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

Times of Malta reports that another hunter has been arrested as a second stork was killed yesterday.

The Malta Independent says a Filipino sailor who was denied entry to Malta did not have Ebola.

In-Nazzjon quotes Simon Busuttil telling a mass meeting yesterday that the PN wanted to be on the right side of history.

l-orizzont asks if the Independence document and the table on which it was signed have been lost.

The overseas press

The BBC announces Ukraine’s government and pro-Russia rebels have agreed a memorandum on a peace plan for the eastern conflict.  

LBC Radio reports the leaders of Wales and Northern Ireland have called for talks to work out the future of the United Kingdom in the wake of a Scottish referendum which saw voters reject independence but win a raft of new powers. 

The Daily Express dedicates its front page to Queen Elizabeth’s call for “mutual respect and support” between Scots, after the No vote.

The Scotsman carries a full front page photo of defeated Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond, who announced his resignation in the wake of the referendum defeat.

Euronews says that after the Scottish result, Catalonian, Flemish, and South Tyrolean separatists were calling for a referendum. The head of the Catalan Generalitat, Artur Mas said David Cameron could have blocked the vote but he showed his democratic credentials. The Spanish government has already declared the Catalonia consultation illegal.

And Reuters reports Kashmiri separatist leaders have seized on Scotland’s referendum to demand that India follow through on a promise to grant a similar vote in the disputed Himalayan region.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has told US TV station PBS Iran was not convinced the US was serious in its efforts to battle the Islamic State militants, and said there was “every prospect” of reaching a nuclear deal before November deadline. While the US has repeatedly ruled out military “coordination” with Iran against the Islamic jihadists, US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday told the UN Security Council he believed Tehran could play some role.

Gazete Oko reports the Islamic milkitants have seized more than 60 villages near the Turkish border forcing thousands of civilians to flee into nearby Turkey. Turkish soldiers escorted about 4,000 Syrian Kurds, mostly women and children, over the border at Dikmetas.

Deutsche Welle says all across Germany, Muslims have used their Friday prayers to protest against injustice and hate crimes. In Berlin, the organisers did their best to demonstrate a united front against the “Islamic State”.

Ansa says security around St Peter’s Square has been doubled due to an concern about possible terrorist attacks targeting Pope Francis or the Vatican. The agency quotes sources saying extra Italian police were deployed at the pope’s general audience last Wednesday and would be in force on Sunday.

USA Today reports that more than five years after hundreds of Americans got sick from eating salmonella-tainted peanut butter, Stewart Parnell, the top executive at the Georgia plant where it was made. has been convicted and faces 30 years in prison His brother, Michael, and a second co-defendant could face 20 years in prison or more. Nine people died as a result.

A rogue DJ who cancelled numerous wedding bookings by falsely claiming his father had died was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for three years because he had repaid the money. Coleraine Times says Michael Stockman, 31, was convicted of taking £800 from six customers before their marriage ceremonies or parties, only to fail to turn up – often texting his unwitting victims at short notice. 

The Washington Post reports President Obama has launched a new initiative to combat sexual assaults on college campuses. The initiative is a nationwide campaign to spread awareness and to encourage people to do their part to prevent sexual assaults.

Metro says a 17-year-old boy has been found guilty by a UK court of raping a teenager in an alleyway in punishment for spreading rumours about his sister. Lacquan Weekes was egged on by his sister Aliyah, 19, and a 16-year-old girl. He was found guilty of rape, while his sister and the 16-year-old, who stood trial alongside him at the Old Bailey, were found guilty of aiding and abetting the attack. Sentencing on all three was adjourned until October 17.

Times of India says a newscaster for the Indian TV news channel, Doordarshan, has been fired after she referred to China’s president, Xi Jinping as “Eleven Jinping” – apparently mistaking his name for a Roman numeral. The presenter made the mistake on Wednesday as the Chinese leader left India after a three-day visit.

VOA News reports a judge who was arrested and charged with assaulting his wife has ignored growing calls to resign. Mark Fuller, a district court judge in Alabama, allegedly struck his wife repeatedly at a luxury hotel in August.

Sydney Morning Herald says a woman who sent sexually explicit photos and videos of her daughters to their dance teacher in order to further their careers has been jailed. The woman sent at least 100 photos and two videos of the girls, who were aged under 14 at the time, in sexually suggestive poses. Judge Peter Zahra sentenced the woman to three years and six months’ jail with a non-parole period of 18 months.

 

 

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