The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says the government has called a magisterial inquiry over a parked car that blocked the helipad at St Luke’s Hospital on Saturday. In another story, it says Sliema residents are afraid of leaving their houses unattended after a spate of burglaries in the locality.
In-Nazzjon says two prisoners were returned to jail drunk on Sunday evening after spending long hours drinking at Hamrun’s St Cajetan’s feast.
L-Orizzont says prison wardens are to be the fourth group of disciplinary forces employees to be affiliated with the General Workers’ Union.
The Malta Independent says the former Mgarr parish priest has hit out at his “unfair dismissal” by the Church authorities and said they had succumbed to undue pressure by a small group of extreme traditionalists who wanted him out of their parish.
International news
The American actor and comedian Robin Williams has been found dead at his home in California. NBC quotes the Marin County police saying the death of 63-year-old Williams was a suspected suicide from asphyxia. His publicist said he had been suffering from severe depression. Willaims rose to international fame playing the role of an alien in the TV comedy “Mork & Mindy” and went on to star in films such as Good Morning Vietnam, Mrs Doubtfire and Dead Poets Society. He had won an Oscar for his role in Good Will Hunting.
The New York Times reports the UN has named a commission to investigate alleged rights violations by both sides during Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip. The team will investigate all violations of international humanitarian and international human rights laws. The conflict has claimed the lives of 1,900 Palestinians and 67 Israelis, including three civilians as a result of rockets fired from Gaza by militants.
The BBC reports the Ivory Coast has banned all passenger flights from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone – three countries hit by Ebola in an attempt to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. It is the only country, after Saudi Arabia, to impose such a ban, amid mounting concern about the outbreak which has killed nearly 1,000 people. The ban excludes Nigeria, where a 10th Ebola case has been confirmed.
CNN says President Barack Obama has said the nomination of Haider al-Abadi as Iraq's prime minister-designate was a “promising step forward”. Meanwhile, ABC quotes US Secretary of State John Kerry urging the people of Iraq to remain calm as the country faces a political crisis while battling advances by Islamic State militants. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the constitution had been violated.
Voice of Nigeria reports dozens of wives of Nigerian soldiers have protested outside the main barracks in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri, saying their husbands were not sufficiently equipped to fight Boko Haram militants. The protest took place as Nigerian soldiers came under orders to try to recapture a town seized by the militant Islamist group.
International Business Times reports South Korea has proposed high-level talks with rival North Korea next week to discuss resuming reunions of Korean War-divided families. Observers said the proposal could lead to the easing of tensions after months of North Korean missile tests and heated rhetoric from both countries.
The Sydney grandfather of a seven-year-old boy pictured clutching the severed head of a Syrian soldier has told The Australian newspaper he wanted the Australian government to bring the boy home. Truck driver Peter Nettleton was quoted saying he was “gutted” to see the front page photograph of his grandson lifting the head with both hands by the hair.
Metro says a boy born without any ears has had a pair created from his own ribs. Experts at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital performed a six-hour operation where they used cartilage from Kieran Sorkin’s ribs to create a pair of ears and grafted them to his head. The youngster was born deaf and also had a rare condition which meant he did not have fully formed ears – just small lobes where his ears should be.