Press digest

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

The Times reports that the Vatican issued new rules yesterday for faster processing of paedophilia cases. It also reports that ST and the GWU had a meeting on austerity measures yesterday.

The Malta Independent leads with comments by the opposition on SEC results. It also reports how an elderly man had a lucky escape when a petard exploded near him.

In-Nazzjon says there was a 10.3% increase in airport passenger movements in the first half of this year. It also features a PN call to the PL to say why it wants to remove the mayor of Labour-controlled Fgura council.

l-orizzont says the EU would investigate the alleged fraud in the assistance scheme for the purchase of photovoltaic units. The scheme was managed by the MRA and heavily funded by the EU. It also reports that a Briton resident in Malta has started undergoing extradition proceedings for alleged threatening phone calls to his estranged wife.

The overseas press:

EU Observer says Germany has joined France, Britain, and Austria in opposing plans to streamline the EU asylum policy. Following the first day of talks in Brussels, Germany's deputy interior minister Ole Schroeder said the system's laws were far too lenient and could be easily abused, especially by those immigrants not actually in need of asylum. EU Justice Minister Cecilia Malmstroem said the bloc was looking for a unified policy on immigration. She said the current differences between member states were "unacceptable".

USA Today announces that BP has finally capped the leak which has spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April. The company confirmed it had temporarily stopped the flow of oil which has so far cost €2.7 million in spillage and clean-up. But it stressed that even if the test was successful it would not mean the flow of oil and gas has been stopped permanently.

The Wall Street Journal reports that a bill that would usher in the biggest changes to US financial regulation since the 1930s has received Senate approval by 60 votes to 39. The Bill gives the government new powers to break up companies that threaten the economy, creates a new agency to guard consumers in their financial transactions and shines a light into shadow financial markets that have escaped the oversight of regulators.

L'Osservatore Romano says the Vatican has issued a new set of protocols that crack down on priests who rape and molest minors and the mentally disabled. The new rules extend from 10 to 20 years the statute of limitations on priestly abuse and also codify for the first time that possessing or distributing child pornography is a canonical crime.

Kathemerini reports that government offices were kept closed, hospitals worked with minimum staff and Greek airspace was shut down as Greece faced its seventh major strike against austerity measures. The strikes come on the same day as a major retirement reform bill for civil servants that was passed by lawmakers in Athens. The country is working to get out from under almost €300 billion in debt.

Le Parisien says French investigators have detained four men, including the financial advisor to L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, in a probe into suspected tax evasion and illegal political donations by France's richest woman. Last week, police searched the offices and homes of several figures linked with the investigation.

According to Abrar, at least 20 people have been killed after two blasts tore through a crowd of Shia worshippers outside a mosque in south-eastern Iran. Officials said suicide bombers struck near the main mosque in the provincial capital of Zahedan.

And in Iraq, Az-Zaman says bombs have killed eight people, including six in Saddam Hussein's hometown. The attacks took place on the day US forces are to transfer control of the last prison they run to Iraqi authorities.

In the UK, The Sun leads on Robbie William's return to Take That, which the paper says was expected to net them €90 million. Robbie quit Take That in 1995 and a year later, the band split. A statement said "the original line-up have written and recorded a new album for release later this year".

El Pais says Madrid Zoo has made an offer to buy Paul, the octopus who became a sensation by correctly predicting the outcome of all seven of Germany's World Cup games, plus the Spain-Netherlands final. The zoo said it had received dozens of requests from Spaniards for Paul's transfer and promised he would "receive the utmost attention, a reflection of the great affection that all Spaniards profess for him since he predicted that the Spanish squad would win the World Cup".