The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says a patient was resuscitated in a hospital corridor as the acute shortage of beds in Mater Dei Hospital continues. It also reports that the allegations made by columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia on Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera are not currently being investigated by the Commission for the Administration of Justice. President George Abela, who chairs the commission, said yesterday that the body had “taken note of what is being said”.
The Malta Independent in its lead story quotes the editor of Ir-Realta saying that Malta risks becoming a theocracy led by fascists because of censorship. It also says a minister and a parliamentary secretary are in disagreement on hospital overstays.
In-Nazzjon and l-orizzont say four consortia have submitted bids to operate the bus service.
l-orizzont also says that 65 per cent of workers are backing next week’s protest against the tariffs.
In-Nazzjon says the PN has saluted George Bonello du Puis, architect of Malta’s modern economy. He passed away yesterday.
The overseas press
Tribune de Genève reports the Council of Europe has announced plans to streamline procedures at the European Court of Human Rights to help deal with a backlog of 120,000 cases. Measures agreed by ministers from the Council's 47 member states meeting in Switzerland provide for one judge to decide on a case's admissibility, and for cases similar to those previously brought to be heard by a panel of three judges. Russia, the origin of 27,000 pending cases, initially resisted the reforms.
Ethnos quotes Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou stressing his country needed the support of European governments if it was to cut its debt levels effectively. But he reiterated that Greece was not looking for a financial bail-out from other European countries – simply the opportunity "to borrow on the same terms as other countries in the eurozone".
Iran Daily reports Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Khamenei has denied his country was trying to build nuclear weapons, a day after a UN agency report said it was actively working on a warhead. Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, said Islam forbids weapons of mass destruction and Iran maintained its nuclear work is only for peaceful purposes like energy generation.
Le Soir Echos says 36 people died and 71 others were injured after a minaret collapsed during Friday prayers at a crowded mosque in the old town of the historic Moroccan city of Meknes, a UNESCO heritage city and one of Morocco's four imperial cities, some 60 miles east of the capital Rabat. Officials blamed the accident on heavy rain which had weakened the minaret.
Dawn reports a suspected CIA missile attack has killed Mohammed Haqqani, the brother of one of the Afghan Taliban's most feared commanders Siraj Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani group faction. The Haqqani network is an autonomous faction of the Afghan Taliban, which maintains close ties to al-Qaida.
The Sydney Morning Herald says Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has set a November deadline for Japan to stop its research whaling programme that kills hundreds of the creatures every year in Antarctic waters, or face legal action. Rudd said he would prefer to use diplomatic means to persuade Japan to end its hunt.
The Wall Street Journal reports the International Monetary Fund has decided to restore Zimbabwe's voting rights after a seven-year suspension over failure to pay €955 million it owes the organisation and other creditors. The decision by the IMF constitutes a first step toward endorsement of the economic policies of the coalition government formed a little more than a year ago by President Robert Mugabe and long-time rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Echos says a 51-yar-old American pilot, Erwin Vermont Washington, who had turned up at Heathrow Airport to fly a transatlantic jet while over the alcohol limit, was given a 10-month suspended jail sentence at London's Isleworth Crown Court. Sentencing him, the judge said his behaviour was "simply not acceptable". There were 124 passengers and 11 crew members on board the flight to Chicago.
The Independent leads with Tiger Woods' apology - saying he's been publicly humbled. The 34-yar-old golfer's speech also makes the front of The Daily Mirror, which says he apologised to his sponsors as well as his wife.
The Guardian reports Labour's election slogan will be "a future fair for all". The Times quotes the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the government's human rights watchdog, saying it wanted a public inquiry into claims British intelligence was complicit in the torture of more than 20 detainees in the War on Terror.