The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Times leads with a story on the launch of a bill on Malta’s first IVF law for public consultation yesterday. The bill regulates the therapy and explicitly bans embryo freezing in all but the most exceptional cases.
In another story it says that Serbian football fans told the court they were “brutally beaten” by officers who also used pepper spray in the police van with them handcuffed inside. It also gives priority to the Olympic Games opening ceremony.
The Olympics and the IVF bill were also given priority by The Malta Independent and in-Nazzjon.
The Malta Independent said the IVF bill was based on sacrosanct principles to protect life from conception.
In-Nazzjon said it was providing new hope for childless couples.
l-Orizzont leads with the GWU’s budget proposals saying the union was making 64 suggestions to benefit the people.
In another story, it says that the friend of the Russian girl found dead in Paceville last Tuesday has escaped.
The international press
Olympic Game 2012 are officially underway in London.
The BBC described the opening ceremony as full of pomp and pageantry, including an eccentric, energetic and at times moving celebration of British history and culture. The ceremony featured thousands of athletes and all things Britain – including Harry Potter, Mary Poppins, James Bond and a performance by music legend Paul McCartney. The games were declared officially open by Queen Elizabeth before seven young athletes were given the honour of lighting the ceremonial flame. The group of seven, chosen by British Olympic champions, each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 205 petals, one for each competing nation or territory. Long stems then rose towards each other to form a cauldron, signifying unity. The competition in 26 sports runs until August 12.
The first London Olympics gold medals in swimming will be awarded this evening. Voice of America forecasts most eyes will be on American Michael Phelps as he tries to add to his legacy. In 2008 in Beijing, Phelps became the first athlete to win eight gold medals at a single edition. Four years earlier, at the Athens Olympics, he won six gold and two bronze medals. He plans to swim in seven events in London, and if he wins medals in three, he will break the all-time record for total Olympic medals of 18 held by former Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina.
International leaders are growing increasingly concerned for those residing in Aleppo as Syrian helicopter gunships fired on several neighbourhoods in the country’s largest city and commercial capital as the government amassed reinforcements to take on the outnumbered rebels. Beirut’s Daily Star quotes UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay saying unconfirmed reports detailed extra-judicial killings and shootings of civilians during fighting in city suburbs. Expressing deep alarm at the situation, Pillay said the report “bodes ill for the people of that city.” UN Security General Ban Ki-Moon and British Foreign Secretary William Hague have both called on Assad to pull out of Aleppo.
President Obama has committed another $70 million in US military aid for Israel. The Washington Times quotes him saying the additional aid would help Israel expand the so-called “iron dome” system, which has blocked rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza. He said the programme had been critical in providing security and safety for Israeli families. The new funding is in addition to $205 million approved for the programme last year.
Germany and France have issued a joint statement saying they were “deeply committed to the integrity of the eurozone”. Deutsche-Welle says the statement was issued after German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande, the leaders of the eurozone's two largest economies and from opposite ends of the political spectrum, spoke by telephone on Friday afternoon. They said EU member-states and European institutions “must comply with their obligations”. On Thursday, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told business leaders in London that the ECB would do "whatever it takes" to preserve the euro.
Kathimerini reports a delegation of international inspectors from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank told the Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras that the government had no choice but to dramatically slash its costs. But Greek labour unions hit out, claiming that the international auditors overseeing Greece's adherence to austerity had failed their own evaluation. Yiannis Panagopoulos, leader of private sector union GSEE, said their programme had pushed the Greek economy into recession. Panagopoulos also branded the auditors "charlatans".
El Pais says Spain's unemployment rate surged to 24.63 percent between April and June. The country's national statistics office announced on Friday that the number of registered jobless people was 5.7 million. The biggest job losses were reported in agriculture and industry, which were just partly offset by job creation in the tourism and construction sectors. As Spain sees the third consecutive quarter of recession, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expects unemployment to continue rising in 2012.
The New York Times reports negotiations to establish the first international treaty on the conventional arms trade has ended without agreement. The US, Russia and China said they needed more time to consider the issue. The international arms trade, currently unregulated, was estimated to be worth some €49 billion a year.