The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta quotes a police spokesman saying the incident in which the prime minister was temporarily blinded was not sabotage.
The Malta Independent says Simon Busuttil expects an investigation into how an e-mail about Godfrey Farrugia's resignation disappeared.
MaltaToday quotes Joseph Cuschieri saying Labour wanted him on the losers’ side in the European Parliament elections.
In-Nazzjon reports how Owen Bonnici admitted his involvement in a traffic accident that was hidden by the police.
l-orizzont reports that a company in which PN candidate Stefano Mallia was a director got €2.5m in contracts in five years.
The overseas press
The International Monetary Fund has cut its growth forecast for the global economy, pointing to the threat from the Ukraine crisis and the slowdown in major emerging economies. The Wall Street Journal says IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook notes that while the world economy has picked up pace, anchored by the United States and China, there were looming risks, from the standoff between Russia and the West over Ukraine, to poorly handled policy in countries like Brazil, and deflation in the euro area. The report nevertheless cut back the global growth forecast to 3.6 per cent this year and 3.9 per cent in 2015. The global economy grew 3.0 per cent in 2013.
Politico says US Secretary of State John Kerry has blamed Russia for the unrest in eastern Ukraine, saying there was “clear and equally-disturbing evidence” that Russian agents were orchestrating “chaos” there. He added that Moscow could be planning a military intervention and warned that Washington was prepared to hit key sectors of the Russian economy with new tough sanctions.
Kerry also intimated the United States could impose economic sanctions if Iran and Russia move forward with a reported oil-for-goods contract. The Washington Post reports he made the statement before a Senate panel discussing an emerging threat to talks designed to finalise a nuclear deal with Iran. The Russian business daily Kommersant had reported Russia planned to buy 500,000 barrels of Iranian oil a day, breaking an export limit defined by an interim nuclear agreement world powers and Iran reached last year.
The Spanish Parliament has rejected by a large majority a proposal by Catalonia’s regional assembly to hold a referendum on independence next November. El Pais says that after seven hours of debate, 299 MPs voted against the motion, 47 votes in favour and one abstention. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had earlier warned a referendum would be “an economic disaster” for both Spain and Catalonia.
The BBC reports a former IRA commander has joined in a toast to Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. The Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland, Martin McGuinness was among the guests at a banquet held in honour of Irish President Michael D. Higgins who is on the first state visit to Britain by an Irish head of state. Outside Windsor Castle, relatives of those who died in IRA bombings protested at McGuinness’ attendance.
According to Australia’s ABC TV, search and recovery crews scouring the Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane are confident its locator beacon’s battery is still running. The international search effort is trying to relocate the noises detected on the weekend that could be from the black box recorder of flight MH370. Searchers were yesterday on the verge of sending an unmanned submarine to probe the deep ocean for the remains of the plane, which disappeared one month ago with 239 people on board. However, the plans have been put on hold until another signal is received, or it is certain the batteries in the black box recorder have expired.
Oscar Pistorius has said he was “overwhelmed with fear” of a burglar when he shot through the bathroom door, killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Mail & Guardian reports that in the second day of testimony in his murder trial in Pretoria, the 27-year-old athlete recalled: “I heard a noise from inside the toilet that I perceived to be somebody coming out of the toilet. Before I knew it, I had fired four shots at the door.”
Metro says a post mortem on Peaches Geldof will be carried out today. The body of the 25-year-old has been transferred to Darent Valley Hospital, Dartford, where the examination will take place. Peaches was found dead at her home in Wrotham, Kent, on Monday. Her death is being treated as non-suspicious, but an unexplained sudden death.
A court in Argentina has sentenced 10 people to up to 22 years in jail for the kidnapping and sexual exploitation of a young woman in a case that shone a light on sex trafficking in South America. Clarin says the defendants were all cleared of abducting Marita Veron in 2012 but a new trial was ordered after her mother appealed.
Ansa reports Lombardy’s regional council on Tuesday approved a referendum on a partial repeal of the law which outlawed brothels in 1958. The idea behind the repeal is to take prostitutes off the streets and bring them to work in a safer environment behind closed doors.
Manila Times says the Supreme Court in the Philippines has approved a birth control law that requires government health centres to distribute free condoms and contraceptive pills. The Catholic Church had battled against the law for more than a decade. With a population of 100 million people, the Philippines has one of the highest birth rates in Asia.
According to La Repubblica, a woman found a newborn baby on her balcony near Palermo on Tuesday after a neighbour gave birth in secret and left it there. The boy was in serious condition after spending several hours out in the cold, but doctors think he would recover. The 40-year-old mother, who hid the pregnancy from her sister and elderly father, was admitted to hospital in a “confused” state.
O Globo reports Pele has unveiled an unusual line of diamonds using strands of his own hair. The diamonds are made using a high-pressure, high-temperature process during which strands of hair are charred. The limited edition includes 1,283 diamonds – one for each of the football legend’s goals. The gems cost about €5,500 a piece and come in a gold-plated box featuring Pele on the pitch scoring a goal.