Press digest

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

The Times of Malta reports that Franco Mercieca has stopped private operations.

The Malta Independent says Malta has not been affected by the French air traffic controllers strike. It also reports on the European Parliament's approval of a new asylum system.

In-Nazzjon leads with the ‘heartbreaking’ evidence of a woman whose lawyer husband was murdered nine years ago in Marsalforn. It also carries a front-page story about Joanne Cassar publicly thanked Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg for speaking about her case and the apology made by the PN.

l-orizzont says foreign publications have spoken of how the water shortage in Malta is a serious threat for farming. 

The overseas press

Euronews reports members of the European Parliament have voted against a plan to cut aid to the EU’s poorest people in a parliamentary motion on Wednesday. EU countries, along with the European Commission, suggested slashing cash for the most deprived people from €3.5 billion to €2.5 billion. The new fund is set to be in place by next year to replace an EU food distribution programme. The scheme will have a much broader scope and bailout countries will receive extra help. The amendments made by MEPs in Strasbourg will still require the approval from EU leaders.

Avvenire says Pope Francis has deplored the exploitation of children as domestic workers, calling it a form of slavery increasingly affecting poor countries and girls in particular. Addressing a crowd of 60,000 gathered in St Peter's Square for his weekly audience, Francis urged “ ever more effective measures to fight this true scourge”, calling it “a deplorable phenomenon constantly on the rise”. According to ILO figures published on Wednesday, there are an estimated 10.5 million children worldwide working as domestic workers Six and a half million of these child labourers are aged between five and 14 years-old and over 71 per cent are girls.

A large majority support the Irish Government going further than planned in its abortion legislation. Three out of four respondents in today’s Irish Times poll support the coalition's plan to legislate for limited abortions where the woman's life is at risk – up four percentage points since the last survey in February. Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has told parliament that the Catholic Church does not dictate how the country is governed. He said that he has been mailed plastic foetuses, been called a murderer and told he would have the deaths of 20 million babies on his soul.

Kathimerini reports Greek unions, coalition partners and the media united to revolt against the government's abrupt shutdown of the state broadcaster. The government said the move was a temporary measure to staunch a waste of taxpayers' money, and said a smaller more efficient broadcaster would be opened later in the year. However, the county’s two largest labour unions have called a general strike and journalists across all media called an indefinite strike. Some private media channels are showing solidarity by re-running soap operas and sitcoms instead of news.

Gazete Oku says the Turkish government has proposed a referendum on a development project in Istanbul that triggered demonstrations that have become the biggest challenge to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's 10-year tenure. Protesters expressed doubts about the offer, however, and continued to converge in Taksim Square's Gezi Park, centre of the anti-government protests that began in Istanbul 13 days ago and spread across the country. But police in riot gear swept away protestors, firing volleys of tear gas after Erdogan announced “zero tolerance” for the massive demonstrations against his Islamist government. Dozens were injured.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has told the South China Morning Post that the American government has been spying on China and Hong Kong for many years. Snowden, a former CIA employee, leaked secret US surveillance details – unleashing what has now become known as NSA-gate or Datagate – at a time when Washington and Beijing were each accusing the other of cyber spying. Meanwhile, The Washington Times quotes General Keith Alexander, NSA director and Pentagon's Cyber Command chief, vigorously defending the programmes as an effective tool in keeping America safe by foiling dozens of potential terrorist attacks.

Fox News reports Ariel Castro, the American accused of kidnapping three women, holding them in his home for a decade and raping them, has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The former school bus driver appeared in court in Cleveland, Ohio on an indictment charging him with murder, kidnapping and rape in more than 300 counts. Castro, 52, is accused of snatching the three women and keeping them - sometimes restrained in chains – along with a six-year-old girl he fathered with one of them. Prosecutors say the investigation will continue and they are leaving the door open to pursuing a death penalty case against Castro.

Le Presse reports three Femen protesters – a German and two French women – have been sentenced to four months in prison for public decency violations. The women, who were arrested for baring their breasts on March 29 to protest the arrest of the Tunisian blogger Amina, could have been sent to prison for up to six months.

Barcelona’s Sport says Leonel Messi, under investigation for having allegedly evaded together with his father €4 million of tax between 2007 and 2009 in Spain, has rejected the allegations. On his Facebook page, Messi has issued a statement saying, “We have always complied with our tax obligations following the advice of our fiscal consultants who will be asked to clarify matters.”

Antonio Sanò, director of IlMeteo.it, has told Ansa that the long-awaited summer has arrived and an anti-cyclone would cause “a perfect hot storm” in Europe from Sunday till June 21, with record temperatures. The heat will increase each day after Sunday, exceeding the 30-32 degrees everywhere and reaching 35 degrees in Bologna, Florence, Naples, Rome, and the rest of the south. The hot warm African winds will reach their peak right on June 21, the summer solstice.

Jyllands Posten says a consignment of smuggled drugs in banana boxes has ended up at a Danish supermarket instead of on the streets. Staff at the Coop chain in Aarhus got a big surprise when they opened crates from Columbia and found about 220lbs of cocaine. The powder was discovered when workers noticed that some of the boxes were heavier than others. The company has contacted its Colombian supplier. Police are investigating, but have not made any arrests.