The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:

The Times reports how Paul Bonello, a stockbroker who was a critic of the La Valette Property Fund, has said that Bank of Valletta is ‘getting back’ at him. The bank is refusing to do business with him.

The Malta Independent quotes Joseph Muscat saying the PN’s clique is shrinking.  Meanwhile the prime minister warned that Malta could lose €500m in the current EU Budget talks, hence the harm caused when Richard Cachia Caruana was removed.

In-Nazzjon quotes the prime minister again stressing the PN's priorities in jobs, health and education.

l-orizzont quotes Joseph Muscat saying that Labour’s first law would be on IVF.

The overseas press

The lead story in all Egyprian newspapers is the call by the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi for national unity following his victory in the country’s presidential elections. Al Ahram reports that in a televised address, Mursi, an Islamist and Egypt's first democratically-elected leader, said he would be president for all Egyptians. He won 51.73 per cent of the vote in last-week's run-off, beating former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq. He paid tribute to the protesters killed in last year's uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak and vowed to carry on the revolution until all its objectives are achieved.

Voice of America says international leaders from across the Middle East, the Americas, Europe and the pacific praised Mursi's "historic" win. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he trusted that the president-elect would spare no effort in ensuring the people of Egypt realised their aspirations for greater democracy, the promotion of human rights, and a more prosperous and stable Egypt for all of its citizens. President Obama telephone Mursi while a White House statement urged Egypt to be "a pillar of regional peace, security and stability". President François Hollande of France said it was important that a democratic and pluralist political system could be established in Egypt, guaranteeing civil and political freedoms of all citizens and minorities. UK Foreign Secretary William Hague also congratulated Mursi, saying the election marked "an historic moment for Egypt". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped the long-standing peace treaty between the two countries would continue.

Radio Tunis says Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, Libya's last prime minister under Muammar Gaddafi,  has been extradited back home to stand trial. From 2006, Mahmoudi served as Gaddafi's prime minister until fleeing to neighbouring Tunisia as rebel fighters took control of Tripoli in August last year. As far back as November, a Tunisian court ruled that he should be extradited, but the country's president declared a handover would only occur once he received assurances the former prime minister would receive a fair trial.

The Washington Post says US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton has condemned for what she called “the brazen and unaccepted shooting down” of a Turkish fighter jet last Friday. NATO is to meet tomorrow to discuss Turkey’s accusation that the F4 Phantom jet was shot down without warning and outside Syrian territorial waters. The plane's wreckage was found on Sunday in Mediterranean waters 1,000 meters deep.

The BBC quotes experts on international aid saying financial support given by European countries to poorer parts of the world has decreased for the first time in over a decade. A report by the aid watchdog, Data, said the debt crisis in Europe has led many nations to reduce their aid budgets. Overall, it says Europe has reduced its international aid by 1.5 percent. The group says the amount of money required to maintain Europe's aid promises is small in comparison to the €100-billion recently committed to support Spanish banks.

Deutsche Welle reports that the World Heritage Committee of Unesco has opened its annual conference in St. Petersburg, facing a contested Palestinian bid to get recognition for Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity – despite a negative evaluation by the UN Council on Monuments and Sites. A report by council assessors issued last week said that Palestinian authorities had failed to make a full archeological preservation survey of the building that was erected over the presumed birthplace of Jesus in the 4th century. Officials for the Palestinian Authority, which obtained admission to Unesco in a 107-14 vote last October, accuse Israel and its ally the United States of applying influence to obtain a "biased" report on Bethlehem's major tourist attraction.

ABC quotes staff at the Galapagos National Park in Ecuador saying Lonesome George, a giant tortoise believed to be the last of its subspecies, has died. Scientists estimate he was about 100 years old. Park officials said they would carry out a post-mortem to determine the cause of his death. With no offspring and no known individuals from his subspecies left, Lonesome George became known as the rarest creature in the world.