The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta leads with the situation in Egypt and comments about it by the Egyptian ambassador to Malta. It also reports how a jilted lover rammed a rival’s car in Corradino.
The Malta Independent reports how the eurozone has emerged from its longest recession.
l-orizzont reports that a policeman was robbed in Gzira. It also says two men were found unconscious in Sta Lucija yesterday.
In-Nazzjon says that the former chairman of Union Print has been made CEO of the Housing Authority.
The overseas press
Egyptian police and army troops have enforced an overnight curfew in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities and provinces after the bloodiest day since the pro-democracy uprising two years ago. Al Ahram reports that shortly after dawn on Wednesday, Egyptian police cracked down on the six-week-long sit-ins by supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo, sparking deadly clashes that have left least 281 people killed and over 1,400 injured. By mid-afternoon, the Egyptian presidency declared a month-long state of emergency in 14 governorates accompanied by a nightly curfew. The Muslim Brotherhood says more than 2,000 people had died. The clashes between security forces and protesters were widely denounced by world leaders.
NSBC says Bradley Manning, the US soldier convicted of handing hundreds of thousands of secret documents to the WikiLeaks organisation, has spoken for the first time during his trial. He told a sentencing hearing he was sorry he had hurt people and the United States. Manning is facing up to 90 years in prison for espionage.
Nigeria Daily News quotes the military saying it has killed Momodu Bama, the second-in-command of Islamist extremist group Boko Haram, while repelling an insurgent attack earlier this month. Seventeen other militants, including Bama's father, were also killed, while 24 other fighters were arrested. Boko Haram wants to impose Sharia or Islamic law across northern Nigeria.
The second round of talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams ended late Wednesday night, after five hours of discussion. Haaretz quotes a senior Israeli official saying the meeting was long and serious, and that the two sides scheduled a time for another meeting which will likely take place next week, in Jericho or Ramallah. The meeting was attended by Israeli and Palestinian sides only, without the presence of American envoys.
Fox News reports North and South Korea have agreed to resume operations at their joint Kaesong industrial park after a series of talks. North Korea withdrew its 53,000 workers from the park in April in anger at US-South Korean military exercises.
Global Post says two Japanese cabinet ministers have visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine, in Tokyo on the anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. The shrine honours the Japanese war dead, included 14 convicted war criminals. Previous visits by politicians have angered China and South Korea.
Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro has said that he decided to step down and transfer power to his younger brother, Raul, because he was diagnosed with a fatal illness in 2006. In an article published in the official newspaper Granma to mark his 87th birthday, Fidel Castro said he didn't expect to survive the stomach ailment and live for so long. The long article was only published on Wednesday, a day after his birthday.
The well-regarded Italian blog Il Sismografo reports that Pope Francis has donated €100,000 to the Argentine Catholic Church's “Mas por Menos” national fund. The site reports on the activities of the Holy See and the news was confirmed by sources close to the Argentine episcopacy.
Three converts to Christianity have been arrested in northwest Iran. The Christian Mohabbatnews website reported that Iranian intelligence agents arrested the three men at their homes, beat one of them and seized personal belongings and papers. The minority Christian faith has been growing in popularity in Iran and over 350 converts have been arrested over the past three years, accused of proselytising.
According to the Sun and Times newspapers, the stuntman who parachuted into the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony dressed as James Bond has died while wing-diving in Switzerland. Mark Sutton, 41, died on Wednesday after crashing into a ridge near Martigny, close to the French border, during a three-day wing-diving event. The former army officer played the role of Daniel Craig's Bond in the most memorable sequence of the ceremony, accompanying another stuntman dressed as Queen Elizabeth II.
A Detroit police commander mistakenly released the bra cup sizes of some female officers while sending out information regarding bulletproof vests. Detroit Free Press quotes Assistant Chief James White saying this was “a clerical error where the commander sent out a list of members whose vests had been received”. The list contained the names of male and female officers. One of the pages, he said, contained female officers' height, weight and cup sizes. White said the incident was isolated, but also one that was “unfortunate and embarrassing” and steps were being taken to ensure that it did not happen again.
Fingerprints are not the only thing that killers can leave behind – add cat hair to that list. The Daily Mail quotes a British university saying its DNA database of British felines helped convict a man of manslaughter, illustrating how the genetic material of pets can be used by crime scene investigators.