The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that an art collection offered by a Polish collector may include fakes.
The Malta Independent leads with yesterday’s political speeches. The prime minister said that “What you see is what you get” while Dr Muscat said that everyone except the prime minister understood Labour’s proposals on the minimum wage.
l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying no one is believing Gonzi. It also carries a story under the heading ‘DCG power!?’ about an incident which blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia is said to have had with the police.
In-Nazzjon quotes the prime minister saying that the PN means better jobs.
The overseas press
A UN report released today says urgent action is needed by governments to address the needs of the world's growing ageing population, which is expected to reach one billion within the decade and pose social and healthcare challenges. The Irish Independent quotes the “Ageing in the 21st Century” report underling that among the most urgent concerns of older people worldwide is income security and access to healthcare. The report said the global economic crisis had exacerbated the financial pressure to ensure both economic security and access to health care in old age. It suggests healthcare for older people should include preventive, curative and long-term care.
VOA News reports President Barack Obama is within reach of the 270 electoral votes needed to win a second term as Republican challenger Mitt Romney's path to victory is narrowing, five weeks from US presidential election. To overtake Obama, Romney would need to quickly gain the upper hand in nearly all of the nine states where competition between is the fiercest. Polls show the president with a steady lead in many of them as Romney looks to shift the dynamics of the race, starting with their first debate on Wednesday night in Denver, Colorado.
Kenya Today says an explosive device set off in a Sunday school class in Nairobi has killed one child and seriously wounded three others. Sympathisers with the Somali militant group al-Shabab were thought to be behind the attack at an Anglican church.
Al Ayyam says a string of car bombs has killed at least 32 people and wounded 104 others in and around Baghdad. Sunday's attacks mainly targeted security officers and Shiite Muslim neighbourhoods.
ABC reports that Fr Tom Brennan, the first Australian priest to be charged with covering up clerical sex abuse, has died in hospital where he had been undergoing treatment for some time, suffering from cancer. Last week the 74-year-old was too ill to attend Newcastle Local Court for his first appearance. He had been a priest for more than 50 years.
Venezuela’s Globovision shows pictures of a huge crowd that has thronged the streets of Caracas in support of opposition presidential candidate Henrique Capriles one week before the presidential election. Addressing tens of thousands of supporters, Capriles criticised President Hugo Chavez for what he called “a long list of unfulfilled promises”. On his part, President Chavez has promised to deepen socialism in Venezuela if he won another six-year term. He told his own supporters it was impossible to lose.
Pravda says a court in Moscow will today hear an appeal three jailed members of the punk rock group, Purry Riot. The three women were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for performing a song in Moscow’s main cathedral in which they mocked President Valdimir Putin.
Mail & Guardian reports that a commission in South Africa will begin an investigation today into the killing by police of 34 striking miners last August. The three-member panel was set up by President Jacob Zuma to inquire into the shootings at the Maricana mine in an incident seen as South Africa’s most serious crisis since the end of apartheid.
NBC News says two guns used by gangsters Bonnie and Clyde when they were killed in a hail of gunfire sold at a New Hampshire auction for €393,000. Bonnie's .38-calibre Detective Special that she had taped to her thigh when she was killed in 1934 drew the highest bid and sold for €206,000. Clyde’s 1911 Colt .45-calibre automatic sold for €187,000. Earlier, a .45-calibre Colt Single Action Army revolver, once owned by outlaw Butch Cassidy, sold for €13,600. The guns were among 134 artefacts that sold for a total of €959,000 at the auction in Nashua.
Europe has won the Ryder Cup on American soil, with the biggest comeback in competition history. Huffington Post reports that the European team came from behind to beat the home team and retain the trophy. The Europeans were down at the start of the final day but in the end by won by a point. Victorious European captain Jose Maria Olazabal dedicated the win to the late Seve Ballesteros, the man who did so much to reinvigorate the competition and whose trademark colours the side wore on the final day.