The following are the leading stories in Maltese and foreign newspapers.

The Sunday Times leads with the MLP leadership race and says the new leader might be chosen by the party members - rather than just its delegates - after a petition received enough support to prompt an extraordinary general meeting to discuss the matter.

it-torca has an exclusive report that President Sarkozy of France will receive "urgent medical treatment" at Mater Dei Hospital in the coming days. It says a French delegation was in Malta on Thursday to discuss arrangements, including security. Mater Dei was selected because of its specialised medical equipment. The newspaper does not say what treatment M. Sarkozy needs. At the same time it reports that cancer patients were turned away from Sir Paul Boffa Hospital because two machines used for treatment had broken down.

il-mument also leads with the fact that a petition for the MLP leader to be elected by paid-up members has received the necessary backing.

Illum leads with Joseph Muscat's guarantee that he would be contesting the MLP leadership race, following claims - fuelled also by TVM says the paper - that he would be withdrawing from the race to support George Abela.

Referring to the same issue, The Malta Independent on Sunday says contender Joseph Muscat unveiled a 40-point plan for a "new political era" for the country. However, the paper leads with the news that Malta has been rapped by the EU for negotiating visa exemption with the US on its own.

Maltatoday claims a "GonziPN's secret deal" on the eve of the election to appease Armier squatters in six months' time.

KullHadd quotes a Maltese woman who was raised by the nuns at the Gozo Lourdes Home, and who now lives in Canada, alleging that physical and psychological abuse was not performed only by the nuns but also by a priest who used to go to the home to administer them confession every week.

The Press in Britain...

According to the Sunday Times, Gordon Brown faced new threats of resignations from his government, as the rebellion over his decision to scrap the 10p income tax band escalated.

The Sunday Telegraph says the head of motor racing Max Mosely is defending his right to pursue an "eccentric" private life after a series of sex allegations in a tabloid paper.

The world's first ‘pregnant man' has broken his silence in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Express.

The Observer says a study is claiming that an "entire generation" of school children has been let down by the Labour government.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Government inspectors are to pry into the intimate details of more than 500,000 people a year, asking a series of probing questions about their sex lives and earnings.

Daily Star Sunday says actress Amanda Holden's ex-husband Les Dennis used to perform impressions of a Coronation Street character to woo her.

The News of the World claims Prince William has sparked fury after landing his £15,000-an-hour RAF helicopter in girlfriend Kate Middleton's back garden.

Scotland on Sunday says Scotland is set to be hit by crippling fuel shortages within days after plans for a strike at the country's biggest oil refinery at Grangemouth led to it being shut down for safety reasons.

And elsewhere...

The New York Sun says Pope Benedict returned to the clergy sex abuse scandal as he preached in Manhattan's St Patrick's Cathedral, assuring priests and nuns that he was close to them as they battled the damage left by the crisis. Addressing some 3,000 people, most of them clergy, he called it a time for purification and healing. Earlier, in a meeting with adolescents and seminarians, the pontiff said that his teenage years were ruined by Nazism, "which thought it had the answers to everything". Later today, the Pope will visit Ground Zero, the scene of the 9/11 attacks in New York, and then celebrate Mass at Yankee Stadium before returning to Rome.

East African Standard quotes former UN secretary general Kofi Annan urging African leaders to urgently step in and resolve the election crisis in Zimbabwe. Speaking in Nairobi where he held talks with Zimbabwean opposition leaders on Friday, Annan warned that the situation threatened stability in neighbouring countries.

Harare's The Sunday Mail reports election officials have started a partial recount of votes from the March 29 elections in Zimbabwe. Meanwhile a Chinese ship carrying arms to Zimbabwe, which was turned away from South Africa, is heading to Angola in hopes of docking there.

German Agriculture Minister Horst Seehofer has called for a drastic rise in European agricultural production to counter rising world food prices and shortages. Speaking to mass circulation Bild newspaper, he said the move would mark a significant change to current EU agriculture policy, noting that the UN Food Programme expected food demand to rise 60 per cent by 2030.

Al Ahali quotes Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr threatening the Iraqi government with "open war" if it does not stop military operations against his supporters

Protesters in several Chinese cities have gathered to demand a boycott of French products and denounce campaigns for Tibetan independence. Pictures in The China Daily show crowds marching in Beijing, Wuhan, Hefei, Kunming, and Qingdao - often outside stores of the French chain Carrefour. Passions ran high, but the protests were closely patrolled by police.

Meanwhile New Strait Times reports the Olympic torch has arrived in Malaysia, where it will be carried through the streets of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Monday. It arrived from Bangkok where thousands watched pass through the Thai leg of a worldwide relay held amid tight security.

Malaga's El Sol reports that at least eight people, including a seven-year-old girl, have been killed when a bus carrying Finnish tourists crashed in southern Spain. The bus collided with another vehicle and overturned on a road near to the coastal resort of Benalmadena. Some 16 people were injured.

Corriere della Sera says James Bond's iconic Aston Martin has been fished out of Lake Garda after it plunged into the water while being driven to the set of the latest film, Quantum of Solace. It stars Daniel Craig and is due for release later this year.