The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta and In-Nazzjon lead with a meeting between the Gozo hospital workers and the director of a private company which will take over the management.
The Malta Independent says the Prime Minister cannot reverse the Gaffarena deal without removing Michael Falzon.
l-orizzont says 70% of trade union members are satisfied with their membership.
The overseas press
CNN reports British and US officials have information suggesting the Russian jetliner that crashed in the Egyptian desert was “most likely caused by a bomb hidden in a bag by ISIS or an affiliated group”. Britain said it was suspending flights to and from the Sinai Peninsula indefinitely – a move, which according to the BBC, “infuriated” Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, who called the UK response “premature and unwarranted”. Hours earlier Islamic State issued a video boasting of shooting down the plane and warning of more attacks.
Pakistan Times says that at least 18 people were killed and 51 injured when the roof of a factory collapsed near Lahore. Over 70 injured people have been recovered from rubble so far but some100 more were still trapped under the rubble. The army said it was deploying specialist search teams and engineers to help the rescue effort.
Berliner Morgenpost quotes German Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt telling parliament that the number of petrol vehicles affected by the Volkswagen emissions scam totalled 98,000. The cars include VW Polo, Golf and Passat, but also Audi A1 and A3, Skoda Octavia, Seat Leon and Ibiza. The Volkswagen Group reported a fall of 10 per cent of the stock value. Preferential shares, worth more than €250 18 months ago, fell below €100 as Moody’s cut its rating to A3 from A2 with a negative outlook.
Meanwhile, Kanal Z announces the European Commission is ready to sanction automakers that fail to meet EU targets of CO2 emissions. These limits are determined individually for each automaker and become more severe each year.
The Jerusalem Post reports the Israeli parliament has approved a Bill toughening penalties against Palestinian rock throwers. The law comes as Israel is struggling to contain a wave of Palestinian attacks, mainly stabbings, and violent clashes at demonstrations in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The Bill was introduced before the current violence began.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has, for the third year running, been declared by Forbes Magazine as “the most powerful person in the world”, beating German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and US President Barack Obama. Merkel rose from fifth ast year to second and Obama descended a step from two to three. Pope Francis is fourth, followed by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The youngest is 31-year-old co-founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, who finished in 19th place.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg says Facebook has revealed it now has over 1.55 billion users – and over a billion of them access the site every day. Its profit in the past quarter jumped 11 per cent to $891 million (€820 million) as advertising revenues soared. The world’s biggest social network also said the number of monthly active users hit 1.55 billion, up 14 per cent from a year earlier.
Pilgrims to Rome for the upcoming Holy Jubilee of Mercy will generate an additional 64 tonnes of rubbish per day in the city. Ansa quotes a report by Censis research institute saying some 23,000 tonnes of rubbish would be generated by pilgrims during the holy year – a manageable load as the waste would be concentrated in a small area of Rome. The statistics came as Interior Minister Angelino Alfano met with police and security service chiefs to discuss law and order for the Jubilee.
If you stand between 157.5 and 190.5 centimetres, have a military, science or technical background and dream of going to Mars, you might have the right stuff to be a NASA astronaut. Florida Today says NASA has announced it would begin recruiting a new astronaut class for selection by the summer of 2017. The group of eight to 14 people would have a shot not only at living on the International Space Station, but flying near the moon or even Mars, if NASA’s long-range exploration goals stay on track.
Corriere Fiorentino reports a young Eastern European couple with three small children squatted a dead woman’s home shortly after her funeral. The family had previously been neighbours but left the apartment they shared with other people following a row.
La Stampa says 22 pupils at a lower secondary school near Turin were suspended for periods ranging from a few hours to a day after being caught filming their teachers with their mobile phones and posting the video on Whatsapp. The parents of the suspended pupils defended their behaviour and claimed the decision to confiscate the mobile phones was arbitrary and viewing their contents a violation of privacy laws.