The following are the top local and overseas press stories.
Times of Malta says Mosta and Zabbar are the worst hit by potholes.
The Malta Independent reports on projects which are crucial for councils seeking re-election.
In-Nazzjon says there is uncertainty among the 750 workers at Gozo general hospital in view of plans for Bart's to take over. It also says that 63,497 votes still have to be collected for Saturday's referendum and council elections.
l-orizzont reports on 38 'stolen days' by a Gozo Civil Protection official who went on holiday and had his absence covered up.
The overseas press
Catholic and Muslim leaders alike used Easter Sunday to condemn last Thursday’s attack by the al-Shabab on Garissa University in Kenya. Avvenire reports Pope Francis prayed for an end to the persecution of Christians in his Easter Sunday address, commemorating the students, asking Jesus “to lighten the sufferings of our many brothers and sisters who are persecuted for his name, and of all those who suffer injustice as a result of ongoing conflicts and violence - and there are many”.
The Daily Mail says the Archbishop of Canterbury has also hailed the victims of the massacre at Garissa university as “martyrs”. Speaking during his Easter Sunday sermon, the Most Rev Justin Welby said the 148 mainly Christian victims of Thursday’s brutal mass-murders were “witnesses, unwilling, unjustly, wickedly, and they are martyrs in both senses of the word”.
According to the Daily Nation, Kenya’s Muslim leaders have also condemned the attack at Garissa University, and many Muslims joined demonstrators in Garissa protesting the attack. The newspaper also reveals that last Thursday the police waited seven hours before sending a unit of special forces to the college attacked by Shabaab. It said the special forces took only 30 minutes to kill the fundamentalists and put an end to the assault.
Leaders of central and west African states will hold a summit on April 8 to try to draw up a joint strategy against the threat posed by Boko Haram militants. AFP reports the meeting in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, is being jointly organised by the Economic Community of West African States and the Economic Community of Central African States.
SANA reports militants from the Islamic State have blown up the Church of the Virgin Mary in north-eastern Syria. Local sources told SANA that militants destroyed the church via explosives planted inside. The church was one of three in the area, which has recently been overrun by ISIL militants.
Azaal TV quotes the International Committee of Red Cross saying it had received approval from the Saudi-led military coalition to take vital medical supplies and aid workers into Yemen, where the coalition has conducted 11 days of air strikes against Iran-backed Shiite Houthis. The coalition now controls the country’s ports and air space.
Fox News says Senate Republicans yesterday pressed their demand that the US Congress be allowed to vote on the nuclear agreement with Iran, but signalled they are willing to wait for last week’s interim agreement to be finalised before passing judgment.
Meanwhile, in an interview with The New York Times, President Barack Obama staunchly defended the agreement with Iran as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to bring longer-term stability to the Middle East. He insisted the US would stand by Israel if it were to come under attack, but acknowledged that his pursuit of diplomacy with Tehran has caused strain with the close ally.
And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again denounced the agreement between Tehran and world powers as a “bad deal”. He told CNN it “endangers” Israel and would leave Iran with a large nuclear infrastructure. “It doesn't roll back Iran’s nuclear programme,” he said.
Al Ahram says a bomb blast on a bridge leading to an upscale neighbourhood in central Cairo has killed a policeman and wounded at least two passers-by. Several cars had their windows blown out. The bridge spans the Nile River connecting the Giza district to the wealthy island neighbourhood of Zamalek, where many embassies are located.
E!Online reports David Lynch has confirmed he is walking away from directing a new series of Twin Peaks, the cult 1990s RV show that was set to make a nine-episode comeback in 2016. The director tweeted he was leaving the project after 16 months of negotiations because Showtime would not provide enough money to film the script the way Lynch “felt it needed to be done”.
Hurriyet says Turkish heavyweights Fenerbahce have called for a suspension to the Turkish football league championship after a gun attack on the team bus that left the driver with serious injuries. The club’s vice president, Mahmut Uslu, who was on the bus at the time, told Turkish television the attack was planned to “kill the players”.