Press digest

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

The Times reports that a Belgian man wanted for paedophilia has been arrested in Gozo. It also says that a man run over by a taxi in St Julian’s early yesterday may have been already dead after being beaten up.

The Malta Independent carries views on IVF, saying it is a new way of thinking about life and reproduction.  

l-orizzont also features the investigations into yesterday’s death in St Julian’s. It gives prominence, however, to GWU proposals on the civil service

In-Nazzjon says there is increased pressure for Jason Micallef  to step down as One TV head because he is an election candidate. 

The overseas press

The Tripoli Post reports that gunmen in Libya have shot dead a senior army general in Benghazi. Mohammed Hadia, who was in charge of armaments at the Libyan defence ministry, was leaving a mosque after Friday prayers when he was ambushed. He was one of the first officers to join the opposition during last year’s uprising. The motive for his killing is not yet known. The paper said the murder highlights the security challenge that the new leaders have to face in Libya.

CNN says the United States has accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of providing training, advice and extensive logistical support to the Syria government in its violent suppression of the opposition rebels. It also accuses Hezbollah of helping Iran’s Islamic revolutionary guards to train Syrian forces. Washington already designates Hezbollah a terrorist organisation.

Meanwhile, The Guardian reports that Britain is to give goods to Syrian opposition groups worth £5 million (€6.3 million). The items include radio and satellite equipment, portable power generators, medical and sanitary equipment, mobile phones and possibly body armour. British Foreign Secretary William Hague called the move "the right thing to do".

Some 150,000 Syrian refugees have fled to bordering countries in the last 17 months. Tribune de Genève quotes the UN Refugee Agency (UNHRC) saying the recent esculation of violence in Aleppo has prompted a third to seek refuge in nieghouring Turkey, whilst the others went to Libya, Jordan and Iraq. More than 20,000 people have died during violence that started with a government crackdown on anti-government protests in March 2011.

State media in China say Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai, has confessed to killing British businessman Neil Heywood after “a mental breakdown”. The case led to China’s biggest political crisis in years. In a detailed late-night report, Xinhua news agency quoted Gu as apologizing for the tragedy she had caused.

The Financial Times writes that the worst drought in 50 years, coupled with record-high temperatures, has caused more damage to the American corn crop than expected. According to figures from the US Department f Agriculture, the drought has destroyed one-sixth of the country's expected corn crop over the past month, threatening a surge in global food inflation. It warns that it expects to see this year’s harvest fall by 13 per cent.

Osservatore Romano reports the number of Catholics in Ireland has fallen from 69 per cent in 2005 to 47 per cent. According to the results of a recent survey, Ireland was also one of the 10 countries with the highest concentration of atheists.

EU Observer says the European Commission has placed France under monitoring due to the destruction of Roma camps in some of the largest French cities. Several dozens of Roma received money in order to return to Romania and were supposed to depart on Thursday from Lyon. Human rights organisations attacked the President François Hollande as they did with his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy over the illegal expulsion of EU citizens.

Ansa reports Carlo Rambaldi, the Oscar-winning creator of the iconic and loveable alien ET and the less cuddly monster in Alien, has died aged 86. Rambaldi's dramatic work won him three Academy Awards – for Alien, ET and King Kong - and a legion of fans. Rambaldi also worked on another Spielberg film, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and David Lynch's Dune, released in 1984.

The Journal says the National Gallery of Ireland has begun restoration work on a Monet painting which was punched while on display in June. It is expected that the work on Argenteuil with a Single Sailboat (1874) will take about a year to complete. Irishman Andrew Shannon was charged last week with criminal damage in relation to the incident.

La Gazzetta di Modena reports Italian police have charged a Moroccan man of severely injuring his daughter when he kicked and punched her in a shopping mall in northern Italy for not wearing a veil. The paper said trouble started when she refused to don a veil and accept an arranged marriage. A restraining order had been placed on the woman's family when the girl, who has now turned 18, reported a difficult living situation.

Sydney Morning Herald reports a court has heard that a woman, whose partner died after she tried to cut off his penis, was a kind and gentle person. Jian Chen pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of her former boyfriend Xian Peng in 2011. She drugged his soup with sleeping pills, then stabbed him and tried to cut off his penis in her home after he returned from overseas with a new girlfriend. She has yet to be sentenced.

The BBC reports the US women’s 4x100m relay team has smashed one of the oldest world records to win gold at the London Olympics. They finished in a time of 40.82 seconds – beating East Germany's record of 41.37, which had stood since 1985. Jamaica was second in a national record time of 41.41, with Ukraine third in 42.04 and Nigeria fourth. The USA team had failed to reach the final at the Beijing Olympics.