Times of Malta reports that Malta faces EU legal action over bird trapping.

 

The Malta Independent says that while Karmenu Vella says he voted Yes for EU membership, he campaigned against it.

 

In-Nazzjon reports that Sannat's labour-controlled local council has not met for over a month, in breach of the law. 

 

l-orizzont leads with comments by John Dalli about Olaf following a story in the Sunday Times of Malta.

 

 

Meanwhile, there has been fierce fighting to the west of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Al Bawaba reports Islamist militants were held off by government troops with the help of air strikes by the US-led coalition. However, the insurgents have not retreated and some are less than 10 km from the city. Also, airstrikes continued on Sunday by the coalition against IS targets in Syria, hitting oil refineries near the border with Turkey.

South China Morning Post says fresh confrontations in Hong Kong between thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators and the police who fired fresh rounds of tear gas to try to disperse the protesters, angry at China’s refusal to allow people a fully-free vote in 2017. At least 26 people were injured in the clashes which started last Friday.

Meanwhile, according to AFP, Hong Kong stocks sank 1.18 per cent in opening exchanges this morning following a weekend of unrest as the pro-democracy demonstrators clashed with police in the financial hub.  

Libya Herald reports the country’s internationally-recognised parliament has sworn in Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani’s government, based in Tubrouk after it fled Tripoli following an Islamic militia from Misrata seized the capital. Meanwhile, the UN has invited representatives from both sides to talks near the Algerian border.

WHO says the death toll in the Ebola virus outbreak might have been underestimated. La Tribune de Genève quotes latest WHO figures which indicate that more than 6,500 people are believed to have contracted the disease with deaths hovering around 3,100.

Le Monde reports that the far-right National Front Party in France has, for the first time, won two seats in the senate. Half of the French senate is elected by regional officials every three years.  

Russian Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov has said relations between Moscow and Washington needed “a new re-set”, referring to President Obama’s efforts for improved ties with Russia in the early days of his administration. RIA Novosti says that in a Russian TV interview on Sunday, Lavrov blamed the US for the strained ties between the two countries.

The New York Times reports Indian Prime Minister Indian PM Narendra Modi has given an eagerly-awaited speech in New York’s Madison Square Garden, on his visit to the US.  He received a rapturous welcome from some 18,000 Indian-Americans as he told the crowd that the 21st Century was “Asia’s century”.

Fuji TV says rescue teams have resumed their search of survivors of a volcano eruption on Saturday. The bodies of 31 hikers have been found near the top of Japan’s Mount Ontake a day after the sudden eruption. The hikers were not breathing and their hearts had stopped. The search for a total of 45 missing climbers had been called off for the night.

ABC News has learnt Mexican authorities have arrested 22 local police officers following the death of six people in the state of Guerrero. Unidentified gunman and numerous officers were involved in several violent incidents that killed the people late Friday and early Saturday in Iguala, about 200 kilometers south of Mexico City.

Hundreds of gay rights activists have marched in Belgrade in Serbia's first gay pride parade in four years. Radio Free Europe reports between 1,000 and 1,500 activists took part in the peaceful march as several thousand anti-riot police, special police units, armoured vehicles, and water cannons were deployed across the capital due to threats by far-right groups.