The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times and the other newspapers report how a policeman shot his wife in broad daylight in Rabat yesterday afternoon.
In other stories, The Times reports how UEFA will on appeal seek a lifetime ban for Maltese player Kevin Sammut. Sammut is seeking to have his 10-year-ban reduced or removed.
The Malta Independent reports how Transport Malta is to privatise 34 car parks.
In-Nazzjon insists that Joseph Muscat will freeze salaries.
l-orizzont says Joseph Muscat never mentioned a wage freeze.
The overseas press
ABC News reports Europe's fragile financial calm was shattered yesterday as investors worried that violent anti-austerity protests in Greece and Spain showed that the continent still could not contain its financial crisis. Kathimerini reports Greek police fired teargas at hooded youths hurling petrol bombs and stones as more than 50,000 people took to the streets protesting against a new round of cuts demanded by EU and IMF lenders. Meanwhile, El Pais forecasts the Spanish government would announce savings worth €39 billion, increase taxes and introduce further structural reforms when it announces its austerity budget for 2013 later today. It comes amid further protests this week, and growing expectations that Spain would seek a bailout from its eurozone partners.
The New York Times quotes President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accusing the West of nuclear “intimidation”. The Iranian government faces mounting international pressure over its nuclear programme, which Western powers say would develop a nuclear bomb. Iran denies the charge. Foreign ministers from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany will meet in New York later today to discuss the increasingly tense nuclear showdown.
VOA says US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on the UN Security Council to make a renewed effort to deal with the conflict in Syria. She said the body was "paralysed". France, Britain and the United States are in favour of taking stronger action against President Bashar al-Assad, but Russia and China are backing the Syrian government.
The Age reports Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has made Australia's case for a seat on the Security Council. Addressing the UN General Assembly, she highlighted Australia's track record as a donor of international aid and a solid contributor to peacekeeping efforts. The ballot for the seat takes place on October 18.
ABC Hobart says Tasmania's Legislative Council sat late into the night, debating a Bill that could make the state the first in Australia to legalise gay marriage. The House of Assembly passed the Labour-Green same-sex marriage bill last month, 13 votes to 11. Debate in the Upper House was led by the independent member Ruth Forrest, who is a strong supporter of marriage equality. She told the house the Bill is about ending discrimination.
NBC News quotes Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney insisting he would be victorious in the state of Ohio, but new polls show him needing a sharp turnaround in the key battleground if he was to take the White House. The Republican challenger swung for a comeback in Ohio, where President Barack Obama will touch down later in the day to seek to solidify a growing lead six weeks from election day. No Republican has ever won the White House without victory in Ohio.
The sequence of huge earthquakes that struck off the coast of Sumatra in April may signal the creation of a new tectonic plate boundary. Giving the assessment in this week's Nature journal, scientists said their analysis of the quakes suggested major changes were taking place on the ocean floor that would eventually split the Indo-Australian plate in two – something that could take millions of years to happen.
Fox News says rented laptop computers from seven different US companies secretly took pictures of their users – including couples engaged in sexual activity. Following a Trade Commission ruling, the companies are now banned from using the software which invaded the users' privacy.
USA Today announces the death of American crooner Andy Williams. He was 84. In a career spanning seven decades, he was best known for the song Moon River, the Oscar-winning tune featured in the film Breakfast At Tiffany's. His other hits include Love Story and Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You. Williams was at the height of his powers in the 1960s, with a TV musical variety show.
Hong Kong billionaire property and shipping tycoon Cecil Chao has offered €50.5 million to any man able to woo and marry his lesbian daughter. He publicly promised the "marriage bounty" after reports emerged that his daughter had wed her long-term girlfriend. Chao, who has never married himself, told the BBC his daughter was still single and needed a "good husband". Same-sex unions are not recognised in Hong Kong, although homosexuality was decriminalised in 1991.
Global Post report the newborn baby girl dumped on the side of a road in Afghanistan and rescued by Polish troops has begun a new life as a treasured member of a childless family. The baby, named Pola by the Polish troops when she was found during a patrol was handed to her adoptive father, 29-year-old Ghazni shopkeeper Zahir Rahimi, who assured journalists she would have a bright future. She has been renamed her Aria (Happiness).