The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times quotes a report saying that the Regional Road railing was not designed to resist impact. It also says that a Muslim former PN councillor has converted to Labour.
The Malta Independent reports that Joseph Muscat yesterday reiterated his position of free vote on divorce. The prime minister is quoted as saying that Labour would not be allowed to show the dark pages of Malta’s history as being glorious years.
In-Nazzjon says that Labour finance spokesman Karmenu Vella yesterday made a strong attack on Eddie Fenech Adami. It also quotes the prime minister saying the country is attracting investment and creating jobs.
l-orizzont says that Joseph Muscat yesterday announced a five-year road map of Labour government.
The overseas press
Al Masry Al Youm quotes Egyptian opposition leaders saying Vice-President Omar Suleiman did not go far enough in his proposals for greater political freedom and his pledge of free elections. Suleiman met with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and other opposition groups for the first time on Sunday and offered sweeping concessions – including granting press freedom and rolling back police powers – in the government's latest attempt to try to end two weeks of upheaval. But the opposition leaders held firm to a demand the government rejects: that President Hosni Mubarak step down immediately.
Al Gomhuria says demonstrators again packed Tahrir Square, in what they called “Sunday of the Martyrs”, to demand President Mubarak's immediate removal from office as a prerequisite for any deal – undermining the government's attempts to get people back to work because of the huge economic losses – at least $310 million (€228 million) a day – caused by the crisis.
The Washington Post reports President Barack Obama has said that Egypt is not going to go back to the way it was before pro-democracy protests roiled the country. Speaking to Fox News, he played down prospects that the Muslim Brotherhood would take a major role in a new government because they did not have majority support.
Al Khabar quotes Middle East experts saying President Mubarak’s family fortune could be as much as $70 billion (€51.5 billion), with much of his wealth in British and Swiss banks or tied up in real estate in London, New York, Los Angeles and along expensive tracts of the Red Sea coast. His sons, Gamal and Alaa, are also billionaires.
Assabah says Tunisia's interior minister on Sunday suspended all activities of the country's former ruling party. The announcement came hours after crowds pillaged, then burned a police station in the northwestern city of Kef a day after police shot dead at least four demonstrators. Protests have also erupted in other corners of the country.
Iran Daily reports that two Americans accused of spying have appeared in a closed-door Iranian court session Sunday to begin trial after an 18-month detention that has brought impassioned family appeals, a stunning bail deal to free their companion and backdoor diplomatic outreach by Washington through an Arab ally in the Gulf. All three – two in person and one in absentia – entered not guilty pleas during the five-hour hearing.
Corriere della Sera reports critics of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi have staged a protest near his Milan villa, some wearing masks of the leader while others shouted slogans against him and asked him to resign. A small group scuffled with police. Berlusconi is under investigation on suspicion he had sex with a 17-year-old Moroccan girl and used his office to cover it up. He denies wrongdoing.
Metro says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and his entourage of lawyers, supporters, protesters and journalists head back to a London court today for a showdown between the secret-spilling computer hacker and Swedish authorities who want him extradited to face sex crimes allegations. Assange is accused of sexual misconduct by two women he met during a visit to Stockholm last year.
Phnom Penh Post quotes the Cambodian government revealing part of a historic 11th-century stone temple has collapsed due to heavy shelling by the Thai army as the two sides battled across their disputed border for a third day. The extent of the damage to the Preah Vihear temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, was not immediately clear. Both countries accused each other of instigating the clashes.
O Globo reports Brazilian police faced no resistance Sunday as they took control of nine more slums commanded by drug traffickers. The operation also led to the arrest of an allegedly fake German doctor working at a makeshift hospital in one of the shantytowns.
Dawn says the wife of a Pakistani man shot and killed by a US official committed suicide by eating rat poison, explaining before she died that she was driven to act by fears the American would be freed without trial. The Americans have demanded Pakistani authorities release the American, who has diplomatic immunity, saying he shot and killed two armed men in self-defence when they attempted to rob him.
E! Entertainment says Christina Aguilera flubbed a line as she sang out the national anthem at the start of the Super Bowl Sunday night. She instead replaced "o'er the ramparts we watched" with "what so proudly we watched,"