The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
Times of Malta reports that Malta has been given extra time by the EU to settle its €13m extra bill. It also says that the government, in court submissions, said that the process followed by the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting for a referendum was legal.
The Malta Independent says an anonymous online bazaar offers ammunition shipments to Malta.
l-orizzont focuses on a meteorite find in Qrendi.
In-Nazzjon reports that Mcast is heading towards a €2 million deficit.
The overseas press
El Pais reports that with 90 per cent of the votes cast in the informal referendum on independence for Catalonia, more than 80 per cent voted in favour.
Berliner Zeitung says more than 100,000 people turned out for a street party celebrating 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel said the fall of the wall had shown the world that dreams could come true.
According to Ansa, Italy’s presidential office has neither confirmed nor denied rumours that President Napolitano would be stepping down. Meanwhile, in an interview with newspaper La Stampa, Silvio Berlusconi has said Prime Minister Matteo Renzi wants early elections.
Former French Prime Minister François Fillon has said he would sue leading French daily Le Monde for reporting that he encouraged legal action against his former boss, Nicolas Sarkozy, in a bid to beat him to their party’s 2017 presidential nomination.
President Obama has said the deployment of 1,500 more US troops to Iraq marks a “new phase” against Islamic State militants. He told CBS TV that the new troops, although non-combat advisers, could help Iraq go on the attack against IS.
An Islamic State spokesman has confirmed reports that “Caliph” Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was wounded during a US air strike on Friday night in the Mosul area. The strike targeted a meeting of IS leaders. The spokesman’s confirmation was reported by a CBC correspondent in Iraq.
Meanwhile, Al-Hadath reports IS militants have killed 70 other members of the Iraqi Albu Nimr tribe in the western Anbar province. The news came as Iraqi troops clashed with Islamic State militants in the city of Baiji in a fresh bid to break the jihadists’ grip on the city and the country’s largest oil refinery, which lies nearby.
Haartez says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned Arab citizens in the country against speaking out against the destruction of Israel. His conments came after a fresh wave of clashes and protests erupted across Israel on Sunday.
Kabul Times reports a Taliban suicide bomber burst into the offices of the chief of police in Kabul and blew himself up, killing one of the general’s closest associates. Kabul chief of police, Zahir Zahir, who was at work when there the blast occurred, said the terrorist had evaded a series of checkpoints in the heavily protected area.
London’s The Sun reveals a gay couple will have three babies by three different women in an incredible world first. The babies will all be born within seven months.