Malta and international press digest

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

The Times says Joseph Muscat campaigner James Piscopo is to be made chief executive of the Labour Party. It also carries a front page story on yesterday’s Madrid plane crash.

l-orizzont says the woman found dead off Dingli two days ago had suffered fatal blows in the sea. It also reports that the police are investigating a fight between two Koreans which appears to have left one of them fighting for his life.

The Malta Independent says 120 have applied so far for the dockyard early retirement schemes. It also reports that last year Malta had the lowest wage inflation in the EU.

In-Nazzjon leads with a government statement that the dockyard privatisation process is observing EU directives.

The Press in Britain…

The Madrid airport tragedy also fills the front cover of The Independent, which reports that the plane was full of holidaymakers heading for the Canary Islands.

The Guardian leads with an exclusive report on MI5 analysis which shows there is no easy way to identify those who become involved in terrorism in Britain.

The Times leads with a picture of Usain Bolt storming to the 200m world record and a second Olympic gold.

The Daily Telegraph has a picture of smoke rising from the crash scene at Barajas airport. And of Usain Bolt's 200m victory it says lightning does strike twice.

The Daily Mirror claims that freed paedophile Gary Glitter is desperately trying to avoid having to return to the UK, where he would be put on the sex offenders' register.

The Daily Mail warns that gas bills are set to rise even higher over the winter as a leak in a Norwegian pipeline sent the wholesale price soaring.

And elsewhere…

The New York Post reports the United States and Poland signed a deal yesterday to place a US missile defence base just 115 miles from Russia – a move followed swiftly by a new warning from Moscow of a possible military response as it says the system threatens its own nuclear deterrent.

The New York Times says Russia has circulated its own draft UN resolution at the Security Council, aimed at bringing peace to Georgia. The Russian text reaffirms and endorses a French-brokered peace plan that has been signed by both Moscow and Tbilisi. The new draft comes a day after Russia's ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin blocked a Western-sponsored draft that demanded an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces from Georgia.

Russia is planning to cut all ties with NATO. Aftenposten quotes a Norwegian defence ministry statement saying that the country's embassy in Moscow was informed of the move by the Russian defence ministry.

The Beijing bishop appointed by China's state-controlled Catholic Church said in an interview Wednesday that he hopes Pope Benedict XVI will visit his country and that relations with the Vatican are improving.

Le Monde has a picture of the arrival in Paris of the plane carrying the bodies of the 10 French soldiers killed in an ambush in Afghanistan earlier this week. Eleven of the 21 French soldiers who were injured in the same attack, arrived in France earlier in the day and were immediately taken to hospital for further treatment.

La Tribune reports that Algeria was rocked by two further suicide bombings which killed at least 11 people and injured 31. The attacks came less than 24 hours after 43 people were killed and 45 injured when a car packed with explosives rammed into a police academy.

Cameroon Tribune says nine prisoners were killed trying to cross an electrified fence at a prison in the commercial capital of Douala. The electrocution started a fire and about 20 prisoners suffered second-degree burns.

Asian Times quotes Guinness World Records saying Bao Xi Shun, a Chinese man who is 2.36m tall, has been reinstated as the world’s tallest living male because Leonid Stadnyk, a 2.53m Ukrainian, refuses to be officially measured.

USA Today quotes results of a study which shows that women subjected to severe stress during pregnancy risk giving birth to children who develop schizophrenia.

Le Parisien reports that the French broadcasting authority has banned channels from airing television shows aimed at children under the age of 3. The ruling cites health experts who say that interaction with other people is crucial to a child’s development. Culture and Communication Minister Christine Albanel had already called them “a danger” and urged parents not to use them to help their children get to sleep. Critics say such channels are used as a baby sitter.