The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
The Sunday Times of Malta says that all but one of the Labour Party MEPs failed to produce their allowances and expenditure during their term in office despite the party’s commitment to transparency before the June 2009 election, whereas all former and incumbent Nationalist Party MEPs provided annual audited accounts. In another story it says more than 360 mobile phones have been stolen from St Julian’s so far this year, more than three a day.
Il-Mument says that patients with contactable diseases are being kept next to each other at Mater Dei.
The Malta Independent on Sunday says schools in Malta are updated their policies on teacher interaction with students on the social media. In another story it says Malta has the EU’s second highest prison expenditure on drug offences.
Illum says that tourism in Gozo has increased by eight per cent.
MaltaToday says Transport Malta's decision to award a service concession for a floating dock in the Grand Harbour without issuing a call for tenders or expression of interest has irked companies that would have bid in a public call.
It-Torca says the General Workers Unions is making two concrete proposals aimed at overcoming the problem of precarious employment.
Kullhadd quotes Prime Minister Joseph Muscat speaking during an MEP election campaign activity about the importance his government is giving to Gozo.
International news
The world’s media focuses on the Vatican where Roman Catholics have held all-night vigils in churches across Rome ahead of the unique double canonisation of two former popes – John XXIII and John Paul II. Avvenire reports hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have arrived in the city, many from Poland, the native country of John Paul who is being declared a saint just nine years after his death.
Chosun Ilbo says South Korea's Prime Minister Chung Hong-won has announced his resignation over his government’s handling of the operation to rescue and recover those missing following the sinking of the Sewol ferry that has left more than 300 missing or dead.
Fox News reports US Secretary of State John Kerry has urged Moscow to do all to can to bring about the release of OSCE observers abducted in eastern Ukraine. In a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart, Kerry also expressed concern over “provocative Russia troop movements” close to the border.
Al Ayyam quotes Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas saying the new unity government he is set to head with the backing of Hamas would reject violence and recognise Israel, though not as a Jewish state.
Venezuela’s El Universal says thousands of people have marched through the streets of Caracas denouncing a recent Supreme Court ruling restricting protests.
Al Ahram reports 11 supporters of former President Mohammed Morsi have been handed down prison terms ranging from five to 88 years for rioting.
Malaysia Chronicle says President Barack Obama met the Malaysian Prime Minister will meet Prime Minister Najib Razak – the first sitting US president in nearly 50 years to visit moderate-Muslim state.
Deutsche Welle reports German Families Minister Manuela Schwesig has took umbrage against Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's “attacks”against Germans, for whom he said “concentration camps never existed".
And the US National Basketball Association (NBA) is investigating a report alleging that the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers made racist remarks. In a recording posted on celebrity news website TMZ, a man it says is Donald Sterling is heard asking a woman not to broadcast her association with black people nor bring them to games.
USA Today says the Food and Drug Administration has cleared a genetic test from Roche as a first-choice screening option for cervical cancer.