The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says a third of students have been affected by bullying, a study shows.
The Malta Independent reports that Simon Busuttil was disappointed yesterday not to be given a list of persons granted citizenship under the Individual Investment Programme.
MaltaToday reports how Lino Farrugia who heads the FKNK, served as a government consultant during the time of the referendum. He was paid €1,000 a month.
l-orizzont reports that the government is optimistic that the bus service will recover in the coming weeks.
In-Nazzjon quotes a man rescued during the Sunday car crash saying the driver emerged from the Porsche shouting ‘Sorry, sorry’. The newspaper also asks who will assume responsibility.
The overseas press
Hundreds of thousands of failed asylum seekers will be deported from Europe within weeks under secret plans leaked to London’s The Times. Brussels will threaten to withdraw aid, trade deals and visa arrangements if countries refuse to take back their economic migrants.
Some 3,000 people have died trying to cross Mediterranean this year while 558,000 migrants and refugees have reached Europe. Le Courrier quotes the International Organization for Migration saying migrants and refugees who perished in the Mediterranean accounted for almost three-quarters of the total who have died worldwide.
German TV channel ARD has defended itself from accusations of promoting Islamophobia after it mocked up an image of Chancellor Angela Merkel in traditional Islamic clothing, saying the image was intended as “satire”.
Fox News reports the state of Texas has executed a death row inmate convicted of fatally shooting a man in 1998, after robbing his victim of $8. Juan Garcia, 35, had previously sought clemency over mental health issues. He was the eleventh person put to death this year in Texas, the US state with the greatest number of executions.
Pope Francis has told the 270 bishops meeting in Rome that the question of whether divorced Catholics who remarry should be allowed to take communion was not the sole focus of the synod on the family. “It’s necessary to take account of the broadness of the issues,” he said. Ansa says the pontiff also stressed that “Catholic doctrine on marriage had remained unchanged”.
Meanwhile, Corriere della Sera reports Italians reacted with outrage and disgust after a Catholic priest said he could understand being a paedophile but not being gay. Fr Gino Flaim, a pastoral collaborator in Trento, told an afternoon talk show on La7 TV channel that some children seek affection from a priest because they are neglected at home. The priest has since been suspended from all pastoral work.
Russian involvement in the Syrian civil war seems to be escalating, with NATO’s secretary general saying Russian ground troops were in Syria as well. Jens Stoltenberg told CNN Russia’s incursions into Turkish airspace were “unacceptable” and “dangerous”. He expressed alarm over the Russian military’s expansion on several fronts in Syria.
Volkswagen Chief Executive Matthias Mueller has told the FAZ the company believes “only” 9.5 million vehicles were affected and would have to be recalled. He confirmed the recall could begin in January and “all the cars should be fixed by the end of 2016”. Industry experts had earlier estimated the scandal would affect 11 million worldwide.
The Financial Times says America’s technology giants are scrambling to overhaul their transatlantic operations after the European Court of Justice scrapped a deal that allowed tech companies to ship personal information wholesale to the US. In a landmark ruling on Tuesday, the EU’s top court declared that the “Safe Harbour” agreement did not sufficiently guarantee the protection of Europeans’ personal data.
The New York Times reports former UN General Assembly President John Ashe was among six diplomats arrested by American authorities at the end of an investigation on kickbacks paid to UN officials to support real-estate development projects in Macao (China). UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “shocked and deeply troubled” by the news.
Science Daily says the biggest study ever of women who had ovarian tissue removed, frozen and transplanted suggests the experimental technique is safe and can help about one third of them to have babies.
According to a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the UK topped the list of 80 countries for its palliative care. Australia and New Zealand took the second and third spots in the “2015 Quality of Death” survey, with the US in ninth position after Ireland, Belgium, Taiwan, Germany and the Netherlands. War-torn Iraq ranked bottom when it came to its treatment of dying patients.
Dominion Post reports AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd has lost his appeal against a string of recent convictions in New Zealand. The musician had been ordered in June to serve a sentence of eight months home detention along with six months of post-release conditions and payment of $NZ120,000 (€70,000) reparation after pleading guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of methamphetamine and cannabis.