The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports that a huge surge in the importation of rabbit meat in ruining local breeders.
The Malta Independent quotes the EU Commissioner responsible for migration saying that Malta received €84.9m since 2007 to deal with migration.
In-Nazzjon says the UHM is determined to defend the right of association of Arriva workers. The company has denied claims that it pressured the workers not to join the union.
l-orizzont leads with comments by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo that Maltese schools lack physical activity for pupils.
The overseas press
The New York Times reports the UN Security Council is backing a call by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's for “a thorough, impartial and prompt investigation” of allegations of chemical weapons use outside the Syrian capital. The Syrian opposition claimed as many as 1,300 people were killed in pre-dawn shelling of rebel-held areas outside Damascus. Unverified video footage showed people apparently convulsing and struggling for breath, while other video showed dozens of lifeless bodies, including children. The Syrian Government has denied it used chemical weapons. The attack coincided with the visit to Syria by a 20-member UN chemical weapons team, which only has a mandate to investigate three previous allegations of chemical weapons use.
USA Today says the National Security Agency has declassified three secret court opinions showing how in one of its surveillance programmes it scooped up as many as 56,000 emails and other communications by Americans not connected to terrorism. The latest revelations come amid charges by members of Congress and privacy groups that the agency has far overstepped its bounds in collecting information on US citizens. There are already bipartisan efforts in Congress to rein in the programmes and increase oversight of the intelligence agencies.
Wall Street Journal reports the lawyer of the American soldier Bradley Manning has asked President Obama to pardon his client, who has been sentenced to 35 years in prison after leaking thousands of secret documents to the WikiLeaks website. The lawyer, David Coombs, said Manning was a brave American who was not willing to remain silent.
EU foreign ministers have agreed to suspend the supply of military weapons to the Egyptian government. Le Soir says the decision came at an emergency meeting in Brussels to discuss the situation in Egypt. They said Egypt remained a crucial partner but they condemned the recent bloodshed and called the actions of security forces “disproportionate”.
Ahram Online says Egypt's prime minister has ordered that deposed president Hosni Mubarak be placed under house arrest after he's released from prison following more than two years in detention. The announcement came hours after a court ordered Mubarak be released for the first time since he was first detained in April 2011 – a move threatening to further stoke tension in a deeply divided Egypt. Many feared Mubarak's release would amplify Islamist allegations that last month's military coup was a step toward restoring the old regime.
La Sicilia reports many of the more than 1,000 migrants that arrived in Sicily over the past two days have escaped from the detention camps and a major search is underway. Officials say as many as 9,000 immigrants have arrived on Italian soil between July 1 and August 10 this year.
Sky News reports two British women have been remanded in custody in Peru as they await trial on drug trafficking charges. Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, both 20, were arrested earlier this month at Lima's international airport with around 12kg of cocaine. At their first court appearance, Judge Dilo Huaman questioned the women's defence that they had been threatened at gunpoint if they refused to carry the drugs in their luggage. The judge asked why the pair did not ask for help when they had the opportunity at the airport. The women responded that they were being threatened by “someone anonymous”. The prosecutor told the court that their story was “incoherent”.
Former Pope Benedict has revealed he decided to step down as pope because God told him to. Catholic news agency Zenith said the 86-year-old underwent a “mystical experience” lasting several months. He said the experience had given him an “absolute desire” to devote his life to quiet prayer instead of the more public role of pope. The first pontiff to abdicate in nearly 600 years, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger stated at the time that physical and mental frailty had made him unfit to continue his reign which began in April 2005. He said the charisma of his successor Pope Francis had confirmed to him how his abdication was the will of God.
According to Mail & Guardian, a 55-year-old woman was stung to death by a swarm of bees in South Africa, seemingly while she was walking to work. Police said passers-by found the woman’s swollen body lying at the corner of two streets in the coastal city of Port Elizabeth and alerted the police.
National Post reports a Canadian dentist who bought one of John Lennon's teeth two years ago plans to clone the former Beatle using DNA from the molar. Dr Michael Zuk bought the tooth in 2011 for €22,670 from Lennon's former housekeeper Dorothy Jarlett, who had been given it by the star for her daughter – a big fan of his – in the 1960s.
Traditional animal rivalries were set aside in New Zealand when a dog's blood was used to save the life of a poisoned cat in a rare inter-species transfusion. New Zealand Herald reports ginger tom Rory went limp after eating rat poison. Vet Kate Heller said the feeble feline was fading fast and needed an immediate transfusion to survive, but there was not enough time to send a sample to the laboratory for testing to determine the cat's blood type. Instead, she decided to take a gamble and use dog blood to try to save the animal, knowing it would die instantly if she gave it the wrong type. Cat owner Kim Edwards said the cat appeared to have come through its ordeal unscathed, seemingly without any canine side effects: “Rory is back to normal and we don't have a cat that barks or fetches the paper”.