The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.

Times of Malta says a three-month-old girl suffered internal bleeding and severe bruising after her father allegedly shook her when she suffered a fit. In another story it says world leaders called for a rapid investigation into the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine.

L-Orizzont says the US has assured the European Union that no toxic waste will be dumped in the Mediterranean during the destruction of Syrian chemical weapons.

The Malta Independent says that the Labour Party’s parliamentary group was not consulted before yesterday’s vote on the Enemalta Act, which will turn the corporation into a public liability company.

In-Nazzjon quotes Opposition deputy leader Mario de Marco in Parliament saying during the Enemalta debate that the Opposition could not approve a bill about a situation it knew nothing about.

International news

OSCE monitors have not been able to secure access to the site where airliner MH17 crashed in eastern Ukraine. OSCE chairman Thomas Greminger told Reuters by telephone they did not have the freedom of movement they need to do their job. The team of 17 monitors will try again today.

Meanwhile, The New York Times reports at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, world leaders have demanded that pro-Russia rebels who control the eastern Ukraine crash site give immediate, unfettered access to independent investigators to determine who shot down the plane.

The Washington Times quotes President Barack Obama saying the Malaysian jetliner tragedy in a Ukrainian region controlled by Russian-backed separatists should be a “wake-up call” for the West in its drive to hold Moscow accountable for a crisis that appears to be at a turning point.

While stopping short of blaming Russia for Thursday’s crash, Obama accused Russia of failing to stop the violence that made it possible to shoot down the plane. The United States has said the jetliner was hit by a surface-to-air missile fired from rebel territory.

The Irish Independent says Russian government agencies have edited a Wikipedia article so that it suggests the Ukrainian military were to blame for the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17. According to a Twitter account that monitors state IP addresses, the original post, relating to civil aviation accidents, said that the plane, which was carrying 298 people was shot down using rockets which were “obtained from the Russian Federation”. This was later edited to say the plane was shot down by the “Ukrainian military”.

Focus news agency reports Israel has warned it could “significantly widen” a Gaza land offensive but was cautioned by its main ally, the United States, about the risks of further escalation as Palestinian civilian deaths mounted. Palestinian officials said 58 Palestinians, at least 15 of them under the age of 18, have been killed since Israel sent ground forces on Thursday into the densely-populated enclave of 1.8 million Palestinians. A single shot fired from a tank killed eight members of a single family, including four children and two women.

Al Ayyam says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will today start on a mission in the Middle East to try to defuse tension in the Gaza Strip. The UN says minors make up one-fifth of the 299 Palestinians killed in 11 days of intense Israeli bombardment of the densely populated Gaza Strip, where half the 1.7 million people are under age 18.

AGI reports Italy’s Mare Nostrum migrant search and rescue operation has saved 3,510 lives in the past two days. The International Organisation for Migration says 67,000 migrants and asylum seekers have reached Italy since the beginning of the year, including over 6,500 unaccompanied children. They include many victims of human trafficking.

Ansa says some 130,000 Italian youths have signed up for the EU Youth Guarantee programme since its Italian launch in May. Italy’s labour ministry reported nearly 14 per cent have already been called up for jobs. The programme targets unemployed people under the age of 30 in its objective of quality job placement, further education, or work-focused training.

Al Thawra reports Jihadists in the north of Syria have stoned a woman to death after finding her guilty of adultery. It was the first execution of its kind by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, after 40 years of authoritarian but secular rule.

Voice of Nigeria says Boko Haram extremists attacked the city of Damboa in the north-eastern Nigerian state of Borno, blowing up houses and ruthlessly killing numerous civilians who had surrendered. The Nigerian army had attempted to retake the city last week, but was repelled.

Corriere della Sera reports former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi won his appeal against a seven-year conviction sparked by relations with an alleged underage Moroccan prostitute. In June last year, Berlusconi was found guilty of soliciting Miss Karima El Mahroug’s services while still a minor and of pressuring police officials to release the young woman after she was arrested for alleged theft.

O Globo reports the former girlfriend of Diego Maradona, Olive Rocio, was stopped at Buenos Aires Ezeiza airport by Interpol on charges of theft. The former footballer had filed a complaint against her with the Dubai judicial authorities alleging she stole some $400,000 in watches, a computer, cell phones and jewellery.

A provincial Japanese politician has landed himself in hot water after suggesting that deliberately punctured condoms be distributed to married couples to counter the country’s dwindling birth rate, Mainichi Shimbun reports. Municipal assembly member Tomonaga Osada received a stern warning and was forced to apologise after making the bizarre proposal, which triggered a flurry of phone calls from enraged locals.

Indiana Globe reports a family’s pit bull is being praised for alerting a deaf boy to a serious fire in his home by licking the sleeping boy’s face until he woke up. Nick Lamb, 13, told authorities that he was not wearing his hearing assistance implants as fire began spreading through his Indianapolis home. Alone in the house, Nick covered his nose and mouth with his T-shirt and he and Ace fled the house. Animal organisations said the incident counters a popular image of pit bulls as dangerous and aggressive dogs.

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