The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports how proponents of the Spring hunting referendum told a court that hunters’ objections have no legal basis.
The Malta Independent says investigators are reconstructing the bomb which went off at a police inspector’s house in Zurrieq.
In-Nazzjon reports that many Maltese have lost millions of euro in investments made through Crystal Investments.
l-orizzont reports how Malta has recorded the steepest increase in retail trade in the EU.
The overseas press
The Washington Post reports US President Barack Obama has said he would work with Congressional leaders after his Democrats lost control of the Senate, blocking his legislative agenda. However, Obama said he would use executive powers if necessary. Republicans won at least 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats in the Tuesday’s midterm elections. This is the first Republican majority in the Senate in eight years.
The US Navy SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden dead in the special force’s most famous operation is set to give a full interview to Fox News later this month and waive his anonymity but MailOnline has established that he is Rob O’Neill, a highly-decorated veteran who quit after 16 years service. He was one of the most distinguished members ever of the elite force.
For the second year in a row, the US business magazine Forbes has named Russian President Vladimir Putin the most powerful person in the world. The magazine said that “as the undisputed, unpredictable and unaccountable head of an energy-rich, nuclear-tipped state, no one would ever call him weak”. The magazine said its editors picked the Russian leader over President Obama, with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pope Francis and German Chancellor Angela Merkel rounding out the top five.
TASS quotes the Russian Federal Migration Service saying more than 235,000 Ukrainian refugees have applied for temporary shelter or refugee status in Russia. Of these over 207,000 were granted such status. Earlier,the service said about 830,000 Ukrainian citizens, who had left the country because of the conflict, were now staying in Russia.
Deutsche Welle reports protesters from around the world united on Wednesday night in the Million Mask March against austerity, mass surveillance and oppression. The worldwide demonstration took place for the third consecutive year in some 481 towns and cities around the globe. They obscured their faces with masks made famous by the 2005 film “V for Vendetta”.
Il Tempo says strong winds battering Rome have brought down trees and snarled traffic, while heavy rains with more to come triggered severe weather alerts in the Italian capital and across much of the country. Up to 110 mm of rain is being forecast today in Rome and authorities ordered school closures in the city and province of Rome, including such nearby communities as Fiumicino.
al bawaba says more than 500 members of the Sunni Albu Nimr tribe in western Iraq have been killed by Islamic State in recent days. The tribe’s leader, Naim Gaod Nimrawi, begged people living in the Anbar Province to continue to revolt against the jihadists.
Haaretz reports an Israeli policeman was killed and 13 others were injured, three seriously, when a Palestinian drove his car into a crowd in east Jerusalem. Other police officers shot and killed the Palestinian, Ibrahim al Akri, 48, who was identified as a member of Islamic Jihad. Hamas took credit for the attack in a statement.
In an overview published in the British health journal The Lancet, the World Health Organisation has warned that the explosion in the world’s ageing population presented “herculean challenges for health systems”, especially in poorer countries.
AFP says a French health watchdog has recommended that children under six be denied access to 3D films, computers and video games, and that those up to 13 have “moderate” access.
Dawn reports Pakistani police have arrested 44 suspects in the burning death of a Christian couple in a village south of Lahore. More than 460 people reportedly took part when Christian couple Shahzad and Shama were burned alive for allegedly burning a copy of the Koran.
An Egyptian bus driver who tried to avoid a drugs test by using his wife’s urine has been busted after it turned out his wife was pregnant, the Al-Yawm al-Sabi reports. Before revealing the news, officials asked the driver to confirm the sample was in fact his own. After the driver said it was, the officials reportedly responded: “Congratulations, you’re pregnant.”