The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says a scandal-hit firm had its fuel procurement contract extended, according to the auditor.
The Malta Independent leads with the ministerial declaration of assets and the tributes made yesterday to Lawrence Gonzi.
In-Nazzjon also focuses on the Gonzi tributes. It also says that minister Chris Cardona’s actions led to two resignations at the Privatisation office.
l-orizzont quotes Simon Busuttil saying the former government had made mistakes in oil procurement and had paid a political price.
The overseas press
The Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says joblessness will remain high in European and other developed nations next year, stalling economic recovery and job prospects among the youth. La Tribune reports that overall, the OECD predicts unemployment will fall only slightly in 2014 among its 34 members, leaving about 48 million people out of work. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria described the jobless situation as a crisis – particularly for young people in countries like Italy, Spain and Greece, where half or more are out of work.
Kathimerini says that the Greek Parliament has narrowly approved a sweeping Bill of reforms allowing public sector jobs to be cut. In a 153-140 vote, MPs backed the bill tied to the country's fresh €6.8 billion of bailout loans, needed to keep Greece afloat. During the debate thousands of protesters rallied outside the parliament in the capital Athens.
VOA News quotes President Barack Obama's nominee for US ambassador to the UN saying the Security Council's response “to the slaughter in Syria” was a “disgrace that history will judge harshly”. During her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Samantha Power called Syria one of the worst cases of mass brutality she has ever seen. Power is seen to have bipartisan support and is expected to easily win Senate approval to the U.N. post.
USA Today reports that Warren Hill, the mentally retarded man sentenced to death in Georgia for a murder in 1991, is to be executed on Friday. Hill's lawyers say he is mentally disabled and thus not eligible for execution under a Supreme Court decision that bans the death penalty for those with IQ's under 70. His execution was delayed until after a hearing scheduled for Thursday on the drugs to be used. The state turned to a pharmacy to compound a drug specifically for the execution because pharmaceutical companies have become unwilling to supply lethal injection drugs. Hill's lawyers say he has a right to know the name of the pharmacy.
Scientists have estimated that the heatwave in the UK has claimed the lives of up to 760 people, as temperatures are set to top 30OC for the sixth consecutive day. Research conducted for The Times estimated the death toll for the first nine days of the heatwave as between 540 and 760 people in England alone. As forecasters predicted little respite until at least the end of next week, this number is likely to double.
EU Observer reports the European Commission has ordered Italy to start collecting fines that may be worth more than €1.4 billion on milk producers and have been accumulating for more than a decade. The EC, which has been pressuring Italy to meet its trade commitments, has claimed that Italian dairy farmers have exceeded European production quotas. Sums due must be directed to state coffers to prevent Italian taxpayers from shouldering the consequences, the EC has said, equating the fines with an illegal government subsidy
According to El Tiempo, Italian poker star Alessandro Bastianoni was found dead inside a luxury apartment in Miraflores, Peru, on Wednesday with reported gambling debts of $600,000. His death appeared to be a suicide by poisoning some 10 days ago. Bastianoni's body was discovered by his partner Yeinni Ospina, who lives in Colombia.
Deutsche Welle says Formula One Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone has been charged with bribing a German banker to smooth the sale of a stake in the motor racing business to private equity firm CVC eight years ago. The case centers upon a $44 million payment to German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky in 2005 when BayernLB was selling a 48 percent stake in Formula One to CVC, a private equity investor that Ecclestone was keen to see as a new shareholder. Gribkowsky, BayernLB's former chief risk officer, was jailed last year for more than eight years for tax evasion and bribery after taking the payment from Ecclestone and failing to declare it to German tax authorities. Ecclestone, 82, has denied wrongdoing and will fight to clear his name.
Fox News quotes FIFA president Sepp Blatter saying he would push for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to be moved to the winter after he expressed fears for the players’ health because of the heat. The Qatari authorities have suggested building air-conditioned arenas. Qatar plans to spend some €76 billion on infrastructure projects, including building new high-tech stadiums.