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

The Times leads with an interview with the widow of fisherman Noel Carabott, who, she said, seems to have had a premonition of the tragedy. Carabott was one of the crewmen of the Simshar. The search for 11-year-old Theo Bugeja is continuing.

l-orizzont says inflation is at its highest growth rate in 10 years.

In-Nazzjon says the fishing village of Marsaxlokk is in mourning after the loss of the Simshar and its crew.

The Malta Independent quotes former GWU general secretary Anglu Fenech as saying there is no alternative to privatization of Malta Shipyards.

The Press in Britain

The Independent says the UK government has warned that the world is failing to guard against the spread of a devastating flu pandemic which could kill 50 million people around the globe.

The Scotsman reports experts have warned that the health system is under strain because doctors offer "pill after pill" in an attempt to cure cancer.

The Daily Express says that health warnings are to be issued over cholesterol-lowering drugs taken daily by more than four million people.

According to The Daily Telegraph, tens of thousands of arthritis sufferers will be denied drugs on the NHS.

According to the Financial Times, Chancellor Alistair Darling will bow to pressure from the world of business by scrapping reforms on taxing foreign profits.

The Daily Mail reports happy hours and super size wine glasses could be banned as ministers prepare to toughen up the laws on alcohol sales.

The Times claims soaring oil prices mean the cost of fuel for Britain's armed forces will rise by more than £500m next year.

The Sun leads on claims that the SAS is training an elite squad of spy dogs to parachute behind enemy lines strapped to soldiers.

The Herald says Gordon Brown called for the release of five hostages following a video claim that one, a Scot, had taken his own life.

The Daily Mirror has found that around 30,000 motorists have crashed because of satellite navigation systems.

The Daily Star claims Madonna has been caught up in a sex tape scandal.

And elsewhere…

Sydney Morning Herald says that before leaving Sydney after the longest foreign trip of his papacy, Pope Benedict met four Australian victims of sexual abuse by clergymen, to hear about their ordeals and console them. Meanwhile it was announced that the next World Youth Day will be held in Spain in 2011.

Al Quds Al Arabi leads with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s call Israel to freeze settlement construction in the Palestinian territories

The Irish Times reports that as President Sarkozy prepares to make a four-hour visit to Dublin, one of the country's leading political summer schools has urged him to attend a public debate on the future of Europe to promote the rejected Lisbon Treaty by engaging seriously with EU experts and the Irish public, who delivered a resounding "No" to Lisbon last month.

Al Zaman says Kurdish rebels have released three German climbers who were taken hostage in Turkey 12 days ago.

The International Herald Tribune says US Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has called for an immediate increase of US troops in Afghanistan, saying conditions there were precarious and urgent.

El Tiempo reports hundreds of thousands of Colombians have taken to the streets to demand an end to the kidnappings that have plagued the country during its 44-year-old guerrilla war.

In Paris, Le Monde reports freed hostage Ingrid Betancourt led the crowd in chants of "Freedom for all" at a concert dedicated to captives held by Colombia's FARC rebel group.

El Pais says four bombs have exploded at popular seaside resorts in Cantabria, northern Spain, after warning calls from the Basque separatist group ETA. There were no casualties.

The New York Post reports that a Staten Island jeweller got her three carat diamond earrings back after she, her husband and city sanitation employees sorted through a heap of rubbish. The studs, valued at US$20,000 (€12,616), were in a small jar of cleaning solution, which a worker at the couple’s jewellery store had accidentally thrown away.