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

Times of Malta leads with yesterday’s murder in Fgura. It also features comments by a man who found a three year old boy who slipped out of Skolasajf in Fgura into a busy main road.

l-orizzont says 15 investors have shown interest in the ‘commercialisation’ of the Family Park in Marsascala.

The Malta Independent says Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco has turned 65 and been let off the hook. He had been facing impeachment.

In-Nazzjon reports how Jonathan Pace was killed a few days after he was let out on bail.

 The overseas press

USA Today quotes Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel saying the threat posed by ISIS’ terrorism was imminent and that the group was “tremendously well funded” and “as sophisticated a group as we have seen”. 

In Britain, The Daily Express says as many as 1,000 jihadists who had been fighting in the Middle East were walking the streets of the UK while The Daily Telegraph reports that the SAS are on standby in case James Foley's killer is identified. 

Sky News reports the Muslim Council of Britain, the largest Muslim umbrella group in the country, condemned the “abhorrent murder” of US journalist James Foley and called for united action by Muslims to stop the “poison of extremism” infiltrating their communities.

Ansa quotes Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi saying Europe must “intervene, not sleep as it has in the past” in Iraq. He told TG5 that “for the first time, Europe is in the front line and not watching from the sidelines”.

Vatican Radio reports Pope Francis phoned John and Diane Foley, the parents of the journalist James Foley beheaded by ISIS. “The family and moved and grateful,” says American Jesuit priest James Martin on Twitter. James Foley, like his parents, was deeply Catholic and had studied at a Jesuit college.

Voice of Nigeria says yet another city has fallen into the hands of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram in the north-eastern state of Yobe. Survivors fleeing Buni Yadi, somne 60 km away from the capital Damaturu, have reported summary executions, looting and checkpoints.

The New York Times reports two American aid workers have been sent home to their families after being successfully treated for the Ebola virus. The UN has warned the ongoing epidemic could pose a threat to stability in West Africa.

Al Ayyam says Israeli air raids over Gaza have left 24 people dead, including three Hamas leaders and four children. The rescue squads also found the body of a child under the debris of a building destroyed by the raids. The overall death toll has hit 2,075, while the total injured are 10,310. Of the total dead, 58 were killed after the truce was broken on Tuesday. .

Al Ahram reports Egypt has banned all flights to and from Libya because of the deteriorating security situation. The move comes soon after Tunisia's transport ministry banned flights from the Libyan towns of Mitiga, Misrata and Sirte until further notice.

Kyiv Post says the first trucks of a Russian aid convoy have cleared through a customs checkpoint at the border with Ukraine. More than 260 trucks had spent days at the frontier awaiting clearance from Ukrainian officials.

Gazete Oku announces Turkey's governing party has selected Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to be its new leader and the country's prime minister, to replace Recep Tayyip Erdogan when he becomes president next week. Davutoglu has been a faithful Erdogan supporter and advisor for years. He was named foreign minister in 2009.

CBS reports Missouri governor Jay Nixon has ordered the US state’s National Guard to begin withdrawing from Ferguson, where nightly scenes of unrest erupted since a white police officer fatally shot an unarmed black 18-year-old. Since demonstrations began after the August 9 shooting of Michel Brown, authorities have arrested at least 163 people in the protest area.

Radio Tunis says 75 illegal immigrants heading for Italy have been rescued by Tunisian fishermen after their boat drifted for five days in rough weather off north Africa. The migrants from Bangladesh, Ghana and Nigeria embarked for Italy at the Libyan port of Zuara but lost their way during bad weather and asked a passing Tunisian fishing boat for help after their food and water ran out.

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