The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta leads with the addresses by Donald Tusk and Martin Schultz to Parliament during which they said that no country and no continent on their own are able to address the challenges arising from the immigration phenomenon. In another story, it says the police have raided the offices of the Malta Football Association in connection with allegations that Germany secured the right to host the 2006 World Cup after paying bribes to FIFA members.
The Malta Independent says French MEP Elisabeth Morin-Chartier has asked the European Commission to investigate whether the practice used by the Maltese authorities in the issuing of visas raises questions related to the security of other EU states.
L-Orizzont says that three permits given on the eve of the 2013 election by the Land Ministry had huge pending bills with the government.
Malta Today says rival bidders had lodged official complaints with the Malta Transport Authority about traffic lights tenders they said were tailor-made for lighting systems of a company represented by rogue trader George Farrugia.
In-Nazzjon speaks about a meeting Opposition leader Simon Busuttil had yesterday with EP President Martin Schulz.
International news
The European Union “misspent” €6.3 billion of its budget in 2014. The International Business Times quotes the European Court of Auditors urging the EU to completely review its spending and investing methods, be more flexible and free up unspent funds so they could be used where needed, such as on refugees and migrants coming to Europe. An estimated 4.4 per cent of total spending by the Union was paid out against EU rules.
Ansa says that on the eve of migration summit in Malta, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has had a telephone conversation with European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker. They discussed the summit and myriad of economic issues. EU and African countries are expected to work out humanitarian and safe migration policy amid the worst refugee crisis in history, addressing the root causes of the problem, including conditions in the migrants’ countries of origin.
Slovenia is to start building razor-wire fences on the border with Croatia to stem the flow of refugees. Prime Minister Miro Cerar told RTV Slovenija that some 30,000 immigrants were on their way towards Slovenia”, adding that the work to build the fence will begin “in the next few days”.
Pope Francis demanded dignified working conditions for all during a pastoral visit to the Tuscan city of Prato on Tuesday. Avvenire says the pontiff recalled the deaths of seven undocumented Chinese textile workers in a Prato sweatshop fire two years ago as an example in a city rampant with the exploitation of vulnerable illegal migrants.
Anti-austerity MPs have forced Portugal’s new centre-right government to resign by rejecting its policy proposals. Espresso says the moderate Socialist Party forged an unprecedented alliance with the Communist Party and the radical Left Bloc to get a majority in the 230-seat parliament and vote down the proposals on Tuesday. Socialist leader Antonio Costa is expected to become prime minister in coming weeks.
Deutsche Welle says German and international leaders alike have paid their respects in the wake of former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt’s passing. Schmidt, who led West Germany from 1974 to 1982, died yesterday at the age of 96. Many consider him to be one of the most important German leaders of the post-war period. German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed her predecessor as “a political institution” and an authority.
The co-founder of Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party says he believes she will still become Myanmar’s president despite the constitutional bar. Tin Oo who founded the National League for Democracy, told Radio Free Asia, “I do (believe she will become president). That’s why I am helping and working for her.” The 2008 constitution was amended by the military-backed government specifically to prevent Suu Kyi from taking the executive post. It says no person with a foreign spouse or children can become president. Her late husband and two sons are British.
The New York Times reports President Obama would sign a $607 billion defence policy bill, after it passed both the House and Senate overwhelmingly. But he still objects to provisions that bar the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States, and he is expected to offer Congress a plan to close the facility.
ABC says an eight-year-old Alabama boy has been charged with murder by beating a one-year-old girl to death while they were left home alone while 26-year-old Katerra Lewis is also charged with manslaughter in the death of her daughter. Several children aged two to eight were left home alone while Lewis and a friend went to a nightclub last month.
NBC reports two Washington DC women could face up to 10 years behind bars after a convenience store surveillance camera recorded them twerking on a stranger. In the video, a woman bends forward and briefly shakes her buttocks against the crotch of an apparently unknown man, who is talking on the phone. As he backs away, a second woman approaches and seems to try to fondle him repeatedly. Both women then continue to touch the man as he seems eager to escape their company. Police released footage of the October 7 incident in an attempt to identify the women, who are wanted on third degree sexual abuse charges.
Sports Business Daily announces the head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory has resigned, hours after it was stripped of its right to test samples. A World Anti-Doping Agency commission had called for a life ban for lab director Grigory Rodchenkov after accusing him of covering up positive doping tests, extorting money from athletes and destroying 1,417 samples before inspectors visited. The announcement came shortly after the International Olympic Committee said it would be ready to strip medals from any Russian athletes found guilty by the International Association of Athletics Federations of doping violations.