Press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times says the Prime Minister has insisted that Malta will not investigate again the Maltese witness in the Lockerbie case. It also reports that according to the Mepa auditor, private meetings by Mepa officials on planning applications are illegal.

The Malta Independent quotes the Prime Minister saying unemployment in Malta is among the lowest in the EU. Meanwhile, the Leader of the Opposition said he suspected the Mistra arraignments were a PN game to mislead.

In-Nazzjon underlines the government's commitment to give jobs a priority over deficit reduction. It also reports that a mast has been erected to monitor the wind at l-Ahrax in Mellieha ahead of the building of a wind farm.

l-orizzont leads with a focus on proposals by Joseph Muscat for the Budget.

The Press in Britain...

The Daily Telegraph reports that the Leader of the Commons has said that radical proposals to overhaul the system of MPs' expenses may be blocked.

The Financial Times claims that businesses would have more influence over Whitehall under a Conservative government.

The Guardian reports the Home Secretary faces mass resignations from the government's drug advisory body over his decision to force out its chairman.

The Times has also learned that more resignations are on the way.

The Independent reports that the country's oldest medical college is calling for every adult to be legally required to decide whether to donate their organs. The Daily Express says new research has found that gentle exercise can dramatically cut the danger of an early death from heart disease.

According to The Sun, two Beefeaters have been suspended and a third is under investigation over allegations that they bullied the Tower of London's first woman yeoman warder.

The Daily Mail says figures reveal that somone is attacked by a complete stranger every 30 seconds in 'Binge Britain'.

A retired boss and a woman have been killed in what the Daily Mirror calls a horrific Halloween murder.

The death of a British holidaymaker in a beach landslide in Tenerife is Metro's lead.

And elsewhere...

Il Tempo reports that a convicted member of the radical left-wing Red Brigades group has killed herself in a Rome jail. Diana Blefari Melazzi, 43, was found hanged in her cell in Rebibbia prison. Melazzi and four other members of the Red Brigades were convicted in 2005 for murdering government consultant Marco Biagi in Bologna in 2002. An inquiry into her death is now under way.

Al Ahram reports that King Abdullah II of Jordan and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak have warned that Israel's "unilateral" actions in East Jerusalem and other Arab areas were "derailing" efforts aimed at resuming peace negotiations with the Palestinians, and would thereby have a "catastrophic" effect on the region.

Meanwhile, Al-Ayyam says the Palestinians have said Washington's backing for Israeli refusal to halt Jewish settlement expansion had killed any hope of reviving peace negotiations soon.

And The Jerusalem Post reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hit out at the Palestinian Authority, saying he hoped the Palestinians would "get a grip" and drop this precondition. The prime minister also told the cabinet that Israel was making a concerted effort to renew the peace talks.

Ma'ariv says several dozen Israelis have protested against the arrival in the country of a controversial Swedish journalist who accused Israel of stealing organs from dead Palestinians. Donald Bostrom, who is in Israel to attend a media conference, had sparked outrage in Israel and a diplomatic spat with Sweden after he published an article in August in the popular Aftonbladet tabloid that alleged Israeli soldiers stole and sold body parts of dead Palestinians. The newspaper later said the story lacked proof.

Afghan Times reports that President Hamid Karzai's main rival has decided to to pull out of the election run-off, insisting a transparent election was not possible. Dr Abdullah Abdullah announced he will not participate in the November 7 run-off presidential contest after his demands for changes in the election commission were not met.

Asia Times says Afghanistan has ordered the closure of all public and private schools for three weeks after recording its first death from swine flu. The move comes after an engineer from Kabul last week became the first Afghan to die of the (A)H1N1 virus.

According to the Manila Times, the Philippine government has rejected a €1.3m ransom demanded by the kidnappers of an Irish priest, Fr Michael Sinnott. It said efforts would continue to safely secure his freedom.

The Mail says a man has killed three of his children, aged 11, 7 and 5, with an axe and critically wounded two others in what police described as Zimbabwe's most brutal crime in recent years.