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

The Times of Malta reports how the cleric abuse victims have sued institutions for damages. The story is also followed by l-orizzont.

The Times of Malta also says that Air Malta is taking action against a pilot who wrote on facebook that he was proud to be racist.

The Malta Independent quotes former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech saying the excessive deficit procedure may be an excuse for Labour to ditch its electoral promises.

On the same story, In-Nazzjon says the government is losing the reins of financial governance.

L-orizzont reports that MEP Joseph Cuschieri has spoken against the raising of the retirement age.

The overseas press

The European Union would be making a “big mistake” labelling Hezbollah a terror organisation, the group’s deputy secretary-general, Naim Qassem, said on Friday. In an interview with Lebanon’s LBC television, Qassem said that the threats do not worry Hezbollah. France this week joined an EU push to declare the Shiite group a terrorist organisation amid frustration with Hezbollah’s support for Syria’s military. Britain filed a request to discuss blacklisting the Shiite militia next Monday at the EU’s Foreign Affairs Council meeting in Brussels.

MI5 asked Woolwich murder suspect Michael Adebolajo if he wanted to work for them about six months before the killing, a childhood friend has said. Abu Nusaybah told BBC Newsnight his friend – one of two men arrested after Drummer Lee Rigby's murder in south-east London on Wednesday – had rejected the approach from the security service. The BBC said they could not obtain any confirmation from Whitehall sources. Abu Nusaybah was arrested at the BBC after giving the interview.

Meanwhile, Reuters reports Britain's intelligence services have come under pressure to explain how they let two Islamic extremists suspected of hacking a soldier to death in the streets of London slip through their net. Both of the men, under armed guard in London hospitals after being shot by police at the scene, were previously known to the intelligence services but were reportedly assessed as not posing a deadly threat. One of the men, Michael Adebolajo, 28, had attended meetings of a now-banned Islamist group and reportedly sold extremist leaflets in Woolwich, south London, where the attack took place on Wednesday.

Avvenire says Pope Francis has urged governments to come up with new approaches to fight human trafficking. He told a plenary meeting of the Pontifical Council for Migrants that human trafficking was “a shameful activity, a disgrace to our societies that claim to be civilized”. The Pontiff called on "governors, legislators and the entire international community" to come up with "effective initiatives and new approaches to protect the dignity and improve the quality of life (for human trafficking victims), and cope with modern forms of persecution".

Sweden Globe reports more than a 29 people have been arrested in Sweden as firefighters responded to more reports of fire as rioters took to the streets for the fifth night in a row burning cars, shops, schools and a police station. Firefighters were dispatched to 70 different location across Stockholm in response to blazes started by groups of youths. The unrest began on Sunday night after the fatal shooting of a 69-year-old man in an area with a high population of immigrants.

Adnkronos says Italy's left-right coalition government has agreed to abolish public funding of Italian political parties. Prime Minister Enrico Letta announced on Twitter that his government would now draft a Bill proposing rigourous transparency rules for party accounts and statutes, tax breaks and simplified procedures for private party donors and mechanisms to ensure the traceability of these funds. The grassroots Five-Star Movement, which won about a quarter of the vote in February elections, put strong pressure on Letta's centre-left Democrat party and the PdL to scrap public party funds, which it vehemently opposes.

EU Observer says the European Commission has confirmed its decision to ban the use of three pesticides that are harmful to bees. The two-year ban will come into force next December and EU member states will have to cancel or amend existing permits in order to comply with EU’s Decision by the end of September. The Decision was approved by 15 EU member states, including France and Germany.

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