The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that the President is refusing to sign the Civil Unions Bill. It also reports that unlicensed rooms may be accounting for a tenth of tourist nights.
The Malta Independent says the Maltese courts have been snubbed by the US government The case is about payments due to Virtu' Ferries for services during evacuations from Libya.
In-Nazzjon quotes Simon Busuttil saying the people should use their vote to show their disagreement with the mooring of a gas storage tanker in Marsaxlokk.
l-orizzont reports how the new planning authority will be a one-stop shop for development planning.
The overseas press
Le Soir reports President Obama has urged Russia to realise that it could not achieve security and prosperity through brute force. Speaking in Brussels after a summit with top EU officials, Obama said the US and NATO did not seek any conflict with Russia but President Putin had miscalculated if he thought he could divide the West or count on its indifference following the annexation of Crimea.
According to Tribune de Genève, the United States and Russia locked horns over Ukraine during a session of the UN Human Rights Council, as Washington led a Western charge accusing Moscow of stoking strife in the ex-Soviet state.
Military and civilians aircraft are back home after searching once again in turbulent weather for the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft. CBS News says 19 days into the search for Flight 370, the latest satellite images were the first to suggest that a debris field from the plane – rather than just a few objects – might be floating in the southern Indian Ocean, though no wreckage had been confirmed.
Euronews reports Amnesty International notes an increase in the reported number of executions carried out around the world last year. In its annual report, the human rights organisation said the number of publicly disclosed executions last year totalled 778, compared with 682 in 2012.
France 24 says that during the visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping to France, the two countries signed 50 agreements for a total value of €18 billion. One of the agreements is for 70 Airbus aircraft in a deal worth $10 billion.
The Wall Street Journal reports Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon, who has been in office less than six months, resigned on Wednesday, just hours after he was arrested and accused of taking more than $48,000 in bribes from undercover FBI agents posing as businessmen who wanted to do work with North Carolina's largest city.
Al Ahram says Egypt's army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi quit his military post to run for president. In a widely anticipated televised address Sissi vowed to rid the country of “terrorism”. He faces no serious competition in the election, likely before June, and is expected to win comfortably riding on a wave of popularity for his law and order message.
Gazeta Oku quotes Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said Turkey was ready to take all the necessary measures, including military operations abroad, to respond to the threats for its security coming from Syria. He said Turkey was a strong country which never hesitated to implement all the measures it deemed necessary to defend its national security.
A porn star, who was the face of a German far-right party, has been fired – because she had sex with a black man in her latest film. Huffington Post says Ina Groll, who goes under the porn name Kitty Blair, had been widely featured in a high-profile campaign by the National Democratic Party of Germany (NDP). She encouraged men to join the party by standing outside election polls dressed in revealing outfits. Party officials were apparently willing to turn a blind eye to Ms Groll’s career choice, which saw her star naked in a number of adult films.
But they could not ignore her sexual encounter with the black male in her latest movie.