The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta focuses on an illegally-built petrol station's three year approval.
The Malta Independent says Mater Dei Hospital is under colossal strain.
In-Nazzjon says Marsaxlokk's Labour Mayor has been given a promotion within Transport Malta.
l-orizzont says the gas tanker in Marsaxlokk will have no impact, according to an elderly fisherman.
The overseas press
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is in Moscow to meet top Russia officials in a final attempt to mediate the end of the conflict in the Crimea. Pravda reports he will meet President Putin, Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov and other officials later today and will tomorrow travel to Kiev to meet with representatives of the interim government, members of the UN human rights monitoring mission and other members of civil society.
US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have agreed that international monitors must be sent immediately to southern and eastern Ukraine. The Washington Post says the leaders condemned Putin’s move to annex Crimea to Russia and agreed to continue to underscore to the Russian president that a diplomatic solution remains possible.
Voice of Russia reports Russia defended the Crimean referendum and rejected the claim by UN human rights deputy chief Ivan Simonovic that minorities in Crimea were under threat. Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Russians had been waiting for six decades for “the reunification of Russia and Crimea”. US ambassador to the UN Samantha Power condemned Russia’s justification for the referendum. Churkin called on the US delegation to stop making “inflammatory statements” if they wished to continue working with Russia on other issues before the council.
According to The Associated Press, the FBI have joined forces with Malaysian authorities in analysing deleted data on the flight simulator belonging to Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft. The authorities did not describe the significance of the deleted data, and experts said it might not reflect anything unusual. Meanwhile, distraught relatives of the 239passengers unleashed their anger Wednesday – wailing in frustration at 12 days of uncertaintyat a briefing near Kuala Lumpur’s airport.
The BBC announces British police probing the disappearance of Madeleine McCann have a new lead – an intruder who sexually abused five young girls in their beds between 2004 and 2010. The attacks happened in holiday villas in the Algarve where UK families were staying.. “Maddy”, then aged three, went missing from her bedroom in 2007 at the Praia da Luz holiday resort in the Algarve while her parents were dining at a nearby restaurant.
Kathimerini reports Greece’s key lenders have reached basic agreement on the next steps forward for its rescue programme in a long-delayed step that could free up fresh funds for Athens. The troika of lenders – the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank – said the Greek economy was beginning to stabilise and that the government’s fiscal performance was on track to meet programme targets.
Ansa says Pope Francis on Wednesday celebrated the Feast of St Joseph, Father’s Day in many Catholic countries, telling fathers they should be close to their children. Speaking to an estimated 80,000-strong crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square for the weekly general audience, the pontiff focused on three aspects of the life and mission of St Joseph: as the “guardian” of the Holy Family; as the teacher and educator of the young Jesus; and as a guide who helped Jesus respond to the working of the Holy Spirit. Speaking off the cuff, Francis sent special greetings to all the fathers of the world, thanking them for what they do with their children.
Qianjiang Evening News reports a Tibetan mastiff puppy has been sold in China for €1.4 million, in what could be the most expensive dog sale ever. A property developer paid 12 million yuan for the one-year-old golden-haired mastiff at a “luxury pet” fair in the eastern province of Zhejiang. The golden-haired animal was 80 centimetres tall and weighed 90 kilos. Tibetan mastiffs have become a prized status symbol among China’s wealthy, sending prices skyrocketing.
The Irish Examiner says a young man has been hailed a hero after helping to reunite a toddler with his family after the boy dramatically disappeared from the family home in the early hours of Wednesday. The 30-month-old opened the front door of his home and walked about a mile along the Dublin Road until a 21-year old man found him wandering and alerted the police. The door left open at the boy’s house was what led investigating officers to the parents of the toddler who were completely unaware the toddler had left home.