Saturday Morning Briefing

Good morning,

Your morning briefing with the latest news developments, a review of Malta’s newspapers’ front pages and the headline digest of the past hours to make sure you start your day informed.

The Latest

• In a statement released on Friday evening Donald Tusk blamed in part Ms May’s conduct for the rejection of her proposals, warning that EU leaders had responded to a “tough and in fact uncompromising” stance by the prime minister by hardening their own position in the run-up to a key summit in Salzburg.

• Russia and Turkey agreed on borders of the demilitarised zone around Syria’s Idlib, part of a deal aimed to prevent a military assault on the last rebel enclave, Russia’s top diplomat said.

• A Mexican journalist was murdered in the southern state of Chiapas on Friday, authorities and his employer said, the latest attack against the press in one of the world’s most dangerous countries for media workers.

• Pope Francis kicks off a Baltic tour in Catholic Lithuania on Saturday where he will honour victims of the region’s Nazi and Soviet occupations.

• China has cancelled upcoming trade talks with the United States and will not send vice-premier Liu He to Washington next week, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.

• The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman on Friday rejected key concessions sought by Brett Kavanaugh’s accuser if she is testify about her claim Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when they were teenagers, and threatened a Monday vote by his panel on Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination without a quick agreement.

• A judge on Brazil’s top electoral court on Friday ordered Twitter to hand over data of 16 users who celebrated via tweets the near-fatal assassination attempt two weeks ago of far-right, poll-leading presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro.

• Ecuador in 2017 gave Wikileaks founder Julian Assange a diplomatic post in Russia but rescinded it after Britain refused to give him diplomatic immunity, according to an Ecuadorian government document seen by Reuters.

• In Peru, Hitler hopes to return to power in a small town in the Andes, despite a threat from a detractor named Lennin.

• An unopened letter sent to the father of teenage Jewish diarist Anne Frank while the family was in hiding from the Nazis was sold at auction on Friday for €9,500.

The Review

• Malta yesterday celebrated the 54th anniversary of its independence from Britain. President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition Leader Adrian Delia laid wreaths at the foot of the Independence monument at Floriana. During the Pontifical Mass, Archbishop Charles Scicluna called for EU burden sharing on migration. The Times/Malta Independent/Orizzont/In-Nazzjon

• A tender for the provision of a fast-ferry service between Malta and Gozo is expected to remain suspended for the coming months as the Transport Ministry will have to await a decision by the Court of Appeal over the validity of a choice made by Gozo Channel to select an inexperienced provider to carry out the service. The Times of Malta

• Victims of domestic violence area reaching out for support but are not finding it, Krista Tabone, the director if Victim Support Malta, has warned. A march against femicide is being organised in Valletta today in the wake of attacks on female victims, the latest and most shocking one being the murder of a mother of six who was a known victim of domestic violence. The Malta Independent

• The Police Force’s Administrative Law Enforcement (ALE) unit has discovered an illegal bird taxidermy operation in Safi, The Malta Independent reports. Sources said the police arrested a father and son who are avid hunters and taxidermists and who have had brushes with the law in the past.

• A woman expresses her story of domestic violence in a story which is published on the Front Page of L-Orizzont.

The Headline Digest

• US Deputy Attorney General suggested to secretly record Trump and discussed 25th Amendment to remove President

• Turkey arrests more than 100 soldiers over suspected links with self-exiled cleric Gullen

• China and Russia warn Trump’s administration about military sanctions

• CDU remains first party in Germany. Far-Right AfD overtakes SPD

• Conte tries to overcome budget coalition’s impasse – EU Commissioner warns Italy that it must keep its national debt under control

• Luxembourg and Netherlands urge caution on banks’ supervision against money laundering

• A Turkish-U.S. citizen and former NASA scientist jailed in Turkey on terrorism charges plans to file an appeal

• 27 years after losing her 5 year old son, Lory Del Santo speaks about the loss of her 19 year old son who took his life away