The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The local newspapers are dominated by the passing away of Dom Mintoff.
The Times carries a supplement under the main heading Mintoff Dead and says a State funeral is to be held.
The Malta Independent reports how Mr Mintoff passed away. It also reports that a protest was held outside the Russian embassy yesterday by two members of the Graffitti Movement, protesting over the jailing of the Pussy Riot girls.
l-orizzont’s heading is Sahha Perit over a big picture of the former prime minister in his heyday.
In-Nazzjon reports how Dom Mintoff passed away after having been admitted to hospital several times over the past few days.
The overseas press
President Obama has once again called on President Bashar al-Assad of Syria to leave office and warned that any movement of chemical weapons by the Syria government would change his view on the US response to the conflict. Voice of America quotes Obama saying Assad had lost legitimacy and rather than drag his country into a civil war, he should move in the direction of political transition. The US president referred to humanitarian and other assistance the US and its international partners have provided to Syria’s opposition, saying this would continue especially help to refugees fleeing the fighting. He said he had not ordered military intervention in Syria at this point but the US had put together contingency plans.
Sky Turk reports at least eight people are reported killed and 60 others wounded in a car bomb attack in south-eastern Turkey, about 50 kilometres from the Syrian border. The attack happened near a police station where Turkey has opened a centre to receive aid for Syrian refugees. South-eastern Turkey with its majority Kurdish population has been a battleground for PKK separatists but no-one immediately claimed responsibility for this attack.
The Moscow Times says Russia’s opposition leader Garry Kasparov is taking legal action against police over beating and libel allegations. The former world chess champion claims he was illegally manhandled and falsely accused of biting by officers during a protest in support of anti-Putin punk band, Pussy Riot. Kasparov was detained by police on Friday outside a Moscow courthouse where a judge was reading out the guilty verdict for the music group. The charges of assaulting a police officer are punishable with up to five years in prison.
According to Le Soir, thousands of people have turned out at a protest in Brussels against the imminent release of the former wife of Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux. Among them was one of two surviving victims, Laetitia Delhez. The gruesome crimes rocked the world when in 1996 Dutroux was convicted of kidnapping and raping several young girls. Michelle Martin was jailed for helping him. They killed two of their victims and left two others to starve to death in a makeshift dungeon. Sixteen years after he and Martin were imprisoned, she could be due for parole.
CNN reports the US government on Monday accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of trying to deflect attention from his charges of sexual assault after he called on Washington to stop the "witch-hunt" against his organisation. Calling Assange's remarks at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Sunday as "wild assertions," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that his issue with the British government was whether he would be extradited to Sweden where he was charged with rape and sexual assault.
Dawn says President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan has asked the country’s Interior Ministry for a report about the arrest of a Christian girl on blasphemy charges, allegedly desecrating a religious text. Police said the girl was taken into custody on last Thursday after angry neighbours surrounded her house in Islamabad, accusing her of burning pages of the Koran. Others said she was burning papers in the garbage for cooking. Authorities say the girl would be held for 14 days while the case was being investigated. There are reports that she has a mental disability.
The Wall Street Journal reports the US has seized $150 million in connection with an international scheme to launder proceeds of drug trafficking and other crimes. The Justice Department said entities linked to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah used the US financial system to launder criminal proceeds through West Africa back into Lebanon.
Globe & Mail reports that the South African platinum mine, where police killed 34 people last week, has reopened with its owner extending the deadline for the striking workers to return. Work at mine resumed on Monday but only a third of the 28,000 employees reported to their jobs. The company had said striking workers must return by Monday or face dismissal but announced that in the light of current circumstances, it would give the workers and extra day.
Jamhuurya says that for the first time since Somalia spiralled into civil war in 1991, a new parliament nominated by Somali elders has met inside the country in a bid to establish a stable permanent government. About 200 MPs were sworn in but that was fewer than expected as 64 other seats have yet to be filled. The ceremony was held under tight security at Mogadishu airport to prevent attacks by the militant group al Shabaab.
Mali’s state media Lessor has announced that a new government of national unity has been formed five months after the country’s democratic-elected president was deposed by a military coup. The new government has 31 ministers, including five seen as close to the leader of the coup last March. Islamist rebels in the north of the country have consolidated their hold on the territory since the coup.
Myanmar says there will be no more censorship of its national media, in the latest reform since pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was freed in 2010. Burma Daily says the new rules mean reporters would no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication. Myanmar’s press now enjoys freedom to publish that was unheard of under five decades of authoritarian military rule that ended in March last year. Restrictions have been eased in recent months and several journalists have been released from detention, along with other political prisoners.
CNN reports the veteran American swimmer Diana Nyad is making progress in her attempt to become the first person to swim the 166 km between Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. A post on her website said she had already travelled about a third of the distance. Nyad hopes to complete her journey through the shark-infested waters later today, a day before she turns 63. She began her swim from Havana on Saturday. Last year she was forced to stop her swim after being badly stung by jellyfish.
Time says the home of the Masters Golf tournament, Augusta National in Georgia, has admitted women members for the first time in its 80 years’ history. Former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Carolina financier Darla Moore will become the first women in green jackets when the new season starts in October. The host course of the Masters had been under criticism for many years for not allowing females to join. The announcement comes after activist Martha Burk put pressure on the club to admit women in 2002.
Elton John has told the weekly British magazine Radio Times he believes his son Zachary's childhood was going to be "very difficult", battling homophobia and the impact of his father's fame. The 65-year-old pop icon and his Canadian civil partner David Furnish, 49, became parents on December 25, 2010 to a child conceived using a donor egg and born via a surrogate mother. The singer-songwriter said, "At school other children will say, 'You don't have a mummy'".