The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta said Mepa has a backlog of 4,000 complaints to probe. It also reports that Former Commissioner John Dalli will not be a consultant to the new health minister.
The Malta Independent says Godfrey Farrugia's resignation letter has disappeared. It also reports that the government expects to recover millions of euro from smart meters amnesty
MaltaToday reports how a Mepa whistleblower got justice after 15 years.
Il-Mument says there is pressure for disciplinary action to be taken against two erring police officers.
It-Torca said a law on measures related to climate change is being prepared. It also says some NGOs may work together on plans for a referendum against the civil unions law.
KullHadd says the Opposition will abstain in the vote in parliament on the Civil Unions Bill.
Illum says there is disappointment in the fifth district that Karmenu Vella will leave parliament to become European Commissioner.
The overseas press
ABC News reports Australia is considering sending more planes to the area of the southern Indian Ocean where a Chinese ship searching for the missing Malaysian aircraft is said to have detected a pulse signal – suggesting it might be coming from the plane’s black box flight recorder. They said the signal had a frequency of 37.5kHz, the same as those emitted by the flight recorders. However, Australia’s Defence Minister has urged caution over
Meanwhile, South China Morning Post says Southeast Asia’s top budget airline AirAsia has withdrawn its latest in-flight magazine and apologised for an offending article boasting that its well-trained pilots would never lose a plane. AirAsia executive chairman Kamarudin Meranun expressed “deep regret and remorse”, saying the magazine was printed before Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 carrying 239 people disappeared on March 8.
Afghan Post quotes outgoing Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai saying voters in the presidential election “had made the country proud” by turning out in their millions in defiance of threats of violence by the Taliban. He was reacting to the news that the turnout was seven million out of 12 million eligible voters, or about 58 percent. Afghan and Western leaders have praised the turnout and described the vote as a success.
Fox News says President Obama has welcomed the vote and said it was critical to ensure continued international support. He also paid tribute to the Americans who have lost their lives or otherwise made sacrifices in and for Afghanistan. Since the United States toppled the Taliban regime in 2001, more than 2,300 American troops have been killed.
Kyiv Post quotes Ukraine's new prime minister saying his government rejected Russia's latest gas price of $500 per 1,000 cubic metres and accused his neighbour of “economic aggression”. Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a government meeting that “political pressure was unacceptable and accused Russia of “implementing plans to seize Ukraine through economic aggression.”
Journal du Dimanche reports activists of a few radical socio-political groups of the conservative orientation held meetings of protest in French cities on Saturday. The meetings were aimed against the current government’s policy. The largest actions took place in Lille and Toulouse. Random clashes with police also occurred.
Portland Press Herald says a malfunctioning automated bank machine has dispensed $37,000 in cash to a man who requested just $140. Police responded to the Toronto-Dominion Bank branch after getting a call from a woman who said a man was spending an unusual amount of time at the ATM she was waiting to use. Officers found the man stuffing cash into a shopping bag. The money was returned to the bank. Bank officials say they do not want to press charges, describing the problem as a “code error”. No customer accounts were affected.
Reuters reports one woman seeking revenge on a romantic rival smashed the windows of her South Philadelphia home and dumped a box of live white rats inside. In a long-running dispute over a man, the jealous lover and about eight other women friends used a baseball bat to break the glass and toss the rodents inside. The gang also punched the 30-year-old victim, inflicting cuts and bruises, and stole her purse containing identification and about $200. The victim was able to identify at least one of the attackers, who fled in a Chevy Lumina.
According to Rossiya TV, Kremlin presidential chief of staff Sergei Ivanov wrote a letter to his namesake who had been denied the right to buy sneakers in an American online shop because of the US sanctions against Russian officials. A newspaper employee in St Petersburg by the name of Sergei Ivanov had ordered a pair of sneakers in an American online shop, but his order was cancelled. The shop provided him with a notice saying that his last name, name and surname had been included in the list of persons who could not be sent any mail in the United States. He was erroneously taken for his namesake Sergei Ivanov from the Kremlin administration. To solve the problem, the order was made again in a new name and eventually delivered to Russia.