The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says the situation off the Libyan coast reached crisis proportions over the past few days, with Italy rescuing more than 5,600 migrants since Friday and working to save another 2,500 late yesterday. In another story, it says 10 healthcare professions are following directives issued by the Union Ħaddiema Magħqudin that are disrupting patient appointments and hitting treatment.
The Malta Independent says Fr Mark Montebello would not comment on a meeting he has scheduled with the Archbishop today following the publication of a story that he blessed the rings in an engagement between two gay men.
L-Orizzont says Malta’s strong economy is expected to be strengthened even more according to the annual report published by the Central Bank of Malta.
In-Nazzjon says it more serious abuses of works in the private sector by government employees have taken place over the past months.
International news
El Pais reports Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has called for an increased cooperation between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East to deal with the rising threats of illegal immigration and terrorism. He was opening an informal one-day meeting of foreign ministers from the 28 EU-member states and eight Mediterranean countries in Barcelona. Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said he was keen to see a neighbourhood policy increasingly focused on the South Mediterranean countries to tackle challenges posed by terrorism, energy security and illegal immigration.
Le Matin says Tunisia’s coastguard and navy have rescued almost 180 African migrants from two boats which broke down as they headed from Libya to Italy. They were mostly from Somalia, Ghana, Gambia, Sudan and Niger. The news came as Italian coastguards recovered nine bodies from the sea after a boat carrying more than 150 migrants sank off the Libyan coast. UNHCR, says that at least 3,500 people died in 2014 out of more than 218,000 migrants who crossed the Mediterranean, making it the most deadly migrant route in the world.
European Commissioner for Justice Vera Journova has told Le Figaro that “between 5,000 and 6000” Europeans had left for Syria to join the jihad. She said British research had identified “a desire for adventure, boredom, dissatisfaction with their situation in life or a lack of prospects” in those who had decided to leave Europe and head for Syria.
US Secretary of State John Kerry has raised objections with Moscow over a plan to sell anti-aircraft missiles to Iran. Fox News reports Kerry made the US opposition clear in a phone call to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The call came as Lavrov argued that a preliminary agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme made a 2010 ban on sending missiles to Iran no longer necessary. Tehran and six world powers aim to reach a final deal by June 30.
The New York Times says a former Blackwater security contractor received a life sentence on Monday and three others received 30-year sentences for killing unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square in 2007. The shooting left 17 people dead and was a gruesome nadir in the war in Iraq. It transformed Blackwater Worldwide from America’s wealthiest and most politically powerful security contractor into a symbol of unchecked and privatised military power.
CNN reports US Republican Senator Marco Rubio has announced he is running for president in 2016. His announcement comes a day after Hillary Clinton launched her bid for the Democratic nomination.
In Britain, the Conservatives have surged ahead in a new election poll that puts the party on 39 per cent, six points ahead of Labour on 33 per cent. The ICM poll, published by The Guardian, has the Liberal Democrats unchanged on eight per cent, UKIP down two points on seven per cent and the Greens up three points, also on seven per cent. However, another poll by Populus showed the Conservatives and Labour neck-and-neck.
Deutsche Welle announces the death of German novelist Günter Grass, the Nobel Prize-winning author of “The Tin Drum”, an epic treatment of the Nazi era. He was 87. For many, he was the voice of a German generation that came of age in World War II and bore the burden of their parents’ guilt for Nazi atrocities.
Le Parisien reports Arlette Ricci, a 73-year-old heiress of the fashion and perfume house Nina Ricci, has been convicted of tax fraud and sentenced to a year in prison for hiding millions of euros in the Swiss accounts of the HSBC bank before getting caught in a massive leak of names. The court also ordered a one million euro fine and the confiscation of two properties worth four million euros. She was also fined and ordered to pay back taxes.
In the UK a gang who made up to €83,300 a week selling fake Viagra around the world has been jailed. Metro says the Old Bailey heard how the group risked people’s health by selling pills which contained acid, brick dust and road paint. It is thought that the scam which had bases in north-east Lincolnshire and Sussex, pulled in at least €14 million over eight years.
Der Spiegel says a nine-year-old “mentally and physically traumatised” Yazidi girl is receiving medical treatment in Germany after she was gang raped by 10 jihadists belonging ISIS in Iraq. The girl, who was rescued by a Kurdish NGO, is pregnant.
It is many a pet owners’ dream to be together with a four-legged friend for eternity. And now, according to Ansa, Milan’s municipal board has agreed to allow pets to “rest” alongside owners in cemetery burial areas. Urns containing pet ashes can be affixed to tombstones and lapidaries, or permanently placed in the ground. However, they cannot be placed inside coffins.