The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
Times of Malta leads with the tragic story of a woman who lost two husbands within the space of a few years.
In-Nazzjon reports how disciplinary action will be taken against two Freeport officials after a container was mistakenly loaded on the wrong ship. The container is reported to have contained cigarettes.
The Malta Independent quotes Prof Albert Fenech saying Malta would be healthier if health was not a political football.
l-orizzont leads with the investment by Actavis in a new warehouse.
The overseas press
Deutsche Welle reports that half an hour before polls closed, only 400,000 people out of an eligible 1.5 million, were said to have voted in Libya general election, also marred by deadly violence. At least three soldiers deployed to provide security in Benghazi were killed in what officials said was an attack by Islamists militias. There was an also explosion at a polling station in the city of Sirte, where militias are also strong. There was no voting in the eastern town of Derna, which has a strong presence of Islamists, for fear of attacks on polling centres. In the southern Kufra region, only five out of 15 opened for “security reasons”.
Meanwhile, Libya Herald says unidentified gunmen have shot dead Libyan human rights activist Salwa Bughagis at her home in Benghazi. She was killed shortly after going to the polls. She had played an active part in the revolution which overthrew the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. He husband has since been missing since her assassination – believed to have been kidnapped by the gunmen.
The efforts of the British Prime Minister David Cameron to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker from being nominated as the next president of the European Commission appear to be on the verge of failure. AFP reports Cameron’s potential allies, including his counterparts in the Netherlands and Sweden, have said they would support Juncker if the issue is pout to a vote in today’s EU summit expected to be dominated by the row.
Trybuna says the coalition government of the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has won a confidence vote following calls for Tusk’s resignation in the face of a scandal revolving around secret tapes of government officials criticising or making derogatory comments about world leaders. His ruling Civic Platform and its junior coalition partner, Poland's Peasants Party, won Wednesday's parliamentary vote of confidence with the support of 237 members of parliament. They had needed 231.
Itar Tass informs that Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia, François Hollande of France and Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine, as well as Germany’s Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel have held telephone talks, in the course of which they discussed promotion of Poroshenko’s peace plan for peace settlement in the east of the country. Poroshenko informed his interlocutors on the alleged “serious violations” that sprang up during the implementation of his plan for unilateral ceasefire.
Voice of Nigeria reports a bomb explosion on a busy shopping district in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, has killed at least 21 people and injured 52 others. No group has claimed responsibility.
Islamist militant group Boko Haram had recently bombed targets in Abuja and across northern Nigeria.
Kenya Today says police in Nairobi have arrested a regional governor in connection with gun attacks that killed almost 50 people earlier this month. The Somali Islamist group Al Shabab had said it had carried out the attacks but President Kenyatta blamed local political networks for the violence.
Al Ayyam reports at least 57 civilians have been killed and over 120 wounded in an air raid in Syria’s Anbar province. Officials reported Syrian fighter jets were used to bomb Rutba, Al-Walid and Qaim. They said aircraft with Syrian markings came from Syrian airspace and returned to Syria afterwards.
Ansa reports the mayor of the northern Italian city of Padua has declared that all public buildings must display a Catholic crucifix. Mayor Massimo Bitonci, who is from the anti-immigrant Northern League party, wrote on his Facebook page that “now every office and every school will get a nice mandatory crucifix donated by the city. Hands off the crucifixes or you will be in trouble”. While its 1948 Italian Constitution says Italy is a secular State and that all religions are equal before the law, the government never explicitly abrogated decrees making crucifixes mandatory dating from the preceding Fascist regime. As a result many hospitals, courts and schools still display the Catholic symbol.