The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Sunday Times says Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has confirmed that 600 jobs have to go at Air Malta. It also quotes the prime minister saying that Malta will support every effort for stability and freedom in Libya.
The Malta Independent on Sunday reports that the Air Malta grassroots are against plans to downsize the airline. It also says that Malta and other EU states have called for a ceasefire in Libya.
MaltaToday says that according to a survey, Joseph Muscat leads Gonzi by 10% in an opinion poll, despite the Libyan crisis. It also focuses on the tariffs paid by Air Malta to MIA.
Il-Mument reports that the Arab League has backed calls for a no fly zone. It also says that Palumbo is restoring the credibility of the Maltese shipyard.
Illum says that Franco Mercieca, an eye specialist, has been approached to be a Labour election candidate.
It-Torca says that Britain is refusing to support Malta on immigration, despite the assistance given for the evacuation of workers from Libya. It also reports that there is an uncertain future for the automatic cost of living adjustment mechanism.
Kullhadd says Air Malta has been shred to bits by a clique. It also says that the government will try to deflect the people away from a vote on the divorce referendum which it will lose on Wednesday.
The overseas press
Japan Times reports serious problems at a second nuclear reactor at a power station in northern Japan that experienced a big explosion on Saturday. The plant’s operator said pressure was rising inside the second reactor after it lost its emergency cooling system – a problem similar to that that led to the first explosion a day after the area was hit by a powerful earthquake and tsunami. More than 200,000 people have been evacuated from the area near the Fukushima power plant while the authorities established a 20-km exclusion zone around the power station where the explosion occurred. Nine people near the nuclear complex had been exposed to unhealthy levels of radiation.
Shimbun says many small communities on the northeastern coast of Japan remain cut off. Many more than a thousand people are thought to have died. In the port of Minamisanriku, the authorities said some 7,500 people were evacuated to 25 shelters after Friday's quake but they have been unable to contact the town's other 10,000 inhabitants.
Asharq Al-Awsat says the world moved a step closer to a decision on imposing a no-fly zone over Libya as pro-Gaddafi forces were swiftly advancing on the poorly-equipped and loosely-organized rebels who had seized much of the country. Gaddafi's forces pushed the front line miles deeper into rebel territory and violence erupted at the front door of the opposition stronghold in eastern Libya, where an Al-Jazeera cameraman slain in an ambush became the first journalist killed in the nearly month-long conflict.
Al Ahram reports that the Arab League has asked the UN Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians from air attacks. Foreign ministers from the 22-member Arab bloc, meeting in Cairo, also left the Libyan leader increasingly isolated, declaring his government had "lost its sovereignty". They also said they would establish contacts with the rebel's interim government, the National Libyan Council, and call on nations to provide it with "urgent help".
The Washington Times says the United States has said it supports a unanimous call by the Arab League for a no-fly zone over Libya. The White House said the Arab League agreement strengthened the international pressure on Gaddafi.
Al-Ayyam reports that Yemeni security forces fired live bullets and tear gas on two pro-democracy demonstrations, killing six people – including a 15-year-old student – as the government clamps down on a growing protest movement. The violence began with a pre-dawn raid on a central square in the capital, Sanaa, where thousands of pro-democracy protesters had been camped out for the past month to demand the ousting of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
Espresso says more than 200,000 of Portugal's disgruntled Facebook generation marched in a dozen cities to vent their frustration at unemployment. Some 30,000 people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, crammed into Lisbon's main downtown avenue, called onto the streets by a social media campaign that harnessed a broad sense of disaffection. Local media reported thousands more attended simultaneous protests at 10 other cities nationwide. The jobless rate stands in Portugal is at a record 11.2 per cent with half the unemployed being under 35.
Cubavision International announces that an American contractor has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment for crimes against the state in Cuba. Alan Gross was accused of providing satellite communications equipment under a programme funded by the US government. The court said prosecutors had proved that Gross, 61, was working on a "subversive" programme paid for by the United States that aimed to bring down Cuba's revolutionary system. Prosecutors had sought a 20-year jail term. The verdict brought a swift and strongly-worded condemnation from Washington.
The New York Times reports that witnesses have told investigators that the driver of a tour bus that crashed on the outskirts of New York City and killed 14 people was driving at a "high rate of speed". State Police were interviewing the driver and were conducting the investigation as if it were a criminal matter. No one has been charged.
USA Today says President Obama wants to improve the status of women in the United States. In his weekly radio and online address on Saturday, the father of two girls said women were more likely than men to graduate from college today, yet earned less on average, faced a greater chance of living in poverty and were outnumbered in critical subjects such as math and science.
Avvenire reports the Vatican will unveil the latest instalment in its social media transformation next week – a Facebook page dedicated to the upcoming beatification of Pope John Paul II. The site, which will link to video highlights of John Paul's 27-year papacy, is designed to promote the May 1 beatification.