The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta quotes EU Commission President Jose' Manuel Barroso saying it was impossible for John Dalli to remain EU health commissioner.
l-orizzont leads with the publication of the White Paper on decriminalisation of drugs. It says medical use of cannabis will become legal.
The Malta Independent says Mr Barroso slammed John Dalli's 'baseless conspiracy theories'.
In-Nazzjon quotes Mr Barroso saying Mr Dalli's position was no longer tenable.
The overseas press
The Jerusalem Post says Israel has launched an aerial offensive on more than 20 targets of Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in response to the firing of at least 50 rockets, missiles and mortar shells by the Palestinians.
Reuters reports EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom has appealed to the EU’s 28 member states to step up their efforts to resettle Syrian refugees.
Ansa says Pope Francis used the pulpit of his first-ever victims Mass to make his most anguished plea yet for forgiveness over child-abuse scandals, begging that the Catholic Church be absolved for sex crimes and cover-ups that led in some cases to suicides. He said paedophile priests “profaned God’s image” and sacrificed kids “to the idol of their lust”. He vowed to hold bishops accountable for their handling of paedophile priests, whose sexual violence against children “left scars lasting a lifetime”.
ABC reports Australia’s High Court has temporarily blocked the forced repatriation of a second set of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka for fear of rights abuses. On Sunday, 41 migrants were returned to the country after Australia rejected their asylum claims.
Voice of Russia quotes Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov calling on the European Commission to again take up talks with Russia over the South Stream gas pipeline project. Talks between Russia and the commission were halted over the crisis in Ukraine. The 2,380-kilometre pipeline is planned to transport Russian natural gas to Italy, with branches to Greece and Austria, via the Black Sea and across the Balkans starting in 2015. The EU has claimed that the pipeline breaks its competition rules.
The Washington Post reports all electronic equipment must now be fully charged and working before it would be allowed on board flights to the United States. The measures, in compliance with new security measures adopted by the Transportation Security Administration, will be applied at all international airports in order to intercept new undetectable explosives. Smartphones, such as the very popular iPhone and Galaxy, will be confiscated if their batteries are flat.
Around 20 armed robbers raided a Samsung plant in south-eastern Brazil, leaving with 40,000 smartphones, laptops, tablets and other electronics worth $36 million (€26.5 million) that were loaded in seven trucks. Witnesses told the Globo1 news website the thieves arrived at the plant after midnight, taking guards and 200 employees hostage. They ordered everyone to remove their phones’ batteries to prevent them from making calls. They stayed at the plant for three hours and knew exactly where the most valuable merchandise was located.
Italian sperm donors will not be paid for their efforts and will not be portrayed in “catalogues” for infertile couples to choose. Italian Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin told Corriere della Sera that donors for IVF or artificial insemination would also be limited in how often they can donate to avoid too many “children from the same biological parent”.