The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times says the PN is objecting to the appointment of Anglu Farrugia as Speaker and expects to be consulted on parliamentary matters. It also reports how diesel smugglers bound for Malta were caught off Libya.
The Malta Independent says Malta has the longest court proceedings in the EU, according to official statistics. It also follows up the Cyprus crisis and says there can be no comparison with Malta.
In-Nazzjon says a PN campaign has started its analysis of the electoral defeat.
l-orizzont reports that the government is to appoint a commission to reduce bureaucracy. It also says another part of the Dwejra 'window' has collapsed.
The overseas press
Protesters chanting "Troika out of Cyprus" have taken to the streets of the capital Nicosia to vent their anger as the nation's crippled banks prepared to re-open later today after 12 days of frustration and resentment. Cyprus Mail has described the mood on the streets “like a warzone”, pointing out customers will not be allowed to take out more than €300 and cheques will not be cashed. Payments out of the country have also been severely restricted, with a maximum of €3,000 allowed to be taken on each trip abroad.
Earlier the turmoil deepened with the sacking of Yiannis Kypri, the chief executive of largest lender Bank of Cyprus by Central Bank Governor Panicos Demetriades. According to the Cyprus News Agency, Kypri was sacked on orders of the so-called troika – the EU, the FMI and the Eiropean Central Bank – as part of the €10 billion bailout deal.
Cyprus News reports President Nicos Anastasiades has launched a criminal investigation into how the indebted nation's banks were brought to their knees after facing mounting public anger over the EU-IMF bailout deal which he struck. A parliamentary watchdog, meanwhile, has asked the central bank for a list of names of people who withdrew money from the island just before a first euro-group haircut was ordered on March 16, since which time banks have remained closed.
The European Commission has challenged austerity-conscious EU governments by demanding another €11.2 billion to cover unpaid bills this year. The Press Association says the move follows a deal on the EU’s long-term budget in February in which MEPs warned at the time that acceptance of cuts came with a catch – more cash would be needed to cover outstanding commitments this year. Now the European Commission has tabled a “draft amending budget” claiming the extra cash for “a snowballing effect of unpaid claims transferred on to the following year”.
The Daily Express says a court in Britain has thwarted the British government's efforts to deport Abu Qatada, a radical Islamist cleric who is wanted on terrorism charges in Jordan. The announcement from the three judges of Britain's Court of Appeal stated that while they considered Qatada to be dangerous, there were concerns that some statements from witnesses who were subject to torture might be used in his trial. According to European law, that would make his deportation illegal.
Deutsche Welle reports that a property developer has removed a portion of the Berlin Wall amid a bitter dispute with protesters who want the Cold War icon to remain. Four segments of the wall, part of a stretch known as the East Side Gallery, were removed at dawn yesterday to make way for an access route to planned high-rise luxury apartments.
Asia Times says North Korea is to cut the last channel of communication with the South, just days after warning the United States and South Korea of a nuclear attack. The move is the latest in a series of threats from North Korea in response to new UN sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February. The North has already stopped responding to calls on the military hotline.
According to Huffintgon Post, the internet around the world is being slowed down in what security experts are describing as the “biggest cyber-attack in history”. It was caused by a row between the anti-spam NGO Spamhaus and the web-hosting service Cyberbunker. Spamhaus claims that Cyberbunker and “criminal gangs” from Eastern Europe and Russia are behind the attack, which is having an impact on multimedia services. Experts fear it could escalate to affect banking and email services. Five Cyber-police forces around the world are investigating.
Le Parisien says police in France have arrested 16 youths in connection with a train robbery in Paris. The gang, most of whom are under 18, are suspected of boarding a train and going through carriages forcing people to hand over their money, mobile phones and even some clothes. Police said they have recovered many of the stolen items and believe some of those detained were also involved in two similar train robberies earlier this month.
The Daily Telegraph reports rock giants Rolling Stones will play Britain’s Glastonbury Festival, the world’s largest greenfield music and performing arts spectacle. The legendary group has not played the festival before, but speculation mounted that they could make an appearance after they revealed last year they were reuniting to play 50th anniversary shows. Their attendance was confirmed by Mick Jagger in a tweet. The festival will take place during the last weekend of June with the Stones headlining on Saturday. Glastonbury attracts 170,000 party-goers to a dairy farm in Somerset, southwest England, and this year’s event is already a sell-out.
The “father” of the glossy magazine Playboy, Hugh Hefner has told the magazine Esquire that during his life he had had sex with “more than a thousand women” but “when I was married, I never cheated”. Three months ago, at age 86, he tied the knot to his third wife, former Playboy Playmate Crystal Harris who is 57 years his junior. But these days, says Hef, he’s perfectly happy and focusing on living out his days at his fabled Playboy mansion with his young wife.