The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta leads with the tragic death of former Education Ministry official Paul A Attard in a fall at St John Cavalier.
Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and l-orizzont also report about the call for expressions of interest for the redevelopment of the White Rocks complex.
In-Nazzjon leads with a PN call on the government to remedy an injustice caused to Charmaine Attard who was removed from her post of director Nursing and Midwifery a year ago.
The overseas press
Ansa reports hope was growing on Monday that some room for stimulus spending might be created within European Union budget rules when leaders meet later this week, after German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled an opening. Leaders from across the EU will meet on Thursday and Friday, first in the Belgian city of Ypres and later in Brussels where they will not only nominate a new president for the European Commission but also consider the future of eurozone fiscal rules.
Global News says an Egyptian court has convicted three Al-Jazeera journalists and sentenced them to seven years in prison on terrorism-related charges after a trial dismissed by rights groups as “a politically-motivated sham”. The verdict brought a landslide of international condemnation and calls for the newly-elected president to intervene.
A court in Sudan has ordered the release of woman on death row for apostasy. The country’s official news agency, Suna reported that the court in Khartoum cancelled the death sentence against 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahim and ordered her release. Ms Ibrahim, whose father was Muslim but who was raised by her Christian mother, was convicted of apostasy for marrying a Christian. Sudan’s penal code criminalises the conversion of Muslims to other religions, and it is punishable by death.
CBS News says nearly 170 victims of child sex trafficking, many of whom had never been reported missing, were rescued last week as part of an annual nationwide crackdown. The FBI said that besides the 168 children rescued from the sex trade, 281 pimps were arrested on state and federal charges. This was the eighth such week long-operation, which this year unfolded in 106 cities. The FBI says nearly 3,600 children have so far been recovered from the streets.
Kyiv Post says pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine have agreed to respect a cease-fire declared by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, raising hopes for an end to months of fighting that have killed hundreds and ravaged the country’s industrial heartland. The announcement came as the Russian and US presidents traded demands over the conflict.
Voice of Nigeria says about 40 people, among them many young people, have been killed by Boko Haram in Chibok. Attacks on the city known for the kidnapping of 200 school girls, have involved three villages, where many homes, offices, shops and vehicles have been destroyed.
Sierra Express reports an epidemic of the deadly Ebola virus in West Africa is now “out of control” with more than 60 outbreak hotspots. The medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said the rapid spread of the disease, which is deadly in up to 90 percent of cases, has overwhelmed aid agencies and health workers and terrified local communities.
A California study has found that pregnant women who live near farms where pesticides are applied had a two-thirds higher risk of having children with autism. The findings in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives examine the association between living near commercial pesticide applications and having offspring with autism, but do not show cause-and-effect. Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder that ranges in severity and has been on the rise in recent years.
Corriere della Sera says a Danish man who posed as a healer to have sex with gullible patients got five years in jail on Monday for duping a disabled woman near Milan. The woman, who went to the self-proclaimed “guru” because of crippling genetic leg pains, told police he had sex with her on several occasions between December 2011 and summer 2012. He was eventually arrested last September. The man, Ulrik Andersen, denied the charges and claimed he was a legitimate healer.
The South Wales Evening Post reports a shopper got a bit of a shock when she bought a floral dress from a branch of Primark in Swansea, Wales. When Rebecca Gallagher checked inside the €12 dress, she found a hand-stitched label bearing the words: “Forced to work exhausting hours”. A spokesman from Primark said there had been “no other incidents of this kind”. Primark has come under scrutiny before for the treatment of its suppliers’ workers. In March, the high street chain began paying out more than $9 million in compensation to victims of the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh.
Plane to catch and no time to search for a parking space? Handelsblatt says travellers at Dusseldorf airport in Germany can now leave the job to a robot valet. An airport spokesman said the robot, nicknamed Ray, starts work today. All travellers need to do is leave their car in a designated area and confirm it is empty and ready to go. Then Ray or one of its cybernetic colleagues will take the car to one of 249 parking spaces reserved for robots. The service costs €29 a day.