The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta reports on the forthcoming White Paper and says Cannabis smokers won't be criminals. It also reports how an elderly woman took her sister to court because she was noisy.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says Montekristo Estates got a trading licence despite multiple enforcement orders.
MaltaToday complains that Mepa is not enforcing the law on beaches. It also says that a major overhaul of the students smart card is expected owing to the millions paid to a private contractor.
It-Torca mourns the passing away of GWU vice president Edmond Cefai. It also reports about changes planned to make Enemalta a plc.
Il-Mument reports that there is serious disagreement between the Prime Minister and the Minister of Home Affairs on who should be Police Commissioner. It was for this reason that Ray Zammit was appointed Acting Commissioner.
KullHadd reports that the government is keeping its promise to create jobs.
The overseas press
Kyiv Post reports Ukrainian troops forced pro-Russian insurgents out of a key stronghold in the country’s embattled east, a significant success that suggested the government may finally be making gains in a months-long battle against a spreading separatist insurgency. As rebels fled from Slovyansk, vowing to regroup elsewhere and fight on, President Petro Poroshenko hailed the recapture of the city as “the start of a turning point” in a battle that has claimed more than 400 lives since April.
An autopsy has showed an Arab teenager who Palestinians say was killed in a revenge attack was burnt to death. And in an interview to the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot, the father of the 16-year-old teenager killed in Jerusalem has placed the responsibility of his abduction and death squarely on the shoulders of the Israeli Government. The boy was probably killed in retaliation for the murder of the three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. “I call on Benjamin Netanyahu to destroy the house of whoever killed my son, just as he destroyed the house of those responsible for the murder of those three kids”, Hussein Abu Khdeir said.
Haaretz says Palestinian militants have fired two rockets toward a major southern city deeper into Israel than any other attack in the current round of violence. The Israeli military said its “Iron Dome” defence system intercepted the rockets that were aimed at Beersheba. The military also said at least 29 other rockets and mortars were fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel over the weekend. It said it had retaliated with airstrikes on militant sites in Gaza.
USA Today reports four children – a set of four-year-old twins, a boy of the same age and one-month-old baby – were killed and several people injured when a massive fire destroyed numerous row-houses in Philadelphia. The blaze started in one of the homes and then spread quickly to nine others. A woman and two 11-year-old children were also hurt while 42 people have been displaced and are currently staying at a local school.
Avvenire says an autistic boy, among the sick who travelled to Campobasso Cathedral to meet the Pope on Saturday, was warmly embraced by Pope Francis. The boy’s mother said her son hardly ever reacted to external stimuli but enjoyed watching the pontiff on television, and so she had asked Archbishop Bregantini to take him along. Pope Francis blessed a wooden cross presented by a woman, asking her to pray for him.
AGI reports Mgr Bronislaw Morawiec, canon and treasurer of the Roman Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, was questioned on Saturday by the Vatican City Court. The Polish-born cleric is suspected of embezzlement and misappropriation of assets. In addition to Mgr. Bronislaw, who has already been found guilty by the Basilica’s chapter, the Court also heard several more witnesses. The date of the next hearing has not been set yet but it is expected to be scheduled soon.
Il Mattino says a Naples court has decided that the local commander of the Italian financial police, Fabio Massimo Mendella, is to remain in prison. Mandella is accused of corruption and revealing secret information after collecting €30,000 a month from a businessman to help him avoid tax audits. The judges also decided that Pietro De Riu, an accountant, is to remain in prison.
An Italian technician working in Libya went missing yesterday morning, Libya International TV Channel reported. The agency said on its Facebook page that the man may have been kidnapped alongside two foreign colleagues, and published a picture of the suspected victims: Marco Vallisa, the technician; Bosnian Petar Matic; and Macedonian Emilio Gafuri. The three men, who all work for a construction company based in Modena, went missing in Zuwara, in western Libya. Italy’s Foreign Ministry only confirmed that an Italian has gone missing.
al bawaba says the leader of the Islamic State, Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, ordered all Muslims to obey him. Proclaiming himself as the Caliph, al Baghdadi said a sermon in Mosul and then had it broadcast on the Web. Meanwhile, the militia of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) destroyed four tombs and six Mosques in the Niniveh region in Iraq, on Saturday. The ISIL militia has also occupied the Chaldean Cathedral and the Syrian Orthodox cathedral in the city, removing the crosses and replacing them with their own flags.
The Associated Press says Paul McCartney has returned to the concert stage after being sidelined for two months because of a virus, spinning out songs from the Beatles, Wings and a solo career that has spanned more than 50 years of rock `n’ roll. McCartney, who turned 72 two weeks ago, looked none the worse for wear. He made no immediate reference to his absence. One oblique reference could have been his performance of the song, "On My Way to Work," which he said he hadn’t done live before.