The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says Greece has been given an ultimatum until tomorrow to present a detailed cash-for-reform plan prior to a full EU summit on Sunday. In another story, it says Parliament will today start debating one of the three Bills presented last Friday on the Mepa demerger in spite of a request by the Opposition to postpone the debate until proper public consultation has taken place.
The Malta Independent says that yesterday’s consultation at committee stage on the Mepa demerger bills turned into criticism by environmental NGOs of the short amount of time they were given to formulate their opinions.
MaltaToday says Justice Minister Owen Bonnici has embarked on a far-reaching legal reform that will strike off criminal sanctions on blasphemy, bringing Maltese law in line with 21st century European laws.
L-Orizzont says that the assets of Anthony Debono, former Minister Giovanna Debono’s husband, are to remain frozen following a decision by the court yesterday.
In-Nazzjon quotes Opposition leader Simon Busuttil saying that the government was changing environmental legislation only to weaken environment protection enabling it to do what it wanted with the land to pay for its obligations.
International news
Fearing for the future of the euro, frustrated and angry EU leaders gave Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras a last-minute reprieve to finally come up with a viable proposal on how to save his country from financial collapse. Le Soir reports that overcoming their surprise when he failed to present them with a detailed reform plan, the leaders reluctantly agreed to a final summit next Sunday.
Politico quotes European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker saying Brussels is prepared for all eventualities – including a scenario in which debt-laden Greece leaves the eurozone or the EU itself. He said the commission also has plans in case Greece needs humanitarian aid.
The US Army plans to cut 40,000 troops over the next two years, affecting all its domestic and foreign posts. USA Today reports the cuts, which also include 17,000 civilians, would reduce the active-duty Army from its current size of about 490,000 soldiers to about 450,000.
Pope Francis has called on the million faithful attending Mass for increased protection of the Amazon rain forest and the indigenous people who live there. Teleamazonas says he declared that Ecuador must resist exploiting natural riches for “short-term benefits” in what observers saw as an implicit rebuke of the policies of President Rafael Correa.
RomeReports says in the two Masses which the Pope has celebrated in Ecuador he has used a wooden staff, which he is quite fond of. It is a replica of a staff that was carved by convicts in San Remo and which Pope Francis used during his trip to the Holy Land last year. It was damaged there, and he was later given an exact replica made of olive wood in Bethlehem. During his trip to Sarajevo last June his staff broke and it had to be fixed with tape.
Officials are to ban migrants who have diseases over fears that whole towns could be wiped out by exotic illness outbreaks. The Daily Express reports researchers from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control found that in some countries as many as 79 per cent of tuberculosis cases were foreigners. The move was branded “ridiculous” by the Sant’Egidio charity and the Islamic cultural centre in Genoa claimed the restrictions were “a racist measure”.
LBC says London is bracing for travel chaos with a planned Underground strike expected to be the worst in years, after talks to avert the 24 hour walkout broke down. Almost 20,000 workers are due to leave their posts this evening, in a dispute over pay. Some of Britain’s busiest train routes will be simultaneously hit by a 48 hour strike over jobs.
The woman whose lawsuit led a federal judge on Monday to unseal a 2005 deposition in which Bill Cosby testified that he gave a woman drugs before sex may ask the judge to unseal all of Cosby’s testimony, sources told NBC News. Dolores Troiani, the attorney for the main plaintiff in the suit, which was dismissed in 2006, is making contact with 13 other women in the case to make sure they’re OK with the request to release the full deposition. Cosby’s lawyers had fought to keep the documents secret, saying they would be “terribly embarrassing”.
Al Ayyam reports 45 Islamic State militants died after eating a Ramadan fast-breaking meal in the city of Mosul in Iraq. It was unclear whether the IS fighters were deliberately poisoned or died of food poisoning from the iftar feast.
Meanwhile, Rudaw Radio says IS has executed a female journalist in Mosul for spying after holding her captive. Fourteen journalists have been executed in Mosul since the city came under IS control.
Living and economic conditions in the Gaza Strip are still dire a year after operation “Protective Edge” and the conflict that left more than 2,000 dead and more than 11,000 wounded, says an Oxfam report quoted by AGI. Unemployment among the under 24’s has risen to 67.9 per cent and 40 per cent of graduates are out of work. More than 300,000 young people need psychological help to deal with the trauma and suffering caused by the conflicts. The economy cannot recover and 80 per cent of the population is dependent on international aid to survive.
Texas Globe says a federal judge has awarded a Texas woman nearly $230,000, saying Time Warner Cable Inc. harassed her with 153 telemarket calls even after she complained about them. Judge Alvin Hellerstein tripled the $1,500 penalty for each call because Time Warner’s actions were “particularly egregious”.
Sputnik says a new campaign by Russian police is urging people to take safer selfies after about 100 people were injured and dozens died in gruesome accidents while striking high-risk poses. The safer selfie campaign includes leaflets, a video and online advice on the ministry’s website. The campaign uses warning signs in the style of road signs to drive its message home.
A whistleblower – a former employee at a lodge in Bulawayo – has told My Zimbabwe that couples having sex in holiday lodges and hotels were secretly being recorded with the footage ending up online. The practice has been known to be more common in the capital Harare, but that it’s recently happening more in Bulawayo lodges and cheap hotels.