The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports how Prime Minister Muscat and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi yesterday called for a European solution to the migration crisis.
The Malta Independent says the picture of a dead Syrian boy on a Turkish beach has shamed the world. It also focuses on the resignation of Peter Paul Zammit as Head of Security for International Events.
In-Nazzjon says the Consumer Rights Association is calling for a reduction in fuel prices after a slide in international prices.
l-orizzont quotes Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela saying the pictures of a dead toddler on a Turkish beach were shocking and heartbreaking.
The overseas press
Deutsche Welle reports tensions between European countries are rising as the continent grapples with what the European Commission’s Vice President Frans Timmermans described as an “unprecedented humanitarian and political crisis”. The issue tops the agenda of three international meetings later today, including one between the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to coordinate the group’s position with the EU.
Meanwhile, Fox News says the US is under new pressure to absorb Syrian refugees as the Obama administration faces calls to take a more active role in the humanitarian crisis. At the same time, some lawmakers on Capitol Hill warned that loosening immigration rules to take them in would pose a serious security risk.
Sputnik reports President Putin has proposed to President Obama to form an international coalition to beat all forms of extremism. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the economic forum in the Asia-Pacific, Putin said he had talked about his idea with Obama as well as with leaders of Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and others. He blamed the European migration crisis on how the EU had “blindly followed the US policy towards the Syria".
Anadolu reports Turkish police have arrested four suspected human traffickers operating around the Bodrum peninsula where the lifeless body of a three-year-old Syrian boy was found washed up on the beach on Wednesday. Images of Aylan Kurdi’s dead body lying face down on the beach circulated around the world, sparking outrage at the human cost of the surge of migration towards Europe as thousands of people flee conflicts in countries like Syria. According to the Turkish state news agency, a Syrian was among those arrested.
Montreal Gazette says Canada has denied it ever refused a request for political asylum by the father of the little Aylan, as alleged by Ayolan’s aunt, Teema Kurds, on Wednesday.
Christian Science Monitor reports a Kentucky county clerk who denied marriage licences to gay couples invoking “God’s authority”, has been jailed, but a full day of court hearings failed to put an end to her two-month-old legal fight over a US Supreme Court ruling upholding same-sex marriage. The court found Kim Davis in contempt and then elicited a pledge from five of her six deputies to issue the licences. But attorneys for Davis said she would deny them that authority, raising questions about the validity of any licences they might issue.
El Periodico reports Guatemala’s Congress has sworn in a new president as disgraced former leader Otto Perez was ordered detained to prevent him becoming a fugitive from justice in the Central American nation’s long-running corruption saga.
The New Yorker says caving to intense Republican lobbying, presidential candidate Donald Trump ruled out the prospect of a third-party White House bid and vowed to support whoever wins the party’s nomination. Meanwhile, CNN reports US Vice President Joe Biden has declared he was unsure if he would seek the Democratic presidential nomination, telling a Jewish audience that his decision would hinge on whether he and his family have the “emotional energy to run”.
The New York Daily News reports the white man accused of killing nine black churchgoers in what authorities said was “a racially motivated crime during Bible study” will face a death penalty trial, even though not all the victims’ families agree with capital punishment. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson said that some crimes are just so heinous they require the most serious punishment the state can give.
Los Angeles Times announces the death of US actor Dean Jones, star of the series “Herbie the Love Bug”. He was 84. Jones, a long time sufferer of Parkinson, was Herbie’s driver, the Volkswagen Beetle which brought magic for the first time in theatres by Disney in 1968.
According to the Indian Express, an Indian politician’s comments on a Bollywood actress, who is also a former porn star, has resulted in a severe backlash, when he said the condom ads she stars in would lead to a rise in rape cases in the country. The politician, Atul Anjan of the Communist Party of India, targeted Indian-Canadian actress Sunny Leone and a television ad that shows her promoting a condom brand on a beach. The remarks caused widespread outrage on social media, including from prominent Indian women’s rights activist Kavita Krishnan who bemoaned the act of “moral policing”.