The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says the PN has a slight edge for the sixth European Parliament seat.
The Malta Independent quotes Alfred Sant saying he is not a euro sceptic but a euro realist.
In-Nazzjon reports how Jean Claude Juncker has staked his claim to head the European Commission as the PPE was confirmed as the biggest group in the European Parliament.
l-orizzont says vote transfers from the small parties will determine whether the sixth MEP seat goes to the PN or the PL.
The overseas press
Euronews says discussions are getting underway about the future direction of the EU after gains by populist parties in elections to the European Parliament. The winners want major changes to the EU but they remain a small and fractured group in an assembly with a strong pro-EU majority. Ahead of a meeting of the European Council in Brussels this evening, Britain has stressed the need for reforms. President Hollande said the priority was “growth, jobs and investment”. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the focus should now be on boosting the economy.
EU Business says that as a result of heavy defeats suffered, Belgium’s Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo has handed his government’s resignation to the King, Spain’s Socialist opposition leader Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba has stepped down, and Irish deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore has said he would quit as leader of the junior government Labour Party.
Avvenire reports Pope Francis has said sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests was a crime comparable to a satanic Mass. Speaking to journalists on his flight back from the Middle East, the Pope announced he would hold his first meeting with victims at the Vatican within the next few weeks. The pope said up to eight victims would celebrate Mass with him at St Martha’s, his Vatican residence. He said there would be “no privileges” for bishops involved in sex crimes.
Le Parisien says police have searched the headquarters of the opposition UMP in Paris following revelations that there were “anomalies” in the accounts of Nicolas Sarkozy's 2012 presidential campaign.
The military in Nigeria says it knows where the more than 200 schoolgirls abducted six weeks ago, are being held but ruled out using force to free them. Radio Nigeria quotes Chief of Defence Staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh saying he couldn’t reveal their location but promised the military would get them back.
Kyiv Post says the Ukrainian authorities have confirmed that Petro Poroshenko has been elected as president. He said he wanted to end the pro-Russia uprising in the east and was willing to start talks with Moscow soon but there would be no negotiations with those whom he called “terrorists”.
Al Ahram reports Egyptians voted yesterday in an election expected to anoint Abdel Fatah al-Sisi as president. The interior minister said turnout was good. As polls were about to close, there was no sign of a late rush.
A shortage of funds for vaccinating dogs is costing the lives of tens of thousands of children every year. The head of the world animal health organisation (OIE) told the BBC that the invisible killer could be eliminated for one tenth of the cost of treating patients. The most recent figures suggest around 55,000 people die every year from rabies. Around 40 per cent of those who are bitten are under 15 years of age.