The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The outcome of the US elections came too late for the newspapers.
The Times reports that a mother who was granted a presidential pardon is facing another jail term.
The Malta Independent says a Brazilian company mentioned in Friday's Gonzi-Muscat debate has only a small presence in Malta. It also quotes an overseas website saying that Foreign Minister Tonio Borg may be questioned by MEPs on possibly connections with a wanted former Kazakh diplomat who was allowed to live in Malta.
MaltaToday says the resignation of Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici affected the overhaul of fireworks regulations.
In-Nazzjon gives prominence to yesterday's funeral of Fr Rene' Cilia and the visit to Farsons by the prime minister.
l-orizzont says the Brazilian company given importance by the prime minister is relocating from Malta.
The overseas press
Barak Obama has retained the presidency of the United States for the next four years after projections showed that he won the battleground state of Ohio. Under the heading “Four More Years”, Fox News – which had campaigned for his Republican rival – delivered the shattering news to Mitt Romney’s supporters.
Meanwhile, US TV networks are predicting that the Republicans will remain firmly in control of the House of Representatives. Results so far suggest there would be very little change in the composition of the chamber. The Republican hopes of winning back the Senate have suffered a setback as they lost seats in Maine, Massachusetts and Indian
France 24 leads with the news that the French government is to create €20 billion-worth of tax breaks for businesses as one of a series of budgetary measures aimed at boosting the country's flagging competitiveness. Measures also included an extra €10 billion in public spending cuts and a €10 billion increase in consumer taxes – two-thirds of which would be in VAT sales tax from January 1, 2014.
Kathemerini reports hundreds of thousands of workers in Greece have started a 48-hour general strike to protest against a new round of wage and pension cuts that parliament is expected to approve by a narrow margin. The strike, called by Greece's two biggest labour unions representing half of the 4 million-strong workforce, brought public transport to a virtual standstill and shut schools, banks and local government offices.
The Wall Street Journal claims British businessman Neil Heywood, who was killed in China, had been providing information to the British secret service. The paper said he had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died. Heywood’s murder a year ago brought down Bo, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and a high-flier who was once tipped for top office. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, and his former police chief, Wang Lijun, were jailed in August for the murder. The case is at the heart of China's biggest political scandal in decades.
Pravda says President Vladimir Putin has fired Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov so that a thorough investigation could proceed into a suspected €78-million property scam at a defence ministry holding company. Putin replaced Serdyukov, who had been implementing an unpopular but Kremlin-backed military reform, with Moscow region governor and long-standing ally Sergei Shoigu.
Montreal Gazette announces that the city’s embattled mayor has resigned over corruption allegations that linked him to mafia-related party finance activity. Gerald Tremblay, 70, who led the city since 2001, has denied the claims.
Bombings, clashes and air strikes shook Syria overnight as British Prime Minister David Cameron offered a safe passage to President Bashar al-Assad if it meant ending the bloodshed. As fighting claimed more lives, Cameron told Al-Arabiya TV he wanted Mr Assad to be held to account for his crimes but that his departure could be arranged. He also highlighted the need to help the opposition, without elaborating how.
El Pais says that by eight votes to three, Spain's highest court has upheld the country's gay marriage law, rejecting an appeal lodged by the ruling People's Party seven years ago and confirming the legality of same-sex unions. By the end of last year, more than 21,000 same-sex couples had tied the knot since Spain became the fourth country in the world to legalise gay marriage in July 2005. Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon said the government would respect the decision and leave the law as it stands.
According to Gazete Oku, a trial has opened in Turkey on Tuesday for four former Israeli military commanders charged over the killing of nine Turks aboard a Gaza-bound aid ship in 2010. The four, who include the former head of the army, are being tried in absentia.
George Blake, the former British spy who was a double agent working for the Soviet KGB, has spoken about his career with pride and called himself an “exceptionally lucky man”. Blake, who will turn 90 on Sunday and has lived in Russia since his escape from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London in 1966, told the Russian daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta that he has spent his “happiest” years in the country. Blake passed some of the most coveted British secrets to the Soviets. He said that exposing a Western plan to eavesdrop on Soviet communications from an underground tunnel into East Berlin was his main achievement.
A British man couldn't get his wife pregnant because heat from his laptop was damaging his sperm. Scott Reed is quoted by MailOnline as saying he was bemused as to why he wasn't able to have a baby with his other half Laura, 30, until doctors told him his personal computer was to blame because of the amount of heat it was generating around his manhood while he placed the gadget on his lap. Following the doctor's advice, the 30-year-old computer buff stopped putting his laptop on his lap and within three months Laura fell pregnant with the couple's daughter Taryn.