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

Times of Malta reports how the estranged husband is the prime suspect in Thursday's murder of a woman in St Paul's Bay.

In-Nazzjon says a mobile phone may be crucial for the police to catch the man who killed a Maltese woman two days ago in St Paul's Bay.  

The Malta Independentl-orizzont and Times of Malta report how former Malta Resources Authority  director Godwin Sant has been accused of bribery, tax evasion and money laundering. 

The overseas press

Italian Premier Matteo Renzi has said the international community must intervene in Libya “before ISIS militiamen systematically seize not only small pieces of the war-torn nation but control a significant area”. Ansa reports that speaking in Cairo at an Egypt-hosted regional economic conference, Renzi repeated one must send the message to ISIS militants that “we are stronger than you”.  

Meanwhile, Al Nabaa TV announces ISIS militiamen have set up checkpoints at the two entrances of Sirte, in Libya, in a further demonstration of control over the city. Jihadists are searching cars and frisking passengers, looking for phones in particular.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, in an interview with the Austrian broadcaster ORF, has said lack of progress on Greece was increasing the risk of an “accidental”, unplanned Athens exit from the eurozone – a ‘Grexit’. However, he emphasised that “Europe is ready to help Greece, but the Greeks must help themselves”.

An exit by Greece from the eurozone would be “catastrophic” and would mark “the beginning of the end” for the eurozone. The warning comes from EU commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Pierre Moscovici, in an interview with the German weekly Der Spiegel. “We all agree a ‘Grexit’ would be a disaster not only for the Greek economy but also for the whole eurozone”.

Avvenire reports Pope Francis marked his second anniversary of the papacy by announcing an extraordinary Holy Year dedicated to “the mercy of God”. The event, which could draw tens of millions of pilgrims to Rome, will begin on December 8 and continue through November 20, 2016.  

Some 211,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began four years ago. Al Sham quotes the Syrian Network for Human Rights accusing the al-Assad regime of having killed 176,678 civilians, including 18 242 children and 18 457 women. It said 11,427 were tortured to death. The Islamic State is said to have killed 3,967 people since the group was founded in 2013.

More than 200,000 people have been forced to leave the north-east of Nigeria, besieged by Islamist militants of Boko Haram, finding refuge in Niger. Radio Nigeria says he figure was provided by the provincial governor of Diffa in Niger, who said the recent conquest of Baga by the Islamists increased the number of refugees by another 50,000.

Amid an international outcry, the Indonesian Attorney-General has said 10 convicted drugs offenders would be executed at the same time “once the legal process is over”. Jakarta Post says appeals are to be heard later this month. The offenders include citizens of Australia, France, Brazil, the Philippines, Ghana, Nigeria and Indonesia.

Il Tempo reveals Silvio Berlusconi gave more than €2 million, from 2010 to early 2014, to girls who attended his parties, judicial sources said Friday in a probe into alleged perjury by so-called “bunga bunga” witnesses. These sums did not include money given to former exotic dancer and alleged under-aged prostitute Ruby Rubacuore. Last month police searched the homes of Ruby and 20 other young women who attended the parties at Berlusconi’s villa outside Milan, in a probe into suspected bribes by the media magnate for them to keep mum about the real, sexual nature of the parties, prosecutors said. All the women allegedly had a lifestyle out of all proportion with their declared income, investigators said.

Scotland is renowned for its famous whisky but now it should be remembered for its superfine tea. The Times says a quality produced in the Highlands, the Dalreoch Summer Smoked White Tea, was rated as the best in the world – surpassing China and Japan – and was awarded the prestigious ‘Gold Award’ at the Salon du Thé  in Paris. The tea has been on the market for only a year. A pack of 15 grams is sold at £35 (€50).

Singer Madonna has said in an interview at the Howard Stern Show that it is not worth denouncing sexual violence because “it is too humiliating”. She was referring to her personal ordeal, the sexual violence she submitted when she was 19, and which she only revealed many years later. Madonna did not file a complaint at the time because, she explained, “I did not want to relieve what I had suffered”.

Adresseavisen says prosecutors are seeking the strongest possible sentence – seven years’ jail – for a Norwegian who fed his ex-girlfriend abortion pills in a smoothie. Within hours she was in pain and miscarried later in the evening. The 26-year-old pleaded guilty to serious bodily harm and terminating a pregnancy without the mother’s consent. Prosecutor Kaja Strandfjord told the court the crime “was precisely and cynically planned”.

 

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