The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that fraud cases have doubled in three years. It also says the president of the MHRA holds the wrong permit for a restaurant.
The Malta Independent says that although the crime rate in Gozo is lower than in Malta, drug cases are more prevalent.
In-Nazzjon reveals the contents of a technical report into the ‘vitiated’ process leading to the granting of a casino licence to the Eden Leisure Group.
l-orizzont focuses on problems for motorists and residents caused by ongoing roadworks in Victoria, Gozo.
The overseas press
Fox News reports US President Barack Obama has confirmed the death of US aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, describing his beheading at the hands of the Islamic State group as “pure evil”.
Antenna 1 says Romania’s Social Democrat Prime Minister Victor Ponta has admitted defeat and congratulated his presidential challenger, centre-right Klaus Johannis, who won by a very close margin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Germany’s ARD TV he was convinced it should be possible to find a way to resolve the crisis in Ukraine. He defended Russia’s annexation of the Crimea but also appealed to the hearts and minds of German viewers by saying relations between the two nations had never been better and saying it would be a shame to throw that away.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Germany’s Bild, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has warned Russia his country was “ready for a total war”. He said Russia was not complying with agreements regarding the conflict in the separatist western regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
Expresso reports the resignation of Portugal’s Interior Minister Miguel Macedo – three days after top officials were detained in a corruption scandal over “golden visas” for wealthy foreign investors.
California Chronicle says a cruise ship with 172 passengers and crew members suffering from a gastrointestinal ailment was met by public health officials when it docked in California yesterday. There were more than 4,100 people on the cruise that left Los Angeles nearly a month ago and stopped in Hawaii and Tahiti.
Janata reports a sociology professor at the University ‘of Rajshahi in Bangladesh was butchered with machetes by militiamen Islamists to punish him for ordering female students sitting exams to remove their veil so that he could ascertain their identification.
The Jerusalem Post says another Israeli man was stabbed in the back in Jerusalem and has been hospitalised. Police are searching for a 32-year-old Arab, who fled from the area. The incident happened near the Damascus Gate, the main entrance to the old city.
La Republica reports the Italian ship San Giorgio disembarked a total of 864 refugees in Pozzallo, near Ragusa, in Sicily. Among them were 164 women and 77 children. A woman in an advanced stage of pregnancy was taken to the nearby hospital of Modica.
Het Parool says Dutch authorities have confirmed the bird flu identified at a poultry farm as the highly contagious H5N8 strain, detected in Europe less than two weeks ago. A massive cull of 150,000 chickens has been ordered, and transport of all poultry throughout the country has been banned for 30 days.
Staff at a parcel company in Bangkok have found a package containing the body parts of several babies. Bangkok Post quotes Thai police saying a baby’s head, several feet and sheets of skin – including one taken from an adult with a large tattoo – were discovered in a parcel destined for the United States. They suspected the body parts had been stolen from a medical school.