The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says bus commuters are likely to have difficulty getting to work and back today, after the General Workers’ Union ordered a six-hour public transport strike. In another story, it says Malta will be allocated 138 immigrants under a quota mechanism unveiled yesterday by the European Commission as part of a wider plan of action.
The Malta Independent says farmers who own land in Zonqor in Marsascala have appealed to the government not to take their livelihoods away and to develop the new university at the former Jerma hotel site.
In-Nazzjon says a yard wall was built in Gozo using public funds for a canvasser of Gozo Minister Anton Refalo.
L-Orizzont says the European Commission has committed itself to come up with quotas for the relocation of refugees among its member states.
International news
The Vatican has confirmed it will officially recognise Palestine as a state. Avvenire reports the as yet unsigned treaty states that the Holy See has switched its diplomatic relations from the Palestine Liberation Organisation to the state of Palestine. Spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi confirmed it was “a recognition that the state exists”. He said Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be granted an audience with the Pope when he visits the Vatican next Saturday.
ANA-MPA quotes Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis saying the negotiations between Greece and its creditors were now at “the most difficult, precarious point”. Talking to tax office employees, he said the creditors were pressuring the government to “take all existing wages above €700 and bring them below €700”. He said “the government was fighting this ruthless policy and stance on a daily basis”.
The New York Times reveals preliminary data showed the derailed Amtrak train in Philadelphia was travelling at more twice the speed limit when the accident happened, killing seven people and injuring more than 200. The National Transportation Safety Board’s disclosure came as investigators pored over video footage and data from the black box aboard the train.
Zaman reports top diplomats from Nato nations have met with their Ukrainian counterpart Pavlo Klimkin to put the heat on Russia to speed up the truce in Ukraine. They issued a warning that Putin should waste no time in fully implementing the peace deal to completely end hostilities in Ukraine.
Al Ayyam says Iraq’s foreign ministry has claimed that the deputy leader of the Islamic State has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike in northern Iraq. General Tahsin Ibrahim said Al-Afari was inside a mosque in Tal Afar meeting dozens of militants, who also died in the strike.
Dawn reports attackers wielding pistols and machine guns have stormed a bus in Karachi, killing at least 43 people and injuring a dozen more belonging to the minority Ismaili Shiite religious group. Two different Islamist extremist groups claimed responsibility for it.
Iwacu says a top Burundian general who claimed to have dismissed President Pierre Nkurunziza has ordered the closure of the capital’s main airport. Major General Godefroid Niyombare gave the order as the president tried to fly home from neighbouring Tanzania. Niyombare said the president had been deposed after he violated the national constitution and a group of peace accords by seeking a third term in June elections.
Swearing and not saying thank you are not cool, Pope Francis said yesterday, urging parents to teach children good manners and respect for others. Ansa says the Pontiff told his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square, “at times, it seems to me that we’re becoming an ill-mannered, foul-mouthed society, as if people think it’s a sign of emancipation”, adding one needed “to stifle this behaviour in the bosom of the family. Otherwise, society will lose out”.
Police in south-western China have arrested 10 people for killing a female giant panda – a endangered species that tops the country’s list of protected animals. China Central Television said that forest police in Yunnan province recovered panda skin, panda meat, bones and an internal organ from the poachers. If convicted, the suspects could be jailed for years. A recent census shows the wild panda population grew by 268 to a total of 1,864 in China since the last survey ending in 2003.
Argentinian soccer legend Diego Maradona and his lawyer Angelo Pisano will go on trial in Italy in July next year for slandering the Equitalia tax collection agency. Il Tempo says Maradona is accused of defaming Equitalia by repeatedly claiming in media interviews the agency had “persecuted” him, had quoted “false documents” and used “heavy-handed” methods against him. In October 2013, Equitalia notified Maradona it was beginning procedures to freeze his assets in Italy to pay off a tax debt of €39 million – a tax bill that dates back to the time he played for Napoli from 1984 to 1991, when he helped the club win its two Serie A titles.
Football: Juventus will meet Barcelona in the Champions League final after knocking out holders Real Madrid on a 3-2 aggregate. Madrid’s main sports newspapers leapt upon the irony of a Madrid boy – former Real youth team product Morata – dumping his old team out of the competition, with Marca observing that a “Madridista” had prevented the “final of all finals” between Real and Barcelona.