The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the PN has called for Mr Justice Farrugia Sacco to resign because of the Olympic Committee controversy.
The Malta Independent says that in talks which the prime minister had in Libya yesterday, Libya put joint oil exploration on hold and instead demanded the return of all of Gaddafi’s money. It also says Malta risks being banned from the Olympic games unless the Olympic Committee in Malta takes action against two of its officials.
In-Nazzjon gives prominence to official figures showing economic growth in the third quarter of the year. It also highlights the prime minister’s visit to Libya.
l-orizzont leads with the warning by MEP Edward Scicluna that Malta risks losing EU funds after having only absorbed 33% of the funds given to it in the past six years.
The overseas press
The world media is stunned after the 46-year-old nurse duped by the Sydney radio hoax callers into revealing details about Kate’s health apparently took her own life. The Sun says Jacintha Saldanha was pronounced dead an address near the King Edward VII’s Hospital in central London where the pregnant Duchess had been treated for a severe form of morning sickness. The nurse, reportedly a mother-of-two, was the victim of two Australian radio DJs who impersonated the Queen and the Prince of Wales. She answered their call and, believing the 2Day FM presenters were members of the Royal Family, put them through to another nurse who described Kate’s condition in detail. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge said they have been left “deeply saddened” as was Saldanha’s family who asked for privacy. Australia’s ABC says that in the wake of the tragedy the company which runs the radio station said that, by mutual consent, the hosts would not be returning to their show until further notice.
Ansa quotes Italian President Giorgio Napolitano saying he was hopeful a "constructive, correct path" could be pursued at the "institutional level" after Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party said it considered Premier Mario Monti's government to be finished. He announced that the parties had pledged to contribute to an "orderly conclusion" to the current parliamentary term and had vowed to work to pass the 2013 budget.
AFP reports that nuclear power plants close to the epicentre of a powerful undersea earthquake and tsunami off Japan have reported no problems and no emergency measures were activated. The 7.3 quake struck 36 kilometres under the Pacific, the US Geological Survey said, causing a one-metre rise in sea levels at some points. A tsunami warning was later lifted and there were no immediate reports of any fatalities. In March 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami killed thousands of people and sent multiple reactors at the decades-old Fukushima nuclear plant into meltdown, spewing radiation over a wide area in the world's worst atomic disaster in 25 years.
Al-Quds al-Arabi reports the exiled leader of Hamas, the political group that runs the Gaza Strip, has set foot on Palestinian soil for the first time in 45 years. Khaled Meshaal, who has not returned to the Palestinian Territories since he left the West Bank aged 11, kissed the soil on his arrival before greeting Gaza's Prime Minister Ismail Haniya of Hamas. Meshaal will stay in Gaza for around 48 hours. He is expected to attend an open-air rally on Saturday, which will celebrate Hamas' 25th anniversary and what the group refers to as its victory against Israel last month.
Al Ahram says thousands of Egyptians took to the streets after Friday midday prayers in rival rallies and marches across Cairo, as the standoff deepened over what opponents call the Islamist president’s power grab, raising the spectre of more violence. President Mohammed Morsi responded to bloody clashes outside his palace with a fiery speech denouncing his opponents. The opposition turned down his appeal for talks, demanding that Mr Morsi rescind decrees that give him almost absolute power and push an Islamist-friendly constitution to a referendum on December 15.
According to al-bawaba, Syria's army sent reinforcements to a rebel town near Damascus and clashes raged south of the city on Friday, as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged a "concerted push" to end the conflict after talks with her Russian counterpart. The world's chemical weapons watchdog asked Syria to sign up to a convention banning their use, as an opposition leader called on the international community to stop President Bashar al-Assad's regime unleashing a chemical arms "disaster." Inside Syria, activists feared a new ground assault on Damascus suburbs where military reinforcements poured in, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
France 24 says two Muslim organisations have launched legal proceedings on Friday against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, accusing it of inciting racial hatred after it published provocative cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The allegations concern cartoons that caricatured the Prophet, including two drawings which show him naked, published at a time, on September 19, when violent anti-Western protests were flaring across the Muslim world in response to an US anti-Islam amateur film.
Jakarta Post reports that a key member of the Indonesian government has been forced to resign over corruption charges. Andi Malarangeng is a former presidential spokesman and member of the leading Democratic Party's advisory board. He is accused of channelling kickbacks into the party from tenderers who won government building contracts.
The Chinese are planning to move mountains – literally. According to South China Morning Post, 700 mountains will be flattened at a cost equivalent to almost €3 billion in order to make way for the new city. Five hundred square miles of land in the Lanzhou New Area, 600 miles southwest of Beijing are to be redeveloped. Local government officials claimed it would increase the Gross Domestic Product in the area to €30 billion in the next 17 years.