The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta reports that a former formula 1 champion, a singer and a member of a royal family are among those interested in buying a Maltese passport. It also says that Scotland’s biggest bus company is eyeing a bid for Malta’s bus service.
It-Torca says that Simon Busuttil, when he was MEP, has been against the European Parliament singling out countries in its resolutions. It also quotes the prime minister saying the government will explore all options to ease the health sector’s problems.
In-Mument lists the MEPs who voted against the citizenship motion, saying Joseph Muscat’s friends are all extremist eurosceptics.
MaltaToday says Castille is fuming at the EU’s choice of head of the Malta representation. The nominee is Joanna Darmanin. The newspaper also says many Nationalists want Kate Gonzi as President.
KullHadd leads with the Standard and Poor’s ratings report on Malta. It also says that Malta’s economy could grow by as much as 30% thanks to the revenue from the citizenship scheme.
The Malta Independent on Sunday quotes Simon Busuttil saying the PN would commit to a Labour-leading President if the government makes a similar commitment on the appointment of PN-leaning persons. It also says the prime minister downplayed the threat of EU legal action against Malta on the citizenship scheme.
Illum says a fourth of students at St Paul’s Bay primary are foreigners.
The overseas press
Libya ordered troops to the restive south on Saturday after gunmen stormed an air force base, and parliament put the armed forces on alert following days of skirmishes between rival tribesmen and militias. Libya Herald quotes Prime Minister Ali Zeidan saying a small group of gunmen had entered the air force base outside Sabha but the government was in control of the town and its civilian airport.
The Washington Post reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has praised a decision by Syria's opposition leaders to attend an international conference that aims to bring an end to the war there.
US President Barak Obama has said he wanted to restore the “relationship of friendship and trust” with Chancellor Angela Merkel, following the Datagate scandal when NSA wiretapped the German politician’s conversations. In an exclusive interview with ZDF, Obama assured Merkel that as long as he would be president, the Chancellor has nothing to worry about.
Al Ahram says Egypt's new constitution was approved by 98.1 percent. Senior government officials told a news conference formally announcing the results the turnout and landslide “yes” vote proved that Morsi's overthrow was a “popular revolution”. The turnout in the referendum, which was boycotted by Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies, “reached 38.6 percent.”
Le Journal du Dimanche reports President Francois Hollande's partner Valerie Trierweiler, who was admitted to hospital on January 10 suffering from nervous exhaustion and low blood pressure, left the hospital yesterday afternoon as the French leader faced calls to clear up his personal life after revelations he had an affair. She went directly from hospital to a presidential residence in Versailles where she will “rest for a few days”. Trierweiler, 48, became ill following the revelation that Hollande, 59, had been having an affair with 41-year-old actress Julie Gayet.
As Michelle Obama turned 50 on Friday, the National Enquirer claimed her 21-year marriage with the US president has dissolved in a string of ugly fights that were prompted by the Mandela memorial incident and – far more outrageously – the First Lady’s discovery that Secret Service bodyguards had been covering up infidelity on her husband’s part. It’s an allegation the White House has declined to comment on. Michelle Obama, the Enquirer claims, intends to stand by her husband until his presidency is over, at which time he will move back to Hawaii, where he grew up, and she will stay in Washington with their children. For the moment, they are allegedly sleeping in separate bedrooms after Obama’s attempt to “mend fences” backfired so badly on a recent Christmas getaway to Hawaii that he returned to Washington with their two daughters, leaving his wife behind.
Ansa says Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right Forza Italia, has entered into an agreement with centre-left Democratic Party (PD) leader Matteo Renzi. In a communique, Berlusconi said that Forza Italia welcomes the Democratic Party's goal of promptly starting a constructive debate on institutional reforms. On his part, Renzi said that there was total harmony with Forza Italia as they had the same outlook on the electoral legislation as well as on reforms to the constitution and senate.
Associated Press reports a year after Russia imposed a ban on adoptions by Americans, 33 families have filed appeals with the European Court of Human Rights, contending that the ban violated the rights of the orphans whose adoptions were thwarted. But there's no tight time frame for the case, and even a favoorable ruling might be unenforceable if Russia objects. Other affected US families were reluctantly looking elsewhere to adopt.
EurasiaNet says some 6,000 opposition activists protested in Yerevan yesterday against a controversial new obligatory pension scheme.
The Scotsman report police last night arrested the mother of three-year-old Edinburgh boy Mikaeel Kular and charged her in connection with his death. Assistant Chief Constable Malcolm Graham, in a late-night press conference, said a 33-year-old woman would appear in court in Edinburgh today.