The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says ministers have held on to a duty allowance increase as it was only the honoraria which was removed from their compensation.
The Malta Independent leads with a comment by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech that only Lawrence Gonzi is capable of leading the country.
In-Nazzjon quotes the prime minister saying the government is focused on the national interest.
l-orizzont gives prominence to Joseph Muscat's announcement that he will be a candidate on the second district.
The overseas press
Ansa quotes a statement by Costa Crociere, the company operating the cruise ship that capsized after hitting rocks off western Italy on Friday, saying the captain may have "committed errors". It says Francesco Schettino appears to have sailed too close to land and not to have followed the company's emergency procedures. Schettino has been arrested on suspicion of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and ship desertion. He denies any wrongdoing.
Corriere della Sera said the captain may have steered the boat closer to the coast to allow passengers a better view of the island’s lights. London’s Daily Mail said he wanted to get closer to land to salute a fellow officer on shore. At least five people have died but about 15 remain unaccounted for. Divers are trying to find more survivors. About 60 people were injured after the ship hit submerged rocks. There were 3,200 passengers on the ship, including 1,000 Italians, 500 Germans, 160 French and 250 from North America.
The Italian financial daily, Il Sole 24 Ore reports the ship’s insurers may face total costs of about €405 million. The ship was built in 2006 and has 1,500 cabins, according to Costa Crociere’s website. The vessel also had a docking accident at Palermo’s harbour in 2008 because of strong winds. Italian newspapers said that when the vessel was christened in 2006 the champagne bottle didn’t break against the side of the ship, supposedly an omen of bad luck.
The BBC reports that a weekend of clashes in Libya has left at least two people dead and more than 40 injured. Rival armed groups fired rockets and heavy machine guns around the town of Gharyan, about 80km south of the capital, Tripoli. The interim government had been trying to broker a ceasefire but failed.
An Nahar quotes UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling upon Syria's President Assad to stops killing his own people. In a keynote address at a conference in Beirut on democracy in the Arab world, Ban said the "old order" of one-man rule and family dynasties in the Middle East was over. The revolutions of the Arab Spring show people would no longer accept tyranny.
Meanwhile, at least 28 people died in violence across Syria on Sunday as Sana news agency reported that President Assad had granted a general amnesty for all crimes committed during the 10-month uprising. It would apply to army deserters who turned themselves in before the end of January, peaceful protesters and those who handed in unlicensed weapons.
Pravda reports that debris from the failed unmanned mission to Mars has crashed harmlessly into the Pacific Ocean. The probe was built to land on Phobos, to scoop up rock and bring it back for study in Earth laboratories. Such a venture would have yielded fascinating new insights into the origin of the 27km-wide object and the planet it circles.
Adevarul says the Romanian government has called an emergency meeting in response to nationwide anti-austerity protests, which continued for a fourth day despite President Traian Basescu's decision to scrap a controversial health care law that originally triggered the unrest. In the capital, Bucharest, 13 people were injured when more than 1,000 protesters gathered in the city centre, and some threw rocks at riot police. The government’s austerity measures raised value added tax and cut state wages as part of a two-year aid deal with the International Monetary Fund.
A former Penthouse Pet and mistress to the late cardboard mogul Richard Pratt has lost her multi-million dollar claim on his estate. ABC says the New South Wales Supreme Court ruled that Madison Ashton and her billionaire lover did not intend to enter into a legally binding relationship. Ashton alleged Pratt had offered to set up trust funds of $2.5 million for each of her two children, pay rent of nearly $40,000 a year for an apartment in Sydney's exclusive eastern suburbs, and give her a $500,000 annual allowance as well as covering other expenses. The court ruled Ashton should pay court costs for her failed bid.