The following are the top stories in the national and international press today:
The Times reports the arraignment of 23 immigrants in Court charged with causing riots at the Safi Detention Centre. The immigrants pleaded not guilty. In another story, it quotes Judge Victor Caruana Colombo, who heads the Church Response Team, saying that the team investigated every allegation of abuse it got to know about even if this was not directly reported to it.
L-Orizzont leads with the big fire at a store in Cottonera. It also expresses solidarity with detention service employees and says that the chain of command was lacking during the Tuesday riots.
In-Nazzjon says that the immigrants who were arraigned yesterday were not given bail. It also reports that talks on Church compensation to abuse victims will continue.
The Malta Independent reports that Paul Ray, the originator of the English Defence League, who now lives in Malta, will go to Norway to be interrogated by the police.
The international press
As Pope Benedict arrives in Spain later today, El Pais says thousands of people have rallied in Madrid in protest against the public cost of the visit. A number of the demonstrators clashed with police after marching to the central square chanting slogans. Earlier, Spanish police arrested a Mexican student for allegedly plotting to gas the anti-Pope rallies. A million pilgrims from across the world have gathered in Madrid for the six-day World Youth Day festival, which culminates in an open-air mass on Sunday. The trip comes at a time of economic hardship in Spain, although organisers say the pilgrimage is self-funded.
Fox News reports that former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has criticised the Russian government for taking the country backward and said the nation needed free elections and a fresh leadership. He was speaking ahead of the 20th anniversary of the August 19, 1991 hardline coup that briefly ousted him and precipitated the collapse of the Soviet Union. Putin, who shifted into the prime minister's job in 2008 because of a two-term constitutional limit, is widely expected to reclaim the presidency.
Chumhuriyet says leaders of more than 40 Muslim countries have agreed on a major aid programme for Somalia. In an emergency meeting in Istanbul, members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation promised $350 million (€240 million) in famine relief for the African country. OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu told a news conference that the pledge was aimed at improving food security for the country.
Economia Hoy says President Hugo Chavez has announced he was nationalizing Venezuela's gold mining industry and intended to bring home $11 billion in gold reserves currently held in US and European banks. In a telephone call broadcast live on state television, he said the recall of the gold reserves was intended to help protect his oil-producing country from the economic woes in the United States and Europe.
The Financial Times claims the outlook for Britain's economy has darkened following the unemployment figures and growing concern about economic recovery. The latest statistics show that 20 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds are now unemployed and more than 200,000 students would not get a university place. The i newspaper concludes that Britain's youth is “in crisis”.
As Metro reports that Britain’s prisons are “at breaking point” as a result of the rioting, British Prime Minister David Cameron has defended the courts' decision to send a “tough message” over the unrest. Jordan Blackshaw, 20, and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22, both received four-year jail terms for inciting disorder on Facebook – the toughest sentence yet since riots broke out in English cities. Reacting to the decision, the Prime Minister said the courts decided to send a tough message. Blackshaw's family said they were “shocked and upset” and would appeal the sentence.
Associated Press quotes a White House official saying President Barack Obama would soon announce a broad package of tax cuts, construction work and help for the millions of Americans who have been unemployed for months. Republicans immediately cast doubt about any such plan, setting up a fresh economic showdown as the presidential campaign intensified. Obama was expected unveil his economic strategy in a speech right after Labor Day, hoping to frame the autumn jobs debate by pressuring Republicans in Congress to act or face the voters' wrath.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch says two children have died this summer from a brain-eating amoeba that lives in water. Health officials said the rare infection killed a 16-year-old Florida girl, who fell ill after swimming, and a nine-year-old Virginia boy, who died a week after he went to a fishing day camp.
The BBC says a study has found that a common method of preventing malaria – insecticide-treated bed nets – could lead to resurgence and of the disease. Researches working in a Senegalese village found that after bed nets were introduced, mosquito resistance to one pesticide increased quickly.