The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press today:
The Times says the interest rate rise announced by the European Central Bank yesterday was the first since Malta joined the eurozone.
The Malta Independent, like The Times, also carries a front page story on the approval of the Fort Cambridge development project after a heated meeting. The Independent says a MEPA statement reported the project “approved” before a hearing had even started.
l-orizzont highlights a GWU statement on the shipyards, saying that the government had decided quickly on privatization, raising questions on how genuine the decision was.
In-Nazzjon says Gozo Channel has reported a record in the nuber of passengers and cars carried between Malta and Gozo in the first half of this year. It also reports an agreement with Spain in terms of which Maltese citizens will be able to make use of the facilities of Spanish embassies worldwide.
The Press in Britain
The Guardian claims to have obtained a confidential World Bank report which blames biofuels for global food price rises.
The Sun says Britain's top spy is fighting for his life in hospital after being found unconscious at his home.
The Daily Mirror leads on the world's first "pregnant" man who has given birth to a baby girl.
The Daily Telegraph leads with the brutal murder in London of two French exchange students, one of whom was tortured and knifed 196 times.
Metro says the fiancée of a murdered French student has pledged to avenge his death.
According to The Daily Express, Britain’s most senior judge has said that Islamic sharia law could play a role in Britain's legal system.
The Independent quotes Britain's first Muslim minister saying many Muslims now feel like "the Jews of Europe" because of a culture of hostility towards them.
The Scotsman says the signing of a £4bn contract to build two new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy has secured 5,000 dockyard jobs in Scotland.
And elsewhere…
Financial newspapers in Europe lead with the European Central Bank’s decision to raise its main lending rate in the 15-nation eurozone by a quarter of a percentage point to 4.25 percent in an attempt to control inflation.
London’s Financial Times says Eurozone interest rates have hit a seven-year high. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quotes ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet saying aid energy consumers must learn to live with high oil prices.
El Tiempo reports that freed Colombian hostage Ingrid Betancourt was reunited with her two children at an airport in Bogota after six years of captivity. Betancourt and 14 other hostages were rescued overnight by Colombian army commandos posing as FARC guerrillas.
La Tribune says Continental Airlines and two of its employees, a former French civil aviation official and two former members of the Concorde programme are to stand trial for manslaughter over the crash of an Air France Concorde that killed 113 people eight years ago. French investigators said the crash was caused by a piece of metal that had fallen onto the runway from a previous Continental flight.
Hurriyet reports that representatives of Turkey's ruling AK party have appeared before the country's highest court in Ankara in a bid to avoid their party being banned, arguing that the case was politically motivated and "fictional". The Chief Prosecutor says it should be banned for seeking to replace Turkey's secular system with Sharia law.
The Washington Post announces that President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in China next month
The Washington Times says the US Defence Department has extended the combat tour of 2,200 US Marines after insisting for months that the unit would come home on time.
Al Quds says Israel has sealed off the Gaza Strip after a renewed rocket attack from the Hamas-run territory.
Jerusalem Post says a day after a Palestinian construction worker's deadly rampage in Jerusalem, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Thursday called for reviving the practice of demolishing the homes of attackers' families, and his chief deputy proposed cutting some Arab neighbourhoods off from the rest of the city.
Los Angeles Times says California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has extended a state of emergency in the western US state as wildfires continue to burn out of control. Schwarzenegger also declared disaster status in Santa Barbara, making it the 11th county severely affected by the fires.