Monday's New York Times highlights President Vladimir Putin's move to strengthen the Kremlin's power throuugh central naming of regional governors and an overhaul of the electoral system, excluding popular vote in some cases. The changes are proposed in reaction to the recent terrorist attacks in Russia. The NYT also includes articles on worries surrounding the push for absentee voting and how it may effect the presidential election, a Justice Department report that the rate of property crime and violent crime other than homicides remained at a 30-year low in 2003, and US Airways' plans for reorganization following the airline's second declaration of bankruptcy.

The Washington Post includes a piece on Pope John Paul II weighing in on gay marriage, telling bishops Monday that efforts to equate marriage between man and woman to other forms of cohabitation violated "God's plan for humanity," in answer to questions surrounding New Zealand's proposed Gay Marriage Bill.

USA Today notes an Amnesty International report declaring racial profiling a prevalent problem in the US, with more than 32 million claiming to have been victimized by it, possible civil charges pending against Qwest Communications International's former chief executive Joseph P. Nacchio for his alleged role in an accounting scandal, and today's expiry of the the assault weapons ban.