The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta reports that the government is seeking advice from the Attorney General on reversing the Gaffarena expropriation deal.
MaltaToday carries comments by Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon and says it was Mark Gaffarena who set the ball rolling on the expropriation deal.
The Malta Independent on Sunday quotes the prime minister saying he would reverse the Gaffarena deal if it was found to be dishonest. It also says support for Simon Busuttil is growing among ‘switchers’ but the prime minister is getting stronger among the Labour faithful.
It-Torca claims that a network of ‘spies’ for former Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has been revealed. Some of the people are in sensitive positions in the public sector.
Il-Mument says government workers carried out work on a country road in Zabbar to facilitate access to a farm frequented by Transport Minister Joe Mizzi. It also says a prisoner in Corradino was assaulted by an Arab prisoner, allegedly on instructions from warders.
Illum reports how delays risked rendering some equipment on order for the cancer hospital practically obsolete before it was commissioned. However the order was stopped and some equipment was then replaced with a new order.
KullHadd says the PN is trying to scare off investment. The newspaper’s attack is on David Thake following a phone call he made to ‘a potential investor’ who has applied for a Maltese passport.
The overseas press.
The New York Times reports the Pentagon is “poised” to station heavy weapons for up to 5,000 US troops in several Eastern European countries. Citing US and allied officials, the newspaper said that if accepted, the proposal would mark the first time since the Cold War that Washington has stationed heavy military equipment in the NATO member states in Eastern Europe that were once part of the Soviet sphere of influence.
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says the IMF has “torpedoed” a recent attempt by European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker to offer Athens a compromise proposal in tortuous debt talks. The compromise that Juncker wanted to present to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras would have allowed Athens to postpone some €400 million in pension cuts in return for making similar savings on military spending. But the IMF was opposed to any such “bartering”.
Bloomberg reveals Juncker is trying to broker a deal over the weekend as Tsipras sent a delegation to Brussels yesterday with a new set of proposals to close differences on pensions, taxes and a primary surplus target. Meanwhile, Kathimerini says the Greek PM has warned fellow citizens to prepare for a “difficult compromise” with its EU-IMF creditors. In a bid to end of five-month standoff, Tsipras said he was willing to accept unpalatable compromises to secure a deal, provided he gets debt relief in return.
The Sunday Times reports London’s biggest companies warn they would have to quit the capital if the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, as EU trading restrictions would harm their business in case the majority of British people votes in favour of leaving the European Union. The fund managers explained that Brexit would limit their ability to sell investment products, as the European Union requires that a company have headquarters in a member state in order for such trading to take place with the economic bloc. A number said they had already set up committees to prepare for relocation to Luxembourg.
According to Euronews, Italian officials have been forced to take emergency measures to accommodate a flood of migrants who were staging a sit-in at a border crossing with France. French police have blocked the border with Italy since Thursday, Meanwhile, the Austrian Interior Ministry increased its border surveillance measures after Germany began border controls during the recent G7 summit. More than 200 migrants, who had been rescued at sea, had been sleeping in train stations after France tightened their border controls, preventing many of the immigrants from continuing their journeys to northern Europe.
El Mundo says left wing former judge Manuela Carmena is the new mayor of Madrid, ending 24 years of centre right rule. Pablo Iglesias, the leader of the anti-austerity anti-corruption Podemos Party was present to the witness the event. The victory for the left wing citizens’ alliance in the Spanish capital is the fallout from the dismal results obtained by the ruling right-wing Partido Popular in the local and regional elections last month.
Fox News announces a man planted pipe bombs outside Dallas police headquarters and sprayed the building with bullets during a wild street battle early on Saturday that authorities said miraculously left no one dead or injured except the suspect, who was later shot and killed in his van by a police sniper. Dallas Police Chief David Brown said the suspect identified himself to authorities as James Boulware, and he blamed police for having lost custody of his son and for “accusing him of being a terrorist”.
The new Suez Canal would be inaugurated on August 6. Al Ahram says that with 210 million tons of sand excavated, 80 per cent of the project had been completed. It was built in record time – a year instead of three – and is expected to doubled the capacity of commercial traffic and the annual revenue from $5.3 billion to €13.2 billion by 2023.
USA Today reports US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has launched her bid to become the first woman in the White House, unveiling a progressive platform calling for tax breaks for the struggling middle class and universal preschool. A confident and relaxed 67-year-old Clinton outlined a vision of equal opportunity, civil rights for all and an America leading the world in the first major rally of her campaign. On foreign policy, she said Russia, North Korea and Iran were traditional security threats to the United States and vowed she would do “whatever it takes” to keep America safe.
At least 57 people were arrested in 15 towns across Morocco in a cash-for-answers scandal that saw other test responses sent to students via SMS. An investigation found numerous web pages and social media sites used for leaking test answers”. According to news site Medias 24, two pages of an exam paper were posted on Facebook the night before the test, forcing the education ministry to order a re-sit of the exam. Opposition groups have called for the minister’s resignation.
A 103-year-old man and a 91-year-old woman have held their wedding in Britain, becoming the oldest couple in the world to get married. The BBC says George Kirby and Doreen Luckie – who had been together for 27 years looked delighted as they tied the knot. With a combined age of 194 years, the pair beat the previous record held by a French couple, François Fernandez and Madeleine Françineau, who had a combined age of 191 years.