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

Times of Malta reports how all the passengers on the missing Malaysia airliner have now been officially presumed dead.

The Malta Independent and l-orizzont report how Mepa approved the Delimara gas power station permits.

In-Nazzjon says Mepa put the prime minister's partisan interests first.

The overseas press

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has said the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft has been suspended because of bad weather and rough seas. ABC quotes an official statement saying gale force winds and heavy rain meant planes could not fly safely.

Xinhua reports China’s Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng demanded detailed evidence from the Malaysian government to back up its conclusion that the missing flight MH370 had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean and there are no survivors. Most of the 227 passengers on the Malaysia Airlines flight were Chinese. There were distressing scenes at a Beijing hotel where relatives of the missing passengers watched Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s announcement on TV. Some, overcome with grief, were taken away on stretchers by medical teams.

Deutsche Welle says German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the G8 summit in Russia in June has been cancelled “until Russia changes course”, following its annexation of Crimea. The G7 countries – the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan – were supposed to meet in Sochi in June for the summit, known as the G8. Merkel said that while the political environment was lacking, the G8 did not exist either as a summit or a format. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said it would be not great tragedy if Russia was expelled.

Kyiv Post confirms Russian forces in Crimea have stormed a Ukrainian naval ship, the Konstantin Olshansky, one of just two vessels that fly the Ukrainian flag. Earlier Kiev lost control of its naval base at Feodosia – the last military base Ukraine held in the region – as Russian tightened its grip on Ukraine’s military assets in Crimea.

Krymskaya Pravda reports the rouble has became the official currency in Crimea. The announcement came on Twitter from Crimean Prime Minister Sergei Aksenov, adding that it was possible to make payments in the Russian currency. The rouble will be used alongside the Ukrainian gravina until January 1, 2016. The decision by the Crimean parliament is the first step towards integration with Russia.

The New York Times says a court has convicted five former employees of the disgraced financier Bernie Madoff of conspiracy to defraud. They were found guilty of defrauding clients and falsifying records. The five helped Madoff cover up the true nature of what is thought to be the biggest financial fraud in US history.

The Washington Post says President Obama has declared an emergency in the state of Washington and ordered federal aid to supplement local response efforts to deal with the massive mudslide in Snohomish County. The confirmed death toll from a devastating weekend mudslide climbed to 14 on Monday as six more bodies were found, while scores of others remained listed as missing two days after the tragedy.

Mail & Guardian reports a police expert in the trial of the South African paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has read out text messages indicating that Reeva Steenkamp, the girlfriend he is accused of murdering, was at times scared of him. Observers said text messages suggested both lovers were experiencing emotional insecurity. The court adjourned with police captain Francois Moller expected to return to the witness box today.

Al Ahram says an Egyptian court has sentenced to death 529 people accused of an attack on a police station that left one policeman dead, in a mass trial that lasted only two sessions and raised an outcry from rights activists. The verdicts against the men, said to be supporters of ousted President Mohammed Morsi, are subject to appeal. Human rights lawyers said the sentences were likely be overturned.

Libya Herald announces that the trial against Muammar Gaddafi’s two sons, Seif al-Islam and Saadi, the former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, and 30 high-ranking members of the old regime will start on April 14. They are accused of murder, kidnapping, incitement to rape and misappropriation of funds. For security reasons, the two Gaddafi brothers will attend the trial via video from their cells at the Zintan prison.

Gazeta Polska says British and other airmen have attended a military ceremony marking 70 years since the Great Escape of allied officers from the Nazi prisoner camp near Zagan, in western Poland. Marek Lazarz, director of the Stalag Luft III Museum, said the ceremony was held at the place where 76 prisoners of war emerged from a tunnel on March 24, 1944. The 1963 Hollywood film The Great Escape, starring Steve McQueen, tells their story. Only three of those who escaped made it home. Fifty others were executed when caught, and the rest were sent to other camps.

 

 

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