The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Sunday Times says Labour has widened its lead over the PN, according to its opinion survey. The newspaper also carries an interview with Mgr Charles Scicluna, who says the Church needs to change its language.
The Malta Independent says an election by the end of the year is unlikely. It also says that Fair Trials International has slammed Malta’s pre-trial system.
MaltaToday says the PM offered an amnesty in the Nicholas Azzopardi case for the whistleblower to finally come forward.
It-Torca speaks of an explosion in the price of cereals.
Il-Mument quotes Tonio Fenech saying that job creation was continuing despite the international crisis. It also says that the government has engaged a record 200 nurses.
KullHadd says GonziPN has laid down the gauntlet by going ahead with the acquisition of St Philip’s Hospital. It also says Mgr Charles Scicluna has changed position on compensation to the victims of child abuse, saying it should be the priests, not the church, who should pay compensation.
Illum features comments by Dr Marlene Farrugia denying plans to stand for the MEP elections. She says such rumours are being made to harm her general election chances.
The overseas press
Al Baath reports that the Syrian government has imposed a ban on all Turkish civilian planes from flying in Syrian air space. The move comes just days after Turkey intercepted and forces down a Syrian flight, claiming the plane was carrying Russian-made munitions for the Syrian army. Earlier the Turkish Prime Minister criticised “the UN Security Council’s failure to stop the daily killings in Syria.
Alakhbar says President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of Mauritania has been slightly wounded by gunshot. His injury is not life threatening. There ware conflicting reports about the shooting. Reuters quoted the country's communications minister saying that on his way back to Nouakchott, the presidential convoy was shot by a Mauritanian patrol as they did not recognise his convoy. However, AFP cited a security source who said the president was slightly wounded in the arm by a bullet, fired at him by a motorist who targeted him directly as he was driving his car.
Al Ahram reports President Mohammed Mursi has backed down in a row with the prosecutor-general by agreeing that he would stay in office after earlier attempting to sack him. The prosecutor-general, Abdel Maguid Mahmoud went to work amid tight security defying the president’s orders to stand down.
According to El Pais, several thousand anti-austerity protesters in Spain have marched down a major road in Madrid banging pots and pans. Many also blew whistles as they blocked part of the Castellana boulevard carrying placards saying “We don’t owe, we won’t pay”. Spain has introduced biting austerity measures as well as financial and labour reforms in a desperate bid to lower its deficit and assuage investors’ misgivings.
Huffington Post reports the leader of al-Qaida Ayman al-Zawahri has urged Muslims to wage holy war against the United States and Israel over a film that insulted Islam’s Prophet Mohammed. In an audio message released by al-Qaida’s media arm As-Sahab and posted on militant websites, praised as “honest and zealous” demonstrators who breached the US Embassy in Cairo and attackers who stormed the US “embassy” in Benghazi in violence linked to the film.
Finland says Israel has warned the country it will take action against a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists trying to break a naval blockade of Gaza. Helsingin Sanomat quotes the Finnish Foreign Ministry saying that Finland urged Israel for restraint, because the Finnish-flagged Estelle was a non-military vessel with about 20 civilians on board. It left Naples on October 7. Israel imposed a blockade on Gaza after the militant Islamic Hamas seized control of it in 2007 from secular rival Fatah.
Dawn reports at least 16 people have been killed and 23 others wounded, some seriously, in a car bomb attack in a town west of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. The suicide attack at a crowded market appeared to target a pro-government militia created to fight Taliban militants. Meanwhile, the military announced that 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head on Tuesday by a Taliban attacker, was showing signs of improvement by moving her limbs though she remains unconscious and on a ventilator.
Bristol Evening News says a massive lobster more than 50 years old and almost a metre in length has been saved from the cooking pot by a fish merchant. The giant crustacean, which tips the scales at 4.5kg, was hauled up in lobster pots off Plymouth in Devon and had been destined for the Spanish market. But a fish merchant from Kingsbridge in Devon deemed the lobster too special to be eaten and donated him to Bristol Aquarium. Now the giant lobster, named Patrick, is looking forward to a peaceful retirement in the aquarium's native marine display tank.
Le Soleil reports a crucial Africa Cup of Nations football match between Senegal and Ivory Coast was abandoned after fans rioted at a stadium in Dakar. Home fans started fires in the stands and threw objects on the pitch as Senegal were losing 2-0, a result which would have eliminated the team. Ivorian fans jumped down on the pitch to escape the violence. The fans and the Ivorian players were then escorted by police, who fired tear gas into the packed stands.