The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas newspapers.
The Times quotes Justice Minister Chris Said saying that the Cohabitation Bill is based on what society accepts.
The Malta Independent quotes Dr Dais saying that gay couples are not a family
MaltaToday says a company’s deal with the former Deepwater Horizon boss for oil exploration off Malta has raised eyebrows.
In-Nazzjon says the law on cohabitation was dictated by social reality.
l-orizzont leads with the Labour Party press conference about illegal storage of glass at Wied Fulija.
The overseas press
The Republican Party in the United States has formally nominated Mitt Romney as its candidate for the next November’s presidential election. Fox News reports delegates from across the country cast more than 1,100 votes for the former Massachusetts governor during a roll-call at their convention in Tampa, Florida. The move allows him to access party funds raised for the campaign. A Washington Post opinion poll shows the Democratic incumbent, President Obama, and Romney in a tight contest. It says Romney has the support of 47 percent of likely voters, compared to 46 percent for Obama – little change from early July's figures.
Parts of the US Gold Coast have started to flood as tropical storm Isaac skirted Florida’s western coastline before becoming a hurricane. VOA says many are watching the storm’s path as it nears the American state of Louisiana, heading for the city of New Orleans which has closed the new massive floodgates designed to protect it from the storm surge. Thousands of people have fled New Orleans and the Louisiana coast while others have shut themselves indoors. The National Hurricane Centre said some parts of Louisiana could see water surges as high as three to four metres and sustained winds of 130 kph. Earlier on Tuesday, President Obama urged residents to get out of the storm’s way, saying now was not the time to tempt fate and disobey official warnings.
A powerful typhoon has also brought strong winds and heavy rains to the northern areas of South Korea, leaving at least eight people dead and thousands without power. Global Post says Typhoon Bolaven churned up rough seas before making landfall in already flood-ravaged North Korea.
France 24 reports French prosecutors have opened a murder investigation into the death of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat following recent claims he was poisoned with radioactive polonium. His widow filed a legal complaint last month after a television documentary by Al Jazeera suggested he was killed by radioactive poisoning. Arafat died on November 11, 2004, in a French military hospital where he was being treated for an unnamed illness. Doctors have never been able to give a concrete explanation for his death.
al bawaba quotes the United Nations refugee agency reporting a sharp increase in the number of Syrians crossing into Jordan and Turkey. It attributes the rise to increasing violence around Syrian city of Darayya. It said 10,200 Syrians fled to Jordan over the past week and as many as 200,000 refugees have fled to Turkey to escape fighting in Syria – almost double the number Turkey says it can take.
Haaretz reports an Israeli judge has rejected a lawsuit from the family of US-based activist Rachel Corrie, who was crushed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003. The judge found the man who drove his bulldozer over Corrie was not negligent. She had been part of a group of activists attempting to be human shields to stop the Israeli military destroying Palestinian homes in Gaza at the height of the second Intifada. Nine years after Corrie’s death, friends and relatives of the victims vented their frustration at the verdict, describing it as “a travesty of justice.”
El Universal quotes President Philippe Calderon of Mexico promising a thorough investigation into the wounding by Mexican police of two US government officials. He said he wanted to get to the bottom of how the two men were followed by federal police officers.
Le Soir reports that the former wife and accomplice of the Belgian child killer Marc Dutroux has entered a convent after her early release from prison. Michelle Martin has served half of the 13-year prison sentence to her part in kidnapping, rape and killing of girls carried out by Dutroux in the 1990s.
An eyewitness has reportedly told RadarOnline.com that cocaine was used in the hotel room where Prince Harry romped naked during a now-infamous Las Vegas party. This latest bombshell follows Radar’s exclusive report that the Prince's nude "strip billiards" escapade at the Wynn Hotel and Casino were caught on video – a development extending the British royal family’s embarrassment which (unsuccessfully) attempted to ban their publication in the UK. According to the source, the content shown on the video is far from tame.
Norwegians suffer more chronic pain on average than most of their European neighbours. Ansa reports that data presented at the opening of the World Congress on Pain in Milan, 30 per cent of Norwegians report chronic pain. They are followed by Poland at 27 per cent and Italy, between 25 and 27 per cent. Spain, at 12 per cent, and Great Britain at 13 per cent, are among the lowest. Researchers also noticed an inverse relationship between pain and education level: those with the least amount of education suffer the most pain while the best-educated suffer less.
The BBC says the torch for the Paralympic Games has been lit at a ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in southern England. Flame from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were united at the hospital, which was the first in the world to stage recognised sports events for people with disabilities. The flame’s next stop is London, where the games begin later today. The 4,200 athletes represent 160 countries, making the event the biggest Paralympic Games ever.