The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says the owner of the kiosk at the scenic San Blas Bay in Gozo is expected to be charged with carrying out illegal cleansing works.
The Malta Independent reports that tourist spending per capita last year was €931.
In-Nazzjon says Tony Zarb has failed to substantiate his claim that Simon Busuttil told workers to leave the GWU and join the UHM.
l-orizzont leads with comments by Finance Minister Edward Scicluna on the aims of the Budget.
The overseas press
Fox News reports the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee has approved a resolution authorising the use of military force in Syria by a vote of 10 to 7, clearing the way for a full Senate vote, which is expected next week. The measure permits the use of limited military force in Syria for a period of 90 days. However it prevents the use of US troops on the ground.
Speaking in Stockholm on his way to the G20 Summit in Russia, President Obama has said the credibility of the international community and the US Congress was on the line mover chemical weapons. CNN quotes him saying the entire world had drawn the red line by banning them and that inaction would erode international norms.
France 24 quotes Christian Jacob, the parliamentary leader of France’s conservative opposition UMP, saying his party could not support President François Hollande’s plans for military intervention in Syria without the full backing of the United Nations. He was speaking during the debate in the National Assembly whether to take military action against Syria. Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said no response to the chemical attack risked sending the wrong message to Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programmes. He also said that any response must be limited, proportional and collective.
In an interview with Russian state Channel 1 TV ahead of the G-20 summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin, for the first time, has said he would not rule out support for an intervention if there was unequivocal evidence that Damascus had used chemical weapons. He pointed out that only the Security Council can sanction the use of force against a sovereign state. “Any other pretext or method which might be used to justify the use of force against an independent sovereign state is inadmissible and can only be interpreted as an aggression,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal says the International Monetary Fund has warned the Group of 20 that emerging economies were slowing more than expected and under pressure from US plans to slow its stimulus. In a report prepared for the two-day summit of the G20 major economies that opens today in St Petersburg, the IMF said that recent indicators pointed to stronger growth in several advanced countries, but key emerging economies have slowed. Brazil, China and India were mainly responsible for the loss of some 2.5 percentage points in emerging economy growth since 2010 levels.
Israel has proposed leaving intact dozens of Jewish settlements and military bases in the West Bank as part of a package to establish a Palestinian state in provisional borders, a Palestinian official told The Associated Press on Wednesday, in the first detailed glimpse at recently re-launched peace talks. The official said the proposal was unacceptable to the Palestinians, underscoring the tough road ahead as the sides try to reach an agreement ending decades of conflict.
Le Parisien reports German President Joachim Gauck has became the first leader of his country to visit Oradour-sur-Glane, the site of one of the worst Nazi atrocities in France in World War II. More than 640 people were killed by the SS. The town was never rebuilt; its ruins stand as a memorial.
Ohio Post says kidnapper Ariel Castro, known as the Cleveland monster, was found dead in his cell. Castro, 53, had been arrested last May after the escape of three women he had kidnapped and kept prisoner for almost 10 years in his Cleveland home. The former bus driver was sentenced to life imprisonment last month for kidnapping, aggravated rape and assault. Castro, who had been sentenced to 1,000 years in jail, was said to have hanged himself.
USA Today reports convicted US secrets leaker Chelsea Manning is seeking a presidential pardon. The former man Bradley Manning, who now says she wants to live as a woman, is serving a 35-year sentence for disclosing the classified military and diplomatic information while working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq in 2010.
Corriere della Sera announces that a psychiatrist has died after being stabbed 40 times by one of her patients during an appointment at a public health facility. Police said the attacker, a man in his 40s with a history of drug and alcohol abuse and a criminal record for drug dealing, was subdued by a colleague of the 53-year-old doctor after the attack. Prosecutors said investigators were examining the attacker’s medical records to find out why he was undergoing treatment.
Avvenire says that the Vatican has recalled its ambassador to the Dominican Republic and launched an investigation after local media reports accused him of paedophilia. Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski had been the Apostolic Nuncio in Santo Domingo for nearly six years. Pope Francis has said he wanted the Catholic Church to act decisively to root out child abuse by priests.
Jack Nicholson has reportedly retired from acting after a career spanning five decades. A Hollywood insider told RadarOnline.com Jack had retired- without fanfare because he of memory loss: “he can no longer remember the lines being asked of him. His memory isn't what it used to be.” Jack's illustrious career has included three Oscar wins, two for Best Actor in “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” and “As Good as It Gets” and a Best Supporting Actor statuette for his turn in the 1983 film “Terms of Endearment”.
A woman's place is in government, Italian Premier Enrico Letta told Russian Channel 1 TV during an interview Wednesday. Letta, in St. Petersburg for the G20 summit, said he wished there were more women in Italy's government because they perform very well. “The women of the government are doing a great job and I would say are far better than men,” said Letta.