The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times and the other local newspapers lead with the Divorce Movement victory in the referendum. The newspaper's heading is 'Yes to divorce'.

The Malta Independent says this was A Victory for commonsense.

MaltaToday says 122,547 sinners voted 'yes' for divorce.

In-Nazzjon gives prominence to comments by the Prime Minister that the will of the people has to be respected and parliament will legislate for divorce.

l-orizzont says reason prevailed in the divorce referendum.

The overseas press

CBS News has learnt that eight high-ranking Libyan military officers, including four generals, were travelling to a European capital from where they plan to officially announce their defection this afternoon. The America TV and radio network says there were even rumours that the head of the all-important national oil company and Libya's oil minister, Shukri Ghanem, has also defected to Tunisia.

Al Jamahariya TV reports President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is expected in Libya today for talks with Col Gaddafi. South Africa’s governing ANC has criticized the Nato bombing campaign in Libya and is thought the talks would centre on trying to broker a ceasefire.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera says that more than 100 community and tribal leaders from Libya have met with members of the opposition National Transitional Council at a conference in Turkey, in a bid to show a united front against Muammar Gaddafi. The tribal leaders from the powerful Warfalla clan have called for an end to the violence in Libya and the departure of Libyan leader Gaddafi and his sons.

Press reports that thousands of stone and bottle-throwing protesters have clashed with baton-wielding riot police Sunday after several Serbian nationalist supporters of jailed war-crimes suspect Ratko Mladic rallied outside the parliament building to demand his release. Some 100 people were arrested and 16 minor injuries were reported. Mladic’s son, Darko, said on Sunday that despite the UN tribunal indictment, his father insisted he was not responsible for the mass executions committed by his troops after they overran the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995, where the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys took place.

The Irish Examiner says motoring organisations across Europe have demanded the European Union launch an investigation into soaring petrol prices. The Federation Nationale de l’Automobile (FIA), which represents 35 million drivers, has written to the EU claiming the way prices are determined is “far from transparent”. A full tank for an average European car now costs more than €11.50 more than it did a year ago.

Deutsche Welle reports Spanish cucumbers suspected of contamination with a potentially deadly bacteria were being recalled from shops in Austria and the Czech Republic to prevent the spread of an outbreak that has killed at least nine people and left hundreds ill across Europe. The EU notified member states on Friday of the source of the outbreak, which has affected primarily the Hamburg area of Germany and, to a lesser extent, Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

The former husband of Arnold Schwarzenegger's lover has told Cromos, a Colombian magazine, he planned to sue the former governor, alleging that the birth certificate of the couple's love child was falsified. Rogelio Baena said he only recently learned that his 13-year-old son with Mildred Baena was actually the love child of Schwarzenegger and his ex-wife. Yet, Rogelio Baena's name appeared on the birth certificate. Baena separated from his then-wife after 10 years of marriage in October 1997, just weeks after the boy was born. The couple however did not file for divorce until February 2008.

Le Parisien annouces the resignation of Georges Tron, a French junior minister, over allegations of sexual harassment by two women. French prosecutors have opened an inquiry. Tron has called the accusations “incredible” and said the two women were dismissed from their posts at the town hall in Draveil, south of Paris, where he is mayor.

L’Equipe reports that Fifa has suspended two executive committee members over allegations of bribery. Its ethics committee said the head of Asian football, Mohamed Bin Hammam and its vice-president Jack Warner have a case to answer. They deny the allegations. The committee also found that current Fifa president Sepp Blatter had not breeched any rules for failing to report bribery allegations.


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