The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says nine independent schools are owed hundreds of thousands of euros after the government failed to honour an agreement to cover the salaries of learning support assistants in recent months. In another story, it says Dominican priest Mark Montebello has denied that a money offer to a complainant in the alleged case of clerical sex abuse was made through him. The newspaper published a transcript of the interview.
The Malta Independent says that a criminal complaint has been filed against Fr Montebello on the accusation that he tried to bribe a witness in a case involving alleged sexual abuse by a priest.
In-Nazzjon says that Ryan Schembri, the former co-owner of More supermarkets who left Malta owing millions to several creditors, has been in telephone contact with a person assuring him that he and his family are safe.
L-Orizzont says that the planning authority’s work on the Hondoq ir-Rummien project is in its final stages and a recommendation for refusal is expected. The proposal is for a yacht marina, hotel and apartments.
International news
ABC says the United Nations Committee Against Torture has raised serious concerns about the Australian government’s immigration policies and conditions at offshore detention centres at Nauru and Manus Island. The committee meeting in Geneva has requested a response to criticism made by Amnesty International and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which described Australia’s offshore detention centres as “cruel” and “inhumane”.
Chosun reports South Korea has ended underwater searches for the remaining missing people from April’s ferry disaster that killed more than 300 people in one of the country’s deadliest disasters in decades. The announcement came hours before a South Korean court issues verdicts on the ship’s crew members charged with negligence and abandonment of passengers in the disaster. Prosecutors have demanded a death penalty for the ship’s captain and life sentences for three other crew members.
Het Parool says a national memorial to the 298 victims who died four months after Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot out of the sky over war-torn eastern Ukraine in July. More than 1,600 family and friends of those killed have attended a commemoration in Amsterdam, including King Willem Alexander, Queen Maxima and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Meanwhile, it came to light that a Scandinavian Airlines passenger plane bound for Rome last March nearly collided with a Russian warplane that was flying covertly. The episode was chronicled in a report by a British non-profit research organisation, the European Leadership Network, which recorded 40 incidents involving Russian aircraft since the start of the Ukrainian conflict. The SAS airliner was carrying 132 passengers, many of whom were Italians.
Leading world economies are spending €71 billion a year in fossil fuel exploration subsidies, sapping investment from low-carbon alternatives and increasing the risk of “dangerous climate change”. Nature quotes a report by Britain’s Overseas Development Institute think tank said that these subsidies “could drive the planet far beyond the internationally agreed target of limiting global temperature increases to no more than two degrees Celsius”.
The BBC reports the British government has won its bid to sign up again to 35 EU justice measures – including the European Arrest Warrant – following a dramatic Commons vote. The debate ended early when Labour lost its attempt to use a rare Parliamentary procedure to postpone the decision. When the motion was defeated by 272 to 229 – a majority of just 43 – the vote on the EU justice measures took place immediately, with MPs voting in favour by 464 to 38.
Voice of Nigeria states at least 47 people have been killed by a suicide bomber at Potiskum science and technology boys’ school in the Nigerian Yobe state. The massacre, suspected to have been carried out by the Boko Haram terrorist group, took place as students gathered for a daily assembly with the head teacher before lessons.
There is confusion over the fate of the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, even after the Iraqi government denied reports he was killed and confirmed he was only injured in an international coalition air raid on Mosul. Iraqi TV quotes the defence minister saying his right hand man, Abu Muslim Turkmen, was killed in the raid. Another Isis figure very close to its leader, Abu Huthaifa al-Yamani, died in an air raid on Fallujah.
An-Nahar reports that Iran has said it was ready to help Iraq fight the Islamic State (IS). Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri made the pledge after talks in Tehran with his Iraqi counterpart, former premier Nuri al-Maliki. Iran has supplied Iraqi Kurds with weapons and sent military advisers to Baghdad, but so far has denied having sent ground troops as well.
Reuters reports an Israeli soldier and a woman were stabbed to death by Palestinians in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank, extending a surge in violence fuelled by strife over access to Jerusalem’s holiest site. The soldier’s stabbing occurred at a train station in Tel Aviv. The police arrested the assailant. Hours later, a Palestinian stormed out of a car to stab an Israeli woman to death and wound two other people outside the Jewish settlement of Alon Shvut in the West Bank. The attacker was shot and wounded by a guard.
A theme park in the UK has banned men and women without children from visiting the attraction to protect children against possible paedophiles. Matthew Richards wanted to see a falconry display at Puxton Park, near Weston-super-Mare, but was unable to view the show because of the rule. The man told the Western Gazette he is a father of three grown-up children, and has three grandchildren.