Yesterday's storm, which caused traffic chaos around the island, dominated the front page headlines of local papers.
Times of Malta reports that Malta's perennial flooding problem will be “alleviated” next month when the nationwide rainwater relief project finally comes into operation.
Together with l-Orizzont, In-Nazzjon and The Malta Independent, it also reports that a man facing trying for a drug haul had died after he was found unconscious at the police headquarters.
Fox News reports President Obama has rejected Russia’s military action in Syria as a dead-end strategy. In his most extensive comments on Syria since Russia began its airstrikes on Monday, Obama said Moscow risked becoming “stuck in a quagmire” and strengthening the Islamic State. He accused President Putin of failing to differentiate between IS fighters and moderate groups working in opposition to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Meanwhile, as Russian warplanes bombed Syria for a third day, Le Monde quotes France’s President Hollande telling President Putin that Moscow’s airstrikes must be confined to attacking Islamic State militants, not other rebels opposing the Damascus government. Hollande used a meeting on Ukraine to address Western concerns that Russia’s airstrikes would serve to strengthen President Assad.
The New York Times reports Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallim has told the UN General Assembly his government is willing to accept the UN plan for a political solution to the country’s brutal conflict and will attend the third round of UN-led talks in Geneva.
According to al-Hayat, the three-phase plan no timetable for the negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition.
El Mundo says a Spanish court has jailed 11 jihadists for membership in a gang linked to Islamic State extremists that recruited fighters for suicide bombings in Syria. The men sent at least 28 people to Syria between April 2012 and June 2013, when they were arrested. At least eight of their recruits lost their lives in terrorist acts.
ABC TV quotes NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione saying a shooting in Sydney in which a civilian police employee was killed was terrorist-related. The lone shooter – a 15-year-old boy of Iraqi-Kurdish background and born in Iran, was killed when the officers, who are special constables, returned fire.
Il Tempo reports Catholic bishops are congregating in Rome for three weeks of debate on the family that could radically reshape the Church’s approach to the divisive issues of divorce and homosexuality. Vatican officials are admitting that clashes are inevitable with Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Secretary General of the synod, saying, “"We are at sea, in choppy waters even!"
O Globo says President Rousseff of Brazil has announced major changes to her government as part of a cost-saving measure. On Brazilian national television, she said eight ministerial positions were eliminated, leaving her Cabinet with 31 members instead of 39. In addition, 30 state secretary jobs and 3,000 other government jobs will be cut.
AP reports hurricane Joaquin destroyed houses, uprooted trees and unleashed heavy flooding as it hurled torrents of rain across the Bahamas. The US Coast Guard said it was trying to reach a disabled cargo ship with 33 people on board that lost contact during the storm.
Televisiete announces at least 12 people died and 600 other were missing as earth and mud engulfed some 125 homes were in the homes, in an avalanche in El Cambray, at town 20 kms from the Guatemalan capital. Among the bodies recovered so far there are also those of two babies.
La Hora reports that in Guatemala, most pregnancies among girls under 14 are the result of rape at the hands of fathers or other relatives, but often it is the girl who is forced to leave the family home, and few perpetrators are punished. Mirna Montenegro, the head of Guatemala’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Observatory said nearly a quarter of all births in Guatemala are among teenage mothers – one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Latin America.
The Daily Mail quotes Amnesty International saying the trial of Iranian satirical cartoonist Atena Farghadani and her lawyer is “clearly politically motivated”. They undergo trial today accused of “illegitimate sexual relations falling short of adultery” after they shook hands. If found guilty, the may face up to 99 lashes.
The BBC reports says European Court of Justice has ruled that Dutch brothel owners must now be able to communicate with sex workers in their own languages so that the workers can be protected from abuse. It is estimated that three-quarters of the women working in the Amsterdam sex industry are foreign and arriving from Eastern Europe, Africa, or Asia. Sepp Blatter has defied calls from FIFA sponsors Budweiser, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Visa to quit immediately as president of world soccer’s governing body FIFA rather than cling on until the emergency election in February. France Football says the seemingly-coordinated interventions from the long-standing corporate backers came a week after the Blatter was interrogated by Swiss investigators and placed under criminal investigation for alleged financial wrongdoing at FIFA, which he has led since 1998.