The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times leads with how a father, 44, admitted in court to having raped his three daughters. He was jailed for 10 years. It also reports how a mother was freed from jail after a presidential pardon. She had been jailed for not granting her husband access to their son. She insisted her son, then 16, refused to see him.
The Malta Independent also leads with the 10-year jail term for the father who raped his daughters.
In-Nazzjon says the 30,000 workers in the civil service are to enjoy a pay raise in terms of a new collective agreement. It also says the prices of 14 medicines have been reduced.
l-orizzont describes the man who admitted raping his three young daughters as ‘a monster’.
The overseas press
Espresso reports demonstrators started a fire outside the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon last night, protesting against government plans to increase austerity measures, unveiled in its 2013 budget, considered one of the harshest in recent history. It includes a raft of tax hikes and spending cuts to tackle its large deficit. The Finance Minister said the plan was the only to meet the terms of an international bailout. The opposition Socialist Party called it “a fiscal atomic bomb”.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN and Fox News, in interviews during her visit to the Peruvian capital Lima, that she would take the blame for any shortcomings in the handling of an attack last month on the US mission in the Libyan city of Benghazi. President Barack Obama has come under fire from his critics over the attack, which left four Americans dead. Clinton's move was seen as an attempt to take the heat off him on the eve of his second crunch debate with Republican opponent Mitt Romney later today in Hempstead, Long Island.
New York Daily News says President Obama's hopes of reviving his flagging re-election campaign has received a boost after a series of polls showed the president leading in the must-win battleground state of Ohio. A Public Policy Polling survey gave Obama a five-point lead in Ohio, backing up polls last week from CNN and NBC showing a similar lead.
Al Ahram reports the Egyptian football association has suspended the country’s premier league indefinitely – two days before the start of the new season. Matches were initially halted in February after at least 70 supporters of the club Al Ahli were killed at a stadium in Port Said in scuffles against Al-Masri fans. Al-Ahli fans later accused the police of not intervening because of the role played by some of the club's supporters, known as ultras, in the Cairo street protests that brought about the downfall of President Hosni Mubarak.
Libyan Herald says more than 100 inmates have escaped from the al-Judaida prison in Tripoli. The prisoners are said to be of various nationalities, including illegal African migrants. Officials said about 60 have so far been recaptured. Al-Judaida is one of Tripoli's largest jails and there have been accusations of inmate abuse by human rights groups.
Haaretz reports Israel's parliament has voted to dissolve itself ahead of early national elections set for next January because members could not agree on a new budget. During a parliamentary debate that preceded the vote, party leaders launched harsh attacks on one another. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu boasted of his achievements, while the opposition heckled and insulted him mercilessly.
Huffington Post says UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has appealed for Iranian help to implement a ceasefire in Syria over the upcoming Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. Following a visit to Tehran, Brahimi said such a ceasefire could "allow a political process to develop". In Luxembourg, European Union foreign ministers backed Brahimi's efforts and approved fresh sanctions on Syria. The EU has also imposed a new range of sanctions on Iran intended to hit the country's treasury and increase pressure on its Islamic regime over its nuclear programme.
The Scotsman leads with the deal signed in Edinburgh, between Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, on holding a referendum on Scottish independence. The historic vote, set for 2014, could lead to the break-up of the United Kingdom after more than 300 years.
Sky News quotes British doctors saying 14-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousufzai has a good chance of recovering. Malala is in a Birmingham hospital for treatment after being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen last week. She was attacked by the Taliban for promoting the education of girls and criticising the militant group.
TV chef Jamie Oliver has complained that diners at his restaurants have developed a taste for items that are off the menu – linen napkins and toilet flush handles. The “15-Minute Meals” star told Radio Times that thousands of napkins go missing every month at his chain of eateries and that he had been forced to weld the handles on to his toilets. Oliver, whose business empire is worth £150 million, linked the thefts to the recession.
The Guardian says Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s Sunday's freefall skydive was viewed by more than eight million people on YouTube alone – a record. It was YouTube's biggest live-streamed event to date. Its coverage of the London 2012 Olympics had peaked with "more than half a million".
The Irish Independent reports the latest edition of Guinness World Records awards the title of the world's biggest school to the City Montessori School in the Indian city of Lucknow, with 39,437 registered pupils in the 2010-2011 academic year. CMS, as it is known, says enrolment numbers have already risen above 45,000, with 2,500 teachers, 3,700 computers and 1,000 classrooms.