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

Times of Malta says that 22-year-old Libyan Ehab Zorgani defiantly gave the middle finger to journalists yesterday as he arrived in court to be charged with knifing six men in Paceville early on Sunday morning. In another story, it says EU ministers failed yesterday to break a deadlock over sharing out responsibility for sheltering some of the hundreds of thousands of people who have sought asylum in Europe this year, leaving the shape of a final deal in doubt.

The Malta Independent reports Finance Minister Edward Scicluna saying yesterday that the government was making good on its promises, and showing people that it had vision.

In-Nazzjon says the Church marriage annulment process reform is expected to hasten the procedure especially in clear cases.

L-Orizzont says the General Workers Union is willing to assist in the process for the regularisation of migrant workers.

International news

Bloomberg reports EU countries followed Germany’s lead to fortify their frontiers, slowing the movement of goods on the continent as lines of cars formed in some border areas. Austria and Slovakia said they will send more troops to patrol their borders, while Poland said it was ready to take similar actions should such a move prove necessary. The Netherlands also planned to beef up border checks as Hungary blocked a main railroad link used to enter the country from Serbia.

Meanwhile, Kanaal Z TV announces the EU ministers meeting in Brussels has failed to reach unanimous agreement on a plan relocating 120,000 migrants with binding quotas for individual member-states. Germany and Luxembourg said a clear majority of countries had agreed in principle but the detail would have to wait for another meeting in October.

Ansa quotes Italian home affairs minister Angelino Alfano saying Frontex should be assigned the task of deporting migrants who are not granted asylum. Arriving in Brussels for an EU summit, Alfano said repatriation was “a European responsibility that requires European funds”.

The Pope has warned that ISIS could very well “go up to Rome”. Speaking on Portugal’s Radio Renascenca, he said, “We must recognise that the security of the territory today is not the same as other times: we have a very cruel terrorist guerrilla group just 400 km from Sicily and, therefore, the danger of infiltration is real and can go up to Rome. No one tells us that Rome is immune.”

The Daily Star reports Lebanon’s Education Minister Elias Bou Saab has warned ISIS could be sending jihadists out of Syria posing as refugees, suggesting that as many as two per cent could be “radicals” which would be “more than enough” to cause problems. Saab spoke to journalists travelling with the British Prime Minister on a visit to Lebanon and Jordan, during which David Cameron highlighted Britain’s contribution of more than £1 billion to support refugee camps for displaced Syrians to stay in the region.

Meanwhile, LBC announces Britain on Monday appointed a minister to deal specifically with the 20,000 Syrian refugees that the country had agreed to resettle over the next five years from camps bordering the war-torn country. Richard Harrington will be an under-secretary – the lowest rank of the three tiers of Britain’s government.

AP reports renewing his charge against illegal immigration, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called the United States “a dumping ground for the rest of the world” as he rallied thousands of Texas supporters behind his fiery candidacy and promised Republican leaders he’s just getting started. He drew huge ovations from a rowdy audience packed into Dallas’ American Airlines Centre.

El Mundo quotes Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy saying his ruling Popular Party will try to fend off a secession drive by Catalonia region separatists by arguing that breaking away “means abandoning Europe”. Catalonia holds regional elections on September 27 in which separatists are trying to win a majority of representatives in parliament to push their independence drive forward.

France 24 reports President François Hollande has said French reconnaissance flights have indicated that air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria were necessary. At a joint news conference with his Nigerian counterpart, Muhammadu Buhari in Paris, Hollande however ruled out sending ground forces to Syria, calling such a move “ineffective and unrealistic”.

Bangkok Post says a key suspect in August’s deadly Bangkok shrine bombing has fled to Turkey. Thai police believe Abudusataer Abudureheman, also known as Ishan, organised the bombing, which killed 20 people. The 27-year-old from China’s Xinjiang province is thought to have travelled to Istanbul at the end of August.

ABC TV reports Australian Prime Minister-elect Malcolm Turnbull has promised to focus on improving the country’s faltering economy as the public woke up today to its fourth leader in two years.  In a secret ballot late yesterday, the ruling Liberal Party voted to oust Tony Abbott as prime minister in favour of Turnbull, a multi-millionaire former tech entrepreneur who is hugely popular with the electorate.

The next two years could be the hottest on record globally. The BBC says research from the UK’s Met Office warns big changes could be under way in the climate system with greenhouse gases increasing the impact of natural trends. The scientists confirm that in 2015 the Earth’s average surface temperature is running at, or near, record levels (0.68oC above the 1961-1990 average).

Individuals who smoke have a higher risk of losing their teeth than non-smokers, found new research published in the Journal of Dental Research. Researchers at the University of Birmingham and the German Institute of Human Nutrition observed that male smokers were 3.6 times more likely to lose their teeth than non-smokers, while female smokers were 2.6 times more likely. The association between smoking and tooth loss was higher for younger people.

El Pais says Spanish customs officers have seized some 10 tonnes of cannabis from a yacht off the country’s southern coast and arrested three Dutch suspects on board. The finance ministry said the boat, flying a Dutch flag, was at serious risk of sinking due to the size of its cargo, which took up all the available space aboard, including on the cabins’ beds and floors. The three Dutch crew members, two men and a woman, have been charged with smuggling and endangering public health.

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