Malta and international press digest

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

According to The Sunday Times, Labour leader Joseph Muscat is planning to downsize the role of party general secretary and appoint a CEO. The paper also has an interview with George Scerri who was kidnapped in Nigeria last May.

Il-Mument says Mr Muscat was surprised at the negative national reaction to the results of the party administrative elections. It claims that party supporters want to pass a no confidence motion in incumbent Jason Micallef.

Illum says that Mr Muscat’s assistant, David Borg, campaigned for Jason Micallef in the campaign, leading many to believe that Jason had the support of the Labour leader.

The Malta Independent on Sunday leads with the early retirement schemes for dockyards’ workers, saying there had been 300 enquiries and 24 applications in just two days.

It-torċa says the GWU is satisfied that the MLP is against discharges from the yards.

Malta Today has more revelations on “another pre-electoral direct order, this time of €1.8 million to Mekanika for Mater Dei maintenance while 64 maintenance staff are kept on at St Luke’s with nothing to do”.

KullĦadd claims Mepa has opened the road to the destruction of 31,500 or arable land by approving and application for a private hospital in an area between Tarxien and Zejtun, outside development zone.

The Press in Britain…

While emergency talks are being held in Georgia with officials from the US, the EU, the OSCE and NATO, British newspapers focus on the escalating violence in the as fears are expressed that the conflict over South Ossetia is spreading, with the prospect of "large scale" civilian losses.

The Observer describes how Russian bombers and artillery widened their attack against Gerogian forces, with strikes against towns and military bases across the country in a dangerous escalation of the war.

The Mail on Sunday prints a picture of an injured and dazed woman after an explosion. The paper describes her as a victim of the war over a vital gas pipeline which goes through Georgia to the West.

The Sunday Telegraph has a report from Gori which describes a huge fireball rising into the sky, before silence followed by screaming.

The Sunday Times says that hundreds have died as the Georgia war escalated but leads with reports that more than seven million families who receive child benefit are to be given a one-off payment of £150 to help meet soaring fuel bills.

The Sunday Express prints an identikit of a man who could finally unlock the mystery of Madeleine McCann's abduction. He was seen outside the McCanns' apartment just days before Madeleine disappeared.

The News of the World says a vital new witness in the hunt for Madeleine McCann has told police he saw the girl and recognised the blemish in her eye.

The Sunday Mirror reports that detectives are probing a Maddy sighting in the Caribbean but leads with a story that Sheryl Gascoigne has delivered an ultimatum as Gazza walks out to be with an old friend.

According to The Sunday People, drivers banned abroad may lose their licences in Britain too.

The Star on Sunday says violent youth crime is rampaging out of control.

The Sunday Independent says Lord Coe, the London 2012 Olympic Games chief, was preparing to return to London after the death of his father and coach Peter aged 88.

Scotland’s Sunday Mail reports that more than 8,000 pupils are to have their fingerprints taken so they can be tracked by teachers.

The Sunday Herald says fewer than half of the record number of teachers qualifying in Scotland this year have secured teaching posts.

Scotland on Sunday claims the Scottish Parliament pensions fund is helping to prop up the regime of Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.

And elsewhere…

The New York Times says the UN Security Council has concluded a third emergency session in response to the fighting between Russia and Georgia without agreeing on the wording of a joint statement on the crisis.

USA Today quotes President Bush, speaking in Beijing, calling on Moscow to respect Georgia's territory.

Le Figaro says France, holder of the rotating EU presidency, has proposed a three-step plan aimed at ending the hostilities.

The People’s Daily reports several explosions in the northwestern region of Xinjiang, killing two people.

South China Morning Post says five foreign pro-Tibet activists have been arrested after staging a protest in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square.

Globe and Mail reports South African President Thabo Mbeki is in Harare to mediate power-sharing talks between opposition and government leaders.

Corriere della Sera leads with the arrest of five men suspected of operating an Islamist terrorist cell and are still seeking a sixth man.

Aswat al-Iraq reports that Moqtada al-Sadr, the leader of the main Shi’ite militia in Iraq, has ordered most of his followers to disarm and do social work.

Al Quds al-Arabi says Mahmoud Darwish, the world’s most recognised Palestinian poet, whose prose gave voice to the Palestinian experience of exile and infighting, has died following open-heart surgery in Houston, Texas.

El Carlin claims that at least 38 Warao Indians have died in remote villages in Venezuela from rabies spread by vampire bat bites.

Frankfurter Runschau reports that lightning struck 32 football players training in a village south of Frankfurt. Nine were seriously injured.

Carolina Post says 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, former mistress of Democrat politician John Edwards, has said she will not participate in DNA testing to work out the paternity of her daughter.

Variety reports that comedian and actor Bernie Mac, who starred in The Bernie Mac Show, which ran for five seasons until 2006, and appeared in the Ocean's 11 trilogy of movies, has died aged 50.

The North Devon Gazette reports that a couple will marry on a shoestring budget of £407 after trawling the internet and picking up bargains for their wedding.