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

The Sunday Times leads with the revelation that ST Microeletronics has asked the government for a financial support package running into tens of millions of dollars as it contemplates pulling the plug on its Malta plant which provides the livelihood of some 2,200 workers.

The Malta Independent on Sunday leads with the speech by President Fenech Adami at yesterday's inauguration of parliament outlining the government's plan for the 11th legislature - sustainable development.

Maltatoday reports that tons of high explosives are stored at an illegal depot near a manned Armed Forces facility, public roads, cultivated land and residences on the outskirts of Nadur, Gozo. It also follows up on the death in police custody of Nicholas Azzopardi and says that there is no evidence of any injured officer in police records.

il-mument also leads with a commemorative picture of both sides of the House together with Archbishop Cremona and reports the President's speech outlining the government's goal of sustainable development.

Illum says that claims that a birth at Mater Dei Hospital had satanic connections have lead to the blessing with holy water of all places where the mother was before, during and after the birth. Sources told the paper that during her stay in hospital, the woman often spoke on satanism and asked the priest who was giving Holy Communion to stay away.

it-torca claims that the shadow of privatisation of part of the dockyards' activities is looming over the enterprise as government subsidies would have to stop from January 2009.

KullHadd labels the government's five-year programme as nothing but sweet talk because goodwill on its behalf is lacking.

The Press in Britain...

The Observer claims Gordon Brown's leadership is under intense pressure as a new poll shows half of voters believe he is doing a very bad job as the country's Prime Minister.

And according to an opinion poll for the Mail on Sunday, Labour could be heading for defeat in a crucial by-election in the Crewe and Nantwich constituency in 10 days' time. The poll puts the Tories on 43 percent, four points ahead of Labour on 39 percent, with the Lib Dems trailing on 16 percent.

In his memoirs published in The Sunday Times, John Prescott claims he urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown when the pair were at loggerheads.

The Sunday Telegraph says Gordon Brown has vowed to keep the United Kingdom together despite internal Labour party divisions over a Scottish referendum.

According to the Sunday Express, a government proposal will suggest children could be barred from school unless they have had all their vaccinations - a claim later officially denied.

The Sunday Mirror reports that Elizabeth Fritzl, the 42-year-old Austrian woman held captive in an underground cellar for 24 years by her father has described her nightmare, hugged her children whom Josef allowed to leave upstairs and told her mother that she was afraid she would never see her again. She asked to be allowed to feel rain on her face and, most important of all, never to see her father's face again.

The News Of The World claims to have the first pictures from inside the apartment where Madeleine McCann was allegedly abducted.

Daily Star Sunday says the unusually warm temperatures in the UK are set to continue.

And elsewhere...

Le Courrier des Balkans says today's parliamentary elections in Serbia are expected to determine the course of the Balkan nation's foreign policy. Opinion polls indicate that it will be a close contest between the ultra-nationalist Radical Party, running on a platform of forging closer ties with Russia, and the Democratic Party of President Boris Tadic, who wants to lead the country into the European Union. The snap polls were called after the coalition of Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Party of Serbia and the Democratic Party fell apart after most EU member states recognised the former Serbian province of Kosovo.

The Baltic News Service claims Slovenia, which holds the rotating presidency of the 27-nation EU, has warned it could skip a five-nation foreign ministers' mission to Georgia that aims to cool tensions with Russia, unless Lithuania drops its veto on separate EU-Russia talks. Citing a Lithuanian foreign ministry source, BNS said Slovenia had used this new bargaining tactic to try to get Vilnius, a staunch ally of Georgia, to approve the launch of negotiations on a new EU-Russia partnership pact.

The Mynmar Times says Burma's military junta has held a referendum on its new constitution despite calls by the international community for it to devote all of its efforts to delivering aid to hundreds of thousands of cyclone victims. Critics say the new constitution would strengthen the junta's iron grip on power. According to figures released by the junta, around 23,000 people were killed after cyclone Nargis slammed into the Irrawaddy Delta region last Saturday. United Nations officials fear the actual death toll could be more than 100,000.

Meanwhile, Asian Tribune reports scores of international relief workers are stuck in Thailand waiting for visas to be issued. The international community has again called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to intensify contacts with the junta in an effort to accelerate the distribution of aid.

The Daily Star leads with the Lebanese army's announcement that it had frozen measures taken by the government against the Shi'ite Hezbollah movement, which resulted in fighting that killed 27 people.The government backdown was announced by US-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in a televised address.

Al-Ahrar says Shiite groups brokered a reported ceasefire today with militants fighting US and Iraqi forces in Baghdad's Sadr City as the country's army launched an offensive against al-Qaida's main bastion in Iraq - the northern city of Mosul. Observers said the ceasefire may not necessarily end the seven-week old clashes which have been blamed on breakaway groups. It is not believed that the bulk of the 60,000-strong Mahdi Army has participated in the clashes.

Akhbar Al-Youm reports the Sudanese army has imposed a curfew in the capital Khartoum after Darfur rebels claimed they had taken control of a western suburb - the closest the rebels have come to the centre of the capital. The interior ministry has appealed for calm and urged residents to say indoors and be vigilant. It was not immediately known if there were any casualties in the fighting which was described as heavy.

Pretoria News quotes Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai saying he will contest a run-off presidential election against incumbent president, Robert Mugabe. However, Tsvangirai told a press conference in Pretoria he would only participate in the run-off if international observers and media had full access to the poll. Official results showed the opposition leader had topped the presidential poll on March 29, taking 47.9 per cent of the votes to Mugabe's 43.2 per cent. Tsvangirai, who has been in South Africa for several weeks in self-imposed exile, said he would return to Zimbabwe soon.

Washington Post reports a US diplomat has left Pyongyang carrying about 18,000 secret documents detailing North Korea's nuclear activities - an important first step for verification of the North's disputed nuclear weapons programme. The US plans to scrutinise the technical logs from the Yongbyon reactor to see if the North is telling the truth about ending a bomb programme in exchange for economic and political rewards.

According to a report in National Geographic News, an ancient burial site in Colombia has revealed 1,000 ancient tombs linked to two little-known civilizations. Uncovered by builders clearing land for a housing project, the tombs range in date from around the first century to the 16th century AD, based on analysis of pottery found with the remains.

Christian Science Monitor says President Bush's daughter Jeena has spurned the chance to get married among the pomp and circumstance of the White House in Washington and opted instead for the family home in Texas. Jenna and Henry Hager decided to say 'I do' away from the glare of television cameras. Jenna's wedding reflects her family's penchant for privacy and her preference for the casual over the grandiose.