The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that the Prime Minister is preparing the Nationalist Party for ‘important’ decisions by the PN Executive on Thursday.
The Malta Independent says more big names such as Tom Cruise are expected in Malta as the film industry grows.
In-Nazzjon quotes the prime minister saying that Joseph Muscat is following a populist policy.
l-orizzont leads with a story on how Actonel medicine in Malta costs twice as much as in Brussels.
The overseas press
albawaba reports that Mahmoud Jibril’s National Forces Alliance, which brings together more than 40 small parties who are considered the architects the 2011 revolution, is ahead in most of constituencies in Libya, after Saturday’s historic vote. On their part, the Islamists acknowledged "a marked advance" of their main rivals in the legislative elections in Tripoli and Benghazi. The Libya Herald said NFA’s positive reputation for economic openness and the female vote were the deciding factors, with women coming out in large numbers in favour of Jibril. The Libyan Electoral Commission should declare preliminary results Monday night or Tuesday".
Al Ahram reports Egypt's new President Mohamed Mursi has issued a decree ordering the return of the country's Islamist-dominated parliament. The assembly was dissolved by the country's constitutional court saying the parliament, dominated by Islamists, was illegitimate. Mursi, a member of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, also called for the implementation of a new law regulating parliament and new parliamentary elections to be held within 60 days of the formal adoption of a new constitution, which was not expected until later this year.
According to RIA Novosti, 170 people have been confirmed killed and thousand displaced by the recent flooding in Russia’s southern flood-hit Krasnodar region. After flying over the region by helicopter to see for himself the damage that followed torrential rain, President Vladimir Putin has ordered an inquiry into whether enough was done to prevent the catastrophe. The rains dumped as much as 28cm of water overnight. TV pictures later showed thousands of houses almost completely submerged with people scrambling onto their rooftops to escape the rising waters.
Al Jazeera reports Kofi Annan has arrived in Damascus in an effort to resuscitate his stalled peace plan. Annan's arrival, a day after he admitted his peace plan had failed to halt nearly 16 months of bloodshed, follows US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's warning on Sunday that time to save Syria "from a catastrophic assault" was running out. In an interview with German broadcaster ARD, President Assad said Annan's peace plan was being undermined by foreign countries. He accused Saudi Arabia and Qatar of supplying weapons to rebel groups, and Turkey of providing logistical assistance to help smuggle in supplies. The United States, he said, provided political support.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande have marked 50 years of reconciliation but the desecration of German war graves marred a meeting of their leaders that could ease tensions on tackling the euro debt crisis. Le Monde reported that the vandalism of the graves of 51 German soldiers killed during World War I on the eve of the highly symbolic meeting cast a shadow over the ceremony in Reims in northern France, a region scarred from centuries of war with Germany. Observers are watching with interest to see how the relationship between the new French president, a centre-left advocate of growth, and Merkel, a centre-right defender of austerity, develops. A major irritant is over a European agreement to create a banking regulator.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Pierre Moscovici said there would be a new meeting of the Eurogroup on July 20 to tackle the debt crisis threatening the single currency area. AFP quotes the minister saying a key meeting of eurozone finance ministers today would "translate into action" earlier decisions. Last month’s EU summit was hailed as a breakthrough, promising fresh capital for Spain's struggling banks, a European bank union to keep the lenders in line and making it easier for the bloc's new bailout fund to help states in trouble. Moscovici, who earlier met with Italian Prime Minister Mario in Aix-en-Provence, said "one has to go further" to help Spanish banks and "move quickly" on tighter banking regulations to speed up bailouts to struggling lenders.
Asia Times reports at least 35 people have been killed in a day of violence across Afghanistan. Six American soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the east of the country and one Nato soldier died in another earlier attack. A number of Afghan police and civilians also died in separate incidents in the south.
CNN says Oscar-winning American film actor Ernest Borgnine, whose career spanned more than 60 years, has died at the age of 95. He had become famous for his parts in Hollywood box-office successes such as The Wild Bunch and disaster movie The Poseidon Adventure. His TV series McHale's Navy was also a major success in the United States.
All British nationals carry pictures of Andy Murray's emotional reaction to his defeat by Roger Federer of Switzerland in the men’s Wimbledon tennis final. Federer, seven times Wimbledon winner, dashed British hopes that Scottish star Murray might become the first British winner of the title in over 70 years. He lost three sets to one. The Daily Telegraph displays pictures of Murray and his girlfriend shedding tears after the final, adding that the tennis star has "won the nation's heart at last".