The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports how 14 were treated in hospital for carbon monoxide poisoning. It also says that lawyers are being urged to provide voluntary legal aid.
The Malta Independent also reports how 14 were hospitalised for carbon monoxide poisoning.
l-orizzont says successive PN governments awarded €200,000 in contracts to lawyer Andrew Borg Cardona and his law firm, mostly by direct order.
In-Nazzjon reports how Labour MP Marlene Farrugia criticised the transfer of broadcaster Norman Vella. It also quotes PN leader Simon Busuttil saying interviews for Security Service personnel were vitiated because of the presence of the Home Affairs Minister.
The overseas press
US intelligence services are spying on the European Union mission in New York and its embassy in Washington, according to the latest top secret US National Security Agency documents leaked by the whistleblower Edward Snowden. London’s The Guardian reports one document lists 38 embassies and missions, describing them as “targets” and details an extraordinary range of spying methods used against each target. Along with Middle Eastern countries, the list of targets includes the EU missions and the French, Italian and Greek embassies, as well as a number of other American allies, including Japan, Mexico, South Korea, India and Turkey. The list in the September 2010 document does not mention the UK, Germany or other western European states.
The new revelations come at a time when there is already considerable anger across the EU over earlier evidence provided by Snowden of NSA eavesdropping on America's European allies. The French and German government are demanding an explanation from the US as, according to the Associated Press, the Obama administration faced a breakdown in confidence from key foreign allies over the US over secret surveillance programmes. The New York Times quotes European Parliament president Martin Schulz saying he was “deeply worried and shocked”. Deutsche Welle reports Germany's Justice Minister has said that if confirmed, the US behaviour “was reminiscent of the actions of enemies during the cold war”. The German magazine Der Spiegel reported that some of the bugging operations in Brussels targeting the EU's Justus Lipsius building – a venue for summit and ministerial meetings in the Belgian capital – were directed from within Nato headquarters nearby.
The BBC quotes the office of the Director of National Intelligence said the US would respond appropriately through diplomatic channels to the new allegations, reported in Sunday's editions of the German news weekly Der Spiegel. But the former head of the CIA and National Security Agency urged the White House to make the spy programmes more transparent to calm public fears about the American government's snooping.
Meanwhile, Snowden’s fate remains murky. Ecuador, which has been thought to be his preferred destination, said his next move depended on Russia. “It’s up to the Russian authorities if he can leave the Moscow airport for an Ecuadorean Embassy,” President Rafael Correa of Ecuador told Reuters. He confirmed that his government could not begin considering an asylum request until Snowden reached Ecuador or an Ecuadorean embassy. Snowden, the 30-year-old former NSA contractor and computer analyst, has been in a transit area at Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow since June 23 after fleeing from his secret bolthole in Hong Kong a week ago. His plan seems to have been to travel to Ecuador via Moscow, but he is in limbo at Moscow airport after his US passport was cancelled, and without any official travel documents issued from any other country. He is believed to be trying to negotiate travel arrangements to Ecuador, Venezuela or elsewhere.
Radio Cairo reports hundreds of thousands of Egyptians, who on Sunday thronged the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and some 20 cities around the country, have extended their protest through the night in the Egyptian capital. They are demanding the resignation of the President Mohammed Morsi a year after he first took office. The crowd in Cairo’s Tahrir Square was the biggest seen in 30 months of turmoil since the 2011 revolution. Reports say at least one person was killed in Cairo when protesters attacked the headquarters of Morsi’s Muslin Brotherhood, pelting it with stones and firebombs until a raging fire erupted in the walled villa. During clashes, Brotherhood supporters opened fire on the attackers.
RTL Televizija says crowds gathered in the Croatian capital Zagreb, having been celebrating the country’s entry into the European Union. Fireworks lit the sky at midnight when Croatia officially became the EU’s 28th member – and the first to join since Bulgaria and Romania in 2007.
Mail & Guardian quotes President Obama urging African youth to seize the “moment of great promise” as the future of the young and growing continent still rests in ailing South African leader Nelson Mandela's vision for equality and opportunity. Obama unveiled an ambitious initiative to double electricity access in sub-Saharan Africa, vowing to bring “light where there is darkness”. The president's address at the University of Cape Town capped an emotionally-charged day, including a visit to the Robben Island prison where Mandela was confined for 18 of his 27 years in captivity.
The media in Brazil are ecstatic after their national football team won the Confederations Cup dominating the final and beating world champions Spain 3-0. The victory gave Brazil its third straight title in the competition. O Globo reports that before the match, the police clashed with more than 5,000 anti-government protesters who vented their anger about the billions of dollars the Brazilian government is spending on major sporting events rather than public services. Some protesters hurled rocks at the security personnel, who responded with tear gas and shock grenades.