The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta reports about a China link to Malta’s match fixing gamblers. It also says a Chinese telecoms giant it to test 5G in Malta.
The Malta Independent on Sunday reports that the FBI is investigating a company involved in John Dalli’s trip to the Bahamas. It also says that charitable donations can earn residency points for the IPP.
MaltaToday says Greece is ‘on the edge’ with nine hours of talks yesterday being deadlocked.
It-Torca says a Mimcol CEO who resigned recently had been earning three times what the prime minister was entitled for.
Il-Mument claims abuses are being committed on the elderly in St Vincent de Paule.
Kullhadd says the PN voted against the environment when it objected to the SPED law in parliament on Wednesday.
Illum asks where parents’ donations to church schools go.
The overseas press
Bloomberg reports European finance ministers deadlocked over how to keep Greece in the euro, forced emergency talks to continue this morning and threatening to delay the infusion Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras desperately needs. The hardline group, led by Germany, signalled that the country’s debt was too great, Tsipras’s reform proposals were inadequate and, in any event, the Greeks couldn’t be trusted to keep their word. Finance ministry aides worked through the night, allowing finance chiefs to reconvene at 11 a.m. in Brussels before a leaders’ summit.
Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the head of the Eurogroup, told reporters after nine hours of talks that ended at midnight that “the issue of credibility and trust was discussed. Their concerns were reflected by the media back home. Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported a finance ministry proposal to suspend Greece from the euro area for five years. The idea was dismissed as illegal and nonsense by a European Union official who asked not to be named because the talks are private. Finnish media reported the Helsinki government flatly opposed the bailout.
Serbia’s interior minister has condemned the violent scenes that saw an angry crowd hurling rocks at the Serbian prime minister attending the commemoration of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, calling the incident “an assassination attempt”. “This is a scandalous attack and I can say it can be seen as an assassination attempt,” Nebojsa Stefanovic said on Serbian Pink TV. Vucic was forced to leave the ceremony after a crowd began chasing him with stones and bottles. He was hit in the face with a stone and his glasses were broken.
Dnevni Avaz reports Bosnia’s presidency strongly condemned the stone-throwing incident, saying Vucic had come to the town in the “spirit of reconciliation and intending to pay respect to the victims”. It apologised to “all foreign delegations” over the incident.
Xinhua says Typhoon Chan-hom has crossed China’s heavily populated eastern coast, forcing the evacuation of almost a million people, shutting transport links and devastating swathes of farmland.The powerful storm could be the strongest typhoon to strike Zhejiang province, just south of Shanghai, since 1949, China’s National Meteorological Centre (NMC) said.
Boko Haram has claimed responsibility for attacks in Chad’s capital N’Djamena and the Nigerian city of Maiduguri, the SITE Intelligence Group said, as quoted by AFP. The US-based monitoring group said the claim of responsibility, made on Twitter, was signed “Islamic State, West Africa Province”, as Boko Haram has styled itself since pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in March.
Meanwhile, AP reports Afghanistan recent US airstrikes it assisted destroyed the top leadership of a fledging Islamic State affiliate there. While US officials declined to confirm it, Afghan authorities said an American airstrike last Friday killed Islamic State affiliate leader Hafeez Sayeed and more than 30 other militants.
The death has been announced of Roger Rees, the lanky Tony Award-winning Welsh-born actor and director who made his mark onstage as Nicholas Nickleby and later played English multi-millionaire Robin Colcord on the TV show “Cheers”. The New York Times says Rees, who was 71, died at his home in New York after a brief battle with cancer.
Adnkronos says after executing ministers and generals, his ex-girlfriend (accused of having filmed a porn movie), and the architect who redesigned the new terminal at Pyongyang airport, Kim Jong-un was now beginning to be paranoid and feared for his life. The North Korean dictator ordered his chefs to inspect meticulously under a microscope every single leaf of lettuce before it ends on his plate. All vegetables that Kim Jong-un eats come from his very own garden called “06/17”, which is accessible to only a very few people connected to his family, and who have demonstrated loyalty to the Communist Party.
The Times reports Serena Williams completed her second “Serena slam” of all four tennis major titles with a victory over Garbine Muguruza in the Wimbledon final. Her 6-4, 6-4 defeat of the Spaniard on Centre Court gave the 33-year-old her fourth straight grand slam title. Williams also achieved the feat at the 2003 Australian Open, beating her sister Venus in four major finals in a row. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer meet in Sunday’s Wimbledon men’s final.