Malta and international press digest

These are the main headlines of the local and international newspapers.

The Times leads with the recommendation by the Ornis Committee for the government to allow the autumn trapping season beyond December 31, even though the EU Birds Directive bans trapping after that date. In a second lead, the newspaper says that the social partners, through the MCESD, are to meet to make proposals on inflation.

l-orizzont says that the MCESD meeting is being called at the request of the General Workers’ Union. However, the paper leads with an inquiry to establish how a yacht was hit by gunfire from the AFM Firing Ranges at Pembroke two days ago.

The Malta Independent reports that MITTS is being absorbed by a new Malta IT Agency.

In-Nazzjon says that the agency will push forward Malta’s ICT strategy. The newspaper leads with the news that the government has started consultations on the Rent Law Reform White Paper.

Il-Ġens Illum quotes three leading economists calling on the government to address the higher price of oil by investing in alternative and renewable sources of energy. It also announces administrative changes in the Maltese Curia.

The Press in Britain…

The Independent devotes its front page to the resignation of Ray Lewis, the Deputy Mayor of London, amid media allegations of sexual and financial misconduct.

The Daily Mail reports on the embarrassing setback suffered by the Tories after London Mayor Boris Johnson was forced to sack his deputy for lying about his past.

The Guardian reports on a film which allegedly shows how Robert Mugabe's supporters rigged Zimbabwe's election.

The Daily Express reports on the demand of the British public for more police on the streets as more teenagers fall victim to knife crime.

The Daily Telegraph's front page leads on a story saying hundreds of innocent people have been branded as criminals by a government agency set up to carry out checks on people working with children.

The Daily Mirror says the wife of one of America's biggest sport stars has accused Madonna of stealing her husband.

The Sun's front page reports on how a young girl lured a teenage boy to meet her so a gang of youths could attack him.

The Times reports that knife crime has overtaken terrorism as the number one priority for police in London.

And elsewhere…

The Irish Times reports the EU’s insistence to stick with the compulsory goal of biofuels making up at least 10 per cent of energy used by the EU’s huge transportation sector by 2020. The European Commission, which denies biofuels are helping push up world food prices said voluntary agreements have failed miserably.

The Washington Post reports the US government is developing a "long-range plan" to empty its war-on-terror prison at its naval base in Cuba’s Guantanamo Bay.

Teheran Times quotes chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili saying his country's response to an incentives package offered by six world powers aimed at resolving a standoff over its disputed nuclear ambitions is "constructive and creative".

Gazeta Polska says Washington's plans to build an anti-missile base on Polish territory have hit a setback after Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that Washington was not offering sufficient compensation

East African Standard leads with the EU’s call for quick new elections in Zimbabwe in order to resolve the country's political crisis.

Al-Ayyam reports that Hamas has suspended negotiations with Israel on the release of Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier whom the militant Palestinian group captured two years ago. A senior Hamas official said talks had been frozen because Israel was not respecting the terms of a truce with the Islamist movement.

According to The Dominion Post, morning rush-hour traffic slowed to a crawl in most New Zealand cities as hauliers snarled highways and streets with thousands of vehicles to protest higher road taxes

Le Monde reports that the French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt was yesterday given a hero's welcome in France, where President Nicolas Sarkozy had made her release a foreign policy priority and thousands had campaigned for her freedom for years.

O Globo reports Brazilian police are investigating whether a body found by sailors belongs to a priest who disappeared on a balloon trip over the south Atlantic in April.

Diario says rescue crews have recovered 29 bodies from a raging river that swept a bus carrying members of a church off a bridge in San Salvador.

Detroit Free Press announces that rapper Eminem is being sued by a man who claims the star punched him in a Detroit strip club two years ago.