The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Sunday Times says the Gaddafi family nanny is not being given preference for surgery to treat her burns at Mater Dei.
The Malta Independent leads with the economic governance package discussed by EU finance ministers yesterday.
MaltaToday says its confidence/popularity survey shows Joseph Muscat seven points ahead of Lawrence Gonzi, but the prime minister has regained lost ground.
Illum says Malta exported 853 tons of fly ash in two years.
It-Torca reports that the head of the civil service, Godwin Grima, had revealed that Malta was at risk of reprisal attacks by Gaddafi forces. It also says that according to Prof. Peter Mayo, Malta is investing ‘little’ in children.
Kulhadd says the Montebello brothers are to be taken to court to face corruption charges linked to finance minister Tonio Fenech.
Il-Mument continues its series of stories on Libyan funding to the PL and the Labour government.
The overseas press
Reuters reports EU finance ministers broke no new ground in dealing with the euro zone debt crisis in discussions over the weekend, instead absorbing some ideas and rejecting others and taking stock of progress on agreed steps. Ministers and central bank governors from the 17 countries using the euro and the broader 27-nation European Union met on Friday and Saturday in the Polish city of Wroclaw to discuss Europe's slowing economic growth and progress in beefing up eurozone defences against the sovereign debt crisis.
Bloomberg says Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou has cancelled a visit to the United States, saying he needed to remain in the country for a “critical” seven days in its effort to avert a bond default. A statement from Papandreou’s office in Athens said the coming week was “particularly critical for the implementation of the July 21 decisions in the euro area and the initiatives which the country must undertake.” Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos dismissed talk of the country declaring bankruptcy and said Papandreou cancelled his visit to be prepared to take quick decisions in the coming week.
Al Jazeera reports that forces loyal to Gaddafi have launched a fierce counter-attack in the fugitive leader's stronghold of Bani Walid while putting up fierce resistance in his hometown of Sirte. Despite the heavy fighting, Ahmed Bani, the interim government's military spokesman, said on Saturday that it was only a matter of days before the two towns are captured. He also gave army personnel still loyal to Gaddafi a last chance to join the ranks of former rebel fighters.
Al Arabiya quotes Colonel Gaddafi's spokesman saying the deposed Libyan leader was personally directing loyalist fighters and claiming that the latest Nato air strikes in Sirte hit a residential building and killed 354 people. Moussa Ibrahim told reporters 89 were still missing and almost 700 were injured. There was no immediate Nato comment.
Al Thawra reports thousands of anti-government protesters in Yemen have stormed the main university in the capital Sanaa, preventing the first day of classes from beginning and tearing down pictures of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the long-time leader whose ousting they seek. Around the country, other schools were kept closed to students because many of the buildings were being used as outposts by government-linked gunmen and soldiers who defected to the opposition.
Corriere della Sera says Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced renewed calls for his resignation in the wake of phone transcripts that reveal further details of a sex scandal allegedly involving a prostitution ring. The phone transcripts emerged from an investigation into businessman Giampaolo Tarantini, who allegedly extorted €850,000 from Berlusconi in exchange for remaining silent to prosecutors regarding the Italian premier's parties. But Berlusconi was defiant: in an article published in Il Foglio, he insisted that he had done nothing wrong and would serve out his full term until the 2013 elections. He alleged that for the past three years there had been a “mischievous attempt” to transform his private life into a crime.
Seven people were killed and 30 others injured when a crowded tourist bus overturned on a mountainous road in south-western China. Xinhua News Agency said the vehicle was overloaded and officials were still investigating the cause of the accident in Songpan county in Sichuan province.
East African Tribune reports that the Tanzanian authorities have charged four men with negligence over a ferry sinking that killed more than 240 people. The prosecution accused the owner of the MV Spice Islander ferry, the first officer, and an employee of the Zanzibar Ports Authority of violating the Maritime Act. The captain, who is still missing, was charged in his absence. The ferry sank at night in an area of deep seas and strong currents a week ago. More than 800 people survived by clinging on to pieces of wood or crowding on to lifeboats. It was unclear how many passengers were on board.
The New York Post says a couple got a scare when a thief drove off in their car with their two-year-old son still in the back seat. The theft happened in the Bronx area. Police say the child’s mother was loading groceries into the vehicle outside a supermarket when a man jumped into the driver’s seat and sped off. The thief apparently realised what happened right away, stopped the car, took the boy out of his car seat and left him in the street. The boy’s father ran up the street to retrieve him as the vehicle disappeared. Police were still looking for the vehicle today.