The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports how a man who ‘terrorised’ Gozo has been jailed for seven years for stabbing another man. The story is also taken up by In-Nazzjon.
Times of Malta also reports how missing German women and children were found in Marsalforn.
The Malta Independent quotes Evarist Bartolo saying he still believed his phone was tapped during the divorce campaign.
l-orizzont says historic remains have been found under the Citadel fortifications in Gozo, including ancient arches.
The overseas press
Reuters reports Libyan government officials have condemned a US operation to arrest a man suspected of masterminding the deadly raid on the US consulate in Benghazi in 2012, describing the detention as an attack on their country’s sovereignty. Justice Minister Saleh al-Marghani said the suspect Ahmed Abu Khatalla should be returned to Libya and tried there, in the first official reaction from Tripoli.
Meanwhile, the United States has informed the UN Security Council that Abu Khattala was captured because US investigators determined that he planned further attacks against Americans. In a letter to the council obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, US Ambassador Samantha Power said his capture was necessary “to prevent such armed attacks” and was carried out “in accordance with the United States’ inherent right of self-defence”. Power said he would be prosecuted in a US federal court.
CNN quotes US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell saying President Obama believed he did not need Congressional approval for any military decisions he might take in response to the crisis in Iraq. McConnell made his remarks after the president met four Congressional leaders to speak about his plans to counter insurgents in Iraq. The meeting – the first with congressional leaders since Sunni Muslim rebels began seizing Iraqi cities on a march toward Baghdad – came as the Iraqi government formally requested US air support to fight Sunni jihadists, who seized several cities in the north of the country.
Meanwhile, US officials have confirmed to Fox News the US was flying F-18 surveillance missions over Iraq from an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf. It says F-18’s are not traditional surveillance aircraft; they are attack aircraft.
The internet trade in images that show child sex abuse is now “an epidemic”, according to the head of the global initiative to combat the problem. Police officers from around the world serve on the Virtual Global Taskforce. Its chairman, Ian Quinn, tells the BBC there has been an “explosion” in cases handled by US authorities. The US alone has 61 Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) units, each made up of state, local police and federal agents.
USA Today says an 89-year-old man is being held in custody in Pennsylvania over the murders of hundreds of thousands of Jewish men, women and children during the Second World War. Johann Breyer is accused of serving as a Nazi SS guard at Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps. While admitting he was an SS guard, he says he was stationed outside and had nothing to do with the deaths.
Vanguard reports more than 100 people are feared to have drowned in a remote part of the Nigerian northeastern state of Taraba. The victims had boarded a boat to try to escape an attack on their village.
El Universal says the authorities in Mexico have found 28 bodies in a mass grave in the eastern state of Vera Cruz. Prosecutors have not disclosed any information as to the cause of their death. The region has seen fierce fighting between rival drug gangs, which has left more than 85,000 people dead since 2007. Marines are guarding the area as investigators try to recover more bodies, and start the process of identifying those already unearthed.
El Pais reports Spain has a new king, following the abdication of Juan Carlos who helped steer his country towards democracy after the death of the dictator, General Franco. Juan Carlos’ son succeeds him as King Filippe VI.
Billboard announces the death of American jazz pianist and composer Horace Silver. He was 85. He was one of the pioneers of a rhythmic jazz style known as hard bop.