The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta speaks to Archbishop Charles Scicluna who says the strongest message to emerge from a bruising three-week synod at the Vatican is a willingness to have an open Church. In another story it says that none of the projects mentioned by the Prime Minister when he announced the setting up of the St George’s Bay Regeneration Corporation have applied for a permit.
The Malta Independent quotes a report in the Asian Times which says that Libya’s smuggling king, who reportedly has links with human traffickers, has a Maltese-registered company and owns a ship that operates out of Malta.
L-Orizzont says the Marsascala council is concerned as most restaurant owners along the quay are going over the approved zone with their tables and chairs.
In-Nazzjon leads with Opposition leader Simon Busuttil’s closing address to the party’s general council in Gozo yesterday during which he said that his party would bring a real change in the country’s administration.
International news
Leaders from Central European countries and Balkan states have agreed a 17-point plan to tackle the migrant crisis. It includes proving food and shelter for 100,000 people. RTL Televizija says countries also pledged to increase border controls and improve cooperation. EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said 400 police officers would be sent to Slovenia to help secure its border and extra forces would also be sent to help Greece.
The opposition Eurosceptic Law and Justice Party – that wants to keep migrants out and spend more on Poland’s own poor – has won a decisive victory in the country’s parliamentary elections. Polskie Radio reports exit polls give it 39.1 per cent of the vote – sufficient to allow it to govern alone having garnered 242 seats out of 460 in the lower house. Outgoing Prime Minister, Civic Platform’s Ewa Kopacz has already conceded defeat.
Meanwhile, Kathimerini says a woman and two children aged two and seven have drowned after their boat smashed into coastal rocks on the Greek island of Lesbos amid turbulent seas. The coast guard says the boat carried 63 migrants at the time and 53 of the passengers were rescued.
The head of European airplane maker Airbus has said Germany should make it easier for refugees to find work, even if it means giving them part-time work and low-paid jobs. In a guest article in Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Tom Enders argued that Germany should be more “pragmatic” and open up its labour market to migrants. He said in the US, migrants are integrated successfully because they are allowed to work very soon after their arrival.
Argentinian government candidate Daniel Scioli has won the first round of presidential elections, but partial results show he could be forced to run-off on November 22 with Mauricio Macri of the Cambiemos coalition. C5N reports both Scioli and Macri have both won about 35 per cent of the votes counted so far.
And in Guatemala, Televisiete announces that a former TV comedian has won the run-off vote in the presidential election. Jimmy Morales polled 72 per cent of the votes against the former first lady, Sandra Torres, who admitted defeat before all the votes were counted.
The East African says Tanzania’s ruling party looked set to win presidential and parliamentary elections despite a challenge to its five decades in power from former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa, who has voiced concerns the poll may not be free or fair. Late on Sunday, the Chadema Party, part of the opposition coalition led by Lowassa, said police raided its vote-tallying centre in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam and arrested opposition officials.
Republican US presidential hopeful Donald Trump has said the world would have been a better place if dictators such as Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi were still in power. The billionaire real estate tycoon also told a CNN’s talk show the Middle East “blew up” around US President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, his biggest Democratic rival in the race for the White House. Meanwhile, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows Republican voters view Trump as their strongest general election candidate.
Haaretz reports a Palestinian woman was shot and wounded by border police in the southern West Bank city of Hebron yesterday after attempting to stab officers there. The police saif the woman was acting and when requested to identify herself, she suddenly drew a knife and approached them yelling.
At least 121 people were injured after a ferry sailing from southern Chinese coastal territory of Macau to Hong Kong slammed into an unidentified object. The TurboJET ferry company vessel had 163 passengers and 11 crew members on board. The Standard says the injured were sent to the Chinese hospitals and the authorities launched an investigation into the accident.
Donetskie Novosti reports the authorities’ pro-Russian Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, have accused Doctors Without Borders of espionage, a few days after having expelled it from their territories together with seven other international organisations, including the UN World Food Programme. They wrote on their website MSF was also guilty of collecting data on the defensive systems of the pro-Moscow militia. MSF has warned that the expulsion of NGOs would affect public health and asked the Donetsk authorities to reconsider. .
Al Ahram reports scientists will scan four of Egypt’s ancient pyramids starting next month using waves, particles and thermal imaging in order to see what lies beneath their surface. Antiquities Minister Mamdouh Eldamaty says the project will begin south of Cairo with the scanning of the so-called Bent Pyramid at Dashour, followed by the nearby Red Pyramid. Later, the two largest pyramids on the Giza plateau, those of Cheops and Chephren, will also be scanned.
Three hundred monuments worldwide were light in “UN blue” as part of the celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the United Nations. Global Post says the idea was to promote the message of peace, development and human rights as part of the UN. The initiative began in New Zealand, moving across countries and continents to involve the main monuments of the world, including the Sydney Opera House, the Pyramids of Giza, the statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro, the Empire State Building in New York and Skytree Tower in Japan. The UN headquarters in New York remained lit for two nights.
Ansa says cleaners at the Bolzano Museum have removed a piece of art, thinking that the bottles, glasses and garlands scattered on the floor were the remains of a party. Instead it was the work of artists Sara Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari, who have been working as an artistic duo since 2001 under the name goldiechiari, titled “Where are we going to dance tonight?” All items have been recovered from the trash cans and the authorities have promised the collection would be rearranged as soon as possible.