The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The local press is dominated by the local council elections.
The Times reports that Labour won nearly 56% of votes in the local council elections held on Saturday.
The Malta Independent says the PL has a majority as the PN registered losses.
In-Nazzjon quotes the prime minister saying the PN needs to be closer to the people.
l-orizzont says Malta saw a 'Wind of change' in the local council elections on Saturday.
The overseas press:
President Barack Obama has offered his condolences after an American soldier allegedly killed 16 Afghan civilians in a rampage. The Washington Times says the US president called his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai to express his "shock and sadness" at the news of the shooting spree. A White House statement said Obama made clear his administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible". US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had spoken with President Karzai earlier in the day assuring him those responsible would be brought to justice.
Kabul Post reports Afghan officials said a US soldier had opened fire after entering people's home in Balandi Pul in Panjwai district, about 35 kilometers from Kandahar city. Women and children were among the 16 people killed, while five others were injured. A senior Washington-based US defense official quoted by Reuters rejected witness accounts that several soldiers had been involved in the killings.
Al Ayyam says new Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip killed three Palestinians on Sunday, raising the death toll in a latest round of violence to 18, as militants fired over 120 rockets into Israel. The clashes are deadliest between Israel and the Palestinians across the Gaza border in more than three years. Hamas said it was talking with Egyptian officials in a bid to reach a truce with Israel, but warned it expects the Jewish state to hold fire first, and said talks so far had been unproductive.
ABC News reports UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan has left Syria without any deal to end the bloody year-long conflict after his second round of talks with president Bashar al-Assad. He told correspondents “the killing, misery and abuse” had to stop to would allow time for a political settlement. Annan reaffirmed he had presented a set of “concrete” proposals to the Syrian president which will have “a real impact on the ground once it is agreed”. There was no immediate response from Assad.
President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to suspend France’s membership of the Schengen zone if he was re-elected next month. According to Le Monde, Sarkozy told thousands of supporters at a campaign rally outside of Paris he would temporarily pull the country out of the if the EU as a whole failed to make significant progress on combating illegal immigration within a year's time. The president also said that if elected to a second term, he would push the EU to adopt a “Buy European Act”, along the lines of the US “Buy American Act”, which would require governments to favour products produced in Europe when making acquisitions. As he bids for a second term in the first round of voting on April 22, Sarkozy has an uphill battle, with the Socialist candidate François Hollande holding a double-digit lead in the latest opinion polls.
The Italian news agency AGI says the Airbus consortium and six European airlines have to several European leaders expressing their dissent against the carbon tax imposed by the EU on all airlines flying through the bloc. The tax came into effect on January 1, but carriers will begin receiving bills only in 2013. The six airlines are British Airways and Virgin Atlantic (UK), Lufthansa and Air Berlin (Germany), Air France (France), and Iberia (Spain). China and the US both oppose the tax.
Associated Press reports Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Sunday nudged rival Newt Gingrich to step aside, arguing a head-to-head contest between himself and Mitt Romney should "occur sooner rather than later". A defiant Gingrich predicted victories in tomorrow’s primaries in Alabama and Mississippi and called Romney the weakest Republican front-runner in nearly a century. Santorum and Gingrich were campaigning hard two days before what has become a potentially decisive Southern showdown for the Republic field.
Tribune de Genève says Swiss voters have turned down an increase in the annual vacation period from four to six weeks by 66.5 per cent. The votes against the increase dominated all four language areas of the country. Opinion polls before the vote showed voters feared a longer vacation period might negatively affect the economy.
Al Ahram reports a military court in Egypt has acquitted an army doctor accused of carrying out forced "virginity tests" on women protesters. The state news agency Mena said Ahmed Adel was cleared because the judge found contradictions in witness statements. The case was brought by one of the women, Samira Ibrahim, who said the "tests" took place after they had been detained during protests last year. Demonstrators gathered outside the court to protest against the ruling.
An American Airlines flight in Texas was delayed after an air stewardess had a panic attack about the plane crashing. Dallas Morning News reports that the aircraft was still on the ground at Dallas international airport when the flight attendant started screaming over the plane's PA system, making some comments about the plane and 9/11. Passengers helped to restrain her in a seat, while the plane returned to the gate. The woman was taken for psychiatric evaluation.