The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta and l-orizzont report how a court decided that the mother of a baby who drowned in a bath had suffered enough. The mother was distracted by a Facebook chat.
Times of Malta also reports how the seller in the Gaffarena property deal will be hit hard by taxes.
The Malta Independent quotes the Commodore on board RN flagship HMS Bullwark saying he was surprised by the sheer number of migrants in need of saving in the Mediterranean.
In-Nazzjon features comments by a farmer who said the land he leased from the government for 11 years was taken away so that it could be given to Mark Gaffarena.
The overseas press
Fox News reports House Democrats have dealt President Obama a humiliating defeat on his free-trade initiative, derailing a key priority for the president and rebuffing his rare, personal pleas for their support. The key roll call came on a measure to grant financial aid to displaced workers, with 144 Democrats linking arms with 158 Republicans in a rout that left the overall package of trade bills stalled.
US officials have said hackers “linked to China” have gained access to the sensitive background information submitted by intelligence and military personnel for security clearances. AP quotes the officials describing a cyber breach of federal records as “dramatically worse than first acknowledged”.
The Financial Times reports Standard & Poor’s has switched to negative the outlook on Britain’s top AAA credit rating due to the government’s decision to hold a referendum on EU membership by 2017. The credit rating agency said it believed the British government’s decision indicated that economic policymaking could be at risk of being more exposed to party politics than previously anticipated.
The Church is willing to establish a fixed date for Easter so it can be celebrated on the same day by all Christians, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox. Avvenire says Pope Francis made the announcement during a meditation on the occasion of the world meeting of priests. He also announced he plans to visit Africa in November, first in the Central African Republic and then in Uganda. His Holiness said he also intends to visit Kenya, but that the trip is subject to overcoming organisational difficulties.
A Russian fighter and an American reconnaissance aircraft have had a near miss, reaching a distance of just three meters. American sources quoted by CNN said the incident happened on May 30 in international airspace at the Black Sea. The Russian news website Lenta.ru reports that, always at the end of May, two Russian SU-24 fighter of the Black Sea Fleet flew over the American destroyer USS Ross Black Sea considered too close to Russia’s territorial waters.
Latvijas Radio reveals the Latvian Presidency of the EU Council has called upon member-states to present new proposals on redeployment of irregular immigrants. EU member states are working to devise a “plan B” after deep divisions emerged over the European Commission’s proposal for 40,000 asylum seekers in Italy and Greece to be relocated to other parts of the union. Opposition from a minority bloc could stall the approval of the EC’s Agenda on Migration at the upcoming council of interior ministers next Tuesday.
The United Nations refugee agency on Friday warned of the dangers facing growing numbers of asylum-seekers, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Eritrea and Somalia arriving in the Balkans. Baltic Times reports UNHCR said in a statement Men, women and children, often walking for days, are exposed to violence and abuse, or accidents along train tracks.
La Vanguardia says the anti-eviction activist turned politician Ada Colau is assured of being sworn in as mayor of the Spanish city of Barcelona later today thanks to the support of independents and Socialists. She will be the Catalonian city’s first female mayor. Her list of candidates won 11 of the 41 seats in local elections on May 24 that saw the Indignados hammer Spain’s ruling Conservatives. Her nearest rival, the incumbent conservative Xavier Trias, won 10 seats.
As many as 90,000 boy and girl scouts are due to arrive in Rome from all over Italy today for an audience with Pope Francis in St Peter’s Square. Matteo Spano, the head of the movement’s Italian branch, told Adnkronos this was a “pilgrimage of joy” that underlines the importance of giving and of serving other people”. The papal audience with Italy’s scouts is held once every 10 years.
As many as 25 relatives of an Indian bride and groom were electrified and killed when a high-tension cable fell onto a bus carrying them to a wedding in the state of Rajasthan, Ndtv reports. Some 50 relatives of the couple were on board the bus and many who survived were gravely seriously in the accident.
Asia Times says four western tourists who posed naked on Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia, which is considered sacred, have been given jail terms and fined after they were blamed for a magnitude 5.9 earthquake. Briton Eleanor Hawkins, Canadians Lindsey and Danielle Peterson, and Dutchman Dylan Snel admitted causing a public disturbance. They were jailed for three days but their sentences were back-dated to reflect time already served.
The Washington Post says the average American woman weighs 166.2 pounds – almost exactly as much as the average American man weighed in the early 1960s. Over the same time period men gained nearly 30 pounds, from 166.3 in the 60s to 195.5 today.
Euronews announces Interpol, has suspended a joint programme on fighting corruption with FIFA. The international police agency is freezing the €20 million donated by football’s world governing body in 2011 to fund the 10-year programme. The move adds to what one insider in both organisations called FIFA’s “escalating isolation”. Last month 14 current and former FIFA officials and sports marketing executives were charged over allegations of corruption and bribery after a years-long US led investigation.