The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that clients will be hit as HSBC staff step up industrial action.
The Malta Independent says only 10 new beds at Gozo general hospital will be for the Gozitans.
In-Nazzjon leads with a woman's battle against a thyroid problem and depression.
l-orizzont carries an interview with a mother whose daughter lost her way in crime.
The overseas press
Russia has threatened to use nuclear force against the United States and its allies if NATO moves more forces into the Baltic states or if attempts are made to return Crimea to Ukraine. According to notes seen by London’s The Times, made by the US party at a meeting between intelligence figures in Germany last month, President Putin was also planning imminent “destabilising actions” in the Baltic in order to withstand NATO’s promise to defend pro-Western countries from Russian expansionism.
Meanwhile, NATO will go ahead with its plans to deploy a fully-fledged missile defence network in Europe despite the recent agreement with Tehran aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu has told Sputnik that the so-called European missile shield was not directed against Russia. In 2014, President Putin said Washington had created threats for Russia by expanding its missile defence shield, placing elements in Eastern Europe close to the Russian border.
Fox News quotes a White House spokesman saying President Obama was confident that the United States could reach a final deal with Iran over its nuclear programme by the end of June. He said the US would also work with its partners in the region to address what he called “Iran’s destabilising activities”. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned President Obama over the phone on Thursday the deal threatened his country’s survival.
Abrar reports President Hassan Rouhani said his country would honour its part of the framework deal as long as the six world powers – Russia, the United States, China, France, Germany and Britain – do so as well. In a televised address, he said, “The world must know that we do not intend to cheat.” But he also warned Iran would have other options if world powers “one day decide to follow a different path”.
Avvenire says Pope Francis has highlighted the persecution of Christians in Africa and the Middle East during the Vatican’s tradition Way of The Cross procession at the Coliseum. Earlier, at a service in St Peter’s Basilica, Vatican official preacher Fr Raniero Cantalamessa accused the international community of indifference to the persecution of Christians, referring to the attack by Islamist Al Shabaab militants on a university in Kenya, in which the militants initially killed indiscriminately but later freed some Muslims and targeted Christian students. He also mentioned the beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians last February by Islamic State (IS) militants in Libya.
The Jerusalem Post reports Christian pilgrims from around the world joined Palestinians in a solemn Easter procession through the walled Old City. Some carried massive wooden crosses from the Monastery of the Flagellation along the cobbled Via Dolorosa on the way to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Also yesterday, Jews in Israel and around the world begin celebrating the week-long Passover festival, commemorating the Biblical exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt.
Le Monde reports the second flight data recorder from the Germanwings crash site in the Alps confirms co-pilot repeatedly accelerated the aircraft in its final descent. Andreas Lubitz is believed to have researched suicide methods on the internet before crashing the plane last week, killing all 150 on board. Authorities found the second black box, which contains technical flight data, on Thursday after a gruelling nine-day search in difficult mountain terrain.
France 24 reports six people who hid in a cold storage room during the Islamist attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris in January have sued France’s most popular television news network and other media for reporting their location during the siege. The six, who were rescued after police shot dead Amedy Coulibaly, filed criminal proceedings against BFM-TV and other outlets for endangering their lives by broadcasting that they were in the basement.
O Globo says Brazilian police have fired tear gas to break up a protest in a Rio de Janeiro slum that erupted after a 10-year-old boy was killed in what officers called a shootout with drug traffickers. The protesters responded by throwing stones. One police officer was injured. Police say the boy was shot on Thursday night when they came under fire from a group of “criminals” in Areal, one of the slums that make up the complex of 70,000 people.
VOA News reports a man has been rescued off the US coast after more than two months missing at sea. The crew of a German container ship spotted Louis Jordan sitting on the upturned hull of his sailing boat, 200 miles off North Carolina. He said he survived by catching fish with his bare hands and drinking rainwater.
Ohio Post says the police in have arrested a man who called 911 to report that his wife had stolen his cocaine. But when police arrived at Robert D. Collins’ house, they found that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for failing to pay hundreds of dollars in costs in an earlier court case. The cops also found a glass pipe, which he admitted he used to smoke marijuana. Collins was charged with two misdemeanour counts and faces up to 60 days if convicted.