Press digest

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The press in Malta is dominated by the demise of President Emeritus Guido de Marco.

The Times shows a picture of Prof de Marco waving to a crowd and salutes a ‘political giant who dedicated his life to the service of the country.'

The Malta Independent says Malta is mourning the death of a true statesman.

In-Nazzjon features a picture of Prof de Marco taken on July 15 and describes him as a politician of perseverence and persuasion.

l-orizzont reports how the GWU described Prof de Marco as ‘a brave politician'. In another story, it reports that Sliema Mayor Nikki Dimech is being defiant and refusing to resign, despite being dismissed by the PN over irregularities.

The overseas press:

EU Observer says EU officials have accused the Slovak government of breaching legal commitments, after it rejected participation in a bailout loan for Greece. The Slovak parliament voted on Wednesday to confirm the country's refusal to participate in the lending package drawn up by the EU and International Monetary Fund (IMF). Slovakia was to commit 800 million euros to a 110-billion-euro fund. EU economic affairs commissioner Olli Rehn described the decision as a "breach of the commitment undertaken by Slovakia in the eurogroup". He said EU finance ministers "return to the matter in their next meeting" early in September.

Tribune de Genève says over 80 million 15 to 24-year-olds are without work, with increases in developed countries most extreme. For the 10 years prior to the economic crisis, an ILO report noted the number of unemployed youth around the world had increased by an average of 200,000 per year. In 2009, however, youth unemployment increased by a staggering 6.7 million. Women were hardest hit by unemployment in most regions. The only exceptions were in the developed economies and the EU, where nearly twice as many males as females are unemployed.

Meanwhile, Börzen Zeitung reveals that industrial production in the eurozone in June fell by 0.1 per cent when a month earlier, it had registered an increase of 1.1 per cent. It was expected to increase by 0.6 per cent. Since June last year, however, it increased by 8.2 per cent. Industrial production in the 27 EU member states during June remained stable.

Il Sole 24 Ore reports that Ferrari chief Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, one of Italy's most powerful and influential businessman, blasted Premier Silvio Berlusconi and his breakaway ally House Speaker Gianfranco Fini for bringing the country to the brink of a government crisis. In a sharply-worded message, he told them to get back to work, emphasising that calling early elections would not resolve the problems.

The Washington Post predicts President Obama would today sign a bill targeting gangs and criminal organizations that operate on both sides of the US-Mexican border after the Senate passed a $600 million (€467 million) Mexico border security measure. The funds would mostly go towards hiring border patrol agents and immigration and customs enforcement agents. It would also provide for new surveillance technology including unmanned drones.

Gazeta Polska reports that the Polish authorities have extradited a suspected Mossad agent to Germany, where he faces charges over a passport that was used in the murder of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai last January. Police said the man, known as Uri Brodsky, was handed over to German police at Warsaw's international airport.

Pakistan Times says President Zardari has made his first visit to areas hit by devastating floods. Mr Zardari, who has been criticised for making official foreign visits during the crisis and for the government's slow response to the disaster, flew to the southern city of Sukkur in inspect the two-week-old destruction. His visit yesterday came as a warning was made that water levels in the flooded areas could rise dangerously over the next days.

In the UK, Friday's papers focus on the threat to holidaymakers by striking British airport workers. Airports operator BAA said Heathrow, Stansted, Southampton, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Edinburgh airports would have to close in any walkout. They deal with a total of 300,000 passengers and 2,500 flights a day. The Daily Telegraph says the strike would put the plans of more than a million British holidaymakers in jeopardy and spell a summer of misery.

The Wall Street Journal says oil giant BP has agreed to pay a record €40 million fine for safety failings at its Texas City refinery after an explosion killed 15 workers and injured more than 170 people. It is the largest ever fine issued by the US health and safety administration and it is still working to collect another €23 million in penalties the company is contesting.

As Germans recall the 49^th anniversary of the start of construction of the Berlin Wall on August 13, 1961, Deutsche Welle reveals new figures that suggest more people than previously thought were killed on the inner German border between 1961 and 1989. Figure rise from 136 to 1,393. The list includes those who died at the Berlin Wall, the Baltic Sea, the inner German border and neighboring countries like Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. It also includes East German soldiers, who committed suicide because they couldn't deal with the regime.