The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says that the doctors’ union has called for the revocation of a law that allows the normal planning process to be waived for new development taking place on hospital grounds. It also reports Prime Minister Joseph Muscat saying that border controls will remain in place even after the Commonwealth summit next weekend as the government considers suspending the Schengen system indefinitely.
In an opinion piece in The Malta Independent, independent MP Marlene Farrugia explains why she left the government but is staying on in Parliament.
L-Orizzont says Opposition leader Simon Busuttil is objecting to the suspension of the Schengen rules at the airport.
In-Nazzjon reports that Dr Busuttil has challenged the Prime Minister to take action against MP Joe Debono Grech.
International news
RTL announces Belgian police have arrested 16 people during house searches last evening across Brussels and Charleroi. Earlier, Prime Minister Charles Michel announced he had decided to extend the maximum state of alert in the Brussels region. Universities, schools and the city’s metro system will also remain closed.
Dernier Heure reports Belgian Federal prosecutor Eric Van der Syp admitted in a midnight news conference that a massive police and army operation launched across the nation on Sunday evening had failed to catch Salah Abdeslam – the Islamist accused of participating in the Paris attacks. Salah was spotted by Belgian police near the city of Liege but managed to evade officers. The man then headed in the direction of Germany on the E40 motorway and again avoided a police checkpoint set up to intercept him.
Interviewed by RTBF, Mohamed Abdeslam again appealed to his brother Salah to give himself up, adding, “We prefer to see him in prison rather than in a cemetery.” Mohamed later told Rai News 24 his brother had been manipulated into taking part in the attacks.
Le Monde reports that French police have released a photograph of the third suicide bomber who blew himself up at the national stadium in a call for witnesses as they try to confirm his identity. It is thought he travelled from Syria to Greece early last month with another of the Paris attackers.
In an interview with SkyTg24, Italy’s Interior Minister Angelino Alfano has assured Italians the country’s intelligence system works. However, he said, no body must let his guard down as all countries are at risk. He announced his government would expel imams who preach violence.
British Prime Minister David Cameron will today announce plans to put €17billion aside to create Britain’s fastest-ever rapid reaction troops. The Daily Mirror says he will tell today’s Strategic Defence and Security Review two new 5,000-strong strike forces would be formed to take on Islamic State terrorists.
ABC TV quotes Australian police saying 12 men and boys living within the Australian community are capable of committing an act of terror such as killing a random member of the public. They are part of a larger group of 19 men and boys, seven of whom are in prison.
Republican hopeful Donald Trump told ABC if elected US president he would not hesitate to order the return to harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding. The method, used during the years of the Bush administration, has been condemned and prohibited by the Obama administration. According to Fox News, Trump is ahead by 10 points over his nearest rival Ben Carson, with 28 per cent as against 18.
Clarin says the centre-right Buenos Aires mayor Mauricio Macri is the new Argentine President having defeated his rival, the former Vice-President Daniel Scioli, by a margin of nearly one million votes. Loud cheers erupted in Macri’s campaign headquarters as Scioli has admitted defeat. “Today is a historic day,” said Macri, addressing thousands of cheering supporters as horns were heard blaring across Buenos Aires. The result brings to an end 12 years of Peronist government.
CNN reports President Obama has said he would go ahead with a visit to Paris for the UN summit on climate change despite the recent Paris attacks, urging other leaders to do the same. Following an Asia-Pacific summit in Malaysia, Obama said “the most powerful tool we have to fight ISIL is to say that we’re not afraid”.
The leaders of the 10 member states of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) have signed a declaration formally establishing a regional economic bloc. New Straits Times says Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razak called the declaration a landmark achievement in an area of 625 million people with a combined economic output of €2.5 trillion.
An Israeli woman was stabbed to death and three Palestinian attackers were killed in a series of incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Haaretz reports 83 Palestinians have been killed in an eight-week-old wave of bloodshed, while 19 Israelis and an American student have been killed in Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings.
Panamericana TV announces new measures are being introduced in Peru aimed at reducing violence against women. They include tougher penalties of up to 15 years in jail for those who attack family members. President Ollanta Humala asked the nation in a TV address to end traditions that condoned domestic violence.
What do you do when police request no-one tweets pictures of an operation happening outside your door amid a city-wide lockdown? De Tijd has the answer: For Twitter users in Brussels, the answer was obvious – you obey the police request, help defuse tensions, and defy the terror threat by filling the #BrusselsLockdown hashtag with arguably the internet's most meme-able animal, cats. Afterwards Belgian authorities thanked users "for taking into account the needs of the ongoing operation".