Malta and international press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times leads with the launch of the retirement schemes for Malta Shipyard workers, as does l-orizzont.

The Times also reports that the nurses' union has instructed nurses at Boffa Hospital not to treat a patient if they felt themselves to be in danger owing to his attitude..

The Malta Independent says Labour shadow ministers Michael Falzon and Leo Brincat have said they will respect the MLP delegates' decision on Jason Micallef. The two had urged the delegates not to vote for Mr Micallef.

In-Nazzjon reports how passenger traffic at Malta International Airport continued to increase in July.

l-Orizzont, apart from the shipyards early retirement scheme, also reports that Malta was almost isolated yesterday, with internet contact to overseas sites limited because of a cable fault.

The Press in Britain…

Metro says that air fares are expected to soar this winter after it emerged that almost 60 million seats worldwide have been scrapped.

The Daily Mirror leads with the heart-rending letter Kate McCann wrote to the head of the Portuguese police, asking him to keep her informed during the investigation into her daughter's disappearance.

The Daily Express concludes that the girl could still be alive while The Daily Star says Maddy could be with a travelling circus.

The Daily Telegraph says police files revealed Scotland Yard received a report from an informant that a photo of the child on holiday was passed to a "purchaser" in Belgium suggesting the girl could have been abducted by an international pedophile ring.

The Daily Mail reports Chancellor Alistair Darling was accused of 'paralysing' the housing market by dithering over whether to suspend stamp duty.

The Independent says that the Government is set to announce a stark warning about the dangers of measles to the parents of three million unvaccinated children in an unprecedented move to increase uptake of the MMR vaccination.

According to The Sun, motorists could face random breath tests as tests show as many as 42 per cent of female motorists get behind the wheel after drinking. The figure for men was 59 per cent.

The Times reports that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, does not believe homosexuality and gay relationships are sinful. He said in private correspondence gay relationships could "reflect the love of God" in the same way as marriage as long they were lasting and faithful.

And elsewhere…

The Irish Times quotes Amnesty International saying the conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver Salim Hamdan, at Guantanamo Bay for plotting to support terrorism, was unjust.

The New York Times says UN General Ban Ki-moon has called for the immediate restoration of order in Mauritania after security forces there overthrew the government.

Le Parisien says President Sarkozy, who has backtracked on a threat to boycott the Beijing Olympics, will not meet the visiting Dalai Lama next week. His wife, Carla Bruni, will attend the opening of a Buddhist temple with the Tibetan leader.

The Jerusalem Post quotes Ehud Olmert, the Israeli Prime Minister, saying 150 Palestinian prisoners would be freed on August 25 as a goodwill gesture.

Texas Observer says that State authorities have executed a Mexican national despite objections from the World Court and the Bush administration. He was found guilty of raping and murdering a 16-year-old girl in 1993.

According to San Juan’s El Nuevo Dia, a 10-month-old baby was shot and killed in a car seat during a drive-by shooting in Puerto Rico.

San Francisco Chronicle says nine firefighters were feared killed after their helicopter crashed on the way to a blaze in northern California. Four others on the craft were badly burnt.

O Globo of Brazil reports that the police have recovered the final missing body parts of a 17-year-old British girl who was stabbed to death and dismembered. Police allege her 20-year-old boyfriend killed her because she threatened to tell his family he was addicted to cocaine.

Sydney Morning Herald reports that faulty DNA evidence has cast doubt on 7,000 criminal cases in Australia. The police admitted the mistake was discovered after a man was wrongly charged with double murder after crime scene clothes became contaminated with his DNA sample in a laboratory.

The Times of India says a surrogate baby born to an Indian mother could end up with no parents after the Japanese couple who paid for her split up. Her natural and adoptive mothers have said they do not want the 11-day-old baby and her father is barred as a single man by Indian law from adopting her.

The Austin Chronicle reports that firefighters had to rescue 26 teenage cheerleaders after they crammed themselves into a lift at the University of Texas to see how many could fit in. The 14 to 17-year-olds, who were at a summer camp, got stuck when the doors would not open.