The following are the top stories in the local and international press today:
The Sunday Times says that the chairman of the new committee which had to revise the workings of the VAT Department has resigned. Another story uncovers the myth of low cost fares.
The Malta Independent on Sunday describes how Malta helped in the Lockerbie jury. Other reports are on the President’s visit to Libya and on Malta’s banking system.
Malta Today says Nationalist MP Franco Debono denies reports he was considering crossing to Labour.
Illum says that the Maltese were against and the Gozitans for petards.
It-Torca says that the free medicines system will soon be privatised. Another story reports on turmoil in Heritage Malta.
Il-Mument says that in four years, the GWU has lost some 500 members who were led by militants. It interviews Brigadier Carmelo Vassallo who says the army’s biggest satisfaction was when it saved people from drowning.
Kullhadd says that millionaire investment has been hindered. In another story it quotes the Housing Authority saying that investment at San Lawrenz would have been waste of money.
The Press in Britain…
The Sunday Times quotes sources in Russia and Israel claiming the Maltese-registered cargo ship Arctic Sea, that disappeared en route from Finland to Algeria last July, was carrying arms to Iran and not a cargo of timber worth £1.3m. The sources claimed the ship had been loaded with S-300 missiles, Russia’s most advanced anti-aircraft weapon, while undergoing repairs in the Russian port of Kaliningrad. The arms were sold by former military officers linked to the underworld.
The Independent on Sunday reveals that as prime minister, Tony Blair orchestrated a secret tryst involving MI6, CIA and Libyan spies that led to a deal with Colonel Gaddafi involving the Lockerbie bomber’s release.
The Sunday Telegraph alleges the British, Scottish and Libyan governments connived to free bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi from his life sentence on compassionate grounds.
The Sunday Express says Royal Marines destroyed 500 of the home-made devices and killed 21 insurgents in an attack on a bomb factory, where Taliban terrorists manufactured roadside bombs to be used against UK troops in Afghanistan.
According to The Mail on Sunday, a Labour plot to smear the new head of the Army, because of his daughter’s ‘crime’ of working for Conservative leader David Cameron, has been exposed.
Children’s charity Barnardo’s chief executive has told The Observer many more children need to be taken into care at birth to stop them being damaged beyond repair by inadequate parents.
Daily Star Sunday claims glamour model Katie Price, aka Jordan, faces losing her kids and £5m in her divorce battle with pop singer Peter Andre.
And elsewhere…
The Irish Examiner quotes Sinn Féin’s president Gerry Adams claiming Ireland’s interests would best be served by voting “No” to the Lisbon Treaty.
MSNBC reports that top finance officials from rich and developing countries have agreed to curb hefty bankers' bonuses, but the proposed crackdown on excessive payouts falls short of European demands after the US and Britain shied away from imposing a cap.
Vienna’s Kurier says the diplomatic row between Iran and the UN Security Council intensified yesterday when Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the IAEA that the agency had not provided genuine documents to back up fresh accusations about Iran's nuclear programme, and that the matter was "closed".
Deutsche-Welle reports that four German soldiers have been injured in a suicide bomb blast in northern Afghanistan, a day after a NATO air strike killed dozens of Taliban insurgents, including as civilians.
La Prensa says gunmen have killed a state congressional candidate and his wife and two sons in their home in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco, southern Mexico.
Baltic Times reports 15 people drowned when an overloaded sightseeing boat carrying dozens of Bulgarian tourists sank in a lake on Macedonia's western border.
The New York Times says a former US soldier received five consecutive life sentences for shooting dead a teenager's mother, father and sister, then became the third soldier to rape her before shooting her in the face. Her body was then set on fire.
Illinois Globe reveals that a six-year-old boy allegedly abducted in a custody dispute two years ago has been found alive, hidden behind a wall at his grandmother’s home in Franklin County, Illinois.
The Washington Times says that eight security guards at the US Embassy in Afghanistan have been sacked and two resigned following claims of lewd behaviour and sexual misconduct at their living quarters.
Bild reports that three watercolours, believed to have been painted by a young Adolf Hitler, have sold at auction in Nuremberg for a total of €42,000 to three different phone bidders.