Tuesday Morning Briefing

Good morning

Your morning briefing with the latest news from around the globe, a newspaper review from Malta and a headline digest of the main news chosen in the past 24 hours by Corporate Dispatch to help you start your day informed.

The Latest

EU and Iran agree to create ‘special vehicle’ to maintain trade despite US sanctions. DW
The remaining parties to the Iran nuclear deal on Monday agreed to keep working to maintain trade with Tehran despite skepticism this is possible as U.S. sanctions to choke off Iranian oil sales resume in November. Reuters
With President Trump publicly backing him, and senior Senate Republicans closing ranks around him, Judge Kavanaugh — joined by his wife, Ashley Estes Kavanaugh — gave an extraordinary interview to Fox News that aired Monday evening. He pledged to “defend my integrity, my lifelong record,” and told his interviewer, Martha MacCallum, that he “did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter.” NYT/CNN/FOX
Women and their supporters from across the United States walked out of their offices, businesses and homes on Monday to support Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez, who have accused Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, of sexual assault. Al Jazeera
New Zealand’s prime minister, who shot to international fame for giving birth while in office, turned heads Monday by bringing her three-month-old daughter into the UN assembly hall. Gulf News
Cuba’s new president, Miguel Diaz-Canel, arrived in New York on Sunday for his first trip to the United States, where he will denounce the decades-old U.S. trade embargo on his country at the U.N. General Assembly, state-run media reported.
Russia is to send new anti-aircraft missiles to Syria, a week after Syrian forces accidentally shot down a Russian aircraft during an Israeli air strike. The S-300 missile defence system will be delivered within two weeks. Various
Emmanuel Macron is deploying major tax cuts in his next budget to try to rev up the economy and lift his drooping approval scores — but the headwinds are getting stronger.
An IT specialist for Russia’s parliament has been detained over suspicious behavior at a European political conference. The man is being held pending trial due to concerns he may destroy evidence. DW
France has warned Syria faces a future of perpetual war unless Russia agrees to turn the one-month ceasefire in Idlib into a wider UN-endorsed political agreement. Guardian
Libya’s coast guard rescued 235 migrants in three separate operations on Sunday night off its western coast, a naval forces spokesman said. Reuters
Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro accused the right-wing governments of Chile, Colombia and Mexico on Monday of helping “terrorists” who tried to kill him during a drone attack in early August. Reuters
Instagram’s chief executive Kevin Systrom has said he and co-founder Mike Krieger are leaving the firm. Mr Systrom, who heads the popular photo-sharing app launched in 2010, said they were taking some time off to “explore our curiosity and creativity”. BBC
Luka Modric was named Best Fifa Footballer of the Year in a London ceremony noted as much for the the players in absentia as the awards. The Croatian beat Mohamed Salah and Cristiano Ronaldo to become the first player other than Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to win since Kaka in 2007. Telegraph

The Review

One of the three men charged with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia is claiming a breach of his right to a fair hearing, claim- ing the police had acted on “a mere unfounded supposition.” George Degiorgio filed a constitutional application yesterday in which he claimed to have been the victim of a frame-up by the prosecution. The Times of Malta
Stakeholders have stated that yesterday morning’s feared traffic congestion was an overall success in terms of consistent flow of traffic, in tandem with the implementation of the government’s new school transport scheme. The Malta Independent
Parliamentary Secretary Aaron Farrugia has insisted that the government did not need to make use of the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) in Gozo given that the country’s financial stability despite the crisis of 2008 meant a capital injection through loans was not necessary, maintaining that the 10% structural funds allocated to the island was more than enough. The Malta Independent
The developers of the former Fortina Hotel in Tigné, who last April were given the green light by the Planning Authority for a massive residential development on the Tigné seafront, have changed their plans and want to convert the 15-storey block into a mega office complex. The application for a change of use of part of this development, which also includes an extension of their hotel into a 23-storey hotel tower, arrived just six days after the issue of the original permit as the building is now expected to accommodate Bet365 – a major British gambling company operating from Gibraltar and which intends to transfer most of its operations to the island post-Brexit. The Times of Malta
There are concerns within the EU about Malta’s scheme of Citizenship by Investment Scheme, also known as the Passport Selling Scheme. In-Nazzjon
The MUT is proposing a different stipend, for University students who want to become teachers. L-Orizzont
The number of people seeking employment went down to 1,787. L-Orizzont