The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Times leads with a story which sees a former Air Malta executive contesting Richard Cachia Caruana’s comments over the airline’s purchase of the RJs in the 1990s.
In another story, Data Protection Commissioner Joseph Ebejer rebuffs the Health Ministry’s claim that the members of a disgraced selection board could not be named because of legal restrictions.
l-Orizzont reports that beggars have returned to the streets after an absence of 40 years. In another story, the newspaper reports NSO statistics that unemployment last month increased by close to eight per cent.
The Malta Independent says that the PN Executive is meeting today but the decision on Franco Debono has been postponed as the MP cannot attend. It also reports on the autopsy results on the body of the young woman found dead in Paceville on Tuesday.
In-Nazzjon says that MEP Simon Busuttil has uncovered that Joseph Muscat was his source of information that Labour would base their election campaign on Mistra. It also reports on employment experiences for people with a disability.
International news
The US has confirmed the defection of two more senior Syrian diplomats, amid mounting pressure on the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. The BBC says Syria's representatives in the United Arab Emirates and Cyprus – who are husband and wife – are reported to have fled to Qatar. The news came amid intensifying clashes in the key city of Aleppo, where troops were trying to halt a rebel advance. Activists from the FSA were quoted by CNN as saying that thousands of troops had withdrawn with their tanks and armoured vehicles from the strategic Jabal al-Zawiya highlands near Turkey, sending them instead to Aleppo.
In another development, Turkey said it was closing its frontier gates to cross-border traffic for an undisclosed period of time after a string of gates were seized by rebels. State-run TRT TV said Turkey's 13 border posts along the 911-kilometre border would be closed to trucks heading for Turkish destinations. However, trucks travelling on to third countries would still be allowed through.
The New York Times reports UN members have traded more accusations of blame amid the diplomatic impasse on Syria. Earlier UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the world to "act now to stop the slaughter", but Security Council members remain deadlocked over what action it should take.
24 Chasa quotes Norwegian Centre Party MP Jenny Klinge urging the Norwegian government to take control over the country’s borders, effectively meaning an exit from the Schengen area. Klinge thinks that the Schengen treaty made it easier for criminals to enter her country and Bulgaria and Romania’s possible accession to Schengen “would only exacerbate that problem”. Sentiments against both countries took a turn for the worse after more than 200 migrants, most of them Romanian and Bulgarian Roma, settled illegally near Oslo and disrupted the social order in the Scandinavian country. Norway is not an EU member state but joined the Schengen area, so that it removed control over its internal borders. So far the Netherlands is the only country that blocked Bulgaria and Romania’s accession to Schengen.
The governor of Lombardia, Roberto Formigoni has been indicted to appear before the Italian State Prosecutor over allegations of corruption as part of the inquiry into presumed illegal funds created through the Fondazione Maugeri. According to AGI, the prosecutors, Formigoni received from businessman Pierangelo Dacco' nearly nine million euros in "material goods", including trips, boat fares and a discount on the purchase of a villa in Sardegna by one of his friends from Comunione e Liberazione. In exchange for this, the prosecution alleges, Formigoni guaranteed a "preferential status" for Dacco', Maugeri's consultant in the region.
Fox News reports that James Holmes, the suspect in the Denver cinema shooting. had sent a notebook outlining his plans to a psychiatrist, before going on the rampage, killing 12 people. The station said the parcel may have sat unopened in a mail room at the University of Colorado for as long as a week, before it was discovered last Monday. Meanwhile, gun sales have surged after the Batman cinema massacre amid fears that politicians may use the shootings to seek new restrictions on owning weapons.
Midi Libre reports police in the south of France have launched an investigation after a woman claimed she was beaten up by seven men in Viviez for attending a party during Ramadan. The young woman, originally from Morocco, was driving home from the party when two other cars trapped hers. The men are reported to have beaten her up before leaving without saying anything. After they had left, the woman drove home. Shortly afterwards, she headed towards the local police station to report the attack. On her way to the station, the seven men tracked her down again and assaulted
North Korean state media has confirmed that leader Kim Jong-Un is married and named his wife as Ri Sol-Ju. State television KCTV reports that Kim and Ri took part in a ceremony marking the completion of an amusement park in Pyongyang. The couple had appeared together several times at public events in recent weeks.
The North Korea women's football team staged a protest ahead of their Olympic match in Scotland after a flag blunder. Sky News reports the South Korean flag was shown by mistake on the big screen inside Hampden Park stadium as the players warmed up to play Colombia. As a result, the North Koreans walked off the pitch but were persuaded to return when the sides were announced again with each player's face displayed next to the North Korean flag.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle says 10 athletes have been removed from the competition – nine failed doping tests, and the tenth, triple jumper Paraskevi Papachristou, was dropped from the Greek team after tweeting a racist slur.