The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta quotes Joseph Muscat saying a broader effort is needed to fight Isis. It also quotes the Bishop of Gozo saying the Church must embrace divorced and gay couples.
The Malta Independent under a picture of Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg, says the parliamentary secretary and Mepa employed devious and deliberate methods for the granting of permits, according to the Ombudsman. It also says that the PN is to seek 2/3 majority for the appointment by Parliament of the President and other public officers. They are currently appointed by a simple majority.
MaltaToday says an Italian stone works company which is blaming overdue payments from Malta for its dire financial situation, itself owes money to its subcontractors in Malta. The company was responsible for the stone work of the new parliament.
Il-Mument reports that 55,000 visas were issued to Libyans in the past 30 months.
It-Torca says Unesco has given the green light for an expansion of the museum of St John's Co-Cathedral.
Illum says migrants picked up from Marsa are being paid just €3 an hour.
The overseas press
Sky News quotes the Metropolitan Police saying the stabbing of three people at a London tube station by a man wielding a large knife was being treated as a “terrorist incident”. The suspect apparently shouted “this is for Syria” before stabbing a man in the neck, leaving him seriously injured. Britain’s parliament voted this week to join airstrikes in Syria.
Fox News quotes a White House statement announcing President Obama will deliver an address to the nation (at 2 a.m. tomorrow) on “keeping the American people safe”, including threats posed by terrorism, in the wake of the recent California shooting attack. He will also discuss the broader threat of terrorism.
Meanwhile, CNN reports President Obama vowed yesterday that America “will not be terrorised” as the Islamic State group praised the couple behind the California mass shooting as “soldiers” of its self-proclaimed caliphate. The FBI has already confirmed that it is treating Wednesday’s slaughter as an “act of terrorism”.
France 24 says negotiators from 195 nations meeting in Paris have delivered a blueprint for a pact to save mankind from disastrous global warming. The planned deal, welcomed by President Hollande, would aim to break the world’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy, slashing the greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil, coal and gas that are causing temperatures to rise dangerously.
Le Journal du Dimanche reports France goes to the polls today in high-stakes regional elections that could bring strong gains for the far-right National Front. Security will be beefed up at polling stations in Paris where last month Islamic State militants killed 130 people.
Al Wihda says four female suicide bombers attacked the Chadian island of Koulfoua on Lake Chad, killing at least 27 people and injuring 80 others. The attack is being attributed to militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
According to Azi Gazet, rescue teams in Azerbaijan say hopes of finding missing 30 oil workers alive are fading after an offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sera burst into flames following a storm. Reports said that about 40 oil workers had tried to board a life raft attached to the platform but that the raft ruptured and a number of them fell into the sea.
Zaman reports Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara could find alternatives to Russian oil and gas, as bilateral tensions escalated over the downing of a Russian warplane. In a televised speech, Erdogan said Turkey can also use its renewable energy resources.
Kathimerini says the Greek Parliament passed the 2016 budget in the early hours of this morning by just eight votes. All 153 coalition MPs voted in favour of the economic plan while 145 lawmakers opposed it and two deputies were absent. The budget features tax increases and sharp cuts in spending.
Avvenire says the Vatican has hired PricewaterhouseCoopers to audit church records including assets, income and expenses in order to implement “new financial management policies and practices in line with international standards”. The move follows a series of scandals and concerns about transparency. The pope has vowed to clean up murky and wasteful finances at the Holy See.
Caracol Radio quotes Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos saying the discovery of a sunken Spanish galleon constitutes the largest quantity of national treasure even lost at sea – a cargo worth at least a billion US dollars (€609 million). The San Jose was carrying gold, silver, gems and jewellery collected in the South American colonies to be shipped to Spain’s king to help finance his war of succession against the British when it was sunk in June 1708. The vessel was attacked by a British warship just outside Cartagena.
The BBC announces three more football officials have been arrested in connection with the multi-million dollar bribery scandal within FIFA. A judge in Ecuador has formally placed the president of its football federation Luis Chiriboga under house arrest. Former Peruvian Football Federation president Manuel Burga has been arrested in Lima while the prosecutors in Guatemala, have issued an arrest warrant for football federation president Brayan Jimenez. They are part of a group of 16 people to be changed by US authorities investigating