is forced to slash spending because Congress does not increase the statutory borrowing cap.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reports President Obama and his Republican rivals have failed to agree on a deal which would have postponed a possible US debt default. Obama and senior Republicans, including House of Representatives speaker John Boehner, met for talks at the White House after the Republicans offered a temporary deal to increase the government's
debt limit. But shortly after Boehner and his allies left the meeting the White House released a statement saying no deal had been struck.
In a possible preview of today's Nobel Peace Prize announcement, the European Union awarded its top human-rights prize – the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought – to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who was shot by the Taliban for championing education for girls.
Metro says it was the latest of many honours bestowed on the 16-year-old, who has become a celebrated international figure since surviving an assassination attempt last year that shocked the world.
Fox News announces the death of Scott Carpenter, one of the last surviving members of the Mercury 7 – NASA’s first group of astronauts. He was 88. In 1962 Carpenter became the second American to orbit the earth, piloting the Aurora 7 spacecraft through three revolutions of the earth. After retiring in 1969 he took up oceanographic activities. John Glenn, who flew the first
orbital mission, is the last surviving member of the Mercury team.
Channel News Asia says a fire broke out at a Japanese hospital early today, killing 10 people and injuring eight others. Some elderly patients were seen being rushed out of the hospital while ambulance crews were giving them heart massages.
The risk of premature death from smoking is much more severe than previously thought for both light and heavy smokers, a large Australian study has revealed. ABC says that the study found that two thirds of deaths in current smokers could be attributed to tobacco use and light smokers also face double risk of early death. Professor Emily Banks from the Australian National University, who led the study, said smoking reduces life expectancy by 10 years.
Times of India says Indian police have filed a case against Miss Universe, American Olivia Culpo, for an unauthorised footwear fashion shoot at the Taj Mahal, India’s white-marble monument to love. Culpo, Indian-born fashion designer Sanjana Jon and others in her group can be jailed for up to two years and fined €1,100 if found guilty.
France 24 says a right-wing MP, Phillipe Le Ray, has had his monthly pay reduced by 25 per cent after clucking like a chicken during a speech by Green Party MP Véronique Massonneau
on the subject of reforming France’s pensions system. Woman lawmakers did not take this latest attack lightly and in a show of solidarity and force, women MPs delayed their entrance to Wednesday afternoon’s parliamentary session. They were applauded by left-wing lawmakers as they marched in together a few minutes later, with Massonneau leading at the head of the
column. Angered by the women’s “theatrics,” the opposition UMP group abandoned the chamber.