The Spanish press is dominated by Eta’s attack in Mallorca, which left two police officers dead. El País reports that José Antonio Alonso, spokesperson for the ruling PSOE party, says there is “zero” chance of dialogue with the Basque separatist group. El Mundo, meanwhile, says the incident marks “50 years of terror, 50 years of blood and 50 years of fear”.

One of the big stories in France today is the announcement of Renault’s huge first-half loss of €2.71bn. According to Le Figaro, these are the worst results in the company’s history, far beyond the 12.5bn francs lost in 1984 (equivalent to €1.9bn today). France’s second biggest carmaker has been the victim not only of the economic crisis, the paper reports, but also of its ties with Nissan, Avtovaz and AB Volvo. The FT also has the story.

The Irish Independent reports that the government may use its new role as “the biggest property owner in the world” to promote its economic and social policy through land re-zonings, planning permissions and provision of services like roads and communications. Ireland yesterday unveiled a draft law giving its “bad bank” scheme wide powers to deal with the legacy of a devastating property crash.

Finally, in an interview with the FT, Dalia Grybauskaite, who became Lithuania’s first woman president when she was sworn in this month, has admitted that her country could be forced to seek help from the International Monetary Fund if it fails in efforts to raise more money from foreign capital markets to prop up its teetering economy. Ms Grybauskaite, who is incidentally a martial arts black belt nicknamed the “Iron Lady”, said the finance ministry was considering “one more shot” at raising money this year after a €500m bond issue in June.