The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
All the local media is dominated by yesterday’s attempted hold-up near the airport. The Times of Malta says the men targeted by the thieves had been carrying €60,000. L-orizzont puts the figure at €80,000.
In other stories, the Times of Malta says Gozo court cases have been held as experts are not paid.
In-Nazzjon says food prices have risen 7 per cent.
The overseas press
The UN has formally asked the Syrian Government to allow its team of weapons inspectors, to investigate Wednesday’s alleged chemical attack in the suburbs of Damascus. Reuters reports UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Syria must let the UN team already in Damascus investigate “without delay”. He said he would send a top UN disarmament official, Angela Kane, to lobby the Syrian government in person. Ban said he expected a swift, positive answer.
Meanwhile, France has called for the international community to use force if it is confirmed that the Syrian government used chemical weapons. Le Monde quotes French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius saying there would have to be “reaction with force” in Syria from the international community. But any coordinated international intervention seems unlikely for the moment. Fabius said that, if the UN Security Council were unable to take a stand, the decision should be taken “in other ways”.
The Daily Telegraph reports British counter-terror police on Thursday launched a criminal investigation into documents seized from the Brazilian boyfriend of a journalist working to publish secrets from US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden. The development came after Britain's High Court ruled that material seized from David Miranda, the boyfriend and assistant of Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, could only be partially examined by police. London's Metropolitan Police said publication of the “highly sensitive” data seized from 28-year-old Miranda during his detention under anti-terror laws at London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday could cause a risk to life.
Ansa says Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta has met President Giorgio Napolitano in a last-ditch bid to avert a government crisis caused by Silvio Berlusconi's ban from holding public office. Letta's Democratic Party (PD) is turning a deaf ear to appeals from Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PdL) party to refrain from voting Berlusconi out of the Senate on September 9 as a consequence of his conviction for tax fraud. Berlusconi is insisting he must be allowed to continue as PdL leader and can only do that as a Senator. Otherwise, the PdL will pull the plug on the 100-day administration Napolitano forced into existence after a two-month post-election impasse caused by comedian Beppe Grillo's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement's refusal to team up with the PD.
Il Fatto Quotidiano quotes Italian Deputy Premier Angelino Alfano saying other countries should pay for the detention of detained irregular immigrants in Italy. He suggested the states of origin pay “at least for the board and lodging of immigrant detainees”. Alfano is the No.2 in Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom (PdL) party, a historic political ally of the anti-immigrant Northern League party.
Al Akhbar says Egyptian security forces are bracing themselves for more clashes today as supporters of deposed President Mohammed Morsi are expected stage a "Friday of martyrs" of mass protests, risking more potential bloodshed to show they can still claim the streets after a week in which hundreds were gunned down and their leaders jailed. In a symbolic victory for the army-dominated old order, former autocrat Hosni Mubarak, toppled in a 2011 pro-democracy uprising, was freed from jail on Thursday, while his freely-elected successor Morsi remains imprisoned.
Rai News announces that a marble statue in memory of the victims of the Costa Concordia shipwreck was found missing a finger yesterday. Investigators say overnight vandals broke off the index finger of the Stella Maris, a statue of Our Lady placed in May to overlook the spot of the fatal disaster and the remains of the stranded cruiser on Giglio Island off the Tuscan coast. On January 13, 2012, the massive cruise ship with 4,252 people on board ran aground on a rock reef, leaving 32 dead.
Teams contesting the 2022 World Cup in Qatar will need a month to prepare for the country's sweltering heat. Sport 360 says that, according to a report by the University of Bedfordshire teams should arrive in Qatar at least four weeks in advance of the tournament, which is currently scheduled to take place amid temperatures that could reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius. Professor Brewer from the university's sports science department said physical performance and decision-making will be impaired in hot conditions but players' bodies could adapt to the extreme conditions if the squad arrives in Qatar early enough. Professor Brewer was the former Head of Sports Science at the Football Association and he was also a member of England's back-room staff at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.