The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
All newspapers lead with yesterday’s presentation of the Budget for 2016.
Times of Malta says COLA will be €1.75 per week but excise tax will go up on cement, cigarettes/tobacco and fuels. The first-time buyers’ property scheme will be extended.
The Malta Independent says the Budget is pro-business but has no real solutions for traffic management.
Malta Today says the Budget registers an improved deficit and introduces higher benefits for low-income families and pensions.
In-Nazzjon says that the government is spending more on itself and those close to it, but little on ordinary people.
L-Orizzont says the Budget includes a series of economic measures aimed to improve the situation of the weakest in society.
International news
The Washington Times reports United States military officials have carried out an air-drop to supply rebel groups in Syria with small arms ammunition. The move, part of Washington’s new approach to battle in the war-ravaged country, comes as UN’s special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura has told reporters he was going to Moscow to encourage more dialogue between the US and Russia.
Moscow Times says Russia’s air force hit 53 targets in Syria in the past 24 hours. The Defence Ministry has said Russian jets destroyed “terrorist” command posts, training camps and ammunition depots.
AP reports Palestinians carried out three stabbings in Jerusalem yesterday, leaving a teenage Israeli boy in critical condition, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu angrily accused the country’s Arab leaders of helping incite weeks of violence. Two of the attackers, both teenage boys, were killed. In a fiery speech at parliament, Netanyahu accused Arab parties of “undermining” the country. He called on Israel’s Arab citizens to “kick out” the extremists among them.
According to Dresdner Neueste Nachrichten newspaper, some 9,000 Dresden residents attended a Pegida anti-refugee rally yesterday. Germany, the main destination for the majority of asylum seekers, has granted asylum to some 600,000 people since the start of the year, with an estimated 10,000 refugees crossing into the country every day.
Finland’s YLE broadcaster quotes the head of the country’s Immigration Service Yana Vuorio saying some 3,000 migrants applied for asylum in Finland over the past week. The Finnish government expects up to 50,000 thousand refugees to arrive to the country by the end of 2015 – making the country third in accepting asylum applications after Germany and Sweden.
LBC says the British Foreign Office has summoned the Ecuadorean ambassador to express dissatisfaction with the country’s embassy in London providing asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Earlier in the day, the London Metropolitan police announced that they would end their 24/7 presence outside the Ecuadorean embassy that started over three years ago when Assange entered the building. According to police, the operation to arrest Assange nevertheless continues.
NRC reports the Dutch Safety Board is later today expected to release the final report into the Malaysia Airlines plane crash last year. Flight MH17 broke up high over eastern Ukraine, in territory held by pro-Russian rebels, killing all 298 people on board, mostly Dutch citizens.
Europe’s climate chief has acknowledged for the first time that climate pledges made by national governments ahead of a major UN conference fall short of meeting the international goal of keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius. In an interview Monday with The Associated Press, Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said the EU’s projections show the current pledges to curb greenhouse gas emissions would put world on a path toward three degrees Celsius of warming – a level that scientists say could result in dangerous changes in the Earth’s climate system, such as rising seas flooding coastal areas and small island nations.
Koha Ditore reports the police in Kosovo have fired tear gas on dozens of protesters who threw stones and smashed windows in protest after a leading opposition MP was taken in for questioning. Albin Kurti, who leads the Self-Determination party and released tear gas in Kosovo’s parliament last week in protest at a recent deal reached with Serbia, was being held in a police station in downtown Pristina for questioning.
IB Times says the Taliban has designated journalists of two biggest Afghani television networks as “enemy personnel” and their stations as “military targets.” The two channels reported that the Taliban were raping women in Kunduz. The Afghan insurgents rejected the reports of rape, calling Tolo and 1TV channels “satanic networks”.
Al Ahram reports an Egyptian court has ordered the release of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s two sons who were sentenced to three years in jail for corruption. The court ordered Alaa and Gamal Mubarak to be released after having taken into account time served since their arrest in 2011.
Vatican Radio announces Pope Francis will be in Africa between November 25 and 30, visiting the Central African Republic as well as Kenya and Uganda. The planned papal trip to the Central African Republic had appeared to be in doubt recently because of a wave of violence that has hit the country.
Timpul says a protester has been caught on CCTV spraying three tonnes of liquid excrement on the doorstep of a political party in the Moldovan capital Chisinau. The man drove a truck up to the front of the Liberal Democratic Party (PLDM) in the early hours of Sunday before turning on a hose which pumped slurry onto the building’s steps.