The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says the ban on the transfer of migrants within the EU is to be tested after an appeal made in Ireland. It also says that the Church will not centralise its debate on divorce.
The Malta Independent says an investment services company has claimed 'very substantial' damages by VFM, Bank of Valletta and Insight..
In-Nazzjon says €13m have been given to local councils for road-building. It also reports that the director of the Mambra stores is still abroad, a year after the store suffered financial collapse.
l-orizzont says government plans provide for a new road in residential areas every day. It also says that a Maltese agricultural payment agency has been ordered to recoup €500,000 in EU funds after irregularities were found in applications.
The overseas press
All major Italian dailies lead with the news that the conservative coalition Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had passed its first test when supporters of Gianfranco Fini declined to take part in a vote of no-confidence against junior justice minister Giacomo Caliendo. Romes's Il Tempo says the motion, put forward by opposition parties, was defeated in the lower house Chamber of Deputies with 299 votes against, 229 votes in favour and 75 abstentions.
L'Osservatore Romano says worshippers would be asked to pay a "pilgrim contribution" of up to £25 to attend Pope Benedict's public appearances during his trip to Britain. The Catholic Church's disclosure came amid controversy in mainly Anglican Britain over the cost of the September trip, which officials have estimated at up to £12 million. In comments to Corriere della Sera, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi stressed that those that cannot afford it would be exempt.
The Jerusalem Post reports that in a stern warning to both Hamas and the Lebanese government, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel would " reach, and hit with great force, anyone who shoots at Israeli citizens, no matter from where". The statement, also released in video form, was issued after four attacks against Israel in the past five days from Gaza, Sinai and the Lebanon.
The Financial Times leads with President Obama's declaration that the battle to stop the Gulf of Mexico spill was "finally close to coming to an end". Mr Obama spoke as BP said its "static kill" operation to shut off the flow of oil by pumping heavy mud into the well on Tuesday had gone as hoped, in a "significant milestone" for the crisis. About three-quarters of the oil has either been captured, burned off, evaporated or broken down chemically.
Al-Jazeera reports that Iranian government officials have denied an attempt had been made on the life of President Ahmadinejad, saying that it was a firecracker that went off near his motorcade that produced the bang. Iranian website Khabaronline had said the president had survived a grenade attack on his convoy on his way to give a speech when the attack happened.
Pravda says that as environmental experts warned that the concentration of toxic particles from the wildfires burning around Moscow had reached dangerous levels, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev had sacked several top military officials for failing to stop wildfires from destroying a naval base outside the Russian capital. Russian media report an increase in mortality rates due to the heatwave.
The Washington Times reports that a US federal judge has overturned California's voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage, saying it unconstitutionally discriminated against same-sex couples who sought to wed. The state measure was passed by voters in a 2008 referendum by 52 per cent. Backers of the ban intend to appeal. The case is likely to reach the US Supreme Court.
El Universal says an expectant mother, a teenage girl and an 86-year-old were among seven females killed in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua amid a wave of drug-related attacks. More than 300 women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez in targeted attacks which rights groups called feminicides. Some 28,000 people have died in suspected drug violence since 2006, when Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive on organised crime.
The Wall Street Journal says 38 US billionaires have pledged at least 50 per cent of their wealth to charity. They include New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, CNN founder Ted Turner and entertainment executive Barry Diller. The Givimg Pledge lists all the families and individuals who have committed to the project. The site says the pledge is a "moral commitment" not a "legal contract".
Akhbar al Youm reports a Sudanese court had 19 Muslim youths flogged in public overnight for dressing up like women. The men must also pay fines ranging between €160 and €320. The Sudanese press said the men were homosexuals attending a same sex marriage. Northern Sudan is governed by Islamic law, which forbids homosexuality.
The Washington Post says a woman beat her boyfriend unconscious with a vacuum cleaner. The police, who found the 41-year-old man with a large amount of blood coming from a head wound, arrested his 37-year-old girlfriend for investigation into a possible domestic violence assault.