The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says a study has found that students, teachers and parents are “overwhelmingly” satisfied with the new co-education system despite the “teething problems” in certain schools. In another story it quotes Opposition leader Simon Busuttil saying the Auditor General should investigate the sudden departure of the lead contractor in the new power station as this raised issues of professionalism.
The Malta Independent says a Sicilian man who set up gaming consultancy firm Tyche Consultancy with former police inspector Daniel Zammit and his brother, is said to be good friends with Mario Gennaro, the Calabrian Mafia’s alleged point-man in the betting industry in Malta.
In-Nazzjon says Malta is serving as a hub of fuel trafficking operations from a number of countries towards Europe.
L-Orizzont says Maltese living in the Netherlands have experienced the worst storm the country has had since 1901.
International news
NATO’s council, comprising diplomats from 28 countries will meet tomorrow in Brussels at the request of Turkey to discuss military operations against the Kurdish separatist PKK and Isis. Al Jazeera reports on the ground, protests erupted on Sunday in a sensitive district of Istanbul after raids against suspected fighters earlier in the week, leaving one police officer dead.
Al Thawra says Syrian President Bashar Assad vowed Sunday to win his country’s long-running civil war while acknowledging his troops had lost territory to rebel forces and were running short on manpower. Assad’s speech came in the fifth year of a conflict pitting his forces against rebels, Islamist insurgents and the extremist Islamic State group.
Ethiopian Observer reports President Obama has arrived in Addis Ababa for the second leg of African tour. In addition to bilateral meetings with Ethiopian Prime Minister Desalegn and President Teshome, Obama will participate in a meeting with regional leaders (Kenya, Sudan, Ethiopia, African Union and Uganda) specifically devoted to the fight against terrorism and South Sudan.
More than 60 per cent of the Catalans and 80 per cent of Spanish citizens do not consider the independence of Catalonia feasible. According to a survey published by El Pais, 32 per cent of Catalans and 13 per cent of Spaniards consider that the independence of Catalonia “will be possible in the future” while 63 per cent of Catalans and 82 per cent of Spaniards think “it is a theme with little to zero chance of being realised.”
The Greek government had no “plan B” ideas for a parallel payment system, much less a move to the new drachma, deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas has told Mega Channel. Earlier, the Greek Kathimerini daily published excerpts from a recent teleconference where former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis allegedly disclosed plans, under Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ implicit agreement, to create a covert parallel payment system. Mardas weighed in on the revelations saying there were never government-level discussions for the so-called plan B.
London’s LBC says more than 5,000 armed soldiers could be deployed onto UK streets in the wake of any major terrorist attack. The plan would see an unprecedented military response to terrorism if Islamic State or other fanatics struck in Britain. Details of the plan emerged after a secret document was mistakenly uploaded to a police chiefs’ website. It came as David Cameron set off on a four-day trade tour of Malaysia and Indonesia, where terrorism is likely to be at the top of the agenda.
Haaretz reports Israeli police said they entered the Al-Aqsa mosque compound Sunday to stop Palestinians hurling iron bars, rocks and firecrackers at security forces in what a spokeswoman said was “part of a plan to attack Jewish worshippers”. Four policemen were injured and three Palestinians were arrested. Arabic television networks said police stormed the compound, which Jews call the Temple Mount, and attacked Muslim worshippers inside the mosque.
In Britain, The Sun reveals Lord Sewel is facing a police inquiry after quitting as House of Lords deputy speaker over a video allegedly showing him taking drugs with prostitutes. The footage showed him snorting powder from a woman’s breasts with a £5 note. Lords Speaker Baroness D’Souza said he had also quit as chairman of the Lords privileges and conduct committee in the wake of The Sun on Sunday’s story. Baroness D’Souza said his behaviour was “shocking and unacceptable” and that she was referring him to the police.
NBC News reports Bobbi Kristina Brown, 22, the only daughter of singers Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown, has died – nearly five months after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub of her home last January. Her family said she suffered irreversible brain damage. Police have said that they investigated the case as a medical emergency and that no foul play is suspected. No criminal charges have ever been brought.
France 24 reports Chris Froome won the Tour de France for a second time in three years, crossing the finish line in Paris after covering more than 2,000 miles in three weeks. The 30-year-old Englishman, who was born in Kenya, won by 1 minute, 12 seconds over Colombia’s Nairo Quintana. Froome also earned the polka-dot jersey of the King of the Mountains, the sixth rider to win both that and the leader’s yellow jersey and the first since Eddy Merckx in 1970.
Los Angeles Times says New Jersey native Noah Dellas was the 2015 Special Olympics World Games’ first gold medalist, crossing the finish line in Long Beach first in the triathlon with a time of 1:12.59. Della led wire to wire, coming out of the ocean first after a half-mile open-water swim that took him a shade more than 15 minutes to complete. He then did two loops on a bike near the Long Beach Arena down Shoreline Drive, finishing the 11-mile ride in 34:55 for an even larger lead. And Dellas finished strong on the 5,000 metre run, coming in under a seven-minute mile pace, and crossed the finish line to a roaring ovation.