The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.

Times of Malta and In-Nazzjon gives prominence to concerns by the Environment Commissioner within the Ombudsman's Office about the Mepa split where it involves the environment. The proposals were described as a big step backwards.

Times of Malta also reports that VAT collection has improved, but there is still much to be done to end evasion.

The Malta Independent quotes the European Commission's vice president saying migration is a world wide crisis that needs an international solution.

In-Nazzjon reports on comments by the shadow minister for education that teachers and pupils should not pay for the government's failure in managing the transport sector.

l-orizzont says an investment bank will be set up in a few months' time.

The overseas press

Migrants stranded for days in Hungary are boarding buses chartered by the government to take them to the border with Austria, after Vienna and Berlin said they would grant them unhindered entry. Magyar Hirlap says the migrants would be taken to Hegyeshalom, Hungary’s main border crossing with Austria.

Kurier reports Austria’s chancellor has said his country and Germany would grant unhindered entry to migrants being bused to the Austrian border. Chancellor Werner Faymann announced the decision early today after speaking with Angela Merkel, his German counterpart. A statement from Faymann’s office says the move was prompted by the “present emergency situation on the Hungarian border”.

Hungarian Prime Minister of Viktor Orban has told the national Kossuth radio that if Europe does not protect its borders it will soon be flooded by tens of millions of migrants. “Can’t we understand that someday we can become minority in our own continent?” Orban asked.

The photographer who shot the haunting images of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi on a beach in Turkey has spoken of feeling “petrified” when she saw his body. Nilufer Demir, a correspondent and photographer with Turkey’s Dogan News Agency, tweeted: “I took the picture to show the tragedy. At that moment, when I saw three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, I was petrified,” Hurriyet reports. “The only thing I could do was to make his outcry heard,” she said.

Ansa reports Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni has called for European Asylum rights to be established. Speaking in Luxembourg, Gentiloni warned that if this was not done, “we risk a lot regarding (the) Schengen (free movement accords)”. The principle where asylum is granted by the country of arrival must be overcome, he added.  

In a joint newspaper column published in daily business newspaper Expansion, the prime ministers of Britain and Spain have called for a “real reform of the eurozone” that makes growth and free trade a priority. David Cameron and Mariano Rajoy also said they hoped a free trade agreement between the European Union and the United States would be finalised “this year”.
Britain is a member of the European Union but is not one of the 19 nations that has adopted the euro single currency.

Sole 24 Ore says European stocks on the Stoxx 600 index saw €181 billion of share value wiped out as the index fell 2.37% on Fed rate-rise fears yesterday. Milan was the worst-performing market with a 3.18 per cent loss. London closed 2.25 per cent down, Frankfurt 2.53 per cent off and Paris 2.64 per cent down.

O Globo reports Josè Dirceu, the closest associate of former Brazilian President Lula da Silva, has been formally charged with corruption and money laundering. Lula’s chief of staff from 2003 to 2005, Dirceu, already in prison for another scandal, is accused of having played a key role in the management of €2.1 billion in bribes in the Petrobras scandal that also saw the indictment of the treasurer of the Workers Party, Joao Vaccari, already under arrest, and 15 other people.

The Verge says WhatsApp, the free messaging app company bought by Facebook, notched up a record 900 million users in August, 100 million more than April and an increase of 200 million since the start of the year. The news came just days after Facebook passed the billion user mark and represents another success for the company’s founder and owner, Mark Zuckerberg.

Deutsche Welle reports police responding to a call for help at a convention centre in northern Germany found 30 people in a zombie-like state. It’s not yet clear what exactly was going on, but it looks as if methamphetamine was involved.

 

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