The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta says that according to the Children’s Commissioner, the legal drinking age should be raised to 18.
The Malta Independent on Sunday reports that a lack of performance space is a perennial complaint by musicians.
MaltaToday says a man who was killed when he was run-over near Marsalforn had himself allegedly tried to strangle his aggressor.
It-Torca reports that a Tunisian who was imprisoned for life in Malta in 1992 for killed four persons has filed a Constitutional application after the European Court ruled that life sentences without possibility of revision breach human rights.
Il-Mument follows up the Declaration of Assets and says Minister Anton Refalo has €10m in property. It also says Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech will resign on a date closer to the Budget.
KullHadd says the government will seek a public-private partnership for the provision of services for assisted procreation.
Illum carries comments by Ingrid Brownrigg, whose nomination to contest the European Parliament elections was rejected by the PN. She said she was loyal to the party and the decision meant that her place was elsewhere.
The overseas press
Al Ahram reports that Egyptian security forces have cleared a Cairo mosque after a gun battle with followers of the Muslim Brotherhood ended a day-long siege. The mosque had been used as a makeshift morgue and refuge for hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters. It is unclear how many people, if any, were killed in the clashes. Meanwhile, Egyptian prime minister Hazem el-Beblawi proposed disbanding the Brotherhood.
Panapress says that after torching a Franciscan school, Islamists paraded three nuns on the streets like "prisoners of war" before a Muslim woman offered them refuge. Two other women working at the school were sexually harassed and abused as they fought their way through a mob. In the four days since security forces cleared two sit-in camps by supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Islamists have attacked dozens of Coptic, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant churches along with homes and businesses owned by the Christian minority. The campaign of intimidation appears to be a warning to Christians outside Cairo to stand down from political activism.
The worst floods in 120 years in eastern Russia are threatening 100,000 people with evacuation from their homes. Pravda reports the floods have been caused by rain in the the Amur, Khabarovsk and Jewish Autonomous regions near the Amur river which forms the border between the far east of Russia and northeastern China. Heavy rain since the end of July saw the Amur, the world's 10th-longest river and the longest in Siberia, burst its banks, as did one of its tributaries, the Zeya.
Eleven people between loyalist militia and civilians, mostly Christians, were killed in an attack by Syrian rebels in a military post in the province of Homs. The government agency Sana reported the incident as a “massacre” committed by “terrorists'”.
Sky News says new information which has been passed to the police relating to the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed is thought to include an allegation that they were murdered by a member of the British military. Scotland Yard said it is "scoping" the information and "assessing its relevance and credibility". It is understood the allegation was made by the former parents-in-law of a former soldier based on information that the ex-soldier talked about in the past, according to a military source. It is believed the information was passed to the Metropolitan Police through the Royal Military Police.
UNTV reports that the Philippines Coast Guard will today resume the search for survivors and victims of a ferry which sank after colliding with a cargo vessel off the central Philippines coast. Thirty-two people have been confirmed dead while 172 are missing. Transportation Minister Joseph Abaya says 661 of the more than 800 passengers of the ferry have been accounted for along with all 38 crew from the cargo vessel. The captains of both vessels have been taken into custody by maritime authorities for questioning.
According to Al Motamar, at least 27 people died and more than 41 were missing after a wedding party was swept away while driving across a valley flooded by monsoon rains in southern Yemen. Local officials said the victims, mostly women and children, were in three vehicles accompanying the bride to her new home. The bride survived the accident and rescue teams were searching for those missing. Eight people had been rescued.
Dawn reports that a Pakistan court acquitted a Muslim cleric who accused a Christian girl of blasphemy before he himself was arrested on similar charges. The girl, Rimsha Masih, was arrested in August 2012 for allegedly burning pages containing Koranic verses but the case against her, which drew widespread international condemnation, was quashed. Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, the cleric who made the allegations, was accused of desecrating the Koran and tampering with the evidence against Rimsha. His lawyer told newsmen the prosecution had failed to prove the charges while all the witnesses had withdrawn their accusations.
Jeune Afrique says Southern African leaders opened an annual summit endorsing the outcome of disputed elections in Zimbabwe that extended President Robert Mugabe's 33-year rule by another five years. “Congratulations to comrade Robert Mugabe for conducting peaceful elections,” said the incoming head of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), President Joyce Banda of Malawi. Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC party said Friday he had withdrawn a legal challenge to the elections, claiming the courts would not be fair. That removed the last hurdle to 89-year-old Mugabe's inauguration for a seventh term.
ABC TV says Australian police are investigating after a man was stabbed with a syringe on the New South Wales mid-north coast. It is alleged the man was sitting in his car at a rest stop near Kew when he was approached by a woman who asked for a cigarette and his wallet. Police say the woman stabbed him a number of times with a syringe when he refused. She then drove off. The 45-year-old man was treated by ambulance officers at the scene.