The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Maltese newspapers all feature the discovery of a secret tunnel leading to the Swieqi HSBC Bank branch.
In other stories, The Sunday Times of Malta says the furore over a Gozo ferry which was ordered back to Cirkewwa harbour has intensified. It emerged that the Minister for Gozo, who was one of the stranded passengers, called a canvasser who is employed by the company, and not the duty manager, as the company claimed.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says the Speaker has suggested an ethics committee to scrutinise MPs' behaviour.
MaltaToday quotes the finance minister saying the register of assets is 'lousy'.
It-Torca reports on efforts to cut down on bureaucracy in the Health Department.
Il-Mument says the Energy Minister's wife is getting €13,000 per month.
Illum says a nurse who was worker of the year has been dismissed.
KullHadd carries a picture of former minister George Pullicino with the heading - He spent €11,500 on flyers.
The overseas press
Al Jazeera quotes Italian rescuers saying they plan to raise the boat that carried some 500 African asylum-seekers to Lampedusa, of whom 300 are feared dead after it caught fire and sank. Divers spoke of “dozens, maybe hundreds” of bodies trapped in the wreck. More bodies may have been lost forever due to strong currents around the island.
The Mail on Sunday says British Prime Minister David Cameron has been panicked by a call from dissident rebel MP Adam Afriyie for an EU referendum before the next election. Afriyie, who plans to table an amendment to the Bill which proposes a referendum in 2017, claims voters do not trust the Prime Minister to deliver on his pledge and that delaying until then will build support for the UK Independence Party.
The Irish Independent reports Irish voters have narrowly rejected a proposal to abolish the 60-member Senate that would have saved the bailed-out eurozone nation €20 million. Final results from Friday's referendum revealed 51.7 per cent voted in favour of keeping the Senate, while 48.3 per cent backed Prime Minister Enda Kenny's controversial proposal. The turnout was only 39.2 per cent.
Aswat al-Iraq reports violence, including an attack on Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad, killed at least 73 people across Iraq on Saturday, among them two journalists gunned down in the north. The latest violence takes this year’s death toll to more than 4,800 since the beginning of the year.
Libya Herald says the Libyan government has declared three days national mourning after an ambush on the Tarhuna-Bani Walid checkpoint early left 16 soldiers dead. The town was one of the last strongholds for supporters Muammar Gaddafi in the country’s 2011 civil war, and was besieged again by pro-government militias last year.
CBS News confirms a Libyan al-Qaeda leader wanted for his role in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in East Africa was captured by US forces Saturday. Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, 49, known by his alias Anas al-Libi, is the FBI's most-wanted list with a $5 million bounty on his head.
Télévision Tunisienne reports Tunisia's political rivals have agreed on a timetable for the unpopular Islamist-led ruling coalition to quit and be replaced by a government of independents, aiming to end a festering political crisis. The Islamist Ennahda party and opposition groups in the country that gave birth to the Arab Spring signed a roadmap aimed at creating a new government within three weeks.
The New York Times says a US Navy Seal team attacked one of the leaders of the militant group Al Shabaab in his home a Somali coastal town looking for an al-Qaida suspect in connection with the Nairobi shopping mall attack. However, the attack failed. Meanwhile, the Kenyan army has identified at least some of the armed militia that attacked Nairobi's Westgate shopping centre on Sept. 21, killing dozens of civilians. The men identified were filmed by surveillance cameras.
Der Spiegel quotes Syria’s President Bashar Assad admitting he had made mistakes and no side in his country’s civil war was entirely free of blame. Assad said he did not believe in a negotiated peace with armed opposition groups. The Syrian leader reiterated his insistence that government forces were not responsible for the chemical weapons attack near the capital, Damascus, on August 21.
Beijing will build four power plants to replace coal with natural gas. According to the New China news agency, the construction of power plants is part of the city's efforts to optimize energy consumption and reduce emissions. With an investment of nearly €6 billion, the four new power plants and other 40 projects will reduce emissions of sulphur dioxide by 10,000 tonnes, generating 7.2 million kilowatt electricity with natural gas.
ABC News reports that from Hong Kong to London and Toronto, supporters of Captain Pete Wilcox and his crew of imprisoned Greenpeace activists sent a message to Russia: “Free the Arctic 30.” Thirty people from 18 nations are facing piracy charges after last month’s oil drilling protest targeting a rig owned by Russia’s state-controlled company Gazprom. AFP says rock stars and celebrities joined a worldwide vigil on Saturday in support of the Greenpeace activists whose jailing by Russia has sparked a new row between Moscow and the West.
The Oklahoman reports a man was arrested on burglary charges after police matched his DNA to used toilet paper found at the scene of the crime. Police said Charles Marqull Williams, 20, broke into the home, took several items, and used the bathroom before taking off. Unflushed faeces and a used piece of toilet paper on the floor were found at the scene. Police matched DNA found in the messy bathroom to Williams.