The following are the top stories on the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports how Malta yesterday refused entry to migrants rescued by an Italian ship. It also says that 100 electric charging points will be available by next year.
The Malta Independent asks if the Baħar Iċ-Ċagħaq camping site is up to standard.
In-Nazzjon reports that 2500 have benefited from the car scrappage scheme. It also has an interview with a Maltese missionary in Algeria.
l-orizzont says a contractor working on restoration projects is claiming that he is not being paid by the government and workers are on half pay.
The overseas press
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said the eurozone's growing debt problems could only be solved "step by step" and has urged increased European political cooperation to carry out reforms. In an interview with Der Spiegel, the minister stressed that it was important for leaders to get European public opinion on their side for any rescue plan.
Börzen Zeitung says Schäuble's remarks came ahead of an emergency meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday to discuss new rules for the eurozone. They also aim to try to dispel fears that France and Germany could lose their own top credit ratings, as happened to the United States. Germany is demanding strict budgetary discipline from eurozone nations and sanctions for countries that mismanage their finances.
La Sicilia says that over 2,000 North African migrants arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa this weekend, with the majority of them coming from war-torn Libya. The island's port authority said just 10 boats had carried the hundreds of migrants, which included about 100 women and 40 children. There is no news of two other crafts with more than 250 people.
Al Jazeera reports that the rebels in Libya were engaged in heavy battles to reclaim the strategic town of Zawiya. A spokesman for the rebels said that they had gained control of the majority of the town late on Saturday. But, he said, there were still some fighters loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and bursts of artillery and machine gun fire could be heard. In Tripoli the government denied that rebels had taken Zawiya.
Al Arabiya says activists in Syria say at least 23 people were killed as the military attacked the port city of Latakia by air, land and sea, with warships and tanks joining the assault, in a crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad. Human rights activists said authorities carried out mass arrests. The deaths follow the killing of at least five people in protests on Saturday.
Clarin reports that early results from Argentina's first unified primary elections put President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner far ahead of her opposition rivals. Exit polls suggest Ms Fernandez won more than 45 per cent of the vote – enough to win outright in the first round presidential election in October. Battling for second place were former President Eduardo Duhalde and Radical Party Senator Ricardo Alfonsin. The unified national primary, in which voting is obligatory, was designed to deepen Argentina's democracy by forcing all political parties to let voters chose their presidential candidates.
According to La Repubblica, Susanna Camusso, leader of, Italy’s largest union CGIL, has threatened a general strike against an austerity package that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government pushed through to balance the budget by 2013 and avoid financial collapse. Camusso criticised the measures aimed at the labour market and said union officials would meet on August 23 to set a strike date.
Daily Star says a 26-year-old man and a teenager have been remanded in custody after appearing in court charged with the murders of three men who were struck by a car during last week’s riots. The three men were trying to protect shops in Birmingham from looters. In a move to process the large volumes of defendants charged in connection with the riots, the magistrates’ court sat yesterday although it is traditionally closed on a Sunday. Courts throughout the country have been sitting during the day and throughout the night since the latter half of last week.
Ireland’s Business Post says a new test hailed by breast cancer experts as a medical breakthrough will not be offered to public patients because of the costs involved. The test – known as Oncotype DX – costs over €3,000 to carry out and is currently only available to private patients.
El Pais says a killer bull has claimed another victim after goring to death a 29-year-old man during festivities in the eastern Valencia region. The man was tossed in the air and then hit along the ground in the bullring. The bull – named “Raton” or mouse – has killed two other members of the public during festivals over 10 years. Due to Raton’s fearsome reputation, his owners earn €10,000 each time he appears at a festival.
USA Today reports American health officials in the US were still looking for 15 passengers, who were on a flight in which a bat flew inside the airplane’s cabin, so they can protect them against the possibility of rabies. Danielle Buttke of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said they have contacted 35 of the 50 passengers but none of the passengers required treatment. No one knows if the bat had rabies because it escaped.