The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta leads with comments by Archbishop Paul Cremona, who officially resigned yesterday. It also quotes the former Air Malta CEO Peter Davies saying the airline was on track for recovery before he left.
The Malta Independent on Sunday asks if Mgr Mario Grech has been ‘tapped’ by the Pope to be the next Archbishop.
MaltaToday says the PN government had offered a €25m settlement to the National Bank shareholders
It-Torca quotes Archbishop Paul Cremona saying the attacks against him in August had hastened his resignation.
Il-Mument says the Mayor of Tripoli, who stayed in Malta for some weeks, was linked to Al-Qaeda.
Illum reports how Archbishop Paul Cremona had been considering resignation for two years.
KullHadd says the Archbishop may be chosen by the prime minister.
The overseas press
Catholic bishops have failed to reach consensus over a controversial Vatican document offering a wider acceptance of homosexuals and divorcees and civil union couples receiving communion. Avvenire reports most parts of the document were approved by a majority of the 183 bishops but the passages referring to a more liberal approach to the hot issues failed to gain the two-thirds majority that it required to pass. In a 10-minute speech at the end of the closed meeting, Pope Francis said the Church could neither “throw stones” at sinners nor be too accommodating to “a worldly spirit.” He was given a five-minute standing ovation.
The United States, Britain, France, Germany and Italy have called for an “immediate” end to long-running violence between government forces and militias in Libya. According to AFP, they also said that they were ready to use individual sanctions against hostile actors who “threaten the peace, stability or security of Libya or obstruct or undermine the political process”.
Haaretz reports Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman lashed out at Mahmoud Abbas for his Al-Aqsa Mosque comments, accusing the Palestinian Authority president of incitement and comparing him to the Islamic State and other extremist Islamic organizations. The Palestinian president had said his people should guard the Jerusalem holy site revered by both Jews and Muslims against visiting Jews. Abbas’ fiery rhetoric follows comments he made the previous day that Jews should be banned from visiting the site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Kurdish forces in Kobani have fought off a new attack by Islamic State fighters on the Syrian town. According to sources cited by The Daily Star, the Kurdish forces repulsed an attempt by IS militias to cut off the border with Turkey. Six new air strikes were carried out by US-led coalition jets against Islamic State targets in Kobani.
Le Soir quotes the European Union saying more than 30,000 people fell victim to human trafficking in the bloc’s 28-member states between 2010 and 2012. A recent report by the European Commission, said 80 percent of registered victims were female. There were also 1,000 children among those trafficked to EU countries for sexual exploitation. Two-thirds of the victims were EU citizens. Nigeria and China were the main non-EU countries of origin.
Globe & Mail reports Canada has sent the World Health Organization 800 vials of an experimental vaccine to counter the spread of Ebola in West Africa, where it has already caused over 4,500 deaths. British pharmaceutical giant Glaxosmithkline (GSK) had announced on Friday that an effective vaccine could not be developed and tested before the end of 2016.
South China Morning Post says talks between the Hong Kong government and student pro-democracy demonstrators were announced for Tuesday as riot police battled with thousands of pro-democracy protesters for control of the city’s streets. They used pepper spray and batons to hold back defiant activists who returned to a protest zone that officers had partially cleared.
France 24 reports France won the world blind wine-tasting competition for teams. The annual event, launched last year, was held in the eastern French town of Ay and drew four-member teams from 18 countries, including Spain, China, Russia and Argentina. The teams, blind-tasting fine wines from around the world, had to identify their countries of origin, the grape varieties used in them, their appellations and their vintages
Le Journal du Dimanche says a giant inflatable green sculpture on Vendome Square was deflated after vandals attacked the work that sparked outrage for its resemblance to a sex toy. The 24 metre-high artwork by American artist Paul McCarthy, called “Tree,” was unveiled on Thursday, provoking a storm of mirth and outrage on social media over its resemblance to a sex toy called a butt-plug.