The front pages of Il Giornale and Avvenire in Italy both deal with the resignation of Dino Boffo. The New York Times goes back over the scandal surrounding Boffo revealed by the Berlusconi-controlled paper Il Giornale in the past week. Boffo, who ran the Catholic Bishops’ newspaper, Avvenire, had said that Berlusconi’s “lack of sobriety” (referring to recent sex scandals) had caused much suffering to the Catholic Church. Late last week, Il Giornale called Mr. Boffo “a homosexual known to the Italian secret services” and the culprit in a sexual harassment suit. The paper proceeded to go on a rampage, criticising the hypocrisy of sexually active priests and even the German accent of Pope Benedict XVI. However the backlash of the Berlusconi camp may be one step too far. “Even his friends say he is wading into dangerous waters with the church in a way that could harm him politically,” says the New York Times.One virulent critic of Berlusconi, Beppe Grillo, compares the Italian Prime Minister to the cartoon character Wile. E. Coyote. “They’re suspended in the air and aren’t looking down…and there’s nothing underneath.”

Levi Johnson - the almost son-in-law of Sarah Palin who had a child with her daughter Bristol - has given an interview to Vanity Fair where he says that the former Vice-Presidential candidate doesn’t know how to hold a gun, goes to church only three or four times a year and is an abysmal mother. The Anchorage Daily News wonders if this means he’s a creep or just the bearer of insight about Palin. It goes through various reactions in the American press. Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post calls Levi Johnson an opportunistic creep, saying that the inner workings of any household wouldn’t look especially attractive splashed across the pages of Vanity Fair. Sarah Palin didn’t deserve to be Vice-President but she didn’t deserve this either, she concluded.

Of the Gabonese elections, the Burkina Faso-based paper Le Pays says the result was as expected. Ali Bongo, the son of former ruler Omar Bongo, won the Presidential vote with a tally of 41%. Le Pays says that there was at least an opposition in this election and it has been vocally contesting the result - already that’s an improvement on absolute rule. “Ali Bongo has won the election,” the paper notes, “it’s now up to him to win the peace as his father was able to do.”

A Russian journalist Mikhail Voitenko has had to flee to Istanbul following the Arctic Sea piracy story which he broke in the Russian media. The freighter disappeared in July and was only traced several weeks later. Officially, the Arctic Sea was carrying timber and was hijacked by pirates however other reports say it was carrying weapons and that Israel intervened. Voitenko – who had cast doubt on the official version of events - told the Guardian that he had received late night threatening phone calls advising him to leave the country.

A desperate X Factor contestant spent thousands of pounds on liposuction, laser surgery on her face, dental work a personal trainer this after Simon Cowell criticised her during a previous audtion. Before and after photos appear in today’s Daily Mail. Cowell had told the then 18-year old, “I just wish I could put your voice in another body.” His comments nearly ruined her life as she later told Cowell face to face. She subsequently battled an eating disorder. She is now hoping her “new and improved” image will help contribute to a more successful bid in X Factor.