The following are the top stories in the local and international press today:
The Sunday Times leads with a categorical denial by the Home Affairs Ministry to reports that Malta is probing a key Lockerbie witness. Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando tells the paper in an interview, he regretted assisting the over inflation of the Mistra case.
The Independent on Sunday says that MCESD members are up in arms accusing this administration of not having learned anything from last year. This was in reaction to recent news that the government will be increasing water and electricity tariffs to their highest levels of October last year. In another story it says that the Luqa mayor was accompanying nurses on a vaccination exercise in homes.
Malta Today quotes Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando saying that a high ranking minister told him that the Mepa officials were charged to satisfy the public outcry on Mistra.
Il-Mument says that the Zebbug mayor is being investigated by the police for allegedly using council workers to work at his home. In another story it says there has been an increase in the number of people working in the health profession. It claims that the PL is sceptical to the current stipends system.
It-Torca says that EU directives binding banks to giving much lower loans would be a blow on the property market. It says that a bill on setting up a paedophile register was now at the Attorney General’s. In another story it says that the owner of the Arctic Sea was bankrupt and asks who would be making good for the expenses incurred.
Illum says the Maltese believe minister Tonio Fenech had been wrong to accompany a businessman on a private jet to watch a football match. It says that John Dalli was keeping quiet on the appointment of European Commissioner and carries an interview with President George Abela.
Kullhadd leads with a story saying that the Maritime Authority has taken no action as yet to investigate claims of abuse at Gozo Channel. In another story, the newspaper reports that tension reigned during a PN parliamentary group meeting.
The Press in Britain…
The Times reveals Prime Minister Gordon Brown is backing Foreign Secretary David Miliband for the position of EU Foreign Affairs chief, so that one of his protégés can be Labour's next leader.
The Sunday Express reports that EU bureaucrats could end consumers' rights to refunds on faulty goods.
The Mail on Sunday claims Tony Blair has been in talks with Tesco about helping them open supermarkets in the Middle East – allegedly in return for up to £1 million.
The Observer claims that billionaire Conservative party donor Lord Ashcroft, who was embroiled in controversy after it emerged that he accompanied the shadow foreign secretary to key meetings, has been tipped for a top foreign policy job in a future Tory government.
The Sunday Telegraph says three new banks are to appear on Britain's high streets as part of a major break-up of the sector to be announced by the Government this week.
The Independent on Sunday reports that crimes against wildlife, including badger baiting and hare coursing, have risen to new heights.
The assault victim of footballer Marlon King reveals her identity to the News of the World, talks about her ordeal, saying he should never be allowed to play again.
The Sunday Mirror has an interview with a second woman who claims to have been attacked by jailed footballer Marlon King.
The People reports a stalker has threatened to kill Jordan's boyfriend and her horses.
Scotland on Sunday claims gang members in Glasgow are being offered £6 an hour if they agree to give up violence and join a pilot programme backed by the police.
The Sunday Herald reveals a secret shortlist of a dozen sites where the MoD is thinking of dumping radioactive waste from defunct nuclear subs.
The Sunday Mail says a 78-year-old widow is the second-biggest shareholder at Rangers.
The remaining four members of Boyzone have told Sky News they will release a new album featuring Stephen Gately as a tribute to the singer, who died suddenly last month, aged 33.
And elsewhere…
Haarez quotes US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying Israel was making "unprecedented" concessions on West Bank settlement construction and putting significant limits on settlement activity.
Corriere della Sera says the corruption trial against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will take place on November 27, after a high court stripped him of his immunity.
Kathemerini says Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has ruled out holding a general election before its scheduled date in 2011.
Afghan Times quotes the campaign manager of President Hamid Karzai's challenger saying former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah plans to call for a boycott of next weekend's run-off election, hoping to force a delay until spring to allow time to organise a fair vote.
Asia Observer reports seven people died and at least five were missing after a typhoon battered Manila, sending residents clambering on to rooftops to escape rising waters.
Al Jamahariya reports that a delegation of politicians from Northern Ireland are expected to have talks today in Tripoli with Libyan officials about compensation for victims of IRA violence.
Il Giorno reports one of Italy's most wanted mafia fugitives has been arrested after police carried out a dawn raid on a chicken farm.
Arizona Post says police in the Phoenix have arrested an Iraqi man who allegedly ran over his daughter for being too "westernised".
Cleveland News Daily reports a convicted rapist has been arrested after police found as many as six badly decomposed bodies in his house.
Asia Times announces the death of former South Korean spy chief Lee Hu-rak, who brokered the signing of an historic 1972 peace document with North Korea following a secret trip to Pyongyang.
It could read like a re-run of Tom Hanks’ The Terminal but this time, substitute the eastern immigrant who finds himself stranded in JFK for nine months, with a German, who O Globo claims has been dumped by a Brazilian woman he met on the internet and has been living in an airport for 13 days.