The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta says two CID officers have been disciplined for wrongfully charging a man, accusing him of a hold-up.
The Malta Independent says OLAF, the EU anti-fraud agency, is investigating the use of funds from the Leader project in Gozo.
MaltaToday reports that Sir Chris Evans, chairman of the BioMalta Foundation has been sacked for non-performance. He had a pay of €750,000.
Il-Mument claims that Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech hid €120,000 in assets which were not featured in his ministerial declaration, by transferring them from a Belgian bank to an HSBC account in Malta.
Illum leads with comments by John Dalli, who said yesterday that remarks by Simon Busuttil were either malicious, or the fruit of inexperience.
KullHadd and It-Torca report that fuel is cheaper, and the price is stable till the end of the year.
The overseas press
Euronews reports the Italy's President Giorgio Napolitano has called for the formation of a new government after the collapse of the ruling coalition. The crisis arose after five ministers belonging to the centre-right party of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said they were resigning from Enrico Letta’s coalition because of differences over economic policy.
Kathimerini says 20 members of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, including party leader Nikolaos Michaloliakos, have been formally charged with belonging to a criminal group. The move follows the murder of anti-racism rapper Pavlos Fissas by a Golden Dawn supporter, 34-year-old Pavlos Fissas, allegedly caught up in a coordinated attack involving over 20 Golden Dawn supporters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on his way to New York to challenge perceptions that Iran under its new president poses less of a nuclear threat than before. “I intend to tell the truth in the face of the sweet talk and charm offensive of Iran” he told Israeli public radio Arutz Sheeva at Tel Aviv's airport. Earlier in the week he described Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's conciliatory speech to the UN General Assembly as “cynical” and “full of hypocrisy.”
Politico quotes Indian PM Manmohan Singh has said Pakistan must stop being “the epicentre of terrorism”. Ahead of talks with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in New York, Singh also stressed that he shared Sharif's hopes for better relations between the two Asian nations. The bilateral ties have been strained over continuing deadly clashes in the disputed region of Kashmir.
ORF says more than six million Austrian voters are due to vote in general elections today to choose 183 deputies to the lower house of parliament. Opinion polls suggest Chancellor Werner Faymann's Social Democrats (SPOe) and the conservative People's Party (OeVP) will retain a majority in parliament. The latest polls put the SPOe at 27 per cent, while the OeVP was at 22 per ecnt. The anti-immigrant FPOe was close third (21 per cent). A bad result may force the pro-Europe parties to seek a third partner. Several Eurosceptic parties, including the far-right Freedom Party (FPOe), are also running in the elections.
Fox News reports the White House has accused the US House of Representatives of sabotage for trying to delay President Obama’s health care reforms in return for temporary funding to stop the government running out of money. Many government operations will shut down unless legislation is passed by Tuesday.
The deputy commander of the US nuclear offensive forces, Navy Vice Admiral Tim Giardina, has been suspended over his suspected role in a casino scandal that involved “a significant monetary amount” of counterfeit gambling chips. Huffington Post says the unusual action became another blow to the US nuclear command after an officer in charge of a nuclear missile unit at Malmstrom Air Force Base was relieved of duty last month after the unit failed a safety and security inspection. Meanwhile, the previous head of Strategic Command, Gen. James “Hoss” Cartwright, is under a investigation for leaking classified information to the press and has been stripped of his security clearance.
El Universal says a retired Chilean general, who led the country’s intelligence agency during the rule of Augusto Pinochet, has committed suicide while on weekend release from prison. Odlanier Mena was serving a six-year term for three killing in the 1970s.
Jakarta Post reports the 2013 Miss World pageant on the Indonesian island of Bali.has been won by Miss Philippines, Megan Young. US-born Ms Young, 23, beat 126 other contestants and pledged to be “the best Miss World ever”. Miss France, Marine Lorphelin, came second in the contest and Miss Ghana, Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter, took third place. The competition was moved to Bali from the capital, Jakarta, because of protests from hardline Muslim groups.
Adnkronos says seven out of 10 Italians feel dissatisfied with their intimate life. A survey by DoxaPharma has found Italians have sex 108 times a year, a little more than the global average of 103. This means nine times a month or once one every 3 days. Not bad, except that for four million couples sex does not last longer than 2 minutes. As a result, some 800,000 couples are likely to commit infidelity. Half of the women surveyed think of another man and 20 per cent, frustrated and unsatisfied, go from fantasy and fact.