The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says the Maltese are among those most satisfied in the EU with the second-hand car market.
The Malta Independent reports how Mepa stopped illegal works at San Blas, Gozo.
In-Nazzon says Simon Busuttil called for a common front to address the immigration problem.
l-orizzont mourns the death of journalist Anton Cassar, who it describes as its father.
The overseas press
AFP reports that early this morning, the Israeli army demolished the West Bank homes of two main suspects in the kidnap and killing of three Israeli teenagers. The agency quoted witnesses saying the houses of two Hamas members in the city of Hebron, were blown up, in what a human rights group said was the first punitive demolition since Israel halted the practice in 2005.
Haaretz says the action followed the find of the bodies of the three missing teenagers just over two weeks after they were abducted in the West Bank.
Kyiv Post quotes Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko saying the ceasefire against Russian separatists in the east of the country was over and his forces would go on the offensive. Poroshenko said the chance for peace was lost because of what he called “the criminal activities of pro-Russian militants”.
According to CNN, President Obama is sending another contingent of 200 troops to Iraq to protect the US embassy in Baghdad. The move follows an initial deployment of some 300 soldiers earlier this month. The announcement was made as fighting continued in the Iraqi city of Tikrit which government forces have been trying to retake from Sunni militants.
Ansa reports that a case of suspected infectious disease “falling under the WHO international health regulations” was identified during the rescue operation of a stranded boat, conducted by the Italian Navy patrol boat “Orione”. The migrant was part of a group of 396 expected to be delivered to Messina and was later diverted to a better equipped Catania hospital. The patient has been quarantined on board, according to routine diagnostic procedures.
Meanwhile, in an unprecedented appeal to end the loss of life in the strait of Sicily, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, said Italy’s mushrooming illegal immigration tragedy “shames the world and civilisation”. Avvenire says he was speaking after the bodies of at least 30 more immigrants were found aboard a rusting hulk heading for Sicily.
Xinhua reports a top China general and former Politburo member has been accused of accepting bribes and expelled from the Communist Party. General Xu Caihou, who is believed to have been held under house arrest for months, faces a court martial in what could be China’s biggest military scandal in years.
Wall Street Journal says the US Justice Department has confirmed that the French banking giant BNP Paribas has agreed to pay a record fine of nearly $9 billion for violating US sanctions. They pleaded guilty tio processing transactions for Cuba, Iran and Sudan.
The Washington Post says the US Supreme Court has ruled that companies have the right to refuse to provide free contraception to women on the grounds of religion. Under President Obama’s health care legislation, workers are entitled to contraception at no additional charge under their employers’ insurance. A White House spokesman said the court’s decision puts women’s health at risk.
British nationals give prominence to the guilty verdict delivered by the jury against Australian-born UK singer, painter, TV presenter and entertainer Rolf Harris, 84, on 12 counts of indecently assaulting four girls in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. The Daily Telegraph says he would be sentenced on Friday and “could spent the rest of his life in jail”. Harris was said to be a “Jekyll and Hyde” character who used his “status and position” to abuse his victims, one as young as seven.
Brindisi Libera reports a middle-school PE teacher was jailed for six years and eight months after having been convicted of sexually abusing four students between November 2010 and February 2011. The victims, three girls and a boy, came forward and said they had been fondled, sparking an internal probe which resulted in the criminal case at the town of San Vito dei Normanni.
A Portuguese court wants to put three England football fans on trial for hooliganism 10 years after they were deported. The three are named in court papers revealed to Sky News ahead of a hearing in the resort of Albufeira later today. The prosecution case involves an accusation that fans attacked police and one police officer needed stitches to a foot injury. They were part of some three dozen England fans arrested on the Algarve coast during several nights of violent clashes during the Euro 2004 championships.