The following are the top stories in the national and international news today.
Times of Malta reports that old buses were back on the roads yesterday as the use of 68 bendy buses was suspended pending investigations following a series of fires. No major disruptions were reported in the service. In another story it says that Solomon Tefera, the Eritrean who died after a car crash early on Monday, was on the verge of moving to the US with his American fiancée and their one-year-old daughter.
The Malta Independent says that in its first Global Government Requests Report, Facebook said the Maltese Government made 89 requests for data on 97 users and/or accounts. In another story it reports how the Police Commissioner shrugged off journalists’ questions about the Darryl Luke Borg case yesterday.
In-Nazzjon also leads with the Police Commissioner’s reaction to questions about the case. In another story it reports that unemployment in July increased 9.5 per cent over the previous year.
L-Orizzont leads with a report of yesterday’s Public Accounts Committee meeting which is debating oil procurement when this was former Minister Austin Gatt’s responsibility. The newspaper also reports a speech by GWU general secretary Tony Zarb about precarious employment, which, he said, also existed in the hospitality industry.
International news
As they move toward military action in Syria – possibly within days and presumably without the backing of a UN Security Council resolution – the United States, Britain and France find themselves enmeshed in a debate over practical and moral questions regarding the necessity of a solid legal rationale for armed intervention.
The New York Times reports that the issue largely comes down to a question of whether the Western allies can assemble a sufficiently broad coalition of support for their action, given that many experts say that existing treaties, laws and precedents do not offer a simple or clear-cut case for a military strike against President Assad and his forces.
President Obama has said that the US has concluded that the Syrian Government did carry out a large-scale chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus last week, killing hundreds of people. He told PBS Newshour in a televised interview that he had not yet made a decision on military retaliation but a goal of what he called a limited tailored strike would be to send a shot across the bows and deter any future use of chemical weapons.
Earlier, VOA News reported US State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf criticised Russia, a key ally of Syria, after it used a meeting of the five permanent members of the Security Council to block a British draft resolution which would have authorised measures to protect civilians in Syria.
The Daily Star says Syrian Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi warned that his country would become a “graveyard of the invaders” if there was a military intervention. He also accused Western countries of “inventing” excuses to take military action.
Reuters reports that in Damascus, people are preparing for possible air strikes. Residents stocked up on basic supplies like groceries and bottled water, and queues of people have been drawing cash from banks. Some left homes close to potential targets.
Bloomberg says oil reached a two-year high amid growing concern there will be an American-led military strike against Syria, as markets worry about supplies out of the Middle East, which is responsible for a third of the world's supplies.
In other news...
Ansa says more than 300 migrants, most of them believed to be Syrians, have been rescued from two overcrowded boats off Sicily. Italian coastguard officials say a four-day-old girl born at sea was among the migrants. Both Italy and Malta have urged their EU partners to do more to share the burden of housing irregular migrants.
NBC News says a US military jury has sentenced former army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan to death by lethal injection for killing 13 people in a 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.
CNN reports President Obama has joined thousands of people to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s landmark “I have a dream” speech. From the steps of the Lincoln memorial, where Dr King delivered his speech, Obama said the entire world drew strength from the March on Washington 50 years ago,
According to the Beijing Youth Daily, the six-year-old Chinese boy who had his eyes gouged out reportedly does not know he has been blinded and asks his family why it is always dark.
Earlier Shanxi TV said the boy's corneas were missing, leading to speculation the attacker was an organ trafficker. But police said the corneas had been found attached to the eyeballs. They ruled out organ sales as a motive, although they were unable to provide an alternative explanation.
Michael Douglas, 68, and Catherine Zeta-Jones, 43, are separating after 13 years of marriage. Zeta-Jones' publicist, Cece Yorke and Douglas' publicist, Allen Burry, confirmed to USA Today that the two “are taking some time apart to evaluate and work on their marriage”.
The Washington Post says environmental activists in the US have launched an online campaign urging the World Meteorological Organisation to name hurricanes after politicians who are dismissive of climate change.