The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says the new Civil Unions law brings gay marriage a step away.
L-orizzont leads with testimony by the manager of the Enemalta Petroleum Division, Philip Borg, who said that Frank Sammut acted like he ran this division when Tancred Tabone was chairman. Both Sammut and Tabone face court charges over alleged commissions on oil contracts.
In-Nazzjon quotes Opposition leader Simon Busuttil who said the people expected a clear government policy on immigration.
The Malta Independent says the Civil Unions bill will grant the same rights as marriage.
The overseas press
Reuters reports that a powerful blast near a Libyan Islamist stronghold east of the Tripoli killed at least two people.
Ansa quotes Defence Minister Mario Mauro saying Mare Nostrum – Italy’s new humanitarian operation in the Mediterranean, would marshal five ships – including the huge amphibious transport ship San Marco – and an unspecified number of drones and aircraft. He said it would be “a military and humanitarian operation strengthening surveillance and rescue forces at sea to increase safety levels for human lives”.
Swiss experts who examined Yasser Arafat's clothing confirmed the presence of traces of polonium, buffering the hypothesis that the Palestinian leader, who died in France on November 11 of 2004, was poisoned. The experts' report was published by Lancet. At his wife's request, an autopsy was not performed following Arafat's death. However his remains were exhumed in November 2012 after initial analyses found traces of the radioactive substance on his clothes.
CBS News reports after a weeklong interrogation aboard a US warship, Libyan al-Qaida suspect Abu Anas al-Libi is now in New York awaiting trial on terrorism charges. al-Libi was grabbed in a military raid in Libya on October 5. He's due to stand trial in Manhattan, where he has been under indictment for more than a decade on charges he helped plan and conduct surveillance for the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
A major 7.2 magnitude earthquake struck near the popular Philippines tourist destination of Cebu City in the early hours of this morning, 629 kilometres from the capital Manila. CNN quotes the US Geological Survey saying the temblor was followed by two aftershocks, each measuring more than 5.0 in magnitude. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a Pacific-wide tsunami threat and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
USA Today reports rival Republican and Democratic Senate leaders have expressed optimism they could agree a deal to stave off a debt default that would shred US credibility and rock the global economy. After several failed attempts to end the impasse, veteran political prize fighters Senate Majority leader Harry Reid and his Republican opposite number Mitch McConnell conducted low key talks aimed at saving the day.
Sole 24 Ore says Italy has denied charges of protectionism as Alitalia held a shareholders’ considered a capital increase of €300 million and a bank loan of €200 million that would see the public postal service take a stake in the troubled airline. British Airways demanded that the EU intervene in the capital plans, saying that state aid for Alitalia would contravene regulations governing state assistance to businesses. Premier Enrico Letta's office said those allegations were untrue.
El Pais reports Madrid court has began hearing Spain's first lawsuit against German firm Grunenthal, the manufacturer of the morning sickness drug thalidomide which caused birth defects in thousands of babies. The lawsuit was filed by Avite, an association representing Spaniards born with severe defects after their mothers took the drug during their pregnancies. The group is seeking compensation of €204 million from the company for its 180 members.
Deutsche Welle says the Global Hunger Index shows that despite some advances in endangered regions, one in eight people in the world still did not have enough to eat. The number of people suffering from a lack of food was still a “scandal,” despite a global reduction of 34 per cent in the hunger situation since 1990. The report blamed food shortages mainly on environmental catastrophes, conflicts and rising food prices.
A year after Usain Bolt made history at the London Olympics and declared himself “a living legend,” a bombshell dropped largely unnoticed in The Gleaner, the Caribbean's oldest newspaper: A former director of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission alleged the island didn't drug-test its athletes for entire months before they dazzled at the Summer Games. Statistics compiled by former JADCO Executive Director Renee Anne Shirley indicated a near-complete breakdown in the agency's out-of-competition testing from January 2012 to the July opening of the Olympics.