The following are the top stories in the national and international press.

Times of Malta says a supermarket chain that used to be partly owned by Ryan Schembri, who fled the country after being threatened by loan sharks, is facing a “bleak future” due to its huge debts, according to a source in the holding company. In another story it says Enemalta has sold off its profit making petroleum division for around €83 million in a government-to-government deal that has been kept under wraps.

In-Nazzjon says the government would be financing the reduced electricity tariffs through the nationalisation of the profitable petroleum division. It also reports Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil saying the Opposition would be seeing that the government did not bind itself to buy electricity from the Chinese BWSC plant whether or not it needed it.

L-Orizzont says that nearly half the population of Valletta received social benefits. It also reports about plans for Selmun Palace Hotel to return to operations.

The Malta Independent says a 77-year-old man linked to the disappearance of Madeleine McCann is to be extradited to the UK being he was arrested in Gozo on Monday. In another story it says Cyrus Engerer and his partner Randolph Debattista have both landed top jobs in Brussels.

MaltaToday says George Xuereb was jailed 13 years after jurors found him guilty over the attempted murder in 1996 botched hold-up. In another story it says Malta is one of the EU states taking part in the controversial Mos Maiorum operation to apprehend irregular migrants across the EU.

International news

The UN says the Ebola outbreak must be controlled within 60 days or else the world faces an “unprecedented” situation for which there is no plan. Sky News reports the United Nations made the stark warning as it warned that the disease “is running faster than us and it is winning the race”. Nearly 9,000 cases have been reported so far in West Africa, including 4,447 deaths.

Ebola has claimed its first victim in Germany as Europe starts to ready itself for an influx of people infected with the virus. Euronews says the latest victim was a UN health official who had been working in Liberia. In Britain screening of “high-risk” passengers has begun at Heathrow airport.

Reuters reports President Obama will hold a video conference later today with British, French, German, and Italian leaders to discuss the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and other pressing international issues, the White House said. EU Health ministers meet tomorrow to decide on an EU strategy to cope with the killer virus.

Fox News says President Obama has expressed grave concern over the plight of the Syrian town of Kobane under attack by Islamic State jihadists and said a US-led coalition would keep up bombing raids there and in western Iraq.

The self-proclaimed Islamic State group has justified its enslavement of woman and children, as being in accordance with an ancient Islamic custom. An article in their English language online magazine Dabiq claims using captured woman as sex slaves dates back to a time before the abandonment of true Sharia law.

Börzen Zeitung reports that EU foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg have agreed to exchange information to combat tax evasion. Hailed as a “real structural reform internationally”, the agreement comes into force in 2017.

Serbian state television RTS reports the brother of Albania’s Prime Minister was arrested in Belgrade on Tuesday night, accused of starting the trouble that caused the abandonment of the still goalless Euro 2016 qualifier between Serbia and Albania. The Serbian Interior Ministry said Olsi Rama controlled a drone from his seat in an executive box in the stadium, carrying a “Greater Albanian” flag which flew over the pitch, triggering clashes between the two teams as some of the 20,000 home fans tried to assault Albanian players.

Sole 24 Ore says Italy and China have signed 20 business agreements, worth more than €8 billion. Premier Matteo Renzi said China was Italy’s second trading partner outside Europe after the United States.Trade in 2013 was €32.9 billion and in the first six months of 2014, exports grew by 8.3 per cent. Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang said the agreements to were “just the beginning”.

AP reports hundreds of Hong Kong police officers moved in early today to clear pro-democracy protesters out of a tunnel outside the city government headquarters, clashing with protesters in the worst violence since the demonstrations began more than two weeks ago. Officers, many of them in riot gear and wielding pepper spray, pushed back the crowd and tore down barricades and removed concrete slabs the protesters used as road blocks around the underpass.

La Prensa says a probe of a mass grave near the Mexican city of Iguala has proven fruitless in the search for 43 missing students. Mexican officials say they will continue working to identify human remains in other nearby graves.

The New York Times announces the death of David Greenglass, who served 10 years in prison for his role in the most explosive atomic spying case of the Cold War and gave testimony that sent his brother-in-law and sister, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, to the electric chair in 1953. He was 92.

Avvenire says the followers of Pope Francis’s nine-language Twitter account, @Pontifex, have passed the 16-million mark. Pope Francis’s most popular accounts are: in Spanish, 6.96 million; in English, 4.58 million; and in Italian, 2.03 million. His predecessor Benedict XVI opened the papal Twitter account, sending his first tweet on December 12, 2012. Since becoming pope 19 months ago Pope Francis has increased the following more than five-fold.

An African grey parrot was reunited with his owner in California after four years on the road. No one knows where the bird has been, but The Daily Breeze reports that it had lost its British accent and now chooses to speak only in Spanish.

Silicon Valley is known for offering incredible job perks, but the latest moves by Apple and Facebook could help the companies attract more female employees. Bloomberg reports Facebook said it offers egg freezing for female employees up to $20,000. The company also offers adoption and surrogacy assistance and “a host of other fertility services for male and female employees,” the company said via e-mail. Apple also offers egg freezing and storage, extended maternity leave, adoption assistance and infertility treatments.

 

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