The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Sunday Times of Malta says concrete structures over Mater Dei Hospital’s accident and emergency department are so weak in certain areas they cannot withstand the weight of two planned medical wards. In another story, it says former Enemalta chairman Alex Tranter is to face charges of misappropriation connected with his tenure at the helm of the energy corporation.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says hunters and trappers in Gozo have been industriously preparing for the five-month autumn season which starts tomorrow by laying concrete, building more hunting and trapping hides and torching land at Ras il-Wardija, an area where a number of endemic species grow and which is designated as a special area of conservation.
MaltaToday says environmental company Ecoserv is being paid €116,230 to see how many turtle doves and common quail fly over Malta during the upcoming hunting season.
Illum speaks to lawyer Arthur Azzopardi who says he is convinced his client Anthony Callus, a member of the MUSEUM, was not the paedophile he was being made out to be. Mr Callus has been charged with defiling a 10-year-old boy, violent indecent assault, harassment and offending public morals.
Kullhadd speaks to Cospicua mayor Alison Zerafa Civelli who says that the Dock 1 project has left a positive environmental impact on the city and gave residents new hope.
It-Torca says that in spite of the Nationalist Party’s claim that no election should be cancelled, it withdrew candidates from two localities in 2005 for an election not to be held.
Il-Mument leads with a report about yesterday’s press conference by Nationalist Party general secretary Chris Said during which he insisted that the government’s proposal to cancel the 2015 and 2017 council elections was tampering with democracy.
International news
Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini has vowed to work for the benefit of all EU states as the new EU foreign policy chief. Le Monde reports that after her appointment yesterday, she underlined Europe faced “enormous challenges”. Mogherini’s appointment was announced by outgoing President of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, on his Twitter page. He also said he would be replaced by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Börzen Zeitung quotes German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying the EU would impose new sanctions against Russia if the situation in eastern Ukraine did not improve. She said the decision on the new sanctions would be taken within a week.
Le Soir reports Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said there were now thousands of foreign troops and hundreds of tanks in his country, as the European Union warned a “new Cold War” with Russia would be detrimental to all Europe. Poroshenko, who was in Brussels to discuss the ongoing crisis with EU leaders, said his country was now the subject of foreign military aggression and terrorism.
According to Il Mattino, the Italian Navy landed 323 immigrants at the port of Naples yesterday, and another 227 were flown to Catania. The group of immigrants included a dozen of minors and three pregnant women. A man was taken to the Cotugno Hospital of Infectious Disease with suspected malaria, and several dozen migrants were diagnosed with scabies. The families with children were put in the care of the Italian Red Cross.
Dawn says clashes overnight between anti-government demonstrators and police in Islamabad have left more than 250 people injured, the majority police officers. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets after the protesters, who were demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Nawar Sharif, marched towards his official residence.
Fox News reports the Pentagon has said US planes have made humanitarian aid drops on the besieged town of Amerli in northern Iraq. The US military also carried out air strikes against Islamic State militants who have been surrounding some 15,000 minority Shia Turkmen in the town for two months.
ABC says Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has announced Australian Air Force planes would carry weapons into Iraq to help Kurdish fighters battle Islamic State (IS) militants. Her said C-130 Hercules and C-17 Globemaster aircraft based in Dubai would be used to fly munitions and arms into the country’s north to help Iraqis in the fight against IS.
The Philippines’ Daily Tribune says 75 Filippino soldiers serving with the UN in the Golan Heights have escaped an attack by Syrian rebels. The army said the UN peacekeepers had come under a sustained assault in two camps.
El Pais announces police in Spain have found a seriously-ill British boy who had been removed from a hospital in the UK by his parents on Thursday without the doctors’ consent. The five-year-old has a brain tumour. The Spanish police are questioning the parents, who said the NHS hospital was not giving the boy the best cure available.