The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has a fortune of €38billion in Europe and the United States.
The Malta Independent says Malta is going to the polls today to decide on whether or not to introduce divorce.
In-Nazzjon says a man was jailed for two years for making bomb threats in court. It also says that 304,328 people may vote in today’s divorce referendum.
l-orizzont says a Church sociologist has attacked comments by Fr Mark Montebello.
The overseas press
Blic reports that a Belgrade court has ruled that the former general Ratko Mladic could be extradited to a UN tribunal to face charges for international war crimes, including the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica. The so-called “Butcher of Bosnia” was arrested by intelligence agents on Thursday. Serbian President Boris Tadic has told the BBC that Mladic will be transferred to The Hague despite his family’s pleas that he was too ill. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was "a very positive development" for the rule of law in Serbia.
Le Monde says that Russia has joined world leaders in urging Col Gaddafi to stand down. At the end of the G-8 summit in France, Russian President Dimitry Medvedev said the world no longer saw Gaddafi as the Libyan leader. A Russian delegate at the summit said the Kremlin was considering a push for new mediation efforts.
Meanwhile, Le Figaro reports that the eight leading industrial nations have pledged €14 billion to support democratic reforms in Tunisia and Egypt. They said it was vital to stabilize these countries economically in order to safeguard their path toward democracy.
The Egyptian Gazette reports that thousands of people have poured into central Cairo’s Tahrir Square, calling for Egypt’s military rulers to speed up the pace of democratic reforms. Christians and Muslims took turns praying at the square, as they did in the protests that forced the removal of former president Hosni Mubarak in February.
Al Ahram says Egypt is poised to reopen its border with Gaza to most Palestinians for the first time since 2007. Women and children will be allowed to cross freely, as will men aged over 40. Men aged between 18 and 40 will still require a permit. Egypt and Israel have blockaded the Gaza Strip since the militant Hamas movement took power there.
Kathemerini reports Greek leaders meeting in Athens have failed to agree on Socialist Prime Minister George Papandreou's new austerity plan. Conservative leader Antonis Samaras rejected the measures, saying they would "flatten the Greek economy and destroy Greek society". The chairman of the eurozone finance ministers has warned the IMF may not extend further bail-out payments.
La Vanguardia reports that riot police in central Barcelona clashed with protesters at one of the makeshift camps that have been erected in cities across Spain to protest against high unemployment and government austerity measures. Reports said 99 people, including 12 police officers, were slightly wounded. The police said they wanted to clear the city’s Plaza de Catalunya, a square popular with football fans, before this evening’s Champion League’s final between Barcellona and Manchester United.
Space Observer says two Nasa astronauts have taken the final spacewalk of the 30-year shuttle programme. They completed construction of the International Space Station with the smooth addition of an extension boom. Before heading back inside, spacewalker Gregory Chamitoff observed that after 12 years of building and 15 countries, the station was now “the Parthenon in the sky and hopefully the doorstep to our future”.
The Age reports that three elderly women have fought off an armed robber in a car park in Melbourne, Australia. The armed bandit held a knife to one of the pensioners, who kicked him in the leg. Her friend, who is 89, then whacked him across the face with her handbag. The offender escaped in a stolen car.