The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says 850 electricity thieves have agreed to settle their bills.
The Malta Independent reports that wardens have been dispatched to clamp down on ministers' abusive parking in Valletta.
L-orizzont reports that a second funeral will be held for Mark Camilleri - l-imniehru - following his exhumation for investigation.
In-Nazzjon says Greece has moved a step closer to a third bailout.
The overseas press
Greek banks are set to reopen next Monday after being closed for three weeks – but customers will not be able to withdraw money except at ATMs. Ethnos quotes Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas saying bank customers “can deposit cash, they can transfer money from one account to the other” but withdrawal restrictions will remain.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports Eurozone ministers have agreed to give Greece a €7 billion bridging loan from an EU-wide fund to keep its finances afloat until a bailout is approved. The loan is expected to be confirmed today by all EU member states. The bridging loan means Greece will be able to repay debts to the ECB and IMF on Monday.
In another development, Börzen Zeitung says the European Central Bank has agreed to increase emergency funding to Greece for the first time since it was frozen in June. The decisions were made after Greek MPs passed tough reforms as part of a eurozone bailout deal.
Berliner Zeitung reports lawmakers from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Greek bailout agreement ahead of a parliamentary ballot later today. At a meeting that lasted five hours, 48 lawmakers dissented, while some 250 backed the deal. Members of the Social Democrats, Merkel’s coalition partner, also strongly supported the agreement at their own meeting, meaning it will likely pass Friday.
Four US Marines were killed yesterday by a gunman who opened fire at two military offices in Chattanooga, Tennessee, before being fatally shot in an attack officials called “a brazen, brutal act of domestic terrorism”. Fox News quotes a US official saying there’s no indication that the suspected gunman – Kuwaiti-born, 24-year-old Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez – was under investigation by the FBI or on the radar of federal law enforcement at the time of the shooting.
A US jury has found “Batman” theatre gunman James Holmes guilty of first-degree murder over the 2012 massacre that left 12 dead and 70 more injured in Colorado, USA Today reports. As the judge took an hour to read the jury’s verdicts on all 165 counts, Holmes showed no reaction. He’s now eligible for the death penalty.
Avvenire says the Holy See has reported a budget deficit last year of €25.6 million, close to the deficit of €24.4 million reported in 2013. The Holy See budget office said deficits are likely to continue in 2015. Investment gains helped improve the 2014 picture, the budget office added.
British MPs face the wrath of taxpayers after they were handed a bumper 10 per cent pay rise worth £7,000 a year, from £67,060 to £74,000 . The Daily Express says Prime Minister David Cameron has criticised the move as “unacceptable” at a time when Britain faces more spending cuts. But he faced a backlash for refusing to block the increase recommended by the independent watchdog which sets MPs’ pay.
“Charlie Hebdo” editor Laurent Sourisseau has told Stern magazine he will no longer draw cartoons of the Muslim prophet Mohammed as his publication “had done what it set out to do”. Souriseau’s statement comes six months after a deadly attack led by the militant Kouachi brothers in January left 16 dead after they raided the offices of “Charlie Hebdo” and took hostages at a kosher supermarket on the outskirts of Paris.
At least 49 people were killed and dozens injured in twin blasts that struck a market in the northeast Nigerian city of Gombe on Thursday. Rescue workers told AFP the toll could climb further as some of the wounded “are in a critical condition”. The victims include many women and children.
George H.W. Bush, the oldest living former US president, fell at his summer home on Wednesday and broke a bone in his neck but was doing OK, a spokesman said. CNN says Bush, 91, was hospitalised in stable condition and was doing “fine”. The 41st president would be in a neck brace.
Phnom Penh Post reports Cambodia’s prime minister has added his voice to growing outrage over a drunken tycoon who was captured on video viciously attacking a female TV star, calling the man’s actions intolerable and warning that his riches would not help him escape justice. “Don’t think that because you have money you can escape,” Hun Sen said in comments directed at property tycoon Sok Bun, who is believed to have fled the country. “What you have done is intolerable.”
FIFA’s ethics committee wants to lift secrecy rules that protect accused officials from being identified and keep case details private. According to L’Equipe, FIFA prosecutor Cornel Borbely and judge Joachim Eckert said more openness “would help efforts to uncover and clear up fraud.” They say in a joint statement that transparency “would encourage potential informants to support the proceedings”.