The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Sunday Times of Malta says six betting companies accused of having links to the Calabrian Mafia are threatening to sue the Malta Gaming Authority for millions of euros after it suspended their licence. In another story, it quotes Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela saying the police force would likely fail a public trust poll today but the government is committed to turning things around.
MaltaToday says PN deputy leader Mario de Marco is among lawyers challenging the Malta Gaming Authority decision to suspend licences of Italian gaming companies.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says former Economic Crimes Unit Inspector Roderick Zammit is currently under internal investigation over his dubious business interests.
Illum says hundreds of women are having an abortion in the United Kingdom easily for not more than €800.
Il-Mument says the government is negotiating the sale of Air Malta with China’s Hainan Airlines.
Kullhadd says the extension of Mater Dei’s emergency department is at an advanced stage.
It-Torca says businessman Joe Gaffarena met Simon Busuttil on the eve of 2013 election and gave him to understand that if the Qormi petrol station was reopened he would give him documents related to the Daewoo case 20 years earlier.
International news
The UK and France have urged other EU nations to help address the root causes of the Calais migrants’ crisis. Home Secretary Theresa May and her French counterpart Bernard Cazeneuve wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that the situation was a “global migration crisis”. They appealed to other EU-member states to address the problem “at its root”, convincing those who want to reach Europe that “our streets are not paved with gold”. Thousands of migrants have been scaling fences in Calais, near the French entrance to the Channel Tunnel, hopping on freight trains or trucks destined for Britain. Nine people have been killed.
According to The Australian, migrants were reportedly being made to have sex with their Australian bosses in order to get their visas signed. Queensland’s anti-discrimination officer Kevin Cocks said: “Young women are asked for sexual favours to get their visa signed off. Often the contractors provide accommodation as well, so women are being put in quite vulnerable situations.”
An agreement between Athens and its international creditors on a third bailout under which the loan will be repaid in 30 years will lead to partial debt restructuring. Greek economy minister Giorgos Stathakis told Efimerida ton Syntakton. He said the agreement envisages slighter budget corrections than in previous years and an additional financial package towards economic development worth €35 billion.
The leader of the Afghan Taliban, Mullah Omar, did not die because of illness but had been poisoned as part of a plot in which the new leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, was directly involved. The heavy accusation, writes Khaama Press, comes in a statement from the Taliban splinter group called the Islamic Movement Fidai Mahaz. Last week it was revealed Mullah Omar had died two years ago.
Three Chechen girls have cheated the most feared terrorists, extorting money from ISIS before disappearing. The three young Muslims, reports Russia Today, have hooked Isis militants on the Internet, pretending to want to enlist but did not have funds for the trip. ISIS sent him about $ 3,300 for a one-way ticket to Syria. At that point the three young people withdrew the money, closed the account and disappeared.
Meanwhile, Libertà announces four Iraqi student journalists have been arrested for espionage by jihadists Isis in Mosul. The privately-controlled newspaper says they were accused of providing secret information to the authorities.
TMZ says the ongoing tensions between the families of the late megastar Whitney Houston and her ex-husband, R&B singer Bobby Brown, erupted during a funeral service for their daughter, Bobbi Kristina. Leolah Brown, the sister of Bobby Brown, walked out of the church – angry because Pat Houston was speaking at the funeral. Pat Houston is the sister-in-law and former manager for the late Whitney Houston. She suggested that the feud between the Houstons and the Browns was far from over. “It’s just getting started,” she said.
Newsday reports Cecil the Lion’s story was given a further twist following conflicting reports that his brother Jericho had been shot dead by poachers in Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force charity said in a Facebook post that it been informed that Cecil’s brother had been shot dead at in Hwange National Park. But Brent Stapelkamp, a field researcher with Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) who is monitoring the cat, said that his collar data “suggests he is alive and well”. American dentist Walter Palmer sparked global outrage when he killed popular 13-year-old Cecil last month.
A 77-year-old German woman has been trampled to death by a herd of cows in the Alps near the resort town of Laax. Swiss police told the dpa news agency that the Berlin tourist apparently decided to take a shortcut between a restaurant in the mountains and a cable-car station by entering a fenced-off area and trying to walk through the herd. Police say the cows, apparently seeking to protect their calves, trampled the woman.
Globe & Mail reports hundreds of Canadian woman joined a topless protest march in Waterloo, Ontario after three sisters were allegedly stopped by police for cycling without shirts. It is legal for women to be topless in Ontario after a court ruling in 1996 but the women say that police told them to cover up whilst cycling in the neighbouring town of Kitchener last month.
The World Health Organisation has asked the IOC to analyse virus levels in Rio de Janeiro’s Olympic waters, and the governing body of world sailing says it would start doing its own independent virus tests. The moves come after an Associated Press investigation showed a serious health risk to Olympic athletes in venues around Rio rife with sewage.
Athletics is facing a new crisis after fresh allegations of suspected doping emerged following a leak of test data. The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD/WRD have obtained access to the results of 12,000 blood tests from 5,000 athletes. According to the newspaper, the evidence reveals the “extraordinary extent of cheating” by athletes at the world’s biggest events.