The following are the leading stories in the Maltese and international press.
The Sunday Times:
The Grand Harbour will be transformed into a multi-themed venue on New Year's Eve as Malta ushers in 2008 and introduces the euro.
A man, recently arrested in Spain on suspicion of carrying a kilo of cocaine, heads a local security company.
The Malta Independent on Sunday
A Maltese has claimed the extraordinary discovery of a relic from Pharaonic times in the Sahara Desert.
A Maltese shopkeeper is said to have received $2 million to point the Lockerbie case at a Libyan
maltatoday
Josie Muscat, who heads the new political party Azzjoni Nazzjonali, "woos hunters, will not rule out suspending EU membership".
il-mument
The Prime Minister has announced a national IT strategy to make Malta among the best 10 ICT nations by 2010.
illum
Professor Edwin Grech, the father of Karen Grech killed by a letter-bomb 30 years ago, has called for a new investigation into the yet-unresolved case.
it-torca
Electricity cuts hit Christmas shopping.
KullHadd
Agenzija Appogg claims there are too many children in Malta's Children's homes.
The Press in Britain...
The Mail On Sunday claims that Labour and Tory MPs have formed a secret pact at Westminster to secure a 10 per cent pay rise over the next three years worth around £6,000.
The Sunday Express says the Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was less than happy at a police officer who wrote a message about his pay on the frosty windscreen of her ministerial car.
The Observer claims that internet auction sites are colluding with ticket tout gangs to obtain seats for top sports events and concerts which are then sold to fans at rip-off prices.
The Independent on Sunday says most Britons are concerned about waste and the environment at this time of excess.
The Sunday Telegraph marks the conversion of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair to the Catholic church by claiming Roman Catholics have overtaken Anglicans as the UK's dominant religious group.
The Sunday Times has the seasonal - and worrying - news that more than two million parcels and letters have been lost or delayed in the Christmas post. Announcing Tony Blair's conversion to Roman Catholicism, the newspaper prints a picture of the former British PM and Pope Benedict at the Vatican.
and elsewhere...
Kabul's Anis Daily leads with the separate meetings held by President Hamid Karzai and the leaders of France and Australia, each saying their nations are committed to the country for the long term. Nicolas Sarkozy made the first-ever visit to Afghanistan by a French president and told Mr Karzai France has a long-term interest in the country. After meeting Mr Sarkozy, Mr Karzai met with Australian PM Kevin Rudd, who was visiting troops in Uruzgan province.
Cumhuriyet says Turkish warplanes have bombed Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq in the third cross-border offensive by Turkish forces in less than a week. The military said the bombing lasted nearly half an hour and was followed by shelling from inside Turkish borders. It did not say how deep into Iraqi territory the planes went or what areas were hit. It vowed to continue military operations on both sides of the border.
De Standaard reports Belgian police have released 14 people detained over an alleged plot to free an al-Qaeda prisoner after a court ruled there was a lack of evidence. The Federal Prosecutor's office said searches of the suspects' homes had found no explosives or other evidence to persuade the court to hold them. Tighter police anti-terrorism measures triggered by the arrests on Friday will remain in place over the holidays.
Ha'aretz quotes Israel's infrastructure minister saying he favoured a conditional cease-fire with Hamas, becoming the highest-ranking official to welcome the militant group's proposal. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a former defense minister, said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may consider discussing a long-term cease-fire with Hamas if the group stops smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip and negotiates the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas-affiliated militants last year.
The Egyptian Gazette reports that a minibus fell off a ferry and sank in the Nile River in southern Egypt Saturday, killing 16 people including six children. Police blamed the driver for the accident because he had failed to apply the emergency brake while the car was being ferried to a landing near the village of Deir Mawas in Minya province.
The Columbus Dispatch says that a death row Briton is back in jail in Ohio after a heart scare resulted in the postponement of a court appearance that could have freed him. Kenny Richey, who has been on death row for 21 years, was released from hospital and is awaiting a new date for the crucial court hearing.
Bangkok's Daily News leads with Thailand's general elections, the first since the coup last year that overthrew Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. A total of 480 parliamentary seats are being contested, under a new constitution introduced in August.
USA Today reports former FBI director J Edgar Hoover had a plan to arrest up to 12,000 Americans he suspected of being disloyal, a newly declassified document shows. Hoover sent his plan to the White House on July 7, 1950, less than two weeks after the Korean War began. But there is no evidence to suggest that President Harry S Truman or any subsequent president approved of Hoover's proposal.