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

Times of Malta reports how Chinese experts sais the Malta-Gozo bridge is 'technically feasible.'

The Malta Independent says the prime minister yesterday met blacklisted bridge-builders in China.

In-Nazzjon says Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia did not say why Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit was removed.

L-orizzont says the agreement signed with China yesterday will lead to quality investment.

The overseas press

Israeli air strikes on the southern and central Gaza Strip killed 14 people this morning, bringing the total number of dead to 64, according to an AFP count based on medical reports. Today’s victims included seven women and children.

The New York Times reports the UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting later today on the escalating violence between Israel and Hamas following a request by Arab envoys and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. The meeting will be followed by closed-door consultations between the council’s 15 members.

al bawaba says the increased fighting between Israel and Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, has also seen a rise in rocket attacks from Gaza aimed at Israeli cities and the Israeli nuclear plant in Dimona, in the Neghev desert. With rockets raining deep inside Israel, the military attacked 600 Palestinian targets across the Gaza Strip and threatened a broad ground offensive. Militants have fired more than 200 rockets from the Gaza Strip, about 50 of which were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defence system. No fatalities reported.

Sky News reports up to two million British public sector workers might strike today, threatening major disruption to schools and other services. Teachers, refuse collectors, firefighters, home helps and librarians were all expected to walk out over pay, pensions and spending cuts. Unions say the strike action will also include dinner ladies, parks attendants, council road safety officers, caretakers and cleaners, as well as civil servants.

Deutsche Welle says a second person is suspected of spying on Germany for the US, German media reports. The latest case involves the German defence ministry and would be “more serious” than last week’s arrest. The revelations follow less than a week after an employee of Germany’s foreign intelligence service was arrested. He admitted to passing over 200 documents to the CIA for €18,326. The double agent worked for the BND for two years.

RIA Novosty reports Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told visiting Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini he hoped the Italian EU presidency would help put EU-Russian relations back on a par with those with Rome. Mogherini said the government led by Matteo Renzi “aims to change Italy and Europe”.

VOA News says US President Barack Obama has warned parents in Central America not to send their children alone on the perilous journey through Mexico to illegally cross the US border.

Obama also called on Congress to stop playing politics and to work with him to pass his request for $3.7 billion in emergency funding to deal with the building immigration crisis. He was speaking in Dallas, after meeting Texas’s Republican Governor Rick Perry, local officials and faith leaders to discuss the border drama, which has developed into a toxic political showdown.

Jakarta Post says early exit polls in Indonesia’s presidential election show the Governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo with a slight lead in the race. He’s long been the favourite to win the two man contest, though his once substantial lead has all but disappeared in recent days, with recent opinion polls showing him running neck and neck with former special forces general Prabowo Subianto. Turnout has been high, with some 80 per cent of the country’s 190 million voters taking part in the election.

Avvenire reports the Vatican has appointed former French financier Jean-Baptiste de Franssu as president of its scandal-ridden IOR bank. The new man at the helm said ethical investments would be the focus of the bank’s future operations. Other IOR Board of Directors appointees announced on Wednesday included Monsignor Alfred Xuereb, named Secretary without voting rights, as well as German Clemens Boersig, American Mary Ann Glendon, and Brit Michael Hintze. Two other non-clerical appointees have yet to be announced.

La Republica says copper thieves have stolen 500 kg of gutters made of the valuable metal from the monumental cemetery in the Romagna town of Forlì. They plundered some 600 metres of guttering to be sold on the black market after discarding aluminium and zinc plating. Meanwhile,

Italian police have seized 1,200 Chinese-made counterfeit coffins in Abruzzo and sent them to be destroyed. The coffins were without makers’ marks and posed as regular Italian makes, police said.   

Ansa says a newborn baby was one of the victims of Monday’s migrant boat rescue off the coast of Sicily. An Eritrean woman aboard the boat gave birth to a baby with no vital signs, who was then thrown into the sea. According to the woman’s account, the woman was seven months pregnant when she went into premature labour, delivering a baby with no signs of life. Following resuscitation attempts, the woman lost consciousness. When she woke up, she discovered that passengers had thrown the corpse into the sea. The Ragusa prosecutor is investigating the incident.

 

 

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