The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the EU has handed Greece a €159bn rescue package in EU-IMF loans. It also reports comments by the Libyan ambassador to Malta, who said he does not intend to resign until the Libyan crisis is over.
The Malta Independent leads with a story about the ‘exemplary’ Eritrean refugee who died after rescuing another man from rough seas two days ago.
In-Nazzjon leads with the fresh EU help to Greece. It also reports that airport passenger movements were up 13 percent in the first half of this year.
l-orizzont also highlights the character of the Eritrean refugee. Its main story, however, is about an announcement by MIA that it is ready to ease tariffs for Air Malta, as long as there is no discrimination with other airlines.
The overseas press
Eurozone leaders have agreed to give Greece a second financial bailout. Euronews reports that after a day of emergency talks in Brussels, the EU and the IMF agreed on a sweeping package of measures worth €109 billion on top of the €110 billion granted a year ago. Banks and other private investors would contribute some €50 billion to the rescue package until 2014. Along with Greece, lending terms to Ireland and Portugal would be eased.
Al Arabiya TV quotes Mahmoud Jibril, the Libyan rebels' diplomatic chief, saying Gaddafi's forces have booby-trapped oil fields in the strategic oil port of Brega so they could be blown up if his regime lost the town.
As the rift between Ireland and the Vatican over child sex abuse by priests appeared to be widening, The Irish Examiner says an Irish Senator has called on the entire hierarchy of the country’s Catholic Church to resign. The move by Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway followed a report last week that found church authorities in the diocese of Cloyne in County Cork had failed to report many abuse cases. It said the Vatican had disparaged Irish child protection guidelines in a letter to Irish bishops. On Wednesday Ireland’s Prime Minister Enda Kenny launched unprecedented an attack on the Church.
The BBC reports that the chairman of News International, James Murdoch said he stood by evidence given to Parliament about phone hacking after it was disputed by former employees. Murdoch had told MPs that he had not been made aware of potential new evidence connecting a senior reporter at the News of the World and a private investigator allegedly involved in phone hacking. The former editor and the lawyer of the new defunct newspaper insisted that they did inform him.
CNN reports that as many as 22 deaths have been blamed on the blistering heat wave that has brought stifling conditions to much of the United States. The high temperatures also took a toll on animals. KTTC reported that dozens of cattle died south of Harmony, Minnesota. The eport said that on a cattle farm just across the border in northern Iowa, an estimated 100 cattle died.
The Washington Post says Atlantis has safely touched down in Florida, bringing America's space shuttle programme to an end after 30 years. The aircraft completed the 135th and last shuttle mission as it landed at Kennedy Space Centre. Nasa would now focus on building new aircraft that can travel further into space. The end of Atlantis' mission came 42 years to the day after Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.
Al Jazeera reports Syrian forces have been stepping up a major operation against anti-government protesters in Homs, the country's third biggest city. Activists report heavy gunfire and one activist said at least two people had been killed. The latest violence is part of a crackdown on the four-month uprising in the country, calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
Deutsche Welle says the remains of Rudolph Hess, Adolph Hitler’s former deputy, have been exhumed from a grave in the small Bavarian town of Wunsiedal to prevent hoards of neo-Nazi pilgrims descending on the small community. After being exhumed Hess’ remains were taken to a crematorium, and his ashes scattered at sea. One of Hitler’s closest allies, Hess was captured after flying to Scotland in 1941 on an apparent peace mission. He was convicted of war crimes at the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to life imprisonment. He killed himself while in Spandau Prison in 1987 at the age of 93.
France 24 says realist painter Lucian Freud, one of Britain's most distinguished and highly regarded artists, has died at his London home. He was 88. Freud, a grandson of the psycho-analyst Sigmund Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922 and fled to Britain with his Jewish family in 1933, when he was 10. Particularly known for his paintings of nudes, he became a British citizen in 1939.