Press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times reports that the drafting of the Cohabitation Bill is in the final stages and it will be moved in Parliament after the summer recess. It also says that tomorrow is judgment day for priests in the sex abuse case.

The Malta Independent quotes the prime minister saying that healthcare will remain free of charge. Meanwhile, Joseph Muscat called for the resignation of Mita chairman Claudio Grech for conflict of interest.   

l-orizzont says many roads which should have been resurfaced over the past year have not been touched.  It also highlights the fuel price increase.

In-Nazzjon reports that since 1987, 42,000 private sector jobs have been created and public sector jobs decreased by 15,000.

The overseas press

President Barack Obama and congressional leaders have announced agreement on an emergency deal to raise the $14.3-trillion debt limit. The Associated Press said the deal would cut more than $1 trillion from federal spending over a decade. Relaying the news to the nation and to financial markets around the world, the President said default would have had “a devastating effect” on the economy". He said it was not the deal he would have preferred, but noted that the compromise plan would make a "serious down payment" on the US deficit. He also announced the setting-up of a committee to report by November on a proposal to further reduce the deficit.

Reuters reported that the Asian market reacted favourable to the Washington deal. Equities rose while gold and the yen dropped on Monday, with investors cutting safety trades. Investors were still on guard though since the plan, which would come to a vote in Congress on Monday, may not necessarily satisfy Standard & Poor's enough to keep the U.S. triple-A debt rating.

There has been widespread condemnation at the Syrian authorities’ storming of the city of Hama yesterday, killing at least 80 civilians in a crackdown of the largest demonstrations against President Bashar al-Assad's regime. CNN quotes President Obama saying the US was shocked by the brutality of the Syrian government. Le Soir says a spokesman for the EU's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said the reports of violence were "appalling," and called on President Assad to stop the attacks and pursue meaningful democratic change.

The Jerusalem Post reports Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced the appointment of a task force to look into ways of helping people cope with the high cost of living At the same time, Netanyahu played down expectations, warning against "populist" and "irresponsible" measures and against overspending, "which could pull the nation down to the situation of certain states in Europe, which reached the verge of bankruptcy and mass unemployment".

El Universal reports that police in Mexico have said that a suspected cartel leader they arrested on Friday had confessed to ordering the murder of 1,500 people. Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, 33, is also suspected of masterminding the attack on a US consulate worker and her husband in Ciudad Juarez last year.

 Novosti reports that the Ukraine yesterday observed a national day of mourning after the death toll from two separate mining accidents rose to 32. More miners are still unaccounted for. The twin disasters were the deadliest mining accidents in the Ukraine since 2007, when an explosion killed more than 100 people.

Pravda says Russian police have arrested protesters who were demonstrating for their constitutional right to freedom of assembly. The protests are held on the last day of each month that has 31 days.

Putland Post reports tens of thousands of famine-stricken Somali refugees were cold and drenched after torrential rains pounded their makeshift structures, leading to appeals for aid. Disgruntled refugees in several camps in Mogadishu said that more aid is needed. Aid agencies have limited reach in Somalia where Islamist militants are waging an insurgency against the country’s weak UN-backed government.

The Irish Examiner says Archbishop of Tuam, Michael Neary, has said priests and bishops share the public's anger and distress at the Church's mishandling of clerical child sex abuse. During his homily at Sunday mass, the archbishop Neary said it was "understandable" that practicing Catholics felt discouraged by recent revelations and added that the Church had been shaken by wrongdoing. He said many were "angered and appalled" by what they had learned.

The Jakarta Globe says an Islamic wedding was stopped after the groom turned out to be a woman. Family and friends were already at the couple's nuptials in Indonesia – where same sex marriages are illegal – when the discovery was made after suspicions were raised because the groom had not brought the relevant documents. However, the bride's parents acted quickly and convinced her ex-boyfriend to marry her instead.

An Iranian woman who was blinded by a rejected suitor who in 2004 threw acid on her face has pardoned her attacker at the last minute, sparing him from being blinded by acid as retribution. Iranian state television IRBID broadcast footage of Ameneh Bahrami in an operating theatre with her attacker, Majid Mohavedi. He was on his knees waiting for her to drop acid in his eyes as punishment. Bahrami said she has forgiven Mohavedi and pardoned him. Cameras showed Mohavedi weeping and saying Bahrami was “very generous”.