The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports how an NTC official said that Libya would resolve oil disputes and stem migration. It also reports how the European Commission has proposed a financial transactions tax.
The Malta Independent quotes Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi saying at the Times for Debate conference that Malta is offering all its resources to help Libya, within limits.
In-Nazzjon highlights the publication for consultation of a Class Action Bill. It also says that St Luke’s or St Philip’s may be used for a hospital run by the Red Cross to help Libyan patients.
l-orizzont says the financial transactions tax which the EU wants to introduce would harm Malta as a financial services centre. It also says that a Cabinet meeting, which it says was held last Monday, the government was warned about the level of the debt and the deficit.
The overseas press
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has proposed a tax of 0.1 per cent on financial transactions. Börzen Zeitung reports he told MEPs in Strasbourg the tax would come into effect across the EU in 2014, raising some €55 billion. Barroso stressed the levy would not be a further burden to the 500 million EU citizen. So far Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden have indicated they were staunchly against it. The European Commission has already announced that if Britain vetoed the proposal, it would seek to introduce the tax in the eurozone only.
Financial analysts have shown concern the tax may drive business away from the EU, increase the cost of raising capital and, in the long run, damage member states' economies. The Financial Times reveals that a draft European Commission impact assessment of the proposed levy found that the GDP in the EU could shrink by 1.76 per cent in the long term if the tax was introduced. The same assessment warned revenues generated by the tax would amount to just 0.08 per cent of GDP, or €10 billion – meaning the tax would cost significantly more than it would raise for governments.
Bloomberg reports German lawmakers would vote today on changes to the European Financial Stability Facility. The plan before the lower house in Berlin would allow the fund to buy bonds of distressed states and offer emergency loans to governments – raising Germany’s guarantees from €123 billion to €211 billion. The main opposition Social Democrats and Greens have said they would vote with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government, assuring passage.
The German daily newspaper Bild quotes Merkel reassuring her coalition that a new EU bailout for Athens would not be wasted, insisting that the risk of a Greek default was "close to zero." However she told Greece's ERT television the terms of the €109-billion-package could be renegotiated once the findings of an international assessment of Athens' recent austerity measures were released. Merkel’s comments came as the audit team from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, known as the troika, was expected to arrive and begin talks in Athens later today.
According to Sky News, the new Libyan authorities claim to have discovered another "mass grave" close to the Rixos Hotel, where 37 foreign journalists were trapped by the Gaddafi government during the fall of Tripoli. Eight corpses have so far been uncovered. It was thought the alleged victims died within the past five months and the NTC was speculating that they could be local civilians.
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera says the hunt for Col Gaddafi is continuing, with reports he might be hiding near the Algerian border in the Libyan town of Ghadamis. Senior NTC military official Hisham Buhagiar sad he was being supported and protected by the Touareg tribe.
Deutsche Welle reports that long-running Serbia-Kosovo talks broke down in Brussels on Wednesday after fresh clashes in the disputed border region. Progress in the peace negotiations is crucial in order for Serbia to be formally recognised as an EU membership candidate in October.
CBS News says a 26-year-old US citizen from Massachusetts has been arrested and accused of plotting to attack the Pentagon and US Capitol with large remote-controlled aircraft filled with explosives. Rezwan Ferdaus was arrested after he bought what he believed to be 25 pounds of plastic explosives, three grenades and six automatic assault rifles from undercover FBI agents posing as al Qaeda operatives.
Gulf News reports that King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has revoked the sentence of 10 lashes imposed on a woman for driving in the kingdom. Shaima Ghassaniya was found guilty on Tuesday of driving without the government's permission.
The Irish Enquirer announces that Dublin’s Data Protection Commissioner would examine all of Facebook's activities outside the US and Canada following complaints that the "Like" button created data that could be used to track users all over the internet. There were also complaints that tags could be applied without the consent of the user and that pokes, posts, pictures and messages could still be seen after they are deleted.
Witnesses on the second day of the Michael Jackson death trial have told of a panic-stricken doctor and the pop star's children crying in disbelief with their father lying unresponsive on his bedroom floor, mouth agape and eyes wide open. Reuters says Faheem Muhammad, the former chief of Jackson's security team, testified that Jackson's oldest children reacted in horror when they saw their father's lifeless body. Another witness said Dr. Conrad Murray, who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death, telephoned the singer's assistant before calling an ambulance and might have sought to hide evidence of drug use. Prosecutors also claim Murray failed to get timely medical assistance.