The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The local press is dominated by Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s resignation from the PN.
The Times says Malta has a government ‘by coalition’. It also says that the Naxxar trade fair group is planning to sue the government after having been abusively denied a trading licence.
The Malta Independent leads with the JPO resignation and also highlights the government’s reaction to a report by Human Rights Watch calling for a review of the Detention Policy.
In-Nazzjon notes that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando will continue to collaborate with the government.
l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying that the government has finished. It also reports that Dom Mintoff is responding well to treatment in hospital.
The overseas press:
Syrian opposition fighters have seized border crossings with Iraq and Turkey. Al Jazeera quotes an Iraqi Minister saying the Free Syrian Army had taken control of all of Syria’s crossings with Iraq. At one outpost rebels killed more than 20 Syrian soldiers. Al Arabiya reports the British-based Observatory for Human Rights saying rebel fighters seized control of the Bab al-Hawa crossing (in the northwestern province of Idlib) on the border with Turkey and went on to remove the photograph of President Bashar al-Assad that was displayed at the frontier post.
As Syrian soldiers unleashed an attack in Damascus that drove thousands of refugees to Lebanon, state-owned RTV showed President Bashar al-Assad swearing in a new defense minister, in an apparent show of force a day after a rebel bombing killed the defence minister and two security chiefs, including the president's brother-in-law. On the fifth day of fighting in the Syrian capital, artillery and mortar attacks struck several neighbourhoods for the first time, sending residents fleeing into other parts of the city and thousands across the border.
The developments appeared to suggest the 17-month Syrian conflict would more likely be resolved military than diplomatically. CNN reports Syrian allies Russia and China on Thursday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution that would have threatened sanctions against the Syrian leadership. The vetoes, which were anticipated, shot down a Western-backed proposal that would have extended a 300-man unarmed observer mission in Syria, now due to expire tonight.
Haaretz says the remains of the five Israelis killed in a bomb attack on a tourist bus in Bulgaria have arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport. The five coffins, with Israeli flags draped over them, were taken off a military plane as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the suicide attack at Burgas was carried out by Lebanon's Hezbollah in conjunction with Iran. And Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told the Trud that for years Iran and Hezbollah were leading a merciless terroristic campaign against Israel and the Jewish community around the globe. He said the latest atrocities were a part of this campaign. The Iranian Foreign Ministry called the accusation “baseless,” saying it was aimed at diverting world attention from Israel’s role in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.
El Pais says thousands of people across Spain have been protesting against the latest austerity measures proposed by the government to tackle the financial crisis. The two main labour unions said civil servants had staged more than 80 separate demonstrations.
Meanwhile, Reuters says eurozone finance ministers are expected to approve an agreement later this morning to lend up to €100 billion to Spain to recapitalize its banks, but the exact size of the loan will probably only be determined in September. Madrid expects €30 billion in a first tranche of urgently need funds.
The Voice of America says the US Defense Department has announced it was allowing service personnel to march in uniform in a gay pride parade for the first time in US history. In a memorandum sent military-wide, the department said it was making an exception to its policy that generally bars troops from marching in uniform in parades unless individuals get approval from their commanders.
USA Today reports the US appears headed for its worst year for whooping cough in more than five decades, with the number of cases rising at an epidemic rate that experts say may reflect a problem with the effectiveness of the vaccine. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly 18,000 cases have been reported so far – more than twice the number seen at this point last year. At this pace, the number for the entire year will be the highest since 1959, when 40,000 illnesses were reported.
The Daily Telegraph says that with only a week to go before the Olympics kick off in London, British immigration and passport control staff are to go on strike on the eve of the games in a dispute about pay and job cuts. The action, which is expected to cause particular disruption to people flying to London is a further blow to the government as it works to make sure that the Olympics run smoothly. Security operations have already been blown off course by the G4S guard fiasco.
A record 70 stork couples are nesting in Sicily just two decades since the return of the migrating bird after a 500-year absence. Ansa quotes LIPU-BirdLife Italia saying the provinces of Syracuse, Agrigento, Trapani and Palermo as popular nesting spots for the stork, which returned to the island for the first time 20 years ago. Before that, it had been 500 years since the long-legged birds were spotted in this part of the Mediterranean. LIPU-BirdLife Italia credited its artificial nests for first luring the stork to Sicily, in its migratory path from North Africa.