The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
There has been a mixed reaction to the surprise win by the Conservative Party in Britain’s general election. .
Under the headline “Triumph for Cameron; Concern for Europe”, Le Monde said the rest of Europe rubbed its eyes in astonishment and braced itself for two years of gruelling negotiations over Britain’s future in the European Union
Der Spiegel described the Tory victory as “bad news for Europe” but predicted that Cameron would be a weak second-term prime minister held to ransom on Europe by his own Europhobic backbenchers. The conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung took the opposite tack: “The European partners can be sure that Cameron will come into these negotiations with renewed self-confidence. He will demand concessions But how far will the German Chancellor go to meet him?”
In Greece, the media made much of the Scottish National Party winning 56 of the 59 seats on offer. Ta Nea, the most-read centre-left daily, lead with the headline “Scottish ‘tsunami’ in British elections.” The conservative daily Kathimerini said Britain, like Greece, would play a crucial role in determining “the future of the greatest experiment in democracy that the world has known”.
Ansa reports the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean remained a major concern for Italian Premier Matteo Renzi and his newly re-elected British counterpart – even as David Cameron promised his electorate a referendum on “the country’s future in Europe”. Renzi and Cameron agreed to “work closely on Europe and migration in the Mediterranean”.
The world needs a strong Europe ready to lead both globally and within the European Union, Premier Matteo Renzi said yesterday as he called on the organization to be more daring. La Nazione says that in a keynote address at the State of the Union conference in Florence, he called on participants to work to recover the true spirit of Europe. In his speech, Renzi also called for stronger financial management in members States such as Italy but also urged the EU to help, by allowing more tools and flexibility.
The Italian Navy has released the first underwater images of the wreck of a boat that sank killing up to 900 migrants off the coast of Libya. They located the ship on Thursday, after the Mediterranean’s most deadly migrant tragedy in living memory. La Sicilia says only 24 bodies have been recovered since the April 18 disaster and the discovery of the wreck 375 metres underwater some 135 km north of Libya would notably increase the chances of finding more remains.
Dawn reports the Taliban have claimed responsibility for the killing of two foreign ambassadors, the wives of two others and three crew members when a helicopter crashed and hit a school in the Naltar area of Gilgit-Balistan. The school had been closed for the day for security reasons. The dignitaries were on their way to an inauguration ceremony for a ski chairlift built in the mountainous region in the north of Pakistan. The Pakistani military refuted the claim.
RIA Novosti says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Russian President Vladimir Putin are expected to discuss Ukraine, Syria, and Yemen at their meeting in Moscow at the sidelines of Russia’s victory parade in Red Square to commemorate the 70th anniversary of
the defeat of the Nazis in World War II. It was announced earlier Mr Putin will also hold meetings with the Presidents of Egypt, Vietnam, India, South Africa, and the Czech Republic,
A female Roman taxi driver has reported being beaten, robbed and sexually assaulted by one of her fares, a 30-year-old man with a Roman accent. Il Tempo reports the Rome flying squad is investigating the incident which took place in the outlying Ponte Galeria district of the Italian capital. The perpetrator attacked the victim on a suburban road, then fled on foot through the fields.
El Mundo reports a man from the Ivory Coast, who allegedly attempted to smuggle his eight-year-old son into Europe inside a suitcase, has been detained by a Spanish court. Border guards stopped a 19-year-old Moroccan “nervous” and “indecisive” woman as she waited in line at a crossing in Ceuta, North Africa. When the guards put her suitcase through a scanner they spotted the boy curled up inside.The boy was disoriented and terrified. Officers detained the woman and the boy’s father half an hour later after he arrived at the crossing with a permit to live in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.
According to Entertainment Weekly, a new series of “The Muppet Show” has been commissioned by US TV network ABC, promising a “more adult” take on much-loved characters such as Kermit. The prime-time show will be filmed in a “contemporary, documentary-style” and will explore their personal lives, relationships and even disappointments. The Muppets, created by puppeteer Jim Henson, first appeared on television in the 1950s, getting their own show in the 1970s.