The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says new regulations will ban poisonous and venomous pets ban as well other dangerous animals such as bears and crocodiles. It also reports Archbishop Charles Scicluna on Times Talk, where he came out fighting for the Church’s right to speak.
Malta Today says that party financing rules were still raising the Council of Europe's watchdog eyebrows but were no longer 'globally unsatisfactory'.
In-Nazzjon says the government has kept an agreement with the Gozo Curia for the building of a home for the elderly on the site of the previous St Joseph Institute in Ghajnsielem under wraps.
L-Orizzont says Air Malta started making losses in 2003 went it under by €21.8 million.
The Malta Independent reports a Nationalist Party statement in which the PN insisted that the Speaker did not mention to Opposition leader Simon Busuttil that the issue regarding the fuel consumption of his car had been handed over to the police.
International news
Italian Prime Minister Matteo has appealed to Europe to change to stem the rising tide of right-wing anti-immigrant sentiment. Writing on Facebook, Renzi warned that if Europe did not change course, European institutions risked becoming the best allies of far-right French politician Marine Le Pen and those who would imitate her. Le Pen’s National Front has told Ansa it stood with Italy’s anti-immigrant, anti-euro Lega Nord.
European Parliament president Martin Schulz has told Die Welt the EU was under threat from rising populism and nationalism fuelled by a record migrant influx. He voiced concern about a lack of solidarity by many EU members in hosting the refugees.
Meanwhile, the EU Observer reveals the European Commission intends to open an infringement procedure against Italy, Croatia, Greece and Malta for an “incorrect application of EU regulations” that provide for the collection of fingerprints of all persons landing. The decision is expected made official tomorrow.
Six refugee children, including a new-born baby, have drowned in the Aegean Sea. The Turkish news agency Anadolu says the boat they were in, together with an unknown number of people, capsized off of Izmir while trying to reach Greece. Eight other migrants were rescued by the Turkish coast guard, who recovered the bodies of the six children.
Fox News announces the UN refugee agency has called on Jordan to let in 12,000 Syrian refugees stranded on the border. The immigrants are fleeing air strikes as well as individual violence.
A Belgian anti-terrorism source told the BBC that Greek police tried to capture the suspected ringleader of the Paris terror attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, last January but the operation failed. Abaaoud, who had been directing the Belgian cell by phone from Athens, died in a battle with French police five days after the November 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people.
Japan has launched a new counterterrorism unit in an air of secrecy, with journalists only allowed to photograph its 24 members from behind. Nikkei says the country is expanding its international espionage work after being shocked by the deaths of five Japanese citizens at the hands of Islamic militants this year.
ABC reports Donald Trump has launched a staunch defence of his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States amid a storm of criticism, with Harry Potter author JK Rowling labelling him worse than her fictional villain Voldemort and the White House painting him as a “carnival barker” with “fake hair”. The remarks sparked condemnation from both sides of US politics, as well as world leaders and the United Nations’ Secretary General and refugee agency.US presidential candidates labelled the proposal “reprehensible, xenophobic and racist”.
Meanwhile, CNN says the US House of Representatives has voted to ban visa waivers for people who have travelled to Iraq and Syria. There’s widespread concern that Islamic State operatives could enter the US on European passports.
The whole world has seen Pope Francis forcefully push open the Holy Door to Saint Peter’s yesterday morning to usher in the Jubilee Year because for some strange reason, it seemed to offer resistance. An emblematic gesture, broadcast to the world by Vatican TV, which expressed the Pope’s desire to “push the Church to enthusiastically resume its missionary journey”. The Pope called on Catholics to “abandon all fears” and “live the joy of the encounter with the grace that transforms all”.
Malay Mail says Malaysian authorities are searching for the owners of three Boeing 747 jets that have been abandoned on the tarmac of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Officials have placed an ad in a national newspaper asking the owners of the planes, that have been sitting idle for more than a year, to get in touch.
Time reports a father and son were arrested for stealing more than €37,000 in chicken wings from a New York restaurant, where they work as cooks, and selling them to competitors. Paul Rojek, 56, and his 33-year-old son Joshua have been charged Monday with grand larceny and falsifying business records.
USA Today says a suspected burglar in Florida was killed and partially eaten by an alligator after he hid in a lake to evade police. Matthew Riggins, 22, drowned and was devoured by an 11-foot gator after a police chase last November, according to autopsy results released yesterday. Parts of Riggins’ body were found in the alligator’s stomach. Riggins had allegedly told his girlfriend he would be stealing from homes that day.
RTL Televizija says the head of Croatia’s leading rights group has been left red-faced after his trousers fell down during a photo shoot with President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic. Ivan Zvonimir Cicak was proudly posing in the front row for a photo with the president when his trousers suddenly dropped to his ankles. The president did not appear to react, remaining calm despite a brief glance downwards as he stooped to pull them back up.
As residents of northwest England continue to clear up after some of the world’s flooding in decades, the BBC reports one dairy farmer is reflecting on “a miracle”: 45 of Gordon Tweedie’s cows were swept away by a swollen river. He never expected to see them again. Then the phone began to ring with people reporting sightings if the herd. One cow was discovered on a golf course 30 kilometres from home.