The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
National newspapers report about a fire in Sliema in which four people were hospitalised and treated for smoke inhalation. A woman and her two-year-old grandson were rescued by two men, a Maltese and an Ivorian, who forced open a door in an adjoining basement.
Times of Malta says cheap oil has given Air Malta an unexpected lift in its efforts to stem losses and perform a turnaround. In another story, it says plans for an amnesty on long-standing building violations have prompted mixed reactions, with developers and architects welcoming it but environmentalists warning it could encourage further abuse.
L-Orizzont says that a number of people are regularly sleeping at the entrance of St Luke’s Hospital Emergency Department.
In-Nazzjon says the elderly and disabled faced accessibility problems yesterday as buses company Autobuses de Leon had to use taxis and minibuses to provide the service to make up for the shortage of buses.
The Malta Independent says that plans to put monti stalls between Parliament and Teatru Rjal still stands but the government has issued a call for a new stalls’ design.
International news
The official Libyan news agency Lana reports that agreement has been reached between the elected Libyan parliament in Tobruk and the militia controlling Tripoli to transfer the meetings of the national dialogue to Libya. The UN-talks are currently held in Geneva. For security reasons, the exact location is, for the moment, being kept a secret.
Meanwhile, the BBC has announced that Libya’s internationally-recognised parliament has revoked a controversial law which banned Gaddafi-era officials from taking part in politics. The law was passed in 2013 but it was criticised by rights groups as “too sweeping”.
As Italy prepares to see its new President Sergio Mattarella sworn into office later this morning, Premier Matte Renzi has told RTL radio the move gave a “turbo boost” to his government’s plans to reform Italy’s slow, costly political machinery. Mattarella, who yesterday resigned from the country’s Constitutional Court, was nominated by Renzi’s centre-left Democratic Party and elected on Saturday despite opposition from Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia.
The Daily Express quotes Britain’s Chancellor George Osborne saying the debt stand-off between Athens and its lenders posed huge risks both to the British and world economy. His comment came after a 50-minutes meeting in London with his Greek counterpart, Yanis Varoufakis. Today, Varoufakis joins Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in Rome for talks with Prime Minister Renzi to seek Italy’s support to renegotiate the Greek debt and boost its economy, putting an end to the mechanism of the troika. Tsipras has ruled that his government might turn to Russia for financial aid, after the offer came in his way from Moscow.
Le Soir says the offices at the Palace of Justice in Brussels were evacuated on Monday after a scare over a suspect car in an underground car park. However, the alert turned out to be a false alarm. It was the third false alarm of the day: earlier in the morning the other two suspicious vehicles, one in front of the US embassy and one close to the European Parliament, had triggered the alarm.
The catholic FIDES news agency quotes Syrian Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo saying armed Islamic State militias have attacked a Christian village in Tel Hormuz, ransacked the church and forced the inhabitants to remove the cross from the sacred building. The incident was another in a series of attacks and intimidation suffered by Christian villages which have seen inhabitants fleeing abroad.
Meanwhile, Asian Age says another church in New Delhi was attacked by vandals on Sunday in what Archbishop Anil J.T. Couto called “a campaign of hate and false propaganda by groups whose only aim is to break the religious harmony and social peace of this great nation”. It was the fifth such episode in New Delhi in the last few months. Archbishop Couto criticised the Indian government’s failure to provide protection to minorities and their religious structures.
The Washington Times reports Republicans in control of Congress have summarily rejected President Obama’s $4 trillion budget, accusing him of “shamelessly pandering” to Democrats ahead of the 2016 election. The ink was barely dry on Obama’s proposal – promising to help America’s middle class by raising taxes on the wealthy while boosting tax credits for families and the working poor – before Republicans came out en masse to make clear it would not become law.
According to Allgemeine Zeitung, a court in North-Rhine Westphalia found that there was no obligation for buses or trains to make room for mobility scooters – and that actually they posed a safety risk not just to fellow passengers, but also to the drivers themselves as well. A mobility scooter user had argued his vehicle was vital to his mobility and he should be able to ride with it on the bus. He gave notice he would appeal the court ruling.
Los Angeles Times says Rap mogul Marion “Suge” Knight has been charged with murder and attempted murder over a hit-and-run that left one man dead and another in the hospital. The 49-year-old rapper, who could face life in prison if convicted, also faces two hit-and-run charges.
ABC reports fast-food giant McDonald’s is giving Australians the opportunity to buy a bottle of the special sauce used on their famous Big Mac. The only problem is it will cost at least €15,600. The 500 ml “Limited Edition Big Mac Special Sauce Bottle #1 of 200” is being auctioned on eBay with all proceeds going to charities run by the global chain to help sick children and their families.
The Irish Examiner says a tweet a drunk guy sent to himself has gone viral on social networks with over 10,000 retweets in less than 24 hours. Marcus Gray of Dublin sent the text “Are you in town?” to himself, to which he replied, “Nah mate I’m home now”. Yesterday Marcus said he could not believe just how drunk he was on Saturday night. The internet was greatly amused. Sometimes, the simplest things in life are the most effective… and the most hilarious.