The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Sunday Times quotes a director at Mater Dei Hospital saying free healthcare for all is unsustainable. It also quotes the Prime Minister saying that his chief of staff, Edgar Galea Curmi, did his duty when he phoned the Police Commissioner to enquire about allegations of political interference.
The Malta Independent leads with the same story about Galea Curmi. It also says that the pre-budget document will be published tomorrow
MaltaToday says a GRTU company inflated waste figures for 2009. It also carries comments by Cyrus Engerer that the PN knew about his case involving the police, before he resigned.
It-Torca highlights a German report which claims that Malta is at risk of financial crisis. The government has already denied the report.
Il-Mument quotes a Eurobarometer survey which show high public confidence in the police.
Illum says nurses are conducting ECG tests during the night in Gozo because of a shortage of trained staff. It also says former PL General Secretary Jason Micallef is to contest the next general election.
KullHadd says Green tarmac imported for use in the bus lanes has turned black within a month and a half.
The overseas press
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has delivered a defiant statement on al-Jamahiriya state television a day after Nato bombed three TV transmitters to silence “terror broadcasts”. AFP says Gaddafi has vowed to "never abandon" the fight against the rebels and Nato, warning that his enemies would be "defeated thanks to the courage of the Libyan people". He told supporters that Libyans were more determined than “the crusader aggressors”.
Al Jazeera quotes Khaled Basilia, the director of station's English language section, saying three people had been killed and 15 others wounded in the attack, which he called "an act of international terrorism" and said it was in violation of the UN Security Council resolutions under which Nato is acting. Nato said it was acting under "our mandate to protect civilian lives".
The Washington Post says urgent talks are going on in Washington between President Obama, his political allies and their Republican Party rivals to find a way out of the US debt crisis which threatens to leave the administration without enough money to pay wages, pensions and its bills. The White House wants Congress to raise the government’s $14 trillion debt limit by enough to keep the bills paid until after the elections next year. The Republicans have expressed confidence that a deal would be reached to avert default before the Tuesday midnight deadline.
Pravda says a pleasure boat has sunk in the Moscow River after collision with a barge. The police said of the 10 people aboard the Swallow pleasure boat, at least two had drowned and six remain missing.
Fox News reports that a new court hearing was due in Iran later today in the case of two American men accused of spying. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested two years ago and their lawyer said the fact that the session in the trial would coincide with the second anniversary of their arrest may indicate that they would be freed. The men said they crossed the Iranian border by mistake while hiking in neighbouring Iraq.
Semana says another senior aide of the former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is facing criminal prosecution. A judge has ordered the arrest of Uribe’s former chief of staff, Bernardo Moreno, for alleged involvement for spying on judges, journalists and politicians. A former agriculture minister had been previously charged with corruption.
The Champion reports that the Nigerian government has said it wants to open talks with an Islamist group that has been blamed for deadly attacks and shootings in the east of the country. A statement from the President’s office said it had appointed a committee to negotiate with the Boko Haram group but so far the group has not responded.
Associated Press says besides killing nearly 3,000 people, destroying planes and reducing buildings to tons of rubble and ash, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks destroyed tens of thousands of records, irreplaceable historical documents and art. It reveals these include letters written by Helen Keller, 40,000 photographic negatives of John F. Kennedy taken by the president's personal cameraman, sculptures by Alexander Calder and Auguste Rodin and the 1921 agreement that created the agency that built the World Trade Centre, which was home to more than 430 companies, including law firms, manufacturers and financial institutions.