The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times says Air Malta is raring to resume flights to Tripoli. It also says that Malta showed the fastest economic growth in the eurozone.
The Malta Independent says the meeting between the Archbishop and a lawyer representing the victims of clerical sex abuse was described as ‘disappointing’ but talks are ongoing. It also says that the Budget will include measures to improve financial stability.
In-Nazzjon reports a €4.5 million investment by the private sector in an industrial park. It also reports how the Maltese economy is growing at a fast pace.
l-orizzont says a man of Maltese descent in Australia used to steal the identity of dead people to hide criminals. The man has been jailed.
The overseas press
Reuters reported early this morning that Libya's new rulers have sent a column of extra fighters towards the tribal bastion of Bani Walid, after reports that Gaddafi had issued a call for the town to fight. NTC unit commander Jamal Gourji was quoted as saying Gaddafi – “hiding in a hole in the ground” – was rallying his troops and calling on people to fight. Bani Walid, one of the few towns still in the hands of his followers, has refused to surrender despite a stand-off lasting days.
Al Jazeera quotes Libyan fighters claiming to have surrounded Gaddafi within a 60km radius and insisted it is matter of time before the he was captured or killed. Anis Sharif, a spokesman for Tripoli's new military council, however would not say where exactly Gaddafi had been found. But amid the continuing hunt for the fugitive leader and his sons, he said Gaddafi had been tracked using high technology and human intelligence. He was believed to be travelling in a convoy of about 10 cars and might be using a tent as shelter.
Meanwhile, Niger's Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum has told the BBC his country was unable to close its border with Libya to prevent fugitive Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fleeing south. Confirming that Gaddafi had not crossed the border or asked to cross, Bazoum said they did not have the means to close the border as it is too big. He said Gaddafi loyalists who had arrived in Niger's capital, Niamey, would be free to stay or move on. Libya's transitional authorities have said they were seeking Niger's help to stop Gaddafi from fleeing.
Berliner Zeitung leads with Germany's constitutional court ruling that the country's contribution to the eurozone bailout fund – €170 billion in loan guarantees – was legal, but said parliament must have greater say in similar decisions in the future. The ruling followed a complaint brought by six eurosceptics, who argued that the first international rescue of Greece last year and the setting up of the European Stability Fund contravened both German and EU law. Analysts say the decision will likely make it more difficult for Germany, and therefore Europe, to move quickly on future eurozone bailouts.
Meanwhile, Le Parisien reports France's lower house of parliament approved a second bailout for Greece and austerity measures to cut France's debts. The National Assembly, dominated by President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party, voted to make amendments to the 2011 budget allowing for the aid to Greece. The amendment also includes tax increases and spending cuts.
Slovakia’s Novy Cas says an influential member of the ruling coalition has vowed to block a Europe-wide plan to boost the power of the eurozone's bailout fund to €440 billion. Richard Sulik, leader of the Freedom and Solidarity Party and parliamentary speaker, said the measures were "a road to hell". Slovakia's parliament has yet to approve the plan to reinforce the rescue fund and will hold a vote later this autumn. Without the votes from Sulik's party, the four-party coalition government does not have enough votes to push the legislation through parliament.
Il Tempo reports Italy's upper house has voted in favor of an austerity package of spending cuts and tax increases. The Bill aims to cut the deficit by €54.2 billion. The senate passed the bill with 165 votes in favour, 141 against and three abstentions. The Bill now goes before the lower house, the Chamber of Deputies, where Berlusconi also has a majority.
Russian news agency RiaNovosti quotes an aviation industry source saying poor-quality aviation fuel could be one of possible reasons for why a chartered aircraft crashed after taking off from an airport northeast of Moscow, killing 43 people, including 27 ice hockey players and nine other club officials of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl ice hockey team. The aircraft failed to gain the required engine takeoff speed and fell from a low height on a Volga riverbank. Only two people survived the crash.
California Globe says the long-delayed trial of the doctor accused of giving Michael Jackson a fatal dose of an anesthetic drug, has been cleared to begin. Defence lawyers to the doctor, Conrad Murray, argued that the jury should remain locked in their hotel rooms in order to keep them away from the extensive news coverage the trial is expected to generate. However, their demand was rejected by an appeals court, allowing jury selection to begin later today.