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

Times of Malta says 50 foreigners submitted the same address in Sliema as their official residence in their applications to Identity Malta. In another story, it says some of the highest and most experienced police officers have resigned in what is being described as an unprecedented mass exodus.

MaltaToday says Gozo Bishop Mario Grech refused to explain why he has not dismissed a paedophile priest defrocked by the Vatican more than two years ago as Archbishop Charles Scicluna reiterated his commitment to tackle every case of abuse.

L-Orizzont says that a former Indian cricket official was arrested in Malta on charges of money laundering.

The Malta Independent says that according to Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, former PL deputy Leader candidate Clyde Joe Cassar, employed within the Human Resources department of the Agency for the Welfare of Asylum Seekers, has no criminal record.

In-Nazzjon says that as doctors at Mater Dei’s Emergency Department were close to breaking point, the hospital’s CEO chose to go abroad and let others shoulder the burden.

International news

Fox News quotes a new UN report which says Gaza could be “uninhabitable” in less than five years if current economic trends continue. The report points to the eight years of economic blockade of Gaza as well as the three wars between Israel and the Palestinians there over the past six years. Last year’s war displaced half a million people and left parts of Gaza destroyed. Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade of Gaza since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized control of the territory in 2007.

New York Daily News says US federal agents have arrested more than 90 people and shut down 16 underground laboratories making illegal steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs. The drug enforcement administration said hundreds of kilos and thousands of litres of chemicals were seized across 20 states during the five-month operation.

Reports say Hungary was last night making final preparations to draft in 3,500 extra troops to protect its borders after hundreds of angry migrants laid siege to the capital’s main railway station.  According to Magyar Hirlap, Budapest has defended its decision to close the capital’s international railway station to migrants seeking to travel to other European countries, mostly Germany and Austria. Government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs defended the closure, saying Hungary was trying to enforce EU law while Cabinet ministers told lawmakers they were determined to seal Hungary’s borders to unwelcome travellers from the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Prime Minister Viktor Orban is due to meet senior EU officials in Brussels tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Euronews says about 3,650 migrants arrived in Vienna by train on Monday, many intending to carry on to Germany. German police said 3,500 asylum-seekers arrived in Bavaria yesterday, where they were greeted by residents holding signs reading “refugees welcome” and offering them aid. Belgium and Sweden also reported a surge in migrant numbers.

The Guardian announces Eurostar rail services between Britain and France were suspended once again last night after what was described as fresh “migrant activity” on the tracks close to the French city of Calais. Passengers on social media have reported migrants had climbed on to the roofs of trains. Three trains carrying passengers from Paris to London, one train from London to Paris, and one service running from Brussels to London have been delayed due to the incident.

Ansa reports the European Court of Human Rights has condemned Italy for deporting three undocumented Tunisian migrants in 2011 in violation of their rights. The men were rescued from the Mediterranean, taken to Lampedusa and deported on the basis of an accord with Tunisia. But the ECHR said they did not have their “personal positions or rights” respected and must be compensated with €10,000 a head.

Meanwhile, La Sicilia says hundreds more migrants were picked up by ships in the Mediterranean yesterday. Four corpses were found on one boat, adding to an ever-mounting death toll. More than 350,000 migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean in search of a better life this year and some 2,634 people have died on the way to Europe.

Matteo Salvini, head of the Italian anti-immigrant Lega Nord, took another swipe at the Italian Bishops Conference, CEI, ridiculing its leader in his ongoing feud with the Italian Catholic Church’s position that all comers into Italy should be welcomed with open arms. Salvini told Radio Anch’io that he did not view CEI Secretary-General Monsignor Nunzio Galantino as a bishop, but as a “joke”. He also renewed calls for the Mineo refugee reception centre near Catania, the largest in Europe, to be closed.

Avvenire also waded in on the immigration issue, calling for an end to “racist hysteria” but agreeing that the Mineo centre needed to be closed after a string of incidents including a recent double murder allegedly by an Ivorian who escaped from it. Initial forensic results Tuesday said the female victim, 70, may have been raped. “Keeping 3,000 people in a reception centre long-term is madness,” the paper wrote in an editorial.

Christian Science Monitor reports a Kentucky county clerk denied marriage licenses to gay couples again on Tuesday in direct defiance of the federal courts. Invoking “God’s authority”, Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis vowed not to resign, even under the pressure of steep fines or jail. She later said through her lawyers, “It is not a light issue for me. It is a heaven or hell decision.”

The Sun says the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine McCann has cost taxpayers almost €15 million. Detectives have not made an arrest in four years, and Scotland Yard sources are asking whether resources should be spent elsewhere.

The Daily Express leads with research that suggests too many fizzy drinks could trigger heart attacks. Scientists believe that the acid present in sugary carbonated drinks may play an important role in fatal heart conditions.

 

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