The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Maltese media is totally dominated by developments regarding illegal migration and a European Court of Human Rights decision stopping Malta from repatriating migrants.
In other stories, l-orizzont quotes GWU General Secretary Tony Zarb saying workers’ conditions improve when workers show solidarity with one another.
The overseas press
The Daily Telegraph leads on calls for Britain to boycott the European Court of Human Rights after a ruling stated that locking up some of Britain's most notorious killers for life without any prospect of release is a breach of their human rights. It said such sentences were “inhuman and degrading”. The judges found that for a life sentence to remain compatible with the European Convention on Human Rights there had to be both a possibility of release and a possibility of review. The decision has been slammed by many in Westminster – including Prime Minister David Cameron, who said he was “very, very disappointed”.
Canadian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the fiery wreck of a runaway oil train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, as the death toll climbed to 15 and 35 people remained missing. CNN reports authorities have found evidence that a train was tampered with. Investigators had earlier said that they are trying to figure out if the train's brakes were disabled before it barreled at a dangerous speed into the Quebec town, derailed and burst into a deadly inferno.
Al Ahram says Egypt's interim president has named an economist as prime minister, ending days of deadlock as the head of the military pressured political factions to speed along the process, warning them that “manoeuvring” must not hold up the transition toward new elections after the removal of President Mohammed Morsi. The appointment of Hazem el-Beblawi, along with the setting of a swift timetable for parliamentary and presidential elections early next year, underlined the military-backed leadership's determination to push ahead with their transition plans in the face of Islamist protests demanding the reinstatement of Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president.
R IA Novosti reports Russia has delivered evidence to the UN that Syrian rebels used chemical weapons in a March attack. Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said their report had established a deadly projectile that hit a suburb of the Syrian city of Aleppo on March 19 contained the nerve agent sarin. Russian experts traveled to the scene of the incident at Khan al-Assal, which killed more than two dozen people, to gather firsthand evidence. The Syrian government and rebel forces have blamed each other for the attack.
The Wall Street Journal says the International Monetary Fund has reduced its projected growth for 2014 from a forecast of 3.3 percent to 3.1 percent. The predictions came on the back of a slowdown in the world’s emerging nations and poor economic performance in the eurozone.
Le Soir announces that the European Union has officially approved Latvia as the 18th member of the eurozone, which uses the bloc's common currency. EUfinance ministers from the 28-member bloc gave their final approval for Latvia to adopt the euro on next year during a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, making it the the second from the Baltics.
Kathimerini reports Greek local authority workers have gone on strike for the second day in protest at their inclusion in a government plan to cut the number of civil servants. The 24-hour strike came a day after Greece’s creditors approved €6.8bn from the rescue package that is keeping the country afloat. But in order to continue receiving the money, Greece must stick to the agenda of cuts and reforms it has agreed to, including the firing of several thousand civil servants.
Ansa says ratings agency Standard & Poor's has downgraded Italy’s credit score by one notch – from BBB+ to BBB – over worries that the country might not be able to absorb the effects of a worsening recession. The New York-based also gave Italy a negative outlook. That means it considered there was “at least a one-in-three chance that the rating could be lowered again in 2013 or 2014”.
Pravda reports whistleblower Edward Snowden has accepted Venezuela’s offer of political asylum, according to the head of the Russian parliament’s foreign affairs committee. Snowden, who revealed details of a US intelligence programme to monitor internet activity, went to Moscow airport on June 23. He is widely believed to be still in the airport’s transit zone.
According to Clarin, Pope Francis has asked that a statue in his likeness be removed from the gardens of the cathedral in his hometown of Buenos Aires. He personally telephoned the Metropolitan Cathedral of Buenos Aires as soon as he heard it had been installed and asked that it be “removed immediately”. The cathedral had been his home church before he became the world's first Latin American pontiff in March. The statue was created by artist Fernando Pugliese, who had created other monuments dedicated to John Paul II and Mother Teresa.
USA Today says country singer Randy Travis remained in critical condition in a Texas hospital after doctors inserted a device to stabilise his weakened heart. The singer underwent the procedure after checking into the hospital on Sunday with viral cardiomyopathy, a heart condition caused by a virus.