The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta leads with a report of a speech by the Chief Justice during the opening of the Forensic Year in which he said that media “campaigns” were putting pressure on the judiciary to make certain decisions. In another story it quotes Prime Minister Joseph Muscat saying Amnesty International was picking on the wrong countries when it targeted Malta and Italy over immigrant deaths in the Mediterranean Sea.
In-Nazzjon speaks to the owner of Bubbles Bathrooms in Victoria who managed to foil an attempted theft by two AFM soldiers.
L-Orizzont has with an interview with a human trafficker who says the traffickers were not responsible to what happened while the immigrants were at sea
The Malta Independent says hunters will be filing their objections to the spring hunting referendum in court today. In another story, it says staff working for former EU Commissioner John Dalli have been questioned by Olaf over the former Commissioner’s trips to Singapore and the Bahamas.
International news
According to NBC News, a team of US federal health officials has been scouring the Dallas area for individuals thought to have been in contact with the first patient diagnosed with Ebola in the US, including a handful of schoolchildren. Those identified were to be isolated and monitored over three weeks.
Reuters reports Asian stocks dropped more than one per cent this morning, dragged lower after the first case of Ebola diagnosed in the United States spooked Wall Street. The Ebola news scared investors.
South China Morning Post says Hong Kong streets were calm early today as police largely kept their distance from tens of thousands of mostly young people who have continued protests for nearly a week. Student leaders of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have threatened to occupy government buildings if the region’s chief executive does not resign by the end of today.
Meanwhile, CNN reports Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi China's has issued a stern warning against any “illegal” protests in Hong Kong. Visiting Washington, Mr Wang also warned that the matter was an “internal affair” for China. His US counterpart, John Kerry, urged Hong Kong to exercise restraint in dealing with the protests.
The Times reports British jihadist fighters in Syria have threatened to avenge British airstrikes in Iraq by mounting atrocities that match the 7/7 London bombings and the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby. British Tornado jets bombed a half-built hospital in the key Iraqi border town of Rabia, where between 20 and 30 Islamic State jihadists were holed up.
Avvenire says Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin has said that Christians have the right to live where they always have. Speaking on the eve of a meeting with Catholic Middle East nuncios, he noted that the disappearance of Christians from the region would be to the detriment of peace and stability.
AP says the Obama administration has warned Israel that plans for a controversial new housing project in east Jerusalem would distance Israel from “even its closest allies” and would raise questions about its commitment to seeking peace with Palestinians. The striking public rebuke came just hours after President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met at the White House.
Fox News says US Secret Service Director Julia Pierson has resigned after a series of security lapses in presidential security came to light. Barely 18 months in her position, Pierson faced mounting calls to step down after last month’s incident in which an Iraq war veteran with a knife scaled the White House fence, sprinted across the lawn and got deep inside the mansion before an off-duty agent stopped him.
Polskie Radio announces Ewa Kopacz, who was sworn in as Polish prime minister only last week, has won a vote of confidence by 259 in favour and 183 against, with three abstentions. In her first policy speech, the 57-year old former paediatrician promised closer ties with the US and rejected the euro.
Sky News says the Metropolitan Police is investigating a catalogue of vile internet abuse targeting the family of Madeleine “Maddy” McCann, who disappeared in 2007 while on holiday with her family. These included death threats. Officers are in talks with the Crown Prosecution Service after being handed a dossier of more than 80 pages of Tweets, Facebook posts and messages on online forums aimed at Kate and Gerry McCann.
Los Angeles Times reports California has approved a law which would prevent paparazzi from using drones to take photos of celebrities – among a series of measures aimed at tightening protection of privacy. Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a number of Bills, including an expansion of one against so-called “revenge porn”, when former lovers share nude photos of their ex-partners online.
Fresno’s Business Journal says authorities in central California are searching for those who broke into a chicken ranch and used a golf club to kill more than 900 birds. A spokesman for the Foster Farms facility said the attack appeared to be random and called it “an unconscionable act of animal cruelty”. The chicken producer is offering a 6,400-euro- reward for information leading to an arrest and prosecution.
The Telegraph reports British millionaire businessman and former Conservative supporter, Arron Banks has donated £1 million (€1.28 million) to UKIP after First Secretary of State and Leader of the House of Commons William Hague called him a “nobody.” Banks had originally decided to donate £100,000 (€128,250) to Nigel Farage’s party but increased it tenfold after Hague’s comment.