Press digest

The following are the top stories in the international press today. National newspapers are not published on Boxing Day. Official results from Egypt show voters have backed the controversial new constitution supported by President Mohammad Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. Al Ahram quotes the election commission saying 63.8 per cent of Egyptian voters approved the new constitution, and 36.2 per cent opposed it. Less than a third of Egypt's 52 million eligible voters cast their ballot in the two-stage referendum. The result will enable Egypt to elect a new parliament. The draft constitution prompted mass protests by opponents who argue it has an Islamist agenda. The commander of Syria’s military police is reported to have defected. Al Arabiya has broadcast “an announcement” by Major General Abulaziz Jassim al-Shalal from the border with Turkey in which he accused President Assad’s regime of using chemical weapons in an attack on Homs on Christmas Eve. He said the Syrian army had deviated from its fundamental mission from protecting the nation and has turned into “gangs of killering and destruction”. L’Avvenire leads with Pope Benedict’s call for peace in global hotspots, including...