The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta says that a huge quantity of bullets seized in police raids were meant to be used in machine guns, pistols, in Libya.
The Malta Independent quotes the PN saying an appointment for a minister's wife is the lowest form of nepotism.
MaltaToday reports on the jail term imposed yesterday on a man for sexually abusing his daughter. It also reports that a former Labour MP, John Dalli, may at last get a permit for a hotel in Marsaxlokk.
In-Nazzjon also reports on yesterday's press conference where the PN hit out at an appointment given to the wife of Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.
l-orizzont reports that the government is not satisfied by Arriva bus safety assurances.
The overseas press
Iran and the crisis in Syria dominate the agenda at the United Nations. The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama and new Iranian President Hasan Rouhani both spoke up forcefully for a resumption of stalled nuclear negotiations but they gave no ground on the long-held positions that have scuttled previous attempts to break the tense impasse. President Rouhani pushed the country’s nuclear issue towards the top of the billing, insisting Iran did not want to build a nuclear bomb. Rowhani also condemned drone attacks on “innocent people” and the use of sanctions against his country.
According to The New York Times, President Barack Obama welcomed Rouhani’s comments, saying they were a basis for a future agreement. He said Iran’s genuine commitment to go down a different path would be good for the region and the world. Obama also called on the UN to take strong action over Syria’s promise to destroy its chemical weapons.
The New Yorker says UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened the annual meeting of the General Assembly by calling on Syria to “fully and quickly” honour agreements to handover its chemical weapons. He called on the Security Council to adopt an “enforceable” resolution on a US-Russian agreement to put Syria’s chemical weapons under international control for destruction.
Business Recorder reports President Dilma Rousseff of Brazil blasted the United States for its cyber spying programme, calling it “no way to treat friendly nations”, and called for international regulation of the Web. She told the General Assembly recent revelations of US cyber spying had caused “anger and repudiation among vast sectors world-wide.” The intrusion was even worse in Brazil, as personal and corporate data from oil giant Petrobras and communications from embassies and even her own office were intercepted.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has told Leipziger Volkszeitung any possible new government coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel would stick to Berlin's policy of consolidating the euro. He warned a laxer approach was not advisable and made it abundantly clear he was not willing to give in to demands to deviate from the previous austerity course with a view to being able to spend more to encourage growth.
The Standard reports President Kenyatta of Kenya has proclaimed victory over the terrorists who stormed a Nairobi mall, saying security forces had “ashamed and defeated our attackers” following a bloody four-day siege in which dozens of civilians were killed. Kenyatta said the dead included 61 civilians whose bodies have been recovered so far and six security forces, while some 175 were injured, including 62 who remain hospitalised
News International says a 7.8 earthquake has hit a remote part of western Pakistan, killing at least 46 people and prompting a new island to rise from the sea just off the country's southern coast. Tremors were felt as far away as New Delhi, hundreds of kilometres to the east, where buildings shook, as well as Dubai in the Gulf and Pakistan's sprawling port city of Karachi.
La Repubblica has published a lengthy letter by Emeritus Pope Benedict denying he covered up reports of sexual abuse by priests. Benedict's comments were made in an open 11-page letter to Piergiorgio Odifreddi, an Italian atheist and mathematician who in 2011 wrote a book about the problems facing the Catholic Church before the pope resigned. Odifreddi had posed several arguments about the Catholic faith, including the sex abuse scandal that has plagued the Church.
Avvenire reports Pope Francis has said countries should not try to deal with the arrival of migrants just by erecting “insurmountable barriers”. In his message for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees the pontiff also called for the world to combat exploitation and discrimination migrants are frequently victims of. Meanwhile, as more migrants reached the Italian coast, it was announced that so far this year, the Italian Navy has rescued 3,293 migrants.
Moscow Times says Russia has charged Greenpeace activists, who tried to board a state-owned offshore drilling platform in the Arctic, with piracy. The 30 protesters are on a Greenpeace ship being towed toward the port city of Murmansk by the Russian Coast Guard. The piracy charges carry a potential prison sentence of up to 15 years and a fine of 500,000 roubles (about €11,265).
Statistically, people around the world were richer than ever in 2012, holding a combined wealth worth €111.4 trillion. Deutsche Welle reports that German insurer Allianz’s study of private wealth in 50 nations, attributed the surge mainly to a stocks rally since the crises in 2008.
USA Today says opponents of a Montana judge who handed down a 30-day sentence to a former teacher convicted of raping a 14-year-old student have asked state regulators to remove the jurist from the bench. The victim killed herself in 2010 before the case went to trial.
Gold bars worth €1.6 million disappeared from a shipment on an Air France flight between Paris and Zurich last week. TV stations TF1 and LCI say the police believe it was an inside job. The gold theft took place the day before police discovered a 1.3-tonne haul of pure Colombian cocaine aboard an Air France flight from Caracas to Paris.
CBS reports 40 US state attorneys general have asked the US Food and Drug Administration to regulate electronic cigarettes to address their marketing, ingredients and sale to minors. Some e-cigarettes contain fruit and candy flavours that appeal to young people.
Francesca Pascale has told Vanity Fair magazine's Italian edition she fell for ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi when she was still under age. The 28-year-old said the couple would wed when his divorce from Veronica Lario became final. "I tried, I wooed (him), I fell in love and I got engaged," said Pascale.