The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times says a teen party organiser had been convicted for having sex with a minor. It also says that the driver of last Friday’s hit and run incidents in Valletta and Marsa claimed to have suffered a blackout.
The Malta Independent reports how a Libyan doctor recalled the worst day in the Libyan war. It also reports on the opposition of a Slovak coalition party to ratification of the EU’s EFSF bailout fund.
Malta Today says the controversial Riviera hotel has been sold to Frosch. It also says that a journalist was sacked for a facebook comment.
It-Torca reports on the search of wanted Libyans in Malta. It also says that the planning of telephone and internet services is in the hands of foreigners.
Il-Mument leads with comments that the reforms in the education sector are being well received. It also reports on PL maneuvers in nominations to local councils and Gadafi attempts to use Malta as a base for terrorism in the past.
Illum says Beppe Fenech Adami has criticized PN internal policies.
KullHadd features comments by Joseph Muscat that the PL will approach the general elections with a team of new people and others with experience.
The overseas press
Al Jazeera reports that Libyan fighters, in their their push to capture Sirte, managed to take control of a central neighbourhood as well as a highway on Saturday, but continue to face stiff resistance from Gaddafi loyalists. Fighters overlooking the Ouagadougou conference centre, which is believed to house the command centre of Gaddafi's forces, said its concrete bunkers were proving tougher than they originally thought. Loyalists were not only using small arms fire and snipers to slow the advance, they were also firing mortars to prevent anti-Gaddafi forces from taking control of this strategic complex. Since Friday, 32 anti-Gaddafi fighters have been killed while hundreds more were reported wounded.
Deutsche Welle reports that representatives of the international "troika" responsible for administering Greece's bailout package have expressed growing concern that the attempts to stabilise the Greek economy and prevent a spread of the eurozone debt crises could fail. The troika – which includes the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund – has warned Athens that the next €8 billion-tranche depended upon major reforms to the Greek economy. The IMF want the Greek government to take stricter structural reforms than the ones seen so far. Although Greece has raised taxes, made deep cuts in spending and shed thousands of public sector workers, the troika has criticised the Athens government in for implementing the measures ineffectively.
The troika's growing skepticism about Greece's willingness to reform came as the head of the World Bank singled out Germany for not displaying European leadership during the debt crisis. World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said in an interview with the Germany economic magazine Wirtschaftswoche that there was in Germany “a total lack of vision” of how things could develop and the longer that continued, the more money it would cost and the fewer options would remain. Zoellick called on the continent's leaders to provide Europe with political direction as they continue to engage in dialogue.
Berliner Zeitung says a series of important meetings are being held around Europe this weekend to discuss plans to deal with the eurozone debt crisis. President Sarkozy will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin later today as eurozone leaders try to make a plan to recapitalise banks overexposed to risky sovereign debt. Despite insistence from the French government, the two countries differ on their approach to this. French banks in particular are seen as overexposed to Greek, Italian and Spanish debts, and leaders fear a default in a weaker Mediterranean economy could trigger a financial crisis across the continent.
Le Monde reports the head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, has held talks in Paris with President Nicolas Sarkozy ahead of the important Berlin discussions. Christine Lagarde made no comment as she went into the Elysée Palace or as she left an hour later. On Friday, the European Commission gave member states 10 days to come up with a plan for the banks. The IMF believes between €100 billion and €200 billion would be required.
Meanwhile, Bratislavske Noviny says that talks between the coalition partners are being held in Slovakia today in a bid to find a consensus ahead of a vote on Tuesday which would decide whether Parliament agrees to the euro bailout package. The leader of the junior party in Slovakia's governing coalition has threatened to bloc changes to the EFSF that would give the fund new powers and increase its lending capacity. Changes to the fund have to be approved by all 17 eurozone member-states.
The Irish Examiner quotes Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore telling the closing session of the Global Irish Economic Forum – a major forum in Dublin to help Ireland’s economic recovery – that Ireland would be the first of the three bailed-out eurozone countries to pay back its debt. He assured hundreds of influential figures from the Irish diaspora that the scale of the challenge facing Ireland was matched by the scale of government’s effort and ambition. He said progress was being made, Ireland was meeting its targets and the creation of jobs continued to be a top priority.
All major London newspapers lead with the fight-back staged by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to save his Cabinet job as The Independent on Sunday reports that Prime Minister David Cameron has become directly involved in questions about the working relationship between Fox and wants his best man. Cameron aid he was awaiting the initial findings of a report due on Monday on whether their relationship involved a security brfeach or a conflict of interest. The Observer claims Downing Street has sought to take control of the Whitehall inquiry while The Mail on Sunday says Fox has been accused of lying over his best friend's “job”.
El Heraldo de Aragon reports that a Spanish bullfighter was recovering from a five-hour operation to repair his face after a terrifying goring in the north-eastern city of Zaragoza. A bull’s left horn ripped into Juan Jose Padilla’s lower jaw to emerge beside his protruding eyeball as spectators screamed in horror. He suffered eye, bone, muscle and skin damage when the bull pinned him to the ground and gored him. TV footage also showed Mr Padilla getting up from the ring, as the bull was distracted by bullring assistants. With his face gushing blood, Padilla cried he could see nothing.