The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says letters have been sent to Libyan citizens revoking illegal residence permits. In another story, it says a study will reveal that half of unemployed youths believe they are doomed to spend the rest of their lives sitting around the house without a job.
The Malta Independent says the Opposition yesterday walked out of Parliament in protest against a ruling given by the Speaker following last Friday’s shouting match between Government MP Joe Debono Grech and independent MP Marlene Farrugia.
In-Nazzjon leads with a report of a news conference given by the Opposition yesterday after the group walked out of Parliament following the ruling.
L-Orizzont leads with a report on the Prime Minister’s opening address to the Commonwealth People’s Forum during which he said that work for the promotion of equality should remain consistent.
International news
The United States has issued a worldwide travel alert warning American citizens of “increased terrorist threats” in the wake of the Paris attacks. CNN points out that the US has been on heightened alert in the wake of the attacks, which killed 130 people.
RTF reports Belgian authorities have charged a fourth suspect in connection with the Paris attacks, while releasing 17 other people. At the same time, Belgian police arrested five more people in a second series of anti-terrorism raids as the capital, Brussels, was locked down for a third day under a state of maximum alert.
Ansa reports Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has told a Democratic Party executive meeting on national security that now was the time for parties to get behind the security agenda, which must take precedence over everything else. To this end, he said, the government would today launch a proposal for a unified response to the threat of Islamic terrorism aimed at all political parties.
Meanwhile, Italian Interior Minister Angelino Alfano dismissed complaints that Italian law enforcement lacked the equipment to face the threat posed by Islamist terrorists. He told Repubblica TV that funding for security “had increased steadily” since he became minister.
AGI quotes Rome Prefect Franco Gabrielli saying that the capital’s special security plan for Catholic Church’s upcoming Jubilee kicked into force on Monday. The plan features the deployment of another 2,000 police officers in Rome.
Daily Star says panic spread throughout Lebanon over the weekend although the Anonymous hacking network denied media reports saying it had obtained information about plots by Islamic State militants to attack targets in Lebanon in addition to Paris, the United States, Indonesia and Italy. The reports led to the cancellation of a ceremony on the occasion of Lebanon’s 72nd Independence Day.
Fox News reports the Muslim teenager arrested when a teacher mistook his homemade clock for a bomb is to sue his school and the town of Irving, Texas, for $15 million. President Obama joined a surge of public support by congratulating Ahmed Mohamed, 14, on his skills and inviting him to take the clock to the White House in what was seen as a pointed rebuke to school and police officials amid accusations of Islamophobia.
Addis Admass says the United Nations has warned El Nino floods could displace more than 100,000 people in Ethiopia, where more than eight million people are facing a food crisis. Failed rains during both the spring and summer have created food and water shortages. The government and aid agencies say Ethiopia needs $600 million to cope with the crisis.
Radio Beograd announced that NATO has lifted a ban on over-flying part of Serbia. Air traffic restrictions were introduced in 1999 for a 25-kilometre area up to the border with Kosovo. The decision follows cooperation between Kosovo and Serbia to improve relations.
North Korea has bitterly criticised the South for staging a live-fire drill near their disputed sea border. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, a spokesman for the North’s National Defence Commission described the exercise as the “most vicious military provocation aimed at confrontation” and “reckless sabre-rattling”.
Bild says Germany has withdrawn its contestant, Xavier Naidoo, from the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. Naidoo, who is 44 and of Indian and African origin, has previously been accused of using anti-Semitic slurs and homophobic language in his songs.
The New York Times reports that many American theatres have decided to withdraw the film ‘By the Sea’, written, directed and starring Angelina Jolie and her husband Brad Pitt, which was filmed in Malta. The films proved to be a flop at the box office: it grossed less than $500,000 while last weekend it gained only $3,000.
ABC TV reports Australian man Phuc Dat Bich, who became an Internet sensation after complaining his Facebook page kept being shut down, says he is honoured his name has made people laugh. The 23-year-old, who is of Vietnamese origin, originally posted a complaint on Facebook in January that it was “highly irritating that nobody seems to believe me when I say that my full legal name is how you see it”.