The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says offers by the government took Franco Debono close to abstaining.
The Malta Independent says Princess Diana’s great great uncle’s neglected tomb is to be restored. He was buried in Malta in 1830 after his death aged 39.
In-Nazzjon reports that more than 1,000 have benefited from free health services in the private sector after a collaboration with the government.
l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying yesterday that despite the confidence vote on Monday, the crisis will continue.
Press digest
The The Irish Examiner reports that turnout at polling stations in the Irish Fiscal Treaty referendum was low throughout the country. Estimates suggest only half of the 3.13 million people eligible to vote in the referendum did so. The fiscal treaty, agreed by leaders of 25 of the 27 European Union member states in January, introduces tough fiscal rules across the union. Under the terms of the treaty, budgets must be balanced or in surplus. Annual structural deficit must not exceed 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product. Government debt cannot exceed 60 per cent of GDP.
The House of Commons Environment Committee has warned that the proposed European regulations to make agriculture "greener" would reduce food production, increase bureaucracy and could even harm the environment. According to The Irish Independent, the parliamentary report made public this morning said European Commission plans – due for implementation in 2014 – were too inflexible and would impose a "one-size-fits-all" regime on farmers from Finland to Sicily. Under the proposals, farmers would be required to meet new EU-wide standards for crop diversity and retention of permanent pastureland as well as setting aside seven per cent of their land as uncultivated ecological focus areas.
Al Jazeera reports Moscow and Washington have traded fierce diplomatic blows over Syria with US charges that Russia was pushing its ally into civil war and the Kremlin accusing the White House of being emotional. Thursday's brisk exchanges came as President Vladimir Putin prepared to face a grilling later today from the leaders of Germany and France during his first tour abroad since his May 7 inauguration. Russia has made it clear from the start that Putin would not be swayed by Western and Arab world anger over his refusal to back action against a Middle East government that Moscow has held patronage over since Soviet times.
According to euronews, more than 80 people have been arrested during an unauthorised protest in Russia’s capital Moscow. The group was campaigning against plans to introduce new legislation that would curb street demonstrations. The new law, likely to be approved next week, would see protesters face fines of up to €10,000. Opposition activists say the government is attempting to restrain a protest movement against President Vladimir Putin which has gathered strength in recent months. Rallies are held on the 31st of every 31 day month – as article 31 of Russia’s constitution enshrines the right to public gatherings.
El Pais says at least two people were arrested and 10 were injured during clashes with police as Spanish coal miners rallied in Madrid to protest against spending cuts in the mining sector. The government is slashing subsidies to the industry from €300 million to €110 million. Some 8,000 people are employed in the 40 remaining mines across Spain. The country’s mining industry has been in decline over the past two decades, with at least 40,000 jobs lost.
Glas Javnosti reports Serbia’s new president, Tomislav Nikolic, has taken office re-iterating his support for the country to join the EU. He told the Belgrade parliament he wanted a “house with two doors, to the East and to the West” – referring to a desire to maintain relations with former protector Russia while strengthening ties with Brussels. Nikolic has already met Russian President Vladimir Putin despite promises that his first trip as leader would be to Brussels. Nikolic was a coalition partner of Slobodan Milosevic during the late 1990s Kosovo War.
Los Angeles Times says former United States presidential candidate John Edwards has been found not guilty of one charge of illegally using campaign donations. The judge has declared a mistrial on five other allegations. The two-time presidential candidate, now 58, was accused of masterminding a plan to use money from wealthy donors to hide his pregnant mistress during his 2008 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. The disgraced politician saw his career collapse after he fathered a child with videographer Rielle Hunter in 2007 and then lied about their affair to his cancer-stricken wife, Elizabeth, and to the public. Elizabeth died in 2010.
Al Ahram reports that the state of emergency, imposed in Egypt in 1981, has ended. The ruling military council said the army would continue to take responsibility to protect the national security of the nation and citizens. The emergency law, imposed after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat by Islamists in 1981, allowed restrictions on public freedoms and holding trials before special courts.
Al Ayyam says Israel has handed over the bodies of dozens of Palestinian militants to Palestinian authorities in a move aimed at helping to restart peace efforts. A total of 91 bodies were handed over near the West Bank city of Jericho, with 79 of them immediately taken to Ramallah and the other 12 sent to Gaza. They included suicide bombers and militants who were killed in operations as far back as 1975. The militants had been buried, some for decades, in an Israeli military cemetery for "enemy combatants" in the occupied West Bank.
A Canadian porn actor wanted in a case where body parts from a dismembered corpse were mailed to political party offices might have fled North America. CBS quotes Montreal police saying they believed Luka Rocco Magnotta fled based on evidence they found at his apartment, and on a blog he once wrote about how to disappear. The 29-year-old Magnotta has been added to Interpol's wanted list. They have an idea where he might have fled but declined to say where.