The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says former police chief Ray Zammit is insisting his order to remove a car from the scene of a shooting incident involving a minister’s driver was misinterpreted by police officers. In another story it says more than half the budget allocated in tenders to equipment for a new university solar laboratory has gone to one company, which is the subsidiary of a group whose chairman is the lab’s lead scientist.
L-Orizzont says the police have arrested a Panamanian at the airport after he was found in possession of four kilograms of cocaine.
In-Nazzjon says the Public Service Commission is approving scandalous appointments in the police force.
The Malta Independent says Zonqor Point farmers have already started ploughing their fields in preparation for the winter crop even though they do not know if the land will still be theirs in a few months.
International news
Greece and its creditors reached a deal on the debt-hit country’s budget targets for the next three years early this morning, a government source told state agency ANA. The source said Athens has committed to a primary deficit of 0.25 per cent of output in 2015, and a surplus in 2016, meaning that no new fiscal measures would be necessary until then.
Meanwhile, Kathimerini quotes a Leibniz Institute of Economic Research paper which shows Germany, which has taken a tough line on Greece, has profited from the country's crisis to the tune of €100 billion. Researchers say the country’s cost of borrowing fell as investors rushed to put their money into German government bonds. The bonds were seen as a safe bet, amid fears of a Grexit.
Le Soir reports the European Commission has approved €2.4 billion of aid over six years for member countries struggling to cope with a tide of immigrants. Italy and Greece will receive the bulk of aid, with nearly €560 million and €473 million earmarked for the two southern European countries respectively.
Fuji TV announces that Japan has this morning switched on a nuclear reactor – ending a two-year shutdown sparked by public fears following the 2011 Fukushima crisis, described as “the worst atomic disaster in a generation”. The 31-year-old reactor, operating under tougher safety rules, is expected to reach full capacity later today and would start generating power by Friday.
Commercial operations are set to begin early next month.
ABC News reports astronauts on board the International Space Station made history last night by eating the first fresh food grown in space, in what NASA described as a key step in making a human mission to Mars possible. NASA welcomed the tasting by tweeting: “One small bite for a man, one giant leaf for mankind.’’
The US Consulate in Istanbul has been fired on by two female assailants, hours after a suspected car bomb attack at a police station. Turkey’s Dogan news agency says no one was hurt in the attack on the consulate building, but the two shooters fled after a gun battle with police. Turkish broadcaster NTV later said the police had arrested a female suspect who was reportedly wounded and hid in a building following the attack.
CNN announces St Louis County declared a state of emergency after a night of unrest in Ferguson, as a teenager was charged with shooting at police officers. The 18-year-old was charged in connection with a shoot-out in Ferguson on Sunday after a day of peaceful protests marking one year since the police shooting of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown.
Afghan Times reports President Ashraf Ghani has called on Pakistan to crack down on the Taliban after a suicide car bombing earlier in the day near Kabul’s international airport killed five people. In a televised address, Ghani also blamed neighbouring Pakistan for what he described as Islamabad’s support to the insurgents.
Xinhua reports a Chinese military court gave a suspended death sentence to a general convicted of bribery and other crimes, the highest-ranking military officer to be tried since China’s president began cracking down on corruption in the country’s vast army. Gu Junshan, the People’s Liberation Army’s former head of logistics, was also found guilty of abuse of power, embezzlement, accepting bribes and misusing state funds and received a death sentence with a two-year reprieve.
The Wall Street Journal says Google Inc has announced a major shake-up of its operating structure, creating a holding company called Alphabet which would contain subsidiaries to separate its core web advertising business from newer ventures like driverless cars. The surprising news sent shares of Google up almost 7 per cent to $708 in after hours trading.
Donald Trump has suffered no ill effects among Republican voters following a recent debate controversy. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Trump maintaining a two-to-one lead over his nearest rival, Jeb Bush: Trump has 24 per cent of the vote and thus retains the lead while Bush fell from 17 to 12 per cent. The survey was conducted between the end of the debate and Sunday.
More than half of people eligible to vote for the next UK Labour leader back Jeremy Corbyn in a new survey. According to the YouGov survey for The Times, the left-wing backbencher has almost doubled his lead over closest rival Andy Burnham – despite numerous Labour figures lining up to discredit his leadership bid.
The new Stephen Hawking is a 12-year-old gypsy child. Her name is Nicole Barr, daughter of migrants working in the English county of Essex and, according to NY Daily News, she got 162 on the IQ test. The score of the child exceeds that of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking by two points.
People who eat lots of fried food and sugary drinks have a 56 per cent higher risk of heart disease compared to those who eat healthier, according to US researchers. The findings in Circulation, a journal of the American Heart Association, were based on a six-year study of more than 17,000 people in the United States.