The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that employers are alarmed at an increase in public sector employment and its impact on the economy.
The Malta Independent says an unlicensed dog breeder is to face charges.
In-Nazzjon says the MUT has called on the government to tackle the problem of a large number of teachers's laptops which are unusable.
l-orizzont says a Phoenician boat has been discovered in Maltese waters.
The overseas press
The Islamic State is reported to have seized the last government-held airbase in the northern Syrian province of Raqqa. Syrian state TV has confirmed that government forces had “evacuated” the airbase. Clashes around the airbase were ongoing but the base was under IS control.
Al Bawaba quotes the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying 346 jihadists and 25 Syrian troops had been killed in the fighting for Tabqa at the airport since last Tuesday, with another 170 soldiers dying during fierce fighting on Sunday.
Al Ahram reports the top Islamic authority in Egypt, Dar el-Ifta, revered by many Muslims worldwide, has launched an Internet-based campaign challenging the extremist group in Syria and Iraq by saying it should not be called an “Islamic State”. The group’s violent attacks, including mass shootings, destroying Shiite shrines, targeting minorities and beheadings have shocked Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
US Senator John McCain has urged President Barak Obama to order airstrikes against Syria because the country hosts IS bases. In an interview for Fox News Sunday, Senator McCain noted that there was “no boundary between Iraq and Syria”.
Voice of Nigeria reports Boko Haram has announced that an Islamic caliphate has been established in a Nigerian town seized by the militant group earlier this month. It follows an attack on a police academy outside the town of Gwoza.
Kyiv Post says Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has pledged €2.3 billion in defence spending to re-equip the country’s military. The announcement was made at celebrations to mark the 23rd anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has confirmed that an outbreak of haemorrhagic fever in the north of the country has been identified as Ebola. Health Minister Felix Numbi told the BBC that 13 had already died in the province of Equateur province.
CNN reports the strongest earthquake to strike Northern California in 25 years has caused widespread damage and injured at least 120 people, six of them, including a child, seriously. A state of emergency is in force and rescue crews are searching under damaged buildings, roads and bridges while firemen grapple with fires, burst water mains and gas mains.
Meanwhile, El Universal says a major 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Peru on Sunday. US experts said the quake hit 42 kilometers east-northeast of Tambo at a depth of 58.9 kilometers. A tsumani alert is in force.
O Globo says inmates rioting in a Brazilian jail have beheaded two fellow prisoners and taken two guards hostage in a riot against how the prison is run. Police said 80 percent of the Cascavel state correctional centre, which houses 1,400 inmates, is under prisoner control.
The Times announces the death of British actor and film director Richard Attenborough. He was 90. He began his career in the theatre but soon moved to films, starring in Brighton Rock and The Great Escape. As a director he was best known for Gandhi, for which he won two Oscars.
Algeria’s Le Matin reports a footballer has died after being hit in the head by an object thrown from the stands after a match. Cameroonian striker Albert Ebosse, who had national caps, was fatally struck by a projectile at the end of JS Kabylie’s game against USM Alger. He had scored a goal in the game, which his club lost 2-1.
Die Presse says 400 garden gnomes, the property of the left wing Social Democrat Party, have gone missing in Vorarlberg in west Austria. They were being used as political campaign advertisements in the run up to provincial elections in Vorarlberg on September21. The Social Democrats suspect that the gnomes were removed by the rival party.