The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says that according to the Local Governance Board, Marsascala mayor Mario Calleja acted in the interest of the community when accepting that the Jordanian investor behind the educational facility at Żonqor would build the council’s new premises. In another story, it quotes new Maltese research which found that smoking increased anxiety and tension.
L-Orizzont says three people were arraigned in court for paying with fake €50 notes.
In-Nazzjon says that two Libyans on their way to Malta with fake documents have been arrested in Pozzallo.
The Malta Independent says the public are asking pointed questions about the death of a German national while in police custody.
International news
Euronews reports that after three nights on a Norwegian rescue ship, some 900 migrants disembarked in Palermo yesterday. These latest arrivals were rescued from boats off the coast of Libya in four operations over the Christmas period. Later, Italian Prime Minister Mateo Renzi met with Fayez el Sarraj, the head of Libya’s new national unity government, promising him to help rebuild the war-ravaged country.
Fox News says Central American officials have reached a deal to allow the first of thousands of stranded Cuban migrants to continue their journey north toward the United States. The first humanitarian transfer will airlift Cuban migrants from Costa Rica to El Salvador next month, from where they will continue by bus toward Mexico.
Al Watan reports Saudi Arabia has announced it would raise domestic petrol prices by more than 50 per cent for some products as of today as it cuts a range of subsidies after posting a record budget deficit of $135 billion in 2015. Prices will also increase for electricity, water, diesel and kerosene.
The European Commission is to examine the issue of Poland’s constitutional court next month, PAP news agency said on Monday, after the Polish president signed into law disputed amendments to the court’s powers. The EU executive last week expressed concern over the new rules, which critics say will erode checks and balances in government powers. It asked for their introduction to be put back.
Prime Minister David Cameron walked the flooded streets of York on Monday as Britain’s Environmental Agency warned that the country needed “a complete rethink” of its flood defences. The Daily Mirror says furious residents stranded in deluged areas have blamed Cameron’s flood defence cuts for the carnage. But he rebutted his government had spent €270 million on flood defences since he came into power, and was planning to spend a further €380 million. Roads in York and in nearby Leeds are still under water. Thousands of homes have suffered power cuts.
VOA News says parts of the US Midwest are now having to cope with snow, ice and heavy rain after a weekend of tornadoes and floods which left 43 people dead across seven states in the last few days. Millions of people were stranded after travelling became difficult following the rough weekend, when tornadoes lashed across several southern states. Over 1,100 flights were cancelled and about 1,650 delayed on Monday.
Ansa reports six major Italian cities fought dangerously-high smog levels yesterday ahead of a government summit scheduled for Wednesday. Drivers with license plates ending in uneven numbers were banned from the taking to the roads of Rome. In Milan, 1,500 checks resulted in 300 fines while Florence, Bologna, Modena and Bergamo banned cars from the city centre until December 31.
The New York Times says that the white police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice, a black child, in Cleveland in 2014 will not face criminal charges. County prosecutor Timothy McGinty described a “perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications” in Rice’s death. He was shot dead while carrying what turned out to be a pellet gun and his death sparked national outrage at the police’s use of lethal force. The decision is at odds with a municipal court judge’s advisory ruling in June.
CNN announces a Russian ship left Iran yesterday carrying almost all of the country’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium – fulfilling a major step in the nuclear deal struck last summer and, for the first time in nearly a decade, apparently leaving Iran with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon. The shipment was announced by Secretary of State John Kerry who called it a “significant step” by Iran.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has vowed to sweep the “Islamic State” out of Iraq in 2016. Al Zaman says that revelling in the liberation of Ramadi, he said the liberation of Mosul would be the final blow to the terrorist organisation.
AFP reports the evacuation of more than 450 fighters and civilians, including wounded, started yesterday from three Syrian towns under a rare deal between the regime and rebels. More than 120 fighters left Zabadani, the last rebel bastion on Syria’s border with Lebanon while some 335 civilians and fighters left Fuaa and Kefraya, the last two government-held Shiite villages in north-western Idlib province, to return to regime-held areas.
The French Air Force carries out up to 20 per cent of the international coalition’s airstrikes against the Islamic State extremist group. French Rear Admiral Rene-Jean Crignola, aboard the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier told the BFMTV channel the French warplanes perform the task of collecting intelligence in Iraq and Syria to increase, in such a way, the power of strikes against Daesh in two countries.
Globe & Mail says Mohammed Kurdi and his family – relatives of the Syrian boy whose body was found washed up on a Turkish beach – have arrived in Canada. “I’m happy, very happy,” said Mohammed Kurdi, the uncle of Alan, as he was met by his sister Tima Kurdi. Mohammed, his wife and their five children are among 25,000 Syrian refugees expected to arrive in Canada by the end of February under a government pledge issued by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party.
South Korea and Japan have reached a landmark agreement on the issue of “comfort women” – Koreans forced to work in Japan’s wartime brothels. Fuji TV reports the Japanese government has pledged to contribute €7.5 million to a fund set up to help the now-elderly women in South Korea.
The death has been announced of Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister, the frontman of the British metal band Motorhead. He was 70. Fox News says that apart from an “aggressive” cancer, Lemmy had been suffering from a number of other well-publicized health issues, including an irregular heartbeat..
Football: Within hours of signing for the club’s reserve team, forward Sergi Guardiola was sacked after officials were alerted to “offensive tweets” he had posted two years ago about Barca and Catalonia. Guardiola, 24, joined Barcelona B on Monday but, according to Marca, the Spanish national daily sport newspaper, his contract was terminated “some hours later” when they became aware of pro-Real Madrid tweets, including offensive language about Catalans.