The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
Times of Malta reports how a man told a court he was offered €7000 to burn murder victims. It also reports that Auxiliary Bishop Charles Scicluna has criticised a proposal for the melting of corpses.
The Malta Independent asks if Air Malta could link with China.
MaltaToday says members of the Cabinet are being left in the dark on the prime minister’s plans for the decriminalisation of drugs.
In-Nazzjon says millions will be paid over five years in salaries to people from the Labour core given government jobs.
l-orizzont quotes the prime minister saying he would give good news today which would mean more stability for Maltese families.
The overseas press
Gunmen have stormed the seat of Libya’s General National Congress in Tripoli and started shooting, forcing lawmakers to abandon a vote on the country’s next prime minister. Reuters reports several people were wounded. In Tuesday’s first ballot, businessman Ahmed Maiteeq came out on top among seven candidates. The gunmen arrived before a second round between him and the runner-up Omar al-Hasi could take place. The vote was postponed until next week.
Gulf News reports Israeli forces have demolished a mosque in the Palestinian village of Khirbet Al Taweel in the occupied West Bank. Several hundred soldiers were deployed around daybreak to guard six bulldozers that also reduced to rubble three one-storey family houses, animal shelters and a communal well that were constructed without Israeli permits. Palestinians say such documents are nearly impossible to obtain. Some 30 people were made homeless.
Radio Liberty quotes US Secretary of State John Kerry saying the crisis in Ukraine is a wake-up call for NATO. Speaking at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank, he also said Russia was seeking to change sovereign borders by force. He warned the alliance would defend every piece of its territory. NATO has been bolstering its presence in front-line countries, including Poland and the Baltic states, strengthening air defences and conducting military exercises.
Globe & Mail reports Canadian fighter jets are on their way to Europe to join NATO patrols. The warplanes left as Group of Seven countries including Canada announced they are imposing new sanctions on Russia because of “Moscow’s attempts to foment rebellion in eastern Ukraine”.
Voice of Russia says President Putin has denied there were any Kremlin forces in eastern Ukraine . In televised comments from a regional summit in Minsk, he warned Russia could reconsider the participation of Western companies in its economy, including the energy sector.
Kiev Post reports Pro-Russian militants have attacked official buildings in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, seizing several of them. The protesters took control of the city’s regional administration building and the prosecutor’s office and later opened fire with automatic weapons at the police headquarters. Interim President Olexander Turchynov criticised local police for their “inaction” and “criminal treachery”.
According to Ansa, Italy’s Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini has launched an appeal to halt executions in Egypt and open a dialogue with the opposition. Receiving an Amnesty International delegation in Rome, Mogherini said she had established a task force at the foreign ministry to prepare for a December vote for a moratorium against the death penalty at the UN General Assembly.
Meanwhile, The Washington Post says sentencing 683 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death might cost Egypt dearly. The chair of the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, Patrick Leahy, said he would not approve sending funds amounting to $650 million to the Egyptian military and would also try and obstruct the delivery of 10 Apache helicopters although this does not require Congress’ approval.
The Daily Nation reports Kenyan President Kenyatta has signed into law a Bill making it legal for men to marry as many women as they wish. Male parliamentarians had argued that polygamous marriage was a man’s right upheld both by African tradition and the Bible. The legislation was heavily criticised by female lawmakers, who stormed out of the parliament in protest. Women, however, can only marry one man.
Several British nationals announce Prince Harry and his girlfriend of nearly two years, Cressida Bonas, have split up. The Daily Telegraph attributes the split to pressure which “became too much”. The couple was first spotted together in July 2012 and last month they were seen in public twice in the span of a weekend, prompting the British press to speculate that things were getting serious.
Cameron Diaz has had a romantic relationship with a woman. The “Other Woman” star previously admitted she found women “beautiful” and has now confessed she has had sexual relations with a female in the past. Talking on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” with Andy Cohen, who asked if she’d ever “swam in the lady pond”, she admitted: “Yes, I have been with a lady, yeah.” Cameron previously dated baseball player Alexander Rodriguez for a year before they split in 2010.
ABC News reports Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has been banned for life and fined $2.5 million by the US National Basketball Association after he was recorded making racist comments about African-Americans. He was secretary recorded asking a woman not to bring black people to Clippers matches.