The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Sunday Times quotes Labour MP Adrian Vassallo saying he would not stand for election if the Labour manifesto contradicts his values including divorce. It also says that 900 migrants are to leave for the US and European countries by 2012.. In another story the newspaper quotes Enemalta saying that it is confident that it has the capacity to meet summer electricity demand.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says the government is investigating the transfer of Iranian ships to the Maltese register in the light of UN sanctions.
MaltaToday also features the story on Adrian Vassallo.
It-Torca says elderly people paid for food at Zejtun Home by mistake. It also says the government is not worried that the closure of the UNHCR office in Libya would lead to an increase in migration.
Il-Mument claims that the PL is again collecting data about people. It also says the Medicines Committee is working on a new system for better pricing of medicines.
KullHadd says Air Malta ground handling staff at MIA are facing a proposal for 94 dismissals and reduced pay of 18 per%. It also says the MCESD had rejected a request for the Forum group of trade unions to join.
Illum says former PBS CEO Albert Debono had joined Transport Malta and the authority would not say what his pay is.
The overseas press
Ansa reports that the European Commission is to send an expert to assess the humanitarian situation in Kyrgyzstan and mobilize aid in a short time. Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Gerorgieva said that with thousands of civilians massed at the border and others who cannot leave their homes because of violence, the EU must be prepared to face the situation that might occur.
The EC announcement came as New Eurasia said Kyrgyzstan's interim government had given security forces shoot-to-kill powers in a bid to stop the escalating ethnic violence in the south of the country in which at least 80 people were killed and over nearly 1,000 injured since Friday.
SME reports early results of yesterday's election in Slovakia suggest the centre-right opposition parties will be the winner. Based on results from 49 per cent of polling stations, Prime Minister Robert Fico's leftist Smer party has 36.7 per cent of votes. Although the conservative SDKU has polled only 14.95 per cent so far, its five-party coalition is on track to win 76 of the 150 parliamentary seats.
Le Soir says Belgium's 6.5 million Dutch and 4 million French-speakers go to the polls in a general election that may well favour the prospect of a political divorce down the road. Early elections were called after Premier Yves Leterme's five-party coalition fell apart last April in a dispute over a bilingual voting district. That issue has pushed the New Flemish Alliance into pole position and its leader Bart de Wever wants an orderly breakup of Belgium.
Scotland First Minister Alex Salmond's plans to give 16-year-olds the vote in the SNP's independence referendum have been dealt a blow by the Scottish Electoral Commission. Scotland on Sunday reveals the commission believes inclusing their personal data in the electoral register would expose all 125,000 Scottish 16-year-olds to danger as they would be easily identifiable to predatory paedophiles.
The Sunday Times says President Barack Obama has reassured British Prime Minister David Cameron that his frustration over the mammoth oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was not an attack on Britain. Downing Street said the two leaders held a "warm and constructive" telephone conversation for more than 30 minutes in a bid to ease trans-Atlantic tensions over the disaster.
German prosecutors have confirmed a report in the German news magazine, Der Spiegel saying that Polish authorities had arrested a suspected Mossad agent wanted by Berlin over the slaying of a Hamas commander in Dubai. Mahmud al-Mabhuh, a founder of the military wing of the Hamas, was found dead in his room in a hotel near the Dubai airport last January.
The Jerusalem Post quotes Fatah officials in Ramallah saying Hamas had rejected an offer by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to send a Fatah delegation to the Gaza Strip to discuss ways of ending the power struggle between the two parties,
The two sides face growing pressure from several Arab and Islamic countries to patch up their differences so as to pave the way for the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
El Pais says that after talks with Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Spanish Prime Minister José Zapatero has called for a "strong joint EU position" on Gaza and Israel's blockade. Spain is set to propose on Monday that the 27-nation bloc call for an end to the blockade.
Deutsche Welle reports that some 25,000 demonstrators marched in Berlin and Stuttgart to voice disapproval of the federal government's recently announced austerity package, which consists of cuts primarily in the social-welfare and family-services sectors. The march was organized by trade unions and left-wing opposition groups.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Bild am Sonntag weekly, Chancellor Angela Merkel rejected charges that the country's poor were being unfairly burdened. "People must realize that we have to save money and reduce debt," she said.
Suomenmaa says Finland's governing Centre Party has elected 41-year-old Mari Kiviniemi as its new leader, hoping to reunite the party and reverse the trend of waning support ahead of next year's parliamentary election. The minister responsible for municipal affairs is expected to be named prime minister next week when Matti Vanhanen resigns.
Afghan Times says some 45 schoolgirls are hospital after a suspected poison gas attack by suspect groups which oppose education for girls. During the Taliban rule, between 1996 and 2001, girls were banned from attending school and some schools for girls still remain closed.
La Jornada reports environmental and animal rights activists are cycling through Mexico City naked. Many are covering up just a little with bunny tails, painted cow spots and other well-placed props. They wore signs saying, "Don't eat me" and "I need my skin." The protest was also intended to promote cycling in one of the world's biggest, most polluted cities.
The Miami Herald reports that Miami lawyer Brittney Horstman was prevented from visiting one of her clients in jail because of the metal underwire in her bra. After removing the bra in a bathroom and passing through the metal detectors again she was then told that going braless was a violation of prison dress code guidelines. The incident was eventually brought to the attention of Warden Linda McGrew, who conducted an inquiry and promised the same thing would not happen again.