These are the main headlines of the local and international newspapers.
The Times says a meeting between the Government and the General Workers’ Union over the shipyards’ privatisation has failed to yield any agreement. The union insisted it was not prepared to budge particularly on its request to have early retirement schemes issued only when the prospective buyer is known.
In-Nazzjon says that the despite this impasse, the government will continue with its privatisation plans in the best interest of the workers.
l-orizzont quotes GWU secretary Tony Zarb saying that with its hard-headed attitude, the government was giving proof that its was backtracking on its words when last February it told workers that their jobs were guaranteed.
Il-Ġens Illum says that early retirement scheme for yard workers would be issed next week but leads with the news that more than 80 per cent of the army’s resources are being employed on the illegal immigrants issue.
The Malta Independent, like the other papers, carries a report and a picture of the interment yesterday of the Somali fishermen who perished in the Simshar tragedy. It also reports on the 61-year-old man who died of natural causes when he went to help two traffic acceident victims whose car overturned.
The Press in Britain…
The Independent leads on the release of Barry George after a jury decided he was not guilty of murdering television Crimewatch presenter Jill Dando.
The Daily Express speculates on a £1 million payout for George, who spent seven years in jail before his conviction was overturned.
The Daily Star says a jury has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of three men accused of assisting the July 7, 2005, terrorist attacks in London. It is unclear whether the three men, the only people charged to date over the bombings, will face retrial.
The London Evening Standard quotes the former commander of UK forces, Brigadier Ed Butler, claiming British Muslims are actively supporting the Taliban and al-Qaeda in attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan.
And elsewhere…
The People’s Daily leads with President Hu Jintao’s rare press conference to deflect criticism of media restrictions in China ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Hu said China would stand by its pledges to lift Internet censorship for the Olympics and called on the international community to keep politics out of the sports event.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a senior US government scientist has reportedly committed suicide just as prosecutors were about to charge him with carrying out a series of attacks using the biological weapon anthrax in 2001. The anthrax-laced letters killed five people and caused illness in 17 others.
The International Heald Tribune quotes Richard Holbrooke, the US peace negotiator who helped broker the Dayton peace agreement that ended the Bosnian war, rejecting claims by former Bosnian Serb leader and war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic that he had promised him he would avoid trial if he withdrew from public life.
Chumhuriyet reports the collapse in central Turkey of three-storey school dormitory that killed at least 16 female students and injuring another 27. Some 50 girls aged between eight and 16 were attending summer Koran courses when the building collapsed.
Washington Post says bomb blasts have killed five NATO soldiers on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The new deaths bring to 149 the number of NATO soldiers to die in Afghanistan this year.
The Times of India reports that the UN atomic watchdog has approved a plan to inspect India's 14 existing or planned nuclear reactors by 2014, clearing the way for the country to trade in nuclear technology.
El Mundo reports that the Spanish government has approved emergency energy-saving measures including lower speed limits, electric cars and legally-enforced thermostat settings. A total of 31 new rules are aimed at cutting the country’s oil consumption by 10% between 2008 and 2011.
USA Today announces that the unemployment rate climbed to a four-year high of 5.7 per cent in July as employers cut 51,000 jobs - the seventh straight month in which jobs were axed.
Munich’s Abendzeitung says that a farmer who lost both his arms in an accident has been successfully fitted with two new appendages in the first complete double arm transplant.
Kyiv Post reports that a painting by Italian artist Caravaggio, valued at £50m, has been stolen from a museum in Odessa. Staff of the Museum of Western and Eastern Art said the painting – called the Taking of Christ, or the Kiss of Judas – went missing yesterday.
Variety claims US magazine People and the British Hello! Will pay $14 million to print the pictures of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's newborn twins - Vivienne Marcheline and Knox Leon – born on July 12 at Nice, France. The money goes towards financing the couple’s charity helping deprived children.