The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the Sudanese man who was assaulted in Paceville on Saturday has died.
The Malta Independent focuses on Maltese aid to Syrian refugees in Jordan. It also quotes the MUMN saying the Health Minister is 'in denial' about the hospital's problems.
MaltaToday leads with the arrest of a Maltese truck driver in a crackdown on a mafia network centred on drug trafficking in Trapani.
In-Nazzjon says 250 more nurses will be engaged by the government in the coming weeks.
l-orizzont leads with a PL press conference yesterday where the government was criticised for spending cuts for tourism, the environment and agriculture.
The overseas press:
Reuters reports that Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour has said Mauritania had agreed to extradite the former head of the Libyan intelligence Abdullah al-Senussi, arrested in Nouakchott last week. He wrote on Twitter that he had met the president of Mauritania and he agreed to the extradition of Senussi to Libya. However, the Mauritanian authorities said no decision on extradition had been made. France and the International Criminal Court also want Senussi.
El Universal says a 7.4 scale earthquake has hit much of southwestern Mexico, unleashing panic as it forced evacuations in the capital and knocked down homes in rural areas. The quake was centred in the state of Guerrero, not far from Acapulco on the Pacific coast. Officials reported that at least 800 houses had collapsed. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries or deaths. Phone lines went down, building were evacuated, traffic snarled and the stock exchange had to suspend trading early.
France 24 reports that schools across France held a minute of silence to remember the four victims at a Jewish school in Toulouse. President Sarkozy led the mourning at a central Paris school before addressing the small group of children in its courtyard. In Toulouse, families and friends wept as the bodies of 30-year-old Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, his sons Arieh and Gabriel, and seven-year-old Miriam Monsonego began their journey from the Jewish school to their place of burial in Israel. The three children were Franco-Israeli citizens. French police are carrying out a huge manhunt for the gunman, who was also a prime suspect in the killing of three soldiers in two separate shootings last week. All of the victims were shot in the head at point blank range. Police fear the killer could strike again.
All India Radio says at least 14 children drowned when their school bus veered off the road into a pond in India. More than 40 pupils were on the bus when the accident happened in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The police said the bus driver lost control of the vehicle when he swerved to avoid a head-on collision with a motorcycle.
NRC Handelsblad claims that at least 10 teenage boys or young men under the age of 21 were surgically castrated “to get rid of homosexuality” while in the care of the Dutch Roman Catholic Church in the 1950s. Evidence of the castrations emerged amid controversy that they were not included in the findings of an official investigation into sexual abuse within the church last year. Dutch MPs have called for a parliamentary investigation into the allegations.
The Financial Times carries an impressive photograph of Queen Elizabeth II addressing both Houses of Parliament to celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, during which she paid tribute to the British virtues of “resilience, ingenuity and tolerance” and to the Duke of Edinburgh, her “constant strength and guide” over the decades. The monarch repeated her vow to rededicate myself to the service of the country, “now and in the years to come”.
El Pais reports that the former president of Spain’s Balearic islands has been jailed for six years for bribing a newspaper columnist to praise him in his articles. Judges in the capital Palma de Mallorca handed down the verdict against Jaume Matas, who once also served as a cabinet minister under former prime minister José Maria Aznar. The judges said Matas paid nearly €500,000 between 2003 and 2007 to companies owned by columnist Antonio Alemany, who was also employed as Matas’ speechwriter. Alemany was convicted of charges including forgery and sentenced to three years. Matas faces charges in a broader corruption case involving alleged kickbacks paid during the construction of a sports arena in Palma.
Metro says Harry Potter actor, Jamie Waylett, has been jailed for two years for his violent disorder during last summer's riots in London. Waylett starred in six Harry Potter movies and played Hogwarts bully Vincent Crabbe. The 22-year-old actor was part of a gang of at least four people who took to the streets of Chalk Farm on August 8 last year.
La Vanguardia reports the Argentine international footballer Lionel Messi has become the greatest-ever goalscorer in the history of his club Barcelona, by scoring a hat trick in the defending Spanish champions’ 5-3 win home over Granada. The 24-year-old Messi fired in a cross by Isaac Cuenca in the 17th minute to match the record of 232 goals set by Cesar Rodriguez 57 years ago, and then added two more after halftime to take his career tally for Barcelona to 234 goals.