The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that an EU report has shown the Maltese Parliament to be out of touch with Brussels, having failed to react to legislative proposals made by the EU. It also reports how a court noted yesterday that there is no treatment service for sexual deviances.
The Malta Independent reports on Mepa efforts to monitor noise levels; and the inauguration of new bells at the Maritime Museum clock tower in Vittoriosa.
In-Nazzjon features comments by EU Health Commissioner John Dalli that the e-coli situation is under control. It also says that the cause and source of an explosion heard on Sunday afternoon is still a mystery.
l-orizzont says there is still suspicion that a Libyan tug boat which arrived in Malta on Sunday was carrying soldiers and not fishermen as claimed. It also says that because of a lack of ministerial coordination, the government will pay Arriva so that its buses do not transit Bisazza Street in Sliema.
The overseas press
Italian centre-left opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani has called on Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his ministers to resign following their failure to block four nationwide referenda. Corriere della Sera quotes the head of the Democratic Party saying the result was clear evidence of a political crisis and the government was out of touch with public opinion. Berlusconi suffered his second blow in two weeks as a quorum of voters turned out to reject four of the government's legislative proposals presented – two on the privatisation of water, one proposing a return to nuclear energy and a final proposal allowing the premier to miss trial hearings.
The BBC says the UN has issued a bleak assessment of the state of the economy in Gaza as Isreal’s blockade of the region enters its fifth year. The UN report says unemployment in Gaza has reached 45 per cent – among the worst in the world – and real wages fell by more than a third. It praises the public sector run by Hamas for registering economic growth.
Deutsche Welle says German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has announced that Germany had become the 13th nation to recognise the Libyan rebels' National Transitional Council as the "sole legitimate representative" of the Libyan people. Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged African leaders to follow suit and abandon Gaddafi. And Pravda says President Dmitry Medvedev special envoy, Mikhail Margelov, would visit Tripoli next week to hold talks on the Libya conflict.
Al Arabiya reports that forces loyal to Gaddafi have killed at least 25 anti-government fighters on the frontline between Ajdabiya and Brega in eastern Libya. Dozens more were wounded. Battles continued across the west of the country, as rebels said they were advancing towards Tripoli. Rebel fighters said they were making gains towards Zlitan from the port city of Misurata, which is under their control. Battles were also being fought in the Berber mountains southwest of Tripoli, in nearby Yafran, and at Dafnia near Misurata, Libya's third city.
The Financial Times reports that Greece has been downgraded close to default, sending yields on its 10-year bonds near to fresh euro-era highs and stoking fears over the eurozone debt crisis. Standard & Poor’s cut Greece’s long-term sovereign credit rating by three notches to triple C, a sign the rating agency thinks it will be forced to downgrade Athens to default – or D – as private creditors are likely to be involved in the country’s next bail-out. Greece is now the lowest-rated sovereign in the world, below Ecuador, Jamaica, Pakistan and Grenada.
The Washington Times says the board of the International Monetary Fund has blocked the application of Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer to head the organisation. Fischer’s candidacy would have required IMF members to waive a requirement that applicants be younger than 65. The decision leaves the competition as a race between French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde and Mexican central bank governor Agustín Carstens. Lagarde has the solid backing of the European governments and has picked up endorsements from some big emerging market countries.
The People’s Daily reports that inflation in China hit its highest level in 34 months. Despite government efforts, consumer prices rose by 5.5 per cent in May, compared with the same month last year. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, food prices continued to be the biggest factor as they surged by 11.7 per cent.
According to The Sun, a British mother and daughter who left the corpse of a grandmother unburied for up to six months while one of them pocketed her pension were told they face jail when sentenced on July 1. The body of Olive Maddock, 95, was left rotting in the bedroom of her Merseyside home by daughter Olive Hazel Maddock and granddaughter Jasmine. Hazel admitted unlawful prevention of burial when she appeared at Liverpool Crown Court. She also pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining one payment of her dead mother's state pension of €200.63 and a single payment of pension credit of €39.07. Jasmine pleaded guilty to leaving the corpse of her grandmother unburied.