The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta and l-orizzont report how Caritas drug rehabilitation services may become financially unsustainable.
The Malta Independent reports how tentative agreement has been reached on the EU Budget.
In-Nazzjon says a former prisoner has revealed that Labour had promised an amnesty before the general election.
The overseas press
L’Echo reports European Commission President José Manuel Barroso has announced member states and European Parliament leaders have reached agreement on the EU's 2014-2020 budget, which for the first time cuts real spending. Speaking in Brussels as EU leaders gathered for a summit, Barroso said the €960-billion deal would speed up spending on youth employment. EU leaders will consider mobilising €6 billion earlier than planned to help youth training schemes. On the eve of the summit draft plans were also agreed on agricultural reform and how to rescue troubled banks.
According to Diario Digital, members of Portugal’s two biggest unions, which together represent around one million workers, have staged a general strike against government austerity measures, causing disruption to public transport, flights and hospitals. It was the fourth general strike against austerity to be held by Portugal’s workers in two years. The unions are angered over a fresh package of austerity measures unveiled in May that include raising the weekly work hours of state employees from 35 to 40 and slashing 30,000 out of 700,000 jobs in the bureaucracy.
The British Government says it would introduce draft legislation later this year to allow IVF using genetic material from three people to create a baby. The Guardian says it would make Britain the first country to allow such procedure. The aim is to help couples who are at risk of passing on certain severe disabilities by allowing them to use healthy-donor DNA.
The Washington Times announces the United States Senate has passed a Bill to reform America’s immigration system. The Bill, which is backed by President Obama, provides for a 13-year pathway to citizenship for more than 11 million people living illegally in the US.
Boston Globe says US authorities have indicted the man accused of carrying out the bomb attack on the Boston Marathon on numerous criminal counts. Among the charges brought against the suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, are murder and the use of a weapon of mass destruction. If convicted, Tsarnaev faces life in prison or even the death penalty.
People in South Africa have held all-night prayer vigils for Nelson Mandela outside his former home in Soweto. Mail & Guardian quotes President Jacob Zuma saying Mandela’s condition has improved but is still critical.
L’Express reports French MPs have approved a bill forcing restaurants to label as “home-made” dishes which were prepared from raw ingredients in their kitchen. The “fait maison” label on menus is aimed at curbing the practice of buying in pre-cooked meals from outside, microwaving them and passing them off as freshly made. Restaurants marking dishes as “fait maison” fraudulently will be fined.
According to The Journal, Elizabeth Taylor’s fine silk wedding dress for her first wedding to Conrad ‘Nicky’ Hilton in 1950 sold for almost three times the estimate at a Christie’s auction in London yesterday. After a ferocious bidding war, an anonymous bidder bought the oyster silk satin gown for around €142,608. The wedding dress was part of the auction “120 years of Pop Culture”, which sold memorabilia dating from every decade of the past century of from film and music.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, says Brazil has missed a great opportunity to improve public services since it gained the right to host next year’s football world cup and the 2016 Olympics. Paes told the BBC that the Brazilian authorities should have seized the occasion to improve infrastructure and invest in healthcare, education and transport.
Meanwhile, O Estado reports that in Brazil’s north-eastern city of Fortaleza, police have clashed with demonstrators ahead of a Confederations Cup semi-final match between Spain and Italy, which the former won 7-6 in a penalty shoot-out after the score remained 0-0 even after extra time. Spain and Brazil now battle it out on Sunday in the final while Italy face Uruguay for third place.