The following are the top headlines in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times of Malta reports how a man obsessed with Scarface was jailed for a shootout with the police in Qormi.
The Malta Independent says the US Ambassador was non-committal about the visa waiver programme in view of the citizenship scheme.
In-Nazzjon leads with the Opposition motion for the setting up of a House committee on health.
L-orizzont says the government is working on a plan to reduce waiting times in state hospitals.
The overseas press
Libya's military has swept into Tripoli to sweep out militiamen. Libya Herald says troops set up checkpoints and roamed the streets. The Defence Ministry sent out broadcasts asking locals for support. Militias have defied the weak central government, acting as a law unto themselves.
Il Tempo quotes Italian Foreign Minister Emma Bonino warning about the possible infiltration of jihadist or al-Qaeda elements among the illegal migrants reaching Italy from across the Mediterranean. She told at a news conference in Brussels, “We suspect that among the migrants there are jihadist elements”, adding this was indeed “a security threat”.
At least nine people have been killed as heavy storms and floods swept through Sardinia. Local officials told L’Unione Sarda a number of people are missing after rivers burst their banks, sweeping cars away and causing a bridge to collapse. The worst-hit area appears to be in and around the north-eastern city of Olbia. Hundreds of people across the Mediterranean island were evacuated from their homes.
Il Mattino says Pope Francis on Monday caused a huge commotion among school kids in the poverty- and Mafia-ridden town of Casal di Principe when he called a nun who was teaching class there on her cell phone. Sister Teresa, from the order of the Daughters of Saint Anne, teaches school in the run-down, crime-infested town lying in the midst of the so-called “Land of Fires”, where the Mafia custom of burning piles of illegally dumped toxic waste at night has caused the cancer rate to spike. She was among 150,000 people who sent the pontiff a postcard with a photo of the kids who have died of cancer in this area, and the Pontiff responded by calling her on her cell phone, while she was in the middle of class.
There has been an IT attack on the French daily newspaper Liberation as reported by its news desk in a tweet. Earlier on Monday an armed man had entered the newspaper's headquarters and opened fire, seriously wounding a photographer. A manhunt is continuing in Paris as the authorities released images of the man who is suspected of later opening fire outside the offices of a bank. He is also thought to have threatened journalists at a TV station last Friday. In recent hours Liberation has only communicated through Facebook and Twitter.
Haaretz says that in an unprecedented move, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has invited Palestinian President Abu Abbas to address the Israeli parliament. Netanyahu's offer came with a condition the Palestinian Authority seems reluctant to fulfil: the recognition of the Jewish nature of the state of Israel.
Al Ayyam reports that on a visit to the Palestinian territories, French President François Hollande said that in order to reach a peace agreement, Israel must stop building settlements. After meeting with his counterpart Abu Abbas, Hollande spoke of how new settlements were “an obstacle to the solution everyone hopes for, that of two states for two people, and it complicates negotiations”.
The New York Times records that for the first time ever the National Palestinian Authority cast a vote at the United Nations General Assembly. This was the first opportunity since November 29, 2012, when the UN recognised the “observer” status of Palestine. An almost universal applause followed the vote cast by Ambassador Riyad Mansour regarding a judge of the International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia. Like the Vatican, the Palestinians have observer status and cannot vote on UN resolutions, although they can elect judges.
Toronto Star reports councillors in Toronto have voted to strip further powers from its mayor Rob Ford, who has admitted smoking crack, cocaine and drinking heavily but refuses to step down. In a heated debated the council unanimously approved measures slashing his budget and transferring many powers to his deputy.
Clarin says the President of Argentina, Christina Fernandez, has resumed her duties and appeared on TV for the first time since undergoing brain surgery five weeks ago. She thanked her uspporterd for praying for her.
Al Furqan reports a Twitter user in Kuwait has been sentenced to five years in prison after being convicted of insulting the prophet Mohammed. Musaab Shamsah was arrested after the tweet was interpreted as endorsing Shiite beliefs in the Sunni-majority country. His jailing is the latest among Gulf Arab nations in a widening crackdown on political commentary and other forms of expressions on social media.