The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. The local press is dominated by the swearing-in of the new President.
Times of Malta and l-orizzont share the same heading: The People's President. In other stories, Times of Malta quotes Alternattiva Demokratika saying the permit allowing Malta Freeport to repair oil rigs is illegal.
The Malta Independent quotes Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca saying she will remain the person she always was.
In-Nazzjon reports comments by the new President that she will work for unity.
The overseas press
Millions of Afghans are set to vote for a new president in what will be the nation’s first ever transfer of power through the ballot box. Ariana TV says a massive security operation is under way to thwart the Taliban which has vowed to disrupt the election.
The latest underwater phase of the hunt for missing flight MH370 is a “desperate move” with limited chance of success, experts have claimed. Speaking on Sky News, radar expert Professor David Stupples said the pinger locators would be able to cover just 150 square miles a day, in an overall search area of around 87,000 square miles.
Al Jazeera quotes US Secretary of State John Kerry saying he would “evaluate” the next steps in the Middle East peace process with President Barack Obama, warning there were “limits” to Washington’s time. “This is not open-ended,” Kerry told a news conference in Rabat, Morocco, on Friday, adding that it was “reality check” time after negative Israeli and Palestinian moves.
L’Echo reports thousands in Belgium have taken part in a peaceful protest, called for by the European Trade Union Confederation and organised by labour unions, to oppose austerity measures implemented across the EU. Belgian police used water cannons and pepper spray on the protesters, who had showered them with oranges and cobblestones during the demonstration in Brussels.
Times of India says a court in Mumbai has sentenced three men to hang, under a new law which carries the death penalty for those convicted of multiple sexual assaults. The men were convicted of raping a photojournalist in Mumbai last year. They were also among five men sentenced to life last month for raping another woman in a separate incident in the city.
A Chinese national faces US criminal charges that he conspired to export devices to Iran that could be used in uranium enrichment. Metro reports US prosecutors said Sihai Cheng supplied thousands of parts to a company involved in Iran’s nuclear programme in violation of US sanctions. He is currently in custody in the UK.
Meanwhile, Aviation News says the United States has issued a licence to aerospace giant Boeing permitting it to sell plane parts to Iran. A spokesman for the company said the licence covers a short time and concerns only aircraft already in service. This would be the first time Boeing has done business with the Islamic Republic since the US embargo of 1979.
The BBC reports convicted Mafia boss Domenico Rancadore has been rearrested by police in west London just a month after he avoided extradition from the UK to Italy. A fresh European arrest warrant alleges the 65-year-old has an outstanding sentence of seven years to serve for “participation in Mafia association between 1987 and 1995”.
According to the Wall Street Journal, McDonald’s has closed its restaurants in Crimea, prompting fears of a backlash as a prominent Moscow politician calls for all of the US fast food chain’s outlets in Russia to be shut.
Italy’s new prime minister apparently has made so many media appearances in recent weeks that the Italian press are talking about Matteo Renzi’s “occupy TV” strategy. Between 17 and 31 March, Renzi was on Italian TV screens for an average of nearly five hours a day, La Stampa reports.
According to Penguin News, residents of the Falkland Islands have ridiculed claims by Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner that nuclear weapons were deployed in the area. Marking 32 years since the Falklands conflict with the UK, she had said the islands had been turned into a nuclear base for Nato. In response, a group supporting residents of the Falklands tweeted a picture of King Penguins native to the islands.