The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Last night’s concert by Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja on the Granaries in Floriana is featured in Maltese newspapers today.
Times of Malta says that the highly congested Kappara junction is to be transformed into a flyover connecting the north and south of the island and built over a roundabout that will be smaller than the existing one.
The Malta Independent also leads with Mepa’s decision about the project. In another story, it quotes the Commissioner for Children saying that there could be no anthropological justification or mitigation of female genital mutilation on the basis that it was the expression of a particular culture.
In-Nazzjon says Marsascala residents are angry at the way the government is trying to fool the people about the real reason for the closure of the Marsascala family park. In another story it says Minister Manuel Mallia has again failed to answer questions about the €500,000 in cash mentioned in his declaration of assets.
L-Orizzont says that on the eve of the election the permanent secretary in Former Minister George Pullicino's ministry gave a direct order to a company belonging to former Minister Austin Gatt's cousin. It also reports the Auditor General's replies to questions about personal notes of a former member of the Fuel Procurement Committee which were taken as minutes.
International news
Ansa quotes former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi saying his political battles would not be ended by the Supreme Court's decision to uphold a four-year prison term for tax fraud at his media empire.
Zimbabwe Independent reports President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu Party has claimed victory in Wednesday's elections, while the opposition says the poll was marred by fraud.
Fox News says the man convicted of holding three women captive in his house over a decade and raping them repeatedly has been jailed for life without parole plus 1,000 years. Ariel Castro, 53, of Cleveland, Ohio, was sentenced after pleading guilty to 937 counts including aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and assault.
Reuters reports Russia granted American fugitive Edward Snowden a year's asylum, allowing the former US spy agency contractor to slip quietly out of Moscow's airport after more than five weeks in limbo but angering the United States.
El Pais says Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has spoken in parliament to answer questions over a corruption scandal that has led to demands for him to quit. The 58-year-old premier has denied allegations that he received illegal payments from his conservative Popular Party.
According to Kathemerini, a deal struck between the Greek Finance Ministry and business representatives from the catering industry resulted in VAT decreasing to 13 per cent for hotels and restaurants as of yesterday – down from a previous rate of 23 per cent.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) says it is concerned by the approval by Uruguayan MPs of a Bill which would legalise marijuana. The New York Times reports that the INCB says the law would “be in complete contravention to the provisions of the international drug treaties to which Uruguay is party”.
Il Corriere del Sud says a fishing boat carrying 60 migrants – 28 men, 9 women and 23 children – was rescued 30 miles off the shore of the Calabrian town Roccella Ionica.
La Tercera reports the 33 Chilean miners who were trapped deep underground for more than two months in 2010 are outraged at a decision to close the case against the mine owners.
Assabah says Tunisia's judiciary has ordered the release of Femen activist Amina Sboui. She was jailed in May on contempt and defamation charges after protesting against a convention planned by hardline Salafist Islamists.
USA today reports that a two-year-old boy with only weeks to live will serve as best man when his parents wed this weekend.
Il Tempo says a puppy played a crucial part in helping a 10-year-old girl in intensive care recover from severe depression related to a crippling illness. Doctors at Rome's Gemelli University hospital said Portos was the first puppy used by the hospital's paediatric intensive care unit.