The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says former police commissioner Peter Paul Zammit has strenuously denied accusations that he handed confidential documents to the press, after an inquiry found these were in his office at the time they were leaked. In another story, the newspaper says today’s EU Council meeting in Brussels, in which leaders are meant to hammer out a plan to tackle migration, risks being overshadowed by the Greek crisis.
The Malta Independent says the current police commissioner has 30 days to appeal a decision by the Data Commissioner to fine him €500 for a transgression by his predecessor Peter Paul Zammit.
In-Nazzjon says Mr Zammit was fined €500 after he was found guilty of illegally copying an inspector’s personal file and passing on the information to the media.
L-Orizzont says that former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech is insisting that the three government employees who allegedly spied for him were only discussing with him the economic situation and not passing any sensitive information or breaching rules.
International news
Bloomberg reports markets were tense as crucial talks between Greece and its creditors to keep the country solvent and within the euro got bogged down again amid differences over what kind of reforms the country should make in exchange for loans. The impasse forced eurozone finance ministers to cut short a meeting, which they plan to resume this morning.
Le Soir says Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused lenders of not wanting to accept his country’s proposals and criticised what he saw as the “rigidity of a number financial institutions, starting with the IMF”. He wrote on Twitter the fact that the institutions continue to reject the “equivalent measures” proposed by the Greek government “never occurred before – neither in Ireland nor Portugal”. He added: “This odd stance seems to indicate that either there is no interest in an agreement or that special interests are being backed.”
AGI says the heads of EU-member states plan to agree an offering of relief to Italy and Greece, by taking in 40,000 asylum seekers “in clear need of temporary protection”. The latest draft conclusions for the summit on immigration to be held today and tomorrow also confirms the need for “the rapid adoption by the Council of a decision setting up a temporary and exceptional mechanism to this effect”.
The BBC reports Queen Elizabeth has spoken of the need for unity in Europe in a speech to German and UK leaders. At a state banquet in Berlin as part of a four-day visit to Germany, she said that division in Europe was “dangerous”. Her speech was made in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Prime Minister David Cameron, who wants to reform the UK’s EU membership.
Le Monde reports the French Parliament has adopted a controversial surveillance law aimed at broadening eavesdropping of terrorism suspects, despite protests from privacy advocates and concern about US-style massive data sweeps. The vote in the National Assembly, months in the making, came as France was decrying revelations less than a day earlier that the US National Security Agency eavesdropped on three French presidents and senior officials.
Meanwhile, AP says France has demanded answers and called for an intelligence “code of conduct” between allies over the WikiLeaks revelations. France’s foreign minister summoned the US ambassador to respond to the allegations, while President Obama spoke by phone with his French counterpart. And all eyes were fixed on the top floor of the US embassy after reports that a nest of NSA surveillance equipment was concealed there – just down the block from the presidential Elysee Palace.
New secret documents provided by Edward Snowden to The Guardian and The New York Times reveal that the British agency GCHQ has provided decisive help to the NSA in air campaigns conducted with drones in Pakistan and Yemen. The secret programme, known as “Overhead”, also involves Australia. NYT says the documents contain information on the procedures for identifying suspected terrorists to be targeted by drones and reveal that the bombings could lead to the killing of innocent civilians.
CNN reports the Republican-controlled Congress passed major trade legislation yesterday that was long-sought by President Obama but vehemently opposed by most lawmakers in his party. The measure to strengthen Obama’s hand in global trade talks cleared the Senate on a vote of 60-38, and will go to the White House for his signature – less than two weeks after it was temporarily derailed in the House in an uprising of Democratic lawmakers who argued it would cost American jobs.
Adnkronos quotes Pope Francis urging separated or divorced couples not use their children as “bargaining chips”. The pontiff told pilgrims at his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, “Children must not become the hostages of the father or of the mother, who try to numb their children’s pain by buying gifts and giving them their favourite snacks.” The Church was aware there were many such “irregular” families and was searching for answers on ways to help them, he said.
The Washington Post reports a court has ordered two doctors to pay a man $500,000 for defamation and medical malpractice. The man had prepared for his colonoscopy by pressing record on his smartphone, to capture the instructions his doctor would give him after the procedure. But as soon as he pressed play on his way home, he was shocked to find out the surgical team had mocked and insulted him as soon as he drifted off to sleep. When a medical assistant noted the man had a rash, the anaesthesiologist warned her not to touch it, saying she might get “some syphilis on your arm or something”, and then added, “It’s probably tuberculosis in the penis, so you’ll be all right.” Doctors also discussed whether they would not carry out the examination, providing the patient with a false diagnosis of haemorrhoids.