The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says a top criminal lawyer accused the government of passing laws to benefit the prosecution after an alleged accomplice in a double murder case was granted a pardon to testify against the main suspects. In another story, it says the proposed drug law reform is not the first of its kind but will be significantly broader” than its failed predecessors.
In-Nazzjon says the husband in the family visited by the Prime Minister earlier this week as part of a Labour Party political activity is a policeman.
The Malta Independent says the Union Haddiema Maghqudin is threatening to take industrial action next week if the government does not honour substantial parts of an agreement signed in February.
l-Orizzont says the General Workers’ Union again challenged MUBE lawyer Pawlu Lia to substantiate allegations he made about it.
International press
CBS News reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has condemned Russia, saying Moscow was undeniably orchestrating the events in eastern Ukraine and was clearly flouting an agreement reached a week ago in Geneva by Russia, Ukraine, the United States and the European Union to take steps to de-escalate the crisis.
Kerry’s call came as Russia started military exercises near its border with Ukraine. RIA Novosti quotes Russian Defence Minister Serguei Shoigu saying the exercises were in response to Ukraine’s escalating operations against pro-Russian separatists, as well as NATO exercises in eastern Europe.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told NBC News the reconciliation deal between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas was “a great reverse for peace”. His comments came as Israel broke off Mideast peace talks and brought the U.-brokered process to the brink of collapse. The Jerusalem Post says Israel's Security Cabinet made the decision during a marathon emergency meeting convened to discuss the new Palestinian deal.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has told CNN his government would release a preliminary report on the disappearance of flight MH370.
Associated Press reports the Marshall Islands is taking on the United States and the world's eight other nuclear-armed nations with an unprecedented lawsuit demanding that they meet their obligations toward disarmament and accusing them of “flagrant violations” of international law.
The Irish Examiner says the Irish law came down like a ton of bricks yesterday on some 300 people who had been caught holding a mobile phone while driving.
Pope Francis is “a moral leader in words and deeds,” President Obama has said in a profile written for Time magazine on the 100 most influential figures in the world.
Vatican Radio says Pope Francis' phone call to an Argentinian woman saying she was doing “nothing wrong” in taking Communion after marrying a divorced man was “misunderstood” by the media and did not change Catholic Church doctrine banning sacraments to people who have been divorced by the Church or State.