The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times of Malta reports how an appeals court yesterday confirmed the 10-year jail sentence for Daniel Holmes. His wife said the issue was not over.
The Malta Independent follows up the case where a court ordered a school and teacher to compensate a child who was severely hurt in a kindergarten 15 years ago.
l-orizzont says a baby having Down’s Syndrome was ‘reborn’ after an operation in the UK.
In-Nazzjon says the Police Commissioner has been belied by the Commissioner for Data Protection.
The overseas press
Reuters quotes an anonymous US official saying President Obama has ordered the National Security Agency to put an end to interception at the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Washington, as part of the review of the activities' of intelligence initiated after the Datagate scandal. Meanwhile, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has approved legislation that would tighten controls on the government's sweeping electronic eavesdropping programmes but allow them to continue.
AFP reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has spoken for the first time about NSA’s carpet wiretapping and said that in some cases, US spying has gone too far, amid a row with Europe over the matter. Kerry told a London conference via videolink, the US “must ensure that this does not happen again in the future”. Kerry reiterated that the objective of the NSA is to counter terrorism.
According to Deutsche Welle, a German opposition Greens parliamentarian has visited the US whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow. Hans-Christian Ströbele said Snowden might help Germany probe alleged surveillance by the US National Security Agency. Meanwhile, RIA Novosti announced Snowden has found a job working for a website in Russia. Snowden was granted asylum in August after fleeing to Russia in June.
Israeli strike aircraft have carried out two sorties against Syrian air bases, Al Arabiya reported on Thursday. The raids targeted a Syrian air force facility in Lattakia, close to the coast, and another just outside Damascus. The raids reportedly targeted Russian-made, short range SA-8 surface-to-air missiles heading for Hezbollah, in Lebanon.
CNN quotes the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons confirming that Syria has destroyed all of its equipment for the production of chemical weapons. OPCW, which is overseeing the elimination of Syria's chemical weapons programme, said the entire operation was completed before the deadline on Saturday as agreed by the US and Russia. The sites destroyed were those declared by the Syrian regime.
The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi is negotiating the release of the two Orthodox bishops seized in northern Syria in April, allegedly by a radical Chechen group. Lebanese daily al-Joumhouria says the unnamed Chechen group's leader was contacted by Brahimi's representative in Damascus, Mokhtar Lamani, and in a recorded six-minute call told him the two bishops are well. The negotiations to release bishops Youhanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji are going under the auspices of Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan. Among conditions set by the kidnappers are the release of Turkish officers detained by the Syrian regime.
Herana reports Iran's Supreme Court has confirmed the death sentence issued against Kurdish activist and dissident Mansur Arvand, who faces being hanged next month. His family are calling on world governments to halt his execution. A lower court found Arvand guilty of endangering national security and of collaboration with a Kurdish opposition group classified as an “enemy” of the Islamic Republic. He was arrested in 2011 by Iranian intelligence agents.
Fox News says airline passengers will soon be allowed to use a range of mobile electronic devices in flight with very few restrictions. The move by the Federal Aviation Administration put an end to stricter regulations that have barred the use of electronics during taxi, takeoff and landing for the past 50 years, and will take effect on most US carriers by the end of this year.
The Times says history has been made in Britain, with the first broadcast of proceedings from the Court of Appeal in London. The ringleader of a counterfeit coin scam failed to get his seven year prison sentence reduced. British Prime Minister David Cameron thinks cameras in court are a good idea.
Elton John has revealed to the BBC that he had danced rock’n’roll with the at a 21 st birthday party for Prince Andrew at Windsor Castle. “I've danced with Princess Anne, the queen hath approached and said ‘Can I join you?’”. He said it was one of the most surreal moments of his life. “I was born in a council house in Pinner, London, and my chance to dance with the queen were remote.”
France 24 says President François Hollande has showed football clubs the red card in the face of protests over plans to impose a 75 per cent tax on earnings over one million euros a year. The president refused to budge on the issue after meeting the chiefs of some of the country’s top tier football clubs who have threatened to strike over the tax. The Union of Professional Football Clubs (UCPF), which represents France’s first and second division teams, stated that they would now go ahead with plans to strike at the end of November in response to Hollande’s position