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Two people injured in Rabat crash
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Batman cinema shooting: James Holmes escapes death penalty
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Press digest
The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says a 56-year-old father of two died yesterday afternoon when the balcony floor and scaffolding at a Gżira building site collapsed, critically injuring another construction worker and leaving a third slightly injured. In another story, it says former Labour candidate Joe Sammut is expected to be arraigned today over allegationshe aided Libyan nationals set up hundreds of false companies to qualify for residency permits.
L-Orizzont says seven people, including four members of the Civil Protection Department, were hospitalised for decontamination yesterday after inhaling toxic gases.
The Malta Independent says senior Mater Dei Hospital surgeons will operate on patients at St James Hospital.
In-Nazzjon says the Mepa demerger will strengthen ministerial power but weaken environmental safeguards.
International news
Fox News announces Colorado cinema gunman James Holmes will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole after the jury rejected the death penalty for his 2012 shooting rampage. Holmes, 27, was convicted last month on 165 counts including the first-degree murder of 12...
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Mater Dei in crisis as blocked beds increase to unprecedented 140 - doctors
The number of social cases at Mater Dei Hospital has increased to 140 leading to a crisis, the Medical Association of Malta said this morning.
It said in a statement that practically all emergency admissions last week spilled over into corridors and into the operating theatre recovery wards.
While the hospital management did their best to manage the situation, doctors, nurses and all others were hard pressed to cope with the increased workload and the difficult conditions.
MAM said that although this was a problem in the winter months, it was a new a new phenomenon in the middle of summer.
It said the hospital administration attributed the increase in admissions to the increased number of planned operations. There were also a significant number of frail elderly patients who developed medical problems because of the extreme heat.
However, the major factor was the large number of patients who are accommodated at Mater Dei Hospital while awaiting transfer to homes for the elderly and rehabilitation, MAM said, adding there were currently 140 patients at Mater Dei hospital who did not need acute care but had to be kept there as they had nowhere to go.
“While in the past this rarely...
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Minister declines to say whether he trusts former police commissioner
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Queensland serves up sand, surf and stirrups at the beach horse races
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Enthusiast says attitudes on tattoos still negative
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Palestinian toddler's father dies after arson attack
The father of a Palestinian toddler killed in a West Bank arson attack blamed on Jewish extremists has died of his injuries, a relative has said.
Last week's firebomb attack on the family's house in Ramallah killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh. Ali's parents and a four-year-old brother were also injured in the attack.
Nasser Dawabsheh, the toddler's uncle, said the family was informed early today that Ali's father, Saed, had died at Israel's Sorroka Hospital.
He will be buried later today.
The attack prompted pledges by Israel's government to get tougher on Jewish vigilantes who have repeatedly attacked Palestinians over the years.
Critics say Israeli authorities do little to enforce the law against militant settlers and that the military has failed to protect Palestinians against such attacks.
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Church launches updated version of Malta Mass app
The Church in Malta has launched a new and updated version of the mobile phone application ‘Malta Mass’.
The app makes it easy for the public to access information regarding the schedule of daily and weekend Masses, both in Malta and in Gozo.
Through the app, users can find Mass in the nearest church, or according to their preferred time and location, as well as information about the language in which the Mass will be celebrated.
The new version also includes the opening time and locality of adoration chapels, daily scripture readings as well as reflections on the gospel.
One may also access news items uploaded on the official website of the Church in Malta.
The app includes time schedules of more than 4,600 Masses held during the week, in 360 churches or chapels in which Masses are celebrated regularly, in 70 parishes in Malta and 14 parishes in Gozo. It also includes information with regards to 57 adoration chapels which are found in Malta.
It was originally launched on the World Day of Social Communication in 2012, and to-date it has been downloaded 13,530 times.
‘Malta Mass’ app is available free of charge from the app store or from the play store.
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Drama at sea, drama on stage - Times of Malta's pictures of the week
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GRTU calls for a more tangible pensions reform
The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU, has called on the government to give the self-employed and business owners the recognition they deserved and introduce specific higher and more realistic pension capping rates for this group as part of the pensions reform.
In a statement this morning, it said that while it welcomed the fact that the recommendations put forward by the Pensions Reform Group were not envisaged to shock the economy through increases in contributions, it was concerned that the proposed reform did not necessarily provide a holistic solution that achieved tangible long-term results towards sustainability.
The GRTU believed that a more realistic approach specifically addressing the self-employed and business owners was required.
“Our self-employed and business owners have not only contributed heftily in financial terms over the years, but are also the main drivers of economic development and job creation. Their contribution must be acknowledged and translated into the pension they have contributed for and deserve.
“The current system is unjust especially when considering that other sectors of society, such as former members of Parliament, are treated...
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Swimming inadvisable in parts of Spinola Bay
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Police shoot man after stabbing spree
Police have shot and killed a man they say stabbed six people in a knife attack in Long Beach, California.
Sergeant Megan Zabel said officers were called to an area near a convalescent home on Friday night where they confronted a suspect and shot him dead.
Brian Fisk of the Long Beach Fire Department said five of the six people who were stabbed were taken to nearby hospitals and one person was treated and released at the scene. Ms Zabel said the condition of those taken to the hospitals range from critical to suffering superficial wounds.
She said it was unclear whether the convalescent home was involved.
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China braced for Typhoon Soudelor
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WATCH: Panic at Ghadira beach as parachute breaks loose from boat in storm
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Man arrested while allegedly raping woman
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Five women beaten to death in India over witchcraft claim
Five women accused of practising witchcraft have been beaten to death in a village in India's eastern state of Jharkhand.
Police official Arun Kumar Singh said residents of Kinjia village dragged the women out of their homes early torday and beat them with sticks and iron rods.
Mr Singh said the attackers blamed the women for several accidents and misfortunes suffered by villagers, including the death of an infant in Kinjia earlier in the week.
Superstitious beliefs persist in many parts of Jharkhand and have been behind similar attacks on women in the state.
Kinjia is about 25 miles west of the state capital, Ranchi.
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Four die in small plane crash in New York mountains
Four people were killed when a small plane crashed in the Adirondack Mountains, New York state police said.
The aircraft was destroyed and the bodies of the four people were located among the wreckage in the crash about a half-mile northwest of the Adirondack Airport in Lake Clear.
Their identities have not been released.
Authorities were notified of the downed civilian aircraft last night. State police said the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration were investigating.
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Man Utd kick off season with win over Tottenham
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Juventus win Supercoppa
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