The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says storm damage claims after last week's storm are the highest in nine years. It also says the hunters’ federation is seeking a tenfold increase in bag limits.
The Malta Independent says Malta has endorsed the WHO policy document, despite a reference to abortion.
In-Nazzjon highlights the new interest subsidy scheme for first time home owners.
l-orizzont says a lawyer is in trouble for crashing into three cars in Qui-Si-Sana and failing to file a report.
The overseas press
El Mundo quotes Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy pledging he would not accept outside conditions over a possible bailout by the European Central Bank. In his first television interview since taking office, he said no decision to request a bailout had been taken and he promised that pensioners would not be affected by any decisions. Last week, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB) unveiled plans to buy bonds from indebted countries to cut the borrowing costs of debt-burdened eurozone members.
Tribune de Genève reports UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the Syrian government and rebel groups for choosing violence and force rather than dialogue. In an opening speech to a three-week session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ban also rebuked the UN Security Council for failing to take a unified stance to end the Syrian crisis. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, expressed her continuing concern that the conflict had resulted in high numbers of civilian casualties and led to a growing humanitarian crisis.
The most-high profile defector from Syria so far, General Manaf Tlas, has warned that if the Damascus regime was subjected to more pressure, it could resort to using chemical weapons. Speaking from his refuge in Paris to interviewers from BBC Arabic and French news channel BFMTV, Tlas said that France helped him escape from his homeland but he could not give more details for fear of endangering those who had assisted him.
The Washington Post quotes Yemeni government officials saying that Said al-Shihri, described as the second-in-command of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, has been killed. Al-Shihri was reportedly killed with six others in the Hadramawt area. Some reports say Yemeni troops were involved, others that it was an air strike, possibly a US drone attack. Al-Shihri, a Saudi national, was released by the US from detention in Guantanamo Bay in 2007.
Huffington Post says American officials have confirmed a detainee being held at Guantanamo Bay prison died at the weekend. It was the ninth death since the detention centre opened in 2002. The detainee is not allowed to be identified until his government and family are notified.
Business Insider reports growing speculation about the whereabouts of China’s leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping after he cancelled another meeting with a foreign visitor – the fourth such cancellation in a week. Last week, China Digital Times reported that Xi Jinping, who is expected to take over as president in coming months, cancelled a meeting with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton reportedly after suffering a back injury.
Dawn says three days of flash flooding and torrential rain has killed at least 78 people, injured another 60 and damaged thousands of homes in Pakistan. A government spokesman said the heavy monsoon rains destroyed more than 1,600 houses while damaging a further 5,000.
Seven-year-old Zainab al-Hilli,the eldest daughter of the British-Iraqi couple murdered last week in the French Alps, has started speaking to investigators, expressing fear and seeming to remember what she had been through. The Times exclusive also highlighted a series of “secret meetings” that the slain father took part in days before the grisly murders, quoting people who had observed the family at the Village Camping Europa, one of the two campsites the family stayed in during their French holiday. Zainab had been in hospital in Grenoble after being bludgeoned over the head and shot in the shoulder during the attack.
Panapress reports the Somali Parliament has elected Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as the country's new president. The academic beat President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed in a run-off poll by 190 to 79 votes. It is the first time for years that a president has been chosen on Somali soil, a sign of improving security.
O Globo says the police in Brazil are looking for the killers of six teenagers who were murdered in Rio de Janeiro after going to bathe in a local waterfall. They believe the six young men had no involvement in crime but were killed by drug lords who wanted to make a show of force to the authorities.
All British national newspapers lead with the victory parade through London to cheer Britain's Olympic and Paralympic athletes. The Daily Telegraph says competitors were also honoured with a flypast over Buckingham Palace, the day after the end of the 2012 Paralympics. Some 800 competitors travelled on 21 floats which made their way through the city over two hours.
A Thai man has been caught raising six tigers in a cage on top of an apartment block.
Bangkok Post says environmental police found four adult and two juvenile tigers in the rusty caged compound on the rooftop of a four-storey apartment building in a residential neighbourhood. The 28-year-old caretaker has been initially charged with illegal possession of protected wild animals. Police said the apartment was a transit spot for tiger trading in Thailand, where tigers are illegally sold for skin, fangs and organs.