The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says talks are being held in China on Air Malta. It also reports that Valletta hawkers are angry that the government had dropped plans to place stalls near the new parliament.
The Malta Independent also leads with the anger by the hawkers.
In-Nazzjon reports how the Housing Authority has not spoken to a man who risks living in the street because he cannot afford rent. It also records that today is the 25th anniversary since Malta applied to join the EU.
l-orizzont says a fund will be launched soon for maternity and paternity leave. ut we are forced to adopt it.”
Kathimerini quotes Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos telling lawmakers that accepting the agreement with creditors “was a decision which will be a burden for me for the rest of my life. I don’t know if we did the right thing. But I know we did something to which there was no alternative.” Ahead of the vote, at least 30 Syriza MPs had announced that they would oppose the deal.
Ta Nea says thousands took to the streets in Athens to protest ahead of the vote. Riot police fired tear gas to disperse crowds gathered in Syntagma Square, across the road from the Greek parliament. Some 50 people were arrested. Shops pulled down their shutters and civil servants walked off their jobs in protest in a 24-hour strike.
Le Monde reports the new agreement, which increases taxes and cuts pensions, was backed by both houses of the French parliament. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said the austerity demanded of Greece was “normal” and the credit package was the only route of the deadlock.
El Mundo quotes Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy saying his government “completely” supported a third bailout for Greece, as long as the government fulfilled the austerity requirements.
Bloomberg says the vote now puts the onus on the ECB and euro-region governments to put in place more emergency funds that will help Greek banks gradually re-open and repair the country’s economy.
The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama launched an aggressive and detailed defence of the landmark Iranian nuclear agreement, rejecting the idea that it leaves Tehran on the brink of a bomb and arguing the only alternative to the diplomatic deal was war.
Asharq Al Awsat says Saudi Arabia has borrowed $4 billion from local banks in the past year by selling its first bonds in eight years to cover a budget deficit created by low oil prices. Fahad al-Mubarak, the governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, said the government will use a combination of bonds and reserves to maintain spending and cover a deficit that will be larger than expected, about $130 billion this year.
According to Los Angeles Times, a US House committee would investigate whether a leading family planning advocacy group was selling organs from aborted foetuses. The announcement followed the release, by an anti-abortion group, of a video that purportedly showed a Planned Parenthood executive discussing the removal of body parts. The footage was filmed in secret at a Los Angeles restaurant by actors posing as buyers from a human biologics company.
Ansa reports that as water bottles, bags of ice, and glaciers of gelato flew from Italian store shelves yesterday, much of the country sweated in the grips of a heat wave that threatened to intensify, leading civil authorities to warn of rising health risks. Perceived temperatures, which take account of humidity and wind, were rising to more than 400C in many northern regions and experts warned that the African wave of hot weather would continue through the weekend and could rise to as high as 470C by perceived measures.
The unprecedented degradation of Earth’s natural resources coupled with climate change could reverse major gains in human health over the last 150 years, according to a sweeping scientific review by 15 leading academics and published in the peer-reviewed medical journal The Lancet. Climate change, ocean acidification, depleted water sources, polluted land, over-fishing, biodiversity loss – all unintended by-products of humanity’s drive to develop and prosper – “pose serious challenges to the global health gains of the past several decades”, especially in poorer nations, the 60-page report concludes.
Real Madrid have retained their number one spot in Forbes’ list of the world’s 50 most valuable sports teams. According to the American business magazine, the Spanish football giants, who came second in La Liga last season, are worth $3.26 billion – five per cent down on last year owing to a fall in the value of the euro against the dollar, But their revenue of $746 million kept them ahead of the competition. Real Madrid’s great rivals Barcelona ($3.16 billion) and Manchester United ($3.10 billion. Seven of the top 10 places were taken by US franchises.