These are the main stories from the local press:
The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting being hosted in Malta dominated most of the newspaper headlines this morning.
Times of Malta also reports a European Commission report saying that Malta must watch its poverty levels. It also reports French President Francois Hollande's quick visit to Malta in connection with the upcoming climate summit.
L-Orizzont quotes Queen Elizabeth saying that Malta was a small country with strong moral health.
The Malta Independent reports Prime Minister Joseph Muscat saying that the best way to pay tribute to the past is to work for the future.
In-Nazzjon says that a traditional Maltese ceremony opened the CHOGM summit.
The following are the top stories from the international press:
Fox News reports a suspect is in police custody following an hours-long ordeal at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, which left three people dead. A number of people were trapped inside the clinic while the stand-off with police took place. Though authorities have not determined a motive for the shooting, health centres associated with Planned Parenthood have often been the target of threats and violence.
France has paid tribute to the 130 people killed in the terrorist attacks in Paris two weeks ago with Le Figaro quoting President Hollande telling the more than 2,000 people present: “We will not give in to either fear or hatred.” At a solemn ceremony at the city’s Les Invalides monument, victims’ families joined survivors, emergency service workers, religious leaders and politicians for a national memorial service at which the names of those killed were read out.
Zaman says President Erdogan has warned Russia not to “play with fire”, citing reports Turkish businessmen had been detained in Russia, while Moscow said it would suspend visa-free travel with Turkey. Russia has threatened economic retaliation – a response the Turkish president has dismissed as emotional and indecorous.
Sputnik reports Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has used a meeting with his Syrian opposite number in Moscow to launch a stinging attack on the Turkish government, which he said had “exceeded acceptable limits” in shooting down a bomber on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a Russian marine killed by rebels in Syria has been buried. Alexander Pozynich, 29, was on board a helicopter taking part in a search-and-rescue operation to save pilots of the downed plane.
Pope Francis has arrived in Uganda on the second leg of his three-nation African tour. Bukedde reports he was met with great fanfare and tens of thousands of people lined his route into Kampala in some of the biggest crowds of his trip so far. On arrival, he urged leaders to prove themselves “responsible managers” of natural resources, but lauded action on refugees. Before leaving Kenya, Pope Francis visited a slum in Nairobi, where, according to Citizen TV, he urged the Kenyan government to do more to lift people from what he called “wounds inflicted” by a wealthy and powerful elite.
Polskie Radio reports armed attackers have abducted five Polish seamen from a cargo ship in Nigerian waters. Poland’s Foreign Ministry said a further 11 crew members who barricaded themselves inside the ship were safe.
The Polish EuroAfrica company, the vessel’s owner, said the Cypriot-flagged ship was “attacked by armed pirates from two boats, some 35 nautical miles off the Nigerian coast”.
The Washington Post says court documents show a man who was arrested on Wednesday for jumping a White House fence draped in an American flag had left a suicide note with friends and a will with his mother. Joseph Caputo, 22, has been ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
O Globo reports a sharp increase in the rate of deforestation in the Amazon. More than 5,000 square kilometres of Amazon rainforest were lost in the year to August. A British court has convicted a Dutchman of conspiring to smuggle drugs with a street value of €2.3 billion in a fleet of fake ambulances into Britain.
Metro says the gang used bogus paramedic uniforms to drive ambulances packed with drugs across the Channel, with at least 45 trips identified over a 14-month period.
The Siberian Times reports a local MP and her husband – both semi-naked on the back seat of their Toyota RAV4 – died when a bomb exploded in the vehicle. The face of Oksana Bobrovskaya, 30, who was in Putin's United Russia Party, was ripped off in the blast. Police fear the husband may have detonated the explosives in a fit of jealousy after he had accused her of cheatin' on him with a wealthy lover.
Young Greek women are selling sex for as low as €2 or the price of a sandwich as six years of painful austerity have pushed the European country to the financial brink. Gregory Laxos, a sociology professor in Athens, told the London Times newspaper some women just do it for a sandwich because they are hungry while others do it to pay taxes, bills, urgent expenses or a quick drug fix. Last month, an unemployed Greek mother offered her 12-year-old daughter to a priest and a retired man for money.