The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says tuna quotas may be increased next year. It also reports how a court decided that a topless dancer did not offend public morals.
The Malta Independent says energy and tax evasion will take centre stage in the EU heads of government summit today.
l-orizzont says the former Cabinet members refunded €1 for every €6 they got in their pay rises.
MaltaToday also leads with the same story.
In-Nazzjon says work has started on the updating of the PN statute. It gives prominence to the meeting which Simon Busuttil had with Gianluca Bezzina. It also says the government has dropped claims for €9m from BWSC.
The overseas press
Fox News reports that rescue workers in the Oklahoma City suburb hit by Monday’s devastating tornado have said the search for survivors and the dead was nearly complete. The tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives, including those of nine children.
Le Soir says leaders of recession-hit Europe will make a fresh attempt at fighting tax fraud and evasion worth, a trillion euros a year, at a summit in Brussels later today. However, they seem unlikely to convince reluctant Austria and Luxembourg to sign on. With euro-skepticism gaining ground as European Union unemployment queues lengthen and growth slumps, there were hopes of the one-day summit producing an EU-wide crusade against tax evasion and agreement to make the bloc energy-sufficient.
The Daily Telegraph reports members of the House of Commons have backed plans to legalise gay marriage in England and Wales. The Bill passed its final reading 366-161, with more MPs from the ruling Conservative Party voting against than for the measure. The Bill now goes to the House of Lords for more challenging discussion.
Meanwhile, Le Parisien says a right wing French historian shot himself in the head beside the altar of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in front of hundreds of people. Dominique Venner, 78, left a message condemning a new law legalising gay marriage. The cathedral, which is celebrating its 850th anniversary this year, was immediately evacuated and closed to the public for four hours.
CNN reports the US Senate Judiciary Committee has approved far-reaching legislation that grants millions of illegal immigrants a chance of citizenship. The 13-5 vote cleared the way for the full Senate debate of the Immigration Bill. The new law would change the rules for allowing foreign workers in the US and see tighter controls on the border with Mexico.
The Times leads with the news that some 600 Afghan interpreters working with British troops are to be given the right to re-settle in the UK. They say they risk reprisals from the Taliban if they stay in Afghanistan.
North Korea says that a "special envoy" for leader Kim Jong Un has left for China. The North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a short dispatch that the envoy was Choe Ryong Hae, the military's top political officer tasked with supervising the 1.2-million-strong force. He was one of a handful of new vice marshals North Korea announced last year.
Associated Press reports the US has identified five men who might be responsible for last year’s attack on the diplomatic mission in Benghazi, and has enough evidence to justify seizing them by military force as suspected terrorists. However, officials said there wasn’t enough proof to try them in a US civilian court as the Obama administration prefers. The men remain at large while the FBI gathers evidence.
The official Iranian Fars News Agency says two important figures in Iranian politics, including the former president Akbar Hachemi Rafsanjani, have been barred from running in next month’s presidential election. Also excluded by the Guardian Council is President Ahmadinejad’s former chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei.
Voice of Nigeria has announced that all women held in connection with terrorist activities will be released. The Defence Ministry said the decision was taken to enhance peace efforts while the army conducts an offensive against militant Islamist group Boko Haram in north of the country. Correspondents say he group had previously demanded the release of women prisoners, though the defence statement made no mention of this.
Mail & Guardian reports President Jacob Zuma of South Africa has asked the police to investigate the death of 27 boys, aged between 13 and 21 years, after being subjected to ritual circumcision. The police chief told reporters that inquiries were opened for murder, but until now nobody had been arrested or charged. According to traditional healers, deaths usually occur due to negligence.
Azeri News quotes Azerbaijan's ambassador to Russia disclosing that President Aliyev had ordered an investigation into claims of an “alleged vote theft at the Eurovision Song Contest” and votes were being recounted. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is meeting his counterpart from Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic which is trying to find out why its announced votes did not give any points to Russia.