The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says Queen Elizabeth II starts a three day visit to Malta today to attend what could be her last Commonwealth summit outside the UK. In another story it quotes Education Minister Evarist Bartolo saying that the country’s school system caters for the middle classes, pushing those on the fringes of society into exclusion.
The Malta Independent says European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has sent a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat warning him of the political ramifications if Malta does not confirm its participation in the Single Resolution Mechanism by the stipulated November 30 deadline.
In-Nazzjon says that Malta is among 60 countries being targeted by ISIS.
L-Orizzont leads with a story on the preparations that are underway for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting which starts this evening.
International news
CNN says tensions in the Middle East ratcheted up dangerously yesterday, a day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane, with the Turkish President accusing Russia of deceit and Russia announcing it would deploy anti-aircraft missiles systems to its Hmeymim air base near Latakia, on Syria’s Mediterranean coast.
Cumhuriyet quotes Turkish President Erdogan condemning “the violation of Turkish airspace by Russian warplanes”, calling the incident an infringement of his country’s sovereignty. His remarks came a day after Russian President Putin accused Turkey of being “the terrorists’ accomplices”. Erdogan disputed that claim in a speech yesterday.
The Turkish army has released a series of audio recordings of apparent warnings issued to a Russian jet before it was downed near the Syrian border, AFP reports. “This is Turkish Air Force speaking on guard. You are approaching Turkish airspace. Change your heading south immediately,” a voice in one of the recordings can be heard saying. Meanwhile, one of the Russian pilots told state media that there was no prior warning
Kenya Post reports Pope Francis made an impassioned plea for social justice and environmental protection as the means to combat the poverty that is a breeding ground for extremism. “Violence, conflict and terrorism...are fuelled by fear and desperation...born of poverty and frustration,” he said in a speech at State House, the official residence of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
France 24 says France’s lower house of parliament has approved, by 515 for to five against, the extension of air strikes against Islamic State’ in Syria after the group claimed responsibility for the Paris attacks. President François Hollande cited specific threats against French interests stemming from IS in Syria. Meanwhile, Hollande urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to battle the IS group.
According to Radio Tunis, Tunisia announced it was closing its land border with war-torn Libya for 15 days following a deadly bus bombing in Tunis claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group. The National Security Council headed by President Beji Caid Essebsi decided to close the frontier from midnight with “reinforced surveillance of maritime borders and in airports”, a presidency statement said.
Le Figaro says a UN conference on climate change will start a day earlier than planned. Some 150 heads of state and government are expected to produce a pact that can limit average global warming to 2oC over pre-Industrial Revolution levels. The official opening with heads of state and government will take place on Monday as scheduled.
O Globo reports that police in Brazil have, for the first time, arrested a sitting senator, Delcidio Amaral, who is a member of the governing Workers’ Party. He is being detained in connection with the corruption enquiry of the state-oil company Petrobras.
La Razon says lawmakers in Peru have dismissed proposals to decriminalise abortions for women who have been raped. A legal commission in the Congress voted to reject a Bill to permit abortion in such cases, blocking the lower house from holding a full debate on the proposal.
Fox News says a court has convicted a man of murder after he shot dead his wife and posted a picture of her body on Facebook. The jury in Florida rejected Derek Medina’s argument that he had acted in self-defence after she threatened him with a knife. He’s due to be sentenced in January.
SBS Radio says an Australian Facebook user calling himself “Phuc Dat Bich” has said his viral postings about discrimination by the social network due to his name were a hoax. The prankster, now styling himself equally perplexingly as “Joe Carr”, garnered worldwide media attention and public support after saying Facebook repeatedly shut down his page due to his Vietnamese name.
LBC says a video has emerged showing a morning crash between a bike and a London a taxi - and for once, it ended with a handshake and not fisticuffs. The dramatic clip, filmed on Edgware Road, shows the moment the cyclist is knocked off his bike by a taxi that turns into him. Luckily neither was travelling very fast and the uploader says that both men shook hands soon after the collision.
According to Sky News, How I Met Your Mother star Sherri Shepherd has been found legally responsible for a child born to a surrogate she hired along with her ex-husband before they divorced. A court has ruled the 48-year-old actress must continue to pay €3,860 a month in child support to her ex-husband, who is raising the one-year-old boy in Los Angeles. He told AP: “She doesn't want to be part of his life. It's all good. I’m going to be parent enough for the both of us.”