The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that Finch trapping may return in the autumn. It also reports that Melita has been put up for sale.
The Malta Independent says Stefano Mallia has denied that Simon Busuttil's legal firm received €1m in direct orders.
In-Nazzjon says the Labour government is falling back on St Luke's Hospital.
l-orizzont reports how the prime minister said applicants to the citizenship scheme have international networks which the country should utilise.
The overseas press
Euronews reports two out of three Europeans think that their voice was not being heard, two reports presented by the European Commission on the eve of European Parliament elections in May showed. Moreover, seven out of 10 Europeans said that the Commission president should be directly elected by EU citizens. However, there is still no wide support for EC calls for a single voting day across Europe and for political parties to display their European political party affiliations on the ballots.
Prensa reports a report of the Caritas international shows a fourth of the population in the European Union is living in poverty and social exclusion. The focus is put on seven European countries outlined as the most strongly affected by the economic crisis – Cyprus, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Romania. According to the report, child poverty in the EU is increasing and now tops 22 percent. Romania tops the league followed by Spain, Bulgaria ans Greece.
The Guardian says same sex couples have tied the knot in Britain’s first-ever gay weddings. Ceremonies took place at the stroke of 12, when new laws permitting same sex marriage came into force.
ABC says a black box locator is about to be loaded onto an Australian navy ship and sent out with the search effort for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. The search area west of Perth shifted north on Friday after the likely path of MH370 was updated. Five aircraft also spotted debris in the ocean on Friday. But the Australian Maritime Safety Authority warns the objects cannot be verified as linked to the Malaysia Airlines flight until they are picked up by ships.
President Putin has called President Obama, at present on an official visit to Saudi Arabia, to discuss a US proposal for a diplomatic end to the Ukraine crisis while insisting to the United Nations that Moscow had “no intention” of further military action. The Washington Times quotes a White House statement saying Obama suggested that Russia put a concrete response in writing.
Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama on Friday sought Friday to allay Riyadh’s criticism of his policies on Syria and Iran, telling the Saudi king their two countries remained in lockstep on their strategic interests. Saudi Times says Obama also assured King Abdullah that the US “won’t accept a bad deal” with Iran, as global powers negotiate a treaty reining in Tehran’s controversial nuclear programme.
Ansa reveals Rome prosecutors on Friday requested that the former general manager of the Vatican Bank, Paolo Cipriani, be sent to trial for allegedly breaking Italy’s laws against money laundering. They also requested Cipriani’s former deputy, Massimo Tulli, be indicted. The case is related to a probe that in 2010 led to the freezing of 23 million euros over two cash transfers involving the bank that were deemed suspicious.
Avvenire reports the Vatican has offered its services to help facilitate talks between Venezuela’s government and its opponents aimed at ending weeks of deadly unrest that have paralysed much of the country. President Nicolas Maduro on Thursday said he was willing to sit down with the opposition under the watch of an outside observer.
Hurriyet says Turkish voters are getting ready to go to the polls in local elections that could change the political future of the country. Prime Minister Erdogan’s name won’t appear on any of the ballot papers, but the results will widely be seen as a verdict on his leadership. The Turkish government has been accused of censorship after it shut down Twitter and Youtube. The elections also come on the back of a corruption scandal that has seen four ministers in his Justice and Development Party removed from office. Erdogan has previously said that if his AK party is no longer the leading party, he would reconsider his position in politics.
AGI reports 10,000 animals were run over on Italian roads in 2013 – and only one in 15 received emergency medical aid. According to data released by animal and environmental protection group Aidaa, 5,300 dogs and 2,100 cats were struck down. There were also some 2,700 wild animals like hares, foxes, rabbits, squirrels and porcupines.
Meanwhile, in Britain, a teenager has told the Daily Mail of catching TB from her pet kitten, The Sun says a dog has passed on the disease to a child and The Daily Star warns mutant German rats are close to invading Britain!