The following are the top stories in the national and international press today
Times of Malta says the European Commission has warned Malta that a law exempting development on hospital grounds from an environmental impact assessment is “not in line” with EU legislation. It also reports the Prime Minister calling for a global system of quotas for migrants to build on the European quotas agreed last week.
The Malta Independent says an Italian MEP has asked the European Commission to investigate the recent Libyan visas scam.
L-Orizzont says Grand Harbour has been voted the second most interesting port in the world by French cruise liner tourists.
In-Nazzjon says MMDNA employees are uncertain about their future because of the organisation’s dire financial situation.
International news
The New York Times reports the United States and Russia have agreed to implement as soon as possible a series of talks between military commanders about the bombing that the two countries are carrying out in Syria. After talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint news conference that the agreement aims to “avoid senseless accidents”. According to Kerry, who reiterated the US “concern” with regard to the objectives of the Russian intervention in Syria, the contacts could even start as early as today.
The Palestinians raised their flag at the UN for the first time yesterday. CNN says the ceremony was attended by President Mahmud Abbas who earlier launched a searing attack at the General Assembly on Israel’s continued occupation and told world leaders he was no longer bound by agreements that were meant to form the basis for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict. Israel and the United States have dismissed the move as a symbolic gesture that would not serve the cause of peace.
The leader of Libya’s parliament has told a UN gathering his internationally-recognised government would not accept any peace deal that stepped back from what the majority of parties had agreed on so far. Libya Herald reports Ageila Saleh said his government remained committed to dialogue with a rival Islamist-backed government in the west of the country.
AP says just hours before a midnight deadline, a bitterly divided Congress approved a stopgap spending bill to keep the federal government open – but with no assurance there won't be yet another shutdown showdown in December. Democrats helped beleaguered House Republican leaders pass the measure by 277-151 after the Senate approved it by a 78-20 tally earlier in the day.
Nature reports the International Council on Clean Transportation, an independent research body with offices worldwide, has said in a report that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from cars registered in Europe in 2014 were 40 per cent higher on average than their manufacturers claimed. Some cars, including mid-range models from Mercedes, BMW and Peugeot, were found to exceed stated emissions levels by 50 per cent.
Guangxi Daily says seven people were killed and over 50 other injured in a series of parcel bomb explosions in at least 13 locations in southern China. A five-storey building was almost completely destroyed. Later in the day, 60 other suspicious packages were found in the city of Liuzhou, the People’s Daily reported. Police labelled the act a “criminal case” and ruled out terrorism.
Fox News says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has opened a high-level meeting on the biggest refugee and migration crisis since World War II with a warning that “the future does not belong to those who seek to build walls or exploit fears”. He told ministers from dozens of countries they had a responsibility to chart a clear path forward that will reap the benefits of migration “with creativity, compassion and courage”. He said the best solution is for refugees to return home to safe countries and called for stepped-up efforts to prevent wars
A woman and a child drowned off the Greek island of Lesbos after their boat sank, although 45 other people were rescued, AFP reports. According to testimony from the survivors, 49 people had been on board the dinghy when it capsized in the Aegean Sea off the northern coast of Lesbos.
VOA News announces the execution of death row prisoner Richard Glossip in Oklahoma has been halted after the State’s governor stepped in. Mary Fallin has issued a 37-day stay of execution to address legal questions about Oklahoma’s execution protocols and the chemicals used for lethal injection. The Pope also intervened to save Glossip’s life, calling on Fallin to commute the sentence. The Pontiff had also intervened to save the life of Kelly Renee Gissendaner in Georgia but the woman was executed later.
La Republica says a Florentine judge sentenced a 55-year-old plumber to 20 years’ jail for the rape, torture and murder of a 26-year-old Romanian sex worker in May last year. The prosecution had sought a life sentence for Riccardo Viti, who left the body of Andrea Cristina Zamfir strapped to an iron bar in a Crucifixion-like pose under a freeway bridge on the outskirts of Florence. Viti is suspected of carrying out as many as nine other rapes of sex workers, whose statements led police to the suspect.