The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Sunday Times says that Franco Debono will vote with the government on the Budget measures Bill on Wednesday. MaltaToday also says Debono will vote with the government after all.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says the government is opening the door to an influx of renewable energy. It also recalls the election of May 9, 1987.
Il-Mument focuses on successful job creation by Malta compared to other EU countries.
KullHadd says Tonio Fenech is paddling back from overly optimistic economic growth forecasts
It-Torca asks if HSBC are planning to leave Malta. It bases its question on comments by a senior HSBC International official who wondered what the bank was doing in Malta.
Illum says the prime minister has been advised to hold a general election in October.
The overseas press
Euronews says polling booths have opened in France and Greece in elections that could have an impact on Europe’s efforts to fight its debt crisis. In the French presidential run-off, the incumbent President Nicolas Sarkozy faces the Socialist François Hollande who wants to renegotiate the pact to stabilise debts by governments, members of the Eurozone. In Greece, the elections are being seen as a referendum on the stringent cost cutting put in place in return for an international bailout. Both elections are forecast to oust sitting governments in favour of candidates who have pushed for a less stringent response to the eurozone's debt crisis. Voters across the EU are restive as a series of austerity measures intended to stabilise strained public finances have also slashed growth and jobs
Germany has said it was prepared to promote growth in the Eurozone. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung he was confident the two countries would initiate “good solutions for Europe and our common currency”. He added that after the French election “we will quickly get to work on adding a growth pact to the budget treaty to promote competitiveness”.
Meanwhile, AFP quotes EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn saying the Stability and Growth Pact “was not stupid” as it provided a balance between necessary fiscal consolidation and growth. Rehn said in a speech in Brussels that while the pact did impose sanctions on nations that did not meet deficit and debt rules, it was not a “one-size-fits-all” consolidation straightjacket.
Reuters reports Serbia's right-wing opposition bids for power today in knife-edge elections marked by an unprecedented pro-European consensus more than a decade since the fall of nationalist strongman Slobodan Milosevic. Liberals who took power in 2000 face their strongest challenge yet from the opposition led by Tomislav Nikolic and his populist Serbian Progressive Party, both narrow favourites to win elections for president and parliament.
The Washington Post reports President Obama has launched his campaign for re-election in November with noisy rallies in Ohio and Virginia. He said the US had battled its way back from recession under his leadership and he warned that his likely Republican challenger Mick Romney would go back to the policies that created the economic mess in the first place such as tax cuts for the rich and slashing spending cuts on social programmes “brewed by conservatives in Congress”. An average of national opinion polls showed Obama with a narrow three-point lead over Romney – 47 to 44 percent.
Voice of America quotes Romney's spokesperson Andrea Saul dismissing what she called Obama's “lofty campaign speeches”. According to Saul, “the fact remains that American families are struggling on his watch: to pay their bills, find a job and keep their homes”. US voters in November “will hold him accountable for his broken promises and ineffective leadership,” Saul said.
Asia Observer says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has suffered a fresh setback in run-off parliamentary polls when his supporters won only 13 of the 65 seats up for election in Friday's vote, further reducing his power base in the 290-seat parliament. Conservative supporters of the Supreme Leader had already won an outright majority in March's first round. Iran's parliament lacks executive power but plays a part in choosing next year's presidential contenders.
The Moscow Times reports that Vladimir Putin's opponents plan a “million-man march” in Moscow later today to revive their flagging protest movement and renew pressure on Russia's supreme leader on the eve of his return to the presidency. Many Russians are angry that Putin is extending his already 12-year domination of Russia and fear he will stifle political and economic reform. Putin has dismissed allegations that widespread fraud helped him win the presidential election and secured victory for his United Russia party in a parliamentary poll in December.
Bloomberg says the man accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks on the US has refused to answer questions put by a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay. Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed and four other defendants were charged with "conspiracy, attacking civilians, murder and violation of the law of war, destruction, hijacking, terrorism" for their links to the attacks that killed 2,976 people.
Lessor reports Mali Islamists have desecrated the holy site in the northern city of Timbaktu. Armed men from the Islamist group Ansar Dine attacked an burned the tomb of a revered 16th century Muslim scholar Sidi Mahmoud Ben Amar. The tomb is a UNESCO world heritage site.
Ansa announces that the Italian company which owns the stricken cruise liner Costa Concordia has unveiled new safety measures nearly four months after the ship capsized on the Italian coast, killing 30 people. They include the introduction of real-time tracking of the ship’s route and new procedures ensuring that officers, as well as the captain, take part in crucial navigation decisions.
A town in north-eastern Spain has declared the king of Spain an unwelcome person, dealing another blow to the 74-year-old monarch who has faced scalding criticism for going on an elephant hunting trip during a deep financial crisis. El Punt says the town council of Berga – population 17,160 – approved a motion declaring King Juan Carlos “persona non grata”. The censure was proposed by the pro-independence Popular Unity Candidature party and published, following its approval, on the town's website today. Berga is 67 miles north of Catalonia’s regional capital, Barcelona.