Malta and international press digest

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

The Times dedicates its front page to the story of show jumper Jennie Psaila, who died yesterday after falling off her horse.

The Independent and in-Nazzjon also lead with this story. The Independent also reports that the removal of the subsidy on gas had been announced in 2004 while in-Nazzjon discusses a €428,000 investment which has been undertaken to increase cleanliness on Maltese roads.

l-Orizzont leads with a story on how one could win a contract in Delimara and another on the increase in unemployment.

Malta Today leads with three headlines. One on what happens when an Enemalta boiler stops, another on justice through e-mail and the other on cancer.

The Press in Britain…

As yet another British soldier dies in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, The Sun reports that armoured trucks that could thwart Taliban roadside bombs are stuck in Dubai because the RAF has no spare planes in which to fly them in.

The Guardian has an exclusive story about government plans to replace short-haul flights in the UK with a new 250mph high-speed rail network.

The Daily Telegraph reports that John Bercow, the new speaker of the House of Commons, is to have his apartment in Westminster refurbished at a cost of £200,000 to the tax-payer.

The Daily Express quotes scientists saying eating oily fish, rich in omega 3, slashes the risk of heart failure by a third and is the key to a long life.

The Times says Minister for Women and Equality Harriet Harman vetoed a review of rape laws, complaining that the plans failed to address the concerns of women.

According to the Daily Mail, children as young as five are to get lessons about domestic abuse and the importance of forming healthy relationships.

The Scotsman announces Scottish teenagers have achieved the best ever pass rate in the history of the higher qualification.

And elsewhere…

The Australian quotes Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull saying senior Treasury official Godwin Grech misled the coalition, Parliament and the Australian people by creating a fake email.

Choson Sinbo reports North Korea has released two US journalists, sentenced to 12 years’ hard labour, after visiting former president Bill Clinton apologised to leader Kim Jong-Il for their behaviour.

East African Standard says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began a tour of seven African states in Kenya, where she will seek action to stabilise neighbouring Somalia and push for free trade with the continent

Al Ayaam says Sudanese riot police used tear gas against hundreds of people demonstrating outside a Khartoum courtroom in protest at the trial of Lubna Hussein, who is accused of dressing indecently against the country’s strict Islamic code.

China Daily reports that police the northwest Chinese region of Xinjiang have formally arrested 83 people who will face charges in connection with deadly ethnic unrest there last month.

La Nacion says Cuba has published a “Dictionary of the Thought of Fidel Castro”, a compendium of the ailing former Cuban leader's ideas as he nears his 83rd birthday.

Asia Observer reports that a pilot was killed and seven other injured after a Bangkok Airways jet skidded and hit an old control tower as it landed on Thailand's resort island of Ko Samui.

O Globo says deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest in June was four times more devastating than the month before.

Asia Times announces that the death toll from an outbreak of pneumonic plague in northwest China has risen to three.

The Washington Times reports Wall Street shares drifted modestly lower overnight as the market digested a rally that pushed stocks to their highest levels of the year and lifted the broad-market index above the key 1000 level.

Aftenposten reports Norway has honoured the Nobel prizewinning writer Knut Hamsun, disgraced for his wartime Nazi sympathies, by issuing a stamp and opening a museum in his honour, the 150th anniversary of the birth.

Dawn says Pakistan has moved towards outlawing domestic violence when lawmakers approved a bill that will punish those found guilty of beating women or children with jail terms and fines.

The Irish Independent reports that an expectant mother, who went into labour while being removed from a protest sit-in at a Dublin branch of Thomas Cook, gave birth to a baby girl under Garda protection.

EU Observer says a European Commission report has found that more than half of all Europeans regularly surf the Internet – a 33 per cent increase in five years.

Sydney Morning Herald says Australian men make the worst husbands in the world.