The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Sunday Times of Malta says antidepressants and anxiety medication were the cause of half the intentional overdoses treated in the first five months of this year. It also reports about the AFM migrant rescue operation at sea on Friday night during 19 migrants lost their lives and some 400 were saved.
It-Torca says the Maltese government is insisting Libyan authorities should open a court case in Malta if they want to get hold of Gaddafi’s assets here.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says that as the situation in Libya is continuing to degenerate, Maltese in the northern African state want to be evacuated.
Maltatoday says 85 per cent of respondents in a survey it conducted felt that first-time drug users should not be taken to court.
Illum leads with a story on the Prime Minister’s decision to postpone council elections saying many were seeing the move as an excuse to postpone the referendum on spring hunting.
Il-Mument says the Prime Minister has decided to postpone local elections and has communicated his decision, which is opposed by a number of government MPs, to cabinet.
Kullhadd accuses the Nationalist Party of attempting to get an element of public funding for political parties after dragging its feet on the law for 25 years.
International news
AFP reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Washington was “deeply concerned” that international investigators were being denied access to a Malaysia Airlines jet’s crash site in Ukraine. World leaders have expressed outrage and demanded Russia’s full cooperation.
Kyiv Post says Ukraine has accused Russia and pro-Moscow rebels of destroying evidence to cover up their guilt in the shooting down of the Malaysian airliner. As militants kept international monitors away from wreckage and scores of bodies festered for a third day, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the rebels to cooperate and insisted that a UN-mandated investigation must not leap to conclusions. Moscow denies involvement and has pointed a finger at Kiev’s military.
British Prime Minister David Cameron and his Dutch colleague Mark Rutte have advocated Europe should revise its relations with Moscow. De Telegraaf said Rutte has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin has one last chance to show he is serious about helping rescuers recover the bodies of the victims of the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight. Dutch citizens made up more than half the 298 aboard MH17 from Amsterdam.
AGI quotes Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi saying problems are not solved with commercials by politicians looking for votes. Commenting on the latest tragedy of loss of life of immigrants at sea, Renzi, who is currently on a political tour in Africa, said that to solve the issue of immigration, “we have to start from the root of the problem, take action in the countries from which it starts and produce chances for development, well-being, peace, and freedom”
Reuters reports two Israeli soldiers were killed in a cross-border attack by Hamas militants, as the Palestinian death toll from the conflict hit 343 with no diplomatic solution in sight. Israel sent ground forces into Hamas-controlled Gaza on Thursday after 10 days of air and naval barrages failed to stop rocket fire from the Palestinian territory. Diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire involving, amongst others, Egypt, Qatar, France and the United Nations, have failed to make headway. The overall Israeli death toll rose to five following the death of the two soldiers.
According to Al Thawra, Sunni extremists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant burned down the Syrian-Catholic episcopal palace in Mosul shortly after time ran out for their ultimatum against the city’s Christian community. The militants’ act was denounced by the Patriarch for the Syrian Catholic Church, Ignace Joseph III Younan, who met Archbishop and Secretary for Relations with States Dominique Mamberti at the Vatican on Friday and said the palace was completely consumed by the flames.
Garaque says ETA, the Basque separatist organisation, has announced it had “dismantled the logistics facilities” related to the season of the “armed struggle” in view of its transition “from the cycle of military confrontation to that of the comparison democratic”. The statement raised skepticism on the part of local government and the major parties of the Basque Country after the recent allegations of ETA have otherwise frozen its disarmament.
VOA News reports a Florida jury has awarded the widow of a chain smoker who died of lung cancer punitive damages of more than $23 billion in her lawsuit against the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, the nation’s second-biggest cigarette maker. Cynthia Robinson of the Florida Panhandle city of Pensacola sued the cigarette maker in 2008 over the death of her husband, Michael Johnson, a hotel shuttle bus driver who died of lung cancer in 1996 at age 36. He had smoked one to three packs a day for more 20 years, starting at age 13. The company said it would file an appeal.
Xinhua says 43 people were killed in a collision between a bus and a van carrying flammable liquids in southern China. The crash in Hunan province happened in the early hours of Saturday when the van drove into the back of the passenger coach, triggering a fire and explosion. Six people were injured, including four with severe burns. Five vehicles were destroyed.
According to AFP, the parking spaces outside a Chinese shopping mall are distinctive: marked out in pink, signposted “Respectfully reserved for women”, and around 30 centimetres wider than normal. The slots at the Dashijiedaduhui – or “World Metropolis” – centre have sparked debate in China, with the social media accusing the mall managers of sexism and cliched thinking. The mall managers deny the allegation.