The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta says power has been cut at 100 more boathouses in Armier.
The Malta Independent reports that Labour MEPs voted against government instructions on a report which makes reference to abortion, according to Nationalist MEPs.
In-Nazzjon quotes Simon Busuttil saying yesterday: ‘Stand up for what is right’. It also says Kurt Farrugia, the prime minister’s head of communications, had phoned Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia to assure him that he had issued a statement on the shooting by his driver.
l-orizzont says Daphne Caruana Galizia is facing a €101,000 tax bill. It also quotes Joseph Muscat saying the government is creating a job a day.
The overseas press
Avvenire reports Pope Francis has urged Muslim leaders to condemn terrorism carried out in the name of Islam. Speaking to reporters on board the plane carrying him back to Rome from his Turkey visit, he rejected misrepresentation of Islam, adding he raised the issue of Islamic terror during his talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Meanwhile, Hurriyet says Pope Francis and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Bartholomew I have demanded an end to the persecution of religious minorities in Syria and Iraq. In a joint declaration, they urged leaders in the region to intensify assistance to victims of the Islamic State group. They also called for a “constructive dialogue” with Muslims.
France 24 reports representatives of Eurosceptic and far-right groups, gathered at the National Front Party conference in Lyon, have warned Europe of a “neo-Ottoman” onslaught of Islam-preaching, benefit-stealing migrants. They criticised Europe’s mainstream parties for stoking “mass immigration, ideological terror, gay marriage and gender theory”.
According to the Financial Times, China and Brazil have criticised the amount of money wealthy countries have pledged to help poorer nations deal with global warming. Speaking on the eve of this week’s UN climate talks in Peru, top negotiators from both countries said the sum of $10 billion that the US, Japan and European countries have promised was far off from the $100 billion in annual climate financing that developing nations were expecting from 2020.
Haaretz reports Sunni jihadists confirm that they had kidnapped a 31-year-old Canadian-Israeli woman soldier in Syria. Citing Site, a blog used by the extremist organisation, the paper says the Islamic State was discussing whether to execute her or use her as a bargaining chip to get back ISIS members held by the Kurds.
Al Ayyam says Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi has announced that an investigation had uncovered the existence of 50,000 “ghost soldiers. Since taking office in September, Abadi has sacked or retired several top military commanders and the latest announcement suggested he wanted to tackle the graft and patronage that prevailed under his predecessor Nouri al-Maliki.
South China Morning Post reports pro-democracy protesters clashed with police early today as they tried to surround Hong Kong government headquarters, stepping up their movement for democratic reforms after camping out on the city’s streets for more than two months. Meanwhile, a group of British MPs have been told by the Chinese embassy in London, they would be turned away if they tried to make a research visit to Hong Kong.
According to Timpul, pro-Moscow parties in Moldova have taken the lead after Sunday’s election. The Socialists, who want Moldova to join a Russian-led economic bloc, is in the overall lead at 23 percent, followed by the Communists on 20 percent.
SRF reports 74.1 per cent of the voters in Switzerland’s referendum have overwhelmingly rejected three proposals to drastically limit immigration, protect the country’s wealth by investing in gold and eliminate a special tax that draws rich foreigners. The proposals were put to voters nationwide by conservative politicians, ecologists and a liberal group.
Espectador says exit polls in Uruguay show former president Tabare Vazquez will get his old job back, after winning a runoff election on Sunday. Three exit polls broadcast by Uruguay’s main television stations all show the centre-left Vazquez beating conservative Luis Lacalle Pou of the National Party.
Le Soleil reports the former governor general of Canada has been chosen as the next head of the international organisation of Francophone nations (OIF). Michaelle Jean was selected at a summit in Senegal on Sunday. The first woman to hold the post, the 57-year-old Canadian journalist and intellectual of Haitian origin speaks six languages – French, English, Spanish, German, Portuguese and Italian.
Metro says at least 5,000 Russian doctors, patients and other protesters marched through Moscow on Sunday to protest against plans to lay up to 10,000 doctors from their jobs and close 28 hospital and clinics by early next year. The pressure on the country’s budget has intensified as the economy is taking a hit from low oil prices, a drop in the value of the national currency and from Western sanctions over its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The Washington Post says the US Supreme Court will consider a groundbreaking case later today about whether death threats posted on Facebook are liable to prosecution or whether threatening comments are protected by constitutional rights to free speech. The case involves Anthony Elonis, a rap music enthusiast who posted angry lyrics on his Facebook page aimed at his wife after she left him, taking their two children.
ABC says a post-mortem examination to be conducted today could help police work out what happened to a baby before it was buried 30cm below the surface of the sand on a beach in Sydney’s south-east. Two boys, aged six and seven, found the baby's naked body while they were digging in the dunes at Maroubra Beach yesterday morning. It has not been identified and its decomposing state has made its age and gender difficult to determine.