The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says politicians were warned to “hold back” by Air Malta’s chairwoman if the airline is to survive, after the company’s restructuring plan veered off track. In another story, it says tens of households have ended up without power over the past few weeks, sparking an intensive police investigation into the theft of live overhead electricity cables.
L-Orizzont says an international company is expected to invest tens of millions in the Marsa Shipbuilding project, including through the setting up of an academy for jobs in the oil and gas industries.
In-Nazzjon says many people in authority have, over the years, sought the interests of the Chinese company Leisure Clothing instead the workers’ and were given back designer clothes and other gifts on a regular basis in return.
The Malta Independent quotes the Malta Union of Teachers saying that the authorities’ effort to combat absenteeism may have not been well planned out and as a result some students were attending school just to avoid being fined, had no interest in learning and sometimes ended up disrupting class.
MaltaToday says Maltese Cross Financial Services investors accused the MFSA of failing to carry out site inspections allowing the broker to wipe out €7 million in savings and investments over five years.
International news
Reuters quotes UN Special Envoy Bernadino Leon saying factional warfare in Libya was pushing the oil producer “very close to the point of no return”. He told reporters in a televised news conference that efforts to bring about a ceasefire and political dialogue did not show any results as fighting worsened in the past two weeks in Benghazi as well as in western Libya.
Fox News reports Washington has announced security would be increased at various federal government buildings in Washington and other major American cities as a “precautionary step” after threats from Islamist groups and following two attacks last week in Canada that killed two soldiers. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson would not identify the buildings that will receive enhanced security or disclose the specific security measures to be taken to protect more than 9,500 federal facilities.
An unmanned Antares rocket exploded seconds after lift-off from a commercial launch pad in Virginia yesterday, a NASA TV broadcast showed, but space agency officials said there were no injuries. The 14-storey rocket blasted off its seaside launch pad carrying a Cygnus cargo ship for the International Space Station. It exploded in a huge fireball seconds later. The cause of the accident was not immediately known.
Al Ayyam says Kurdish Peshmerga fighters have left Iraq and are on their way to the besieged Syrian town of Kobani. They aim to help fellow Kurds in their battle against Islamic State militants.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Welle announces Syria’s neighbours – Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey – have told an international conference that an unbearable strain was being put on their countries by the number of refugees from the war-torn country. They have appealed for other nations to contribute more money and take on a greater share of the burden. Germany has led the way in Europe by taking in 70,000 refugees and giving nearly €650 million in aid.
The Guardian says British Prime Minister David Cameron has suffered a double blow on Europe when a Bill to establish an EU membership referendum by the end of 2017 collapsed and Denmark told Britain to accept a demand from Brussels to pay an extra €2.1 billion. The Bill would have put the EU membership referendum by the end of 2017 on the statute book. Meanwhile, Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt told Bloomberg she respected the fact that the UK wanted to discuss the EU demand, but there were rules that must be adhered to. “Countries must follow the rules as they are,” she said.
British Business Minister Nick Boles broke new ground by admitting in an interview with Total Politics magazine that Britain would be unable to fully insulate its borders against migrants as long as it remains a member of the EU. His comments came as the mayor of Calais said Britain’s welfare system was so generous that migrants were willing to risk death to benefit from it. The Times says Natacha Bouchart told MPs thousands of migrants were drawn to the £36-a-week benefits that Britain handed out to asylum seekers. In recent weeks, hundreds had stormed ferries and clung to cars, buses and lorries as they attempted to cross the Channel.
Ansa reports that in an unprecedented move, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has given evidence in a major anti-Mafia trial. Yesterday’s hearing took place privately at the presidential palace in Rome. Prosecutors said they wanted to know whether the 89-year-old knew about secret talks between the Italian state and the Sicilian Mafia in the 1990s.
The Washington Post reports that as the second of two nurses infected while treating an Ebola patient left an Atlanta hospital, President Obama said policies adopted in the United States should not discourage Americans willing to fight West Africa’s outbreak. The President is set to deliver remarks about the fight against Ebola this evening at an event with doctors and nurses who are volunteering in West Africa, and after meeting with his top health and national security advisers about the issue.
The Irish Times says a French court has ruled that Ryanair must pay €8.1 million in damages for a breach of French labour laws. An appeals court found the company guilty of paying workers under Irish contracts to save money on payroll and other taxes. Trade unions, the French social security system and pilots will be among those paid damages. The airline has also been fined €200,000.
L’Alsace reports Europe’s high court in Strasbourg has denied a British man’s request to have public nudity declared a human right. The court ruled that “Naked Rambler” Stephen Gough’s legal woes had come about as the result of conduct that could prove “alarming, morally and offensive” to others, rather than through repression. It said that UK authorities had the power to repeatedly arrest him.
Bild says Germany is set to bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Either the capital, Berlin or the northern port city of Hamburg would host the Games, if the German bid is successful.