The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times reports how Joseph Muscat was sworn in as prime minister and shows him entering the Auberge de Castille.
The Malta Independent shows Joseph Muscat waving to the crowd from the Auberge de Castille over the heading Joseph Muscat becomes Prime Minister.
l-orizzont carries the heading Muscat Prim Ministru
In-Nazzjon reports how Joseph Muscat was sworn in yesterday. It also reports that Paul Borg Olivier has decided not to seek re-appointment as PN general secretary.
The overseas press
Cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel this afternoon to begin the process to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI. Bloomberg reports this conclave is being seen as a struggle between cardinals looking to overhaul the Vatican bureaucracy known as “the Curia” – headed by the likes of Angelo Scola, archbishop of Milan, and Marc Ouellet of Canada – and those trying to maintain its influence such as Cardinal Pedro Odilo Scherer of Brazil. According to Irish bookmaker Paddypower, Cardinal Scola is now leading the race to be the next pope. At 2-1, he has overtaken the previous front-runner, Ghana’s Peter Turkson at 4-1, Italy's Tarcisio Bertone at 5-1 and Brazil's Pedro Odilo Scherer at 7-1.
Avvenire says that after checking into the Vatican’s Domus Sanctae Martae, the dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, will lead the celebration of the Mass for the election of a pope inside St Peter’s Basilica, joined by the 115 cardinals – all under 80 years of age – who will vote. They break for lunch at the hotel, and return for the 4.30p.m. procession into the Sistine Chapel, chanting the Litany of Saints, imploring the intercession of the saints to help guide the voting. They then take their oath of secrecy, listen to a meditation by Maltese Cardinal Prospero Grech, and cast the first ballots. The first puffs of smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney should emerge sometime around 6.30p.m. The successful candidate will need to secure at least 77 votes – a two-thirds majority. Vatican watchers are expecting a new pope to be announced on Thursday.
The BBC reports Falkland islanders have voted overwhelmingly in favour of retaining the islands’ status as a British overseas territory. Almost 99 per cent of those eligible to vote cast their ballot in support of the status quo. Argentina argues that the disputed islands – known in South America as Mulvinas – should be settled at the UN.
AFP quotes the European Commission and the Council of Europe saying a vote by Hungary's parliament to approve controversial constitutional changes has raised concerns over the rule of law and European democratic standards. The court will now no longer be able to strike off a constitutional law endorsed with a two-thirds parliamentary majority. Critics say the vote, known as the "fourth amendment," will limit the power of the constitutional court and increase government control over the judiciary.
Fox News reports a UN commission investigating abuses in Syria has been collecting evidence about 20 massacres, including three in the central city of Homs since December. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro says the destructive stalemate between President Bashar Assad’s regime and anti-government rebels was fuelling a rise in mass killings. Meanwhile, mortar shells struck a Christian neighborhood and a football stadium during a game in Damascus yesterday, killing six civilians and wounding at least 24 others.
British nationals lead with the prison sentence imposed on disgraced former British Minister Chris Huhne and his former wife, Vicky Pryce. The Daily Telegraph says the judge said that "any element of tragedy is entirely your own fault" as he sentenced them to eight months’ imprisonment each for perverting the course of justice. Pryce agreed in 2003 to take penalty points on her driving licence that Huhne had incurred for speeding, in a bid to help her then-husband avoid a driving ban. The crime would have gone undetected had Pryce not embarked on a quest for vengeance eight years later after he left her for a female election campaign aide.
Corriere della Sera reports a court in Italy has ordered Silvio Berlusconi's sex trial to re-start tomorrow, accepting a doctor's report that said the former prime minister was to unwell to attend. Judges postponed a hearing in the trial last Friday when the 76-year-old was admitted to hospital with an eye inflammation. He is on trial in Milan on charges of paying for sex with an underage dancer, Moroccan-born Karima El Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby, and abuse of office to try and cover up the liaison. Dozens of parliamentarians from Berlusconi's centre-right People of Freedom party demonstrated outside the Milan courthouse on Monday against what they called the "judicial persecution" of Berlusconi.
International Business Times says an Irish American woman has formally announced her bid to become New York's first female and openly-gay mayor. Forty-six year-old Christine Quinn was named "Irish-American of the Year" in 2008 after she boycotted the city's St Patrick's Day parade over the ban on homosexual marchers. She is expected to secure the Democratic nomination for the position, which will be vacated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg later this year.
Hufftington Post reports that jurors have convicted former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on corruption charges, capping a five-month trial that exposed a brazen pay-to-play culture during his years in office while the distressed city lost jobs and people and veered toward insolvency. Kilpatrick could face more than 10 years in prison for two dozen convictions, from racketeering conspiracy to bribery to tax crimes. Once hailed as a hip, young big-city leader, he was portrayed at trial as an unscrupulous politician who took kickbacks, rigged contracts and lived far beyond his means.