The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports that Brussels has said that Malta must cut its spending to rein in the deficit as an excessive deficit procedure is set to be announced. The newspaper also gives prominence to the opening of the Small Nations Games. It also reports how the Valletta Mayor sees the transfer of the Open Market in Valletta is a threat to the City.
The Malta Independent says Chris Said has entered the race to become PN general secretary.
In-Nazzjon says there has been an earthquake of transfers at St Vincent de Paul Home, with 90 nurses' transfers in a day.
l-orizzont reports that Eleonor Ciantar, wife of the former permanent secretary at the Resources Ministry, raked up a bill of €56,000 in spending which was not previously authorised.
The overseas press
European foreign ministers have lifted an arms embargo on Syria, paving the way for individual EU member states to provide weapons to the Syrian rebels. Al Jazeera reports the foreign ministers met in Brussels to bridge their differences over the issue, with Britain and France pushing to allow European governments to deliver arms.
Le Monde has described in horrific detail several chemical weapons attacks its correspondents witnessed against Syrian rebels waging war against President Bashar al-Assad as the top diplomats from the US and Russia prepared to meet in Paris to discuss a way to end the bloody civil conflict.
The Wall Street Journal reports US Senator John McCain, a leading critic of President Obama's cautious response to the Syrian civil war, made a surprise trip to Syria where he met rebel leaders. McCain held two meetings in the Turkish border town of Gaziantep, crossing the Syrian border for a third meeting.
Italy’s long-running political stalemate appears to have been replicated in the contest for the mayor of Rome. Ansa says the centre-left candidate, Ignazio Marino of the Democratic Party, is projected to have won around 40 percent. But his centre-right rival, the incumbent Gianni Alemanno is expected to garner around 31 percent making a run-off next month very likely.
Al Ayyam reports a coordinated wave of car bombings tore through mostly Shiite areas of Baghdad, killing at least 66 people and injuring nearly 200.
Bangkok Times says Thailand’s three election commissioners, seen as close allies of embattled Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have been sentenced to four years in prison for allowing unqualified candidates to run in parliamentary elections in April. The country’s top courts later nullified the poll results, saying the elections were unconstitutional. The court also revoked the commissioners’ right to vote and conduct any political activities for 10 years.
A man who strangled a baby boy after realising the infant was in the back seat of a car he had just stolen has been sentenced to death in a north-eastern Chinese court, concluding a case which had triggered public anger. The official Xinhua news agency said Zhou Xijun stole an SUV parked outside a supermarket, its engine still running, in in March. He drove it onto a motorway before finding the two-month-old baby sleeping in the back seat. The court found that Zhou strangled the child and buried him in the snow. He turned himself in after the case triggered public fury and a manhunt was launched.
The Sydney Morning Herald announces that the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has once again chosen Australia as the world's happiest nation based on criteria such as income, jobs, housing and health. Despite some signs of a slowing economy, Australia kept the top spot for the third straight running, leading Sweden and Canada. The Paris-based group's “Better Life Index” showed that more than 73 per cent of people aged 15 to 64 in Australia have a paid job, above the OECD average of 66 per cent, while life expectancy at birth in Australia is almost 82 years, two years higher than the OECD average.
The BBC reports that UK charity Save the Children has said a quarter of the world's children were at risk of under-performing at school because of chronic malnutrition. The study found that missing out on a nutritious diet could severely damage a child's ability to read and write, they grew up smaller and weaker, and their brains might not develop fully. The charity said tackling malnutrition should be a priority for G8 leaders, who will be meeting in Northern Ireland next month.
Campaigners in the UK are warning high street retailers to remove magazines that display naked and near-naked images on their covers or face the risk of legal action. The “Lose the Lads’ Mags” campaign, by pressure groups UK Feminista and Object, says displaying publications in stores or requiring staff to handle such magazines could amount to sex discrimination or sexual harassment. In a letter to The Guardian, 11 equal rights lawyers say there have been previous cases of staff suing employers in respect to exposure to pornographic material at work, and called on retailers to stop selling “lads’ mag” publications.