The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says the Ninth President, Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, has said she will have a ‘social agenda’. The newspaper also says one in three women says she has been harassed.
The Malta Independent also leads with the nomination of Ms Coleiro-Preca.
MaltaToday reports how Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca has been nominated President.
In-Nazzjon says Joseph Muscat persisted in his political manoeuvres in the nomination of the President.
l-orizzont says a Greek expert has said the gas storage facility at Marsaxlokk poses practically no risk.
The overseas press
Pravda quotes the Russian Defence Ministry saying it has test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. It said the aim of the launch was to test a promising intercontinental ballistic missile payload, adding that the nuclear-capable missile reached its target successfully. The US said it was given advance notice of the missile launch, as required by bilateral arms treaties.
The planned test came as tension continued over Ukraine’s Crimea region, after the US Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russia of deploying troops in Crimea in an “act of aggression”. Kyiv Post says during a visit to Kiev in which he laid flowers in memory of protesters killed last month, he accused Moscow of hiding behind intimidation and falsehood. He dismissed its explanation that it was protecting Russian speakers in the Crimean region as “an excuse”.
Voice of Russia reports President Putin has warned against any moves by the United States and its European allies to impose sanctions, saying the damage suffered would be mutual. Putin acknowledged that Russia had strengthened its forces in Crimea but described the intervention as “a humanitarian mission”. However, he has not ruled out military action to protect Russians and Russian speakers in Ukraine. He denied having deployed any troops in Crimea and says the soldiers are self-defence groups.
Xinhua announces China has set a growth target of 7.5 per cent and revealed plans to raise its defence budget by 12.2 per cent. Opening the country’s annual parliamentary session in Beijing, Prime Minister Li Keqiang said “deep-seated problems are surfacing” and “painful structural adjustments need to be made” in China’s development. He said the government would aim to keep inflation at about 3.5 per cent, while boosting domestic growth and carrying out “people-centred urbanisation”. Implementing reforms to tackle local government debt was also expected to be a priority.
VOA News says President Barack Obama has called for expanded tax credits for the poor and for a reduction in tax breaks for the rich in his annual budget proposal. The $3.9 trillion (€2.8 trillion) budget calls for a rise in the minimum wage and for new spending on infrastructure. It would reduce the budget deficit by $651 billion (€474 billion) over the next decade. It is not expected to become law, but is seen rather as a declaration of the Democratic Party’s priorities ahead of the November mid-term elections.
Globovision TV has screened pictures of thousands of protesters in Venezuela marching through the streets of Caracas shouting slogans against the government of Nicolas Maduro. They also demanded the release of dozens of activists detained since demonstrations began a month ago. Opposition demonstrators, wearing predominantly white, marched towards working-class districts loyal to the government and clashed with riot police in eastern Caracas opposition strongholds.
Il Mattino reports the Italian government has announced it would unblock €2 million in emergency funding as an immediate measure to save the ancient city of Pompeii, after flooding caused three walls to collapse. The Roman town, which was buried under volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79, has suffered slow degradation for many years. It is one of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures, visited by some 2.5 million tourists every year.
Metro says about a third of all women in the EU have experienced either physical or sexual violence since the age of 15 and one in 20 has been raped. According to a survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, that corresponds to 62 million women and it calls on EU countries to treat domestic violence as a public, not a private issue. The highest level of abuse was reported by women in Denmark with the Netherlands, France and Britain among those above the EU average.
Passive smoking causes lasting damage to children’s arteries, prematurely ageing their blood vessels by more than three years, say researchers. The damage – thickening of blood vessel walls – increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes in later life, they say in the European Heart Journal. In their study of more than 2,000 children aged three to 18, the harm occurred if both parents smoked. Experts say there is no “safe” level of exposure to second-hand smoke.