The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports that election candidates said they did not overspend during the general election. Eight said they did not spend anything.
The Malta Independent quotes Simon Busuttil saying the government is changing the law to give MPs a second income. It also reports how Malta and Libya are discussing an oil purchase agreement.
In-Nazzjon quotes Simon Busuttil saying the Labour government's ethical standards are unacceptable.
l-orizzont says the Selmun family park is to be redone, three months after it opened. The project has developed infrastructural defects caused by water leakage. The newspaper, like the others, also reports on the prime minister's visit to Libya.
The overseas press
Former South African President Nelson Mandela’s condition has worsened over the past 24 hours and he is now in a critical condition. Mail & Guardian says the news came in a statement issued by the South African presidency after President Jacob Zuma visited the anti-apartheid icon who has been for more than two weeks in a Pretoria hospital. The revered 94-year-old, has spent the late 16 days in hospital suffering from a lung infection. It is his fourth hospitalisation since December.
VOA News says US diplomats are scrambling to stop the former American contractor Edward Snowden from reaching Ecuador and claiming political asylum in Quito. Officials in Washington say Snowden is a national security threat and must be brought back home to answer charges of espionage from leaking details of documents that show how extensive American monitoring of telephone and internet communication has been. Snowden flew to Moscow from Hong Kong, where he had been living since leaving the US last month and is expected to leave Moscow for Ecuador via Cuba later today. American officials said his passport has been cancelled and he should not be permitted any more international travel because of the espionage charges against him.
Tirana Observer reports that exit polls from Albania’s general election show opposition leader Edi Rama appears to the in the lead even if the country’s two main political parties have both claimed victory in what is seen as a crucial test of the country's progress towards joining the EU. The final results are expected later today but the first surveys shows the left leading by13 percentage points over the centre party of Prime Minister Sali Berisha. If the result is confirmed, it will be a turning point for the Albanian politics after 8 years of right-wing government.
A former police undercover police officer in London has claimed that he was ordered to find information to discredit the family of a black teenager, Stephen Lawrence, whose murder 20 years ago caused an outcry in Britain and exposed institutional racism in the police force. The former undercover officer, Peter Francis, told The Guardian he was under pressure to provide intelligence which would smear the family and undermine their criticism of the police investigation into his murder.
Vijesti says 16 people have been killed and at least 30 others injured when a bus plunged 40 metres off a bridge into a ravine over the Moraca river in central Montenegro. Officials said there were about 50 people on board, and all the victims were Romanian nationals.
Dawn reports gunmen have killed nine foreign mountain climbers and their guide at a base camp at one of the world’s highest mountains in northern Pakistan. The Pakistan Taliban have claimed responsibility for killing six Ukrainians and three Chinese, saying they killed the climbers in retaliation for the death of their leaders killed last month in a drone strike.
According to Al Ahram, the army in Egypt has warned that it would act if a planned mass protest by liberal and secular activists against the country’s Islamist president in Cairo next Sunday turned violent. Gen Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who is also the country’s Defence Minister, said the armed forced has an obligation to intervene not allow the country to descend into “uncontrollable conflict” and would do anything to prevent Egypt plunging into “a dark tunnel”. His statement urged the country’s political opponents to resolve their differences through dialogue rather than protests.
El Pais says a woman has been arrested in eastern Spain on suspicion of attempted murder, after her newborn baby was rescued from inside a building's drains. Police say the 26-year-old woman was held in the city of Alicante. The two-day-old baby boy - who still had his umbilical cord attached - was found wrapped in plastic bags in the manhole in the building's courtyard. The baby, weighing 2.1kg, is in a serious but not life-threatening condition in a local hospital.
O Globo reports protests have resumed in Brazil, although on a smaller scale than in the last few days. About 4,000 protesters marched through Rio de Janeiro while in the city of Fortaleza, a crowd blocked the road to the airport. On the pitch, Uruguay trounced Tahiti 8-0 and on Wednesday face Brazil in the first semi-final in Belo Horizonte. Spain beat Nigeria 3-0 to top Group B and will now play Italy in the second semi-final next Thursday in Fontaleza.