The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta quotes Konrad Mizzi saying further tariff cuts could harm Enemalta's recovery.
MaltaToday says Skanska has snubbed the government over hospital damage claims.
The Malta Independent on Sunday quotes Simon Busuttil saying all religions should be equally protected from vilification.
It-Torca says a statue of Dom Mintoff will be set up at Castille on the centenary of his birth.
Il-Mument quotes Simon Busuttil promosing justice for those who are being discriminated against.
Illum says only four policemen were near the scene of a multi-stabbing in Paceville.
KullHadd says Church schools are ignoring Curia direction on staff recruitment.
The overseas press
Pope Francis has called for the Church in Cuba to have “the freedom and the means” to pursue its mission. Gramma reports that on his first visit to the island, he also hailed improving ties between the US and Cuba as “an example of reconciliation for the whole world”. The Pope was greeted by President Raul Castro after landing in Havana for a four-day visit before flying to the US. Some 100,000 people lined the route of the Pope’s motorcade to the home of the Vatican’s ambassador to Cuba.
Die Presse says Austria saw the arrival of at least 10,000 migrants on yesterday, amid bitter rows among EU nations on how to handle the growing crisis. The migrants were initially sent into Hungary by Croatia, which said it was unable to cope with the 20,000 who had arrived since Wednesday. Hungary in turn shipped them on to Austria, accusing Croatia of breaking rules by failing to register migrants.
Deutsche Welle reports German and Austrian political leaders have urged the EU to allocate billions of euros in refugee aid to Syria’s neighbours to stem the exodus to Europe. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s interior minister wants stricter EU asylum rules.
The Sunday Times reports the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has offered to host one or two refugee families in a four-bedroom cottage on the grounds of his Lambeth Palace residence in London. The cottage is currently being redecorated. Welby has been critical of Prime Minister David Cameron’s recent offer to take in an extra 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years, calling it a “very slim response”.
The Observer quotes US Secretary of State John Kerry saying the exit of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad is the key to ending Syria’s refugee exodus. Visiting London, he urged Assad’s allies Russia and Iran to persuade him to “go”,
Antenna TV announces that voting is brisk in Greece’s general election with opinion polls indicating a tight race between the left-wing incumbent Syriza party and the conservative New Democracy. The snap election, Greece’s fifth in six years, was called after Syriza lost its parliamentary majority in August. The first projected results are expected after 8 pm Malta time.
Euronews reports the opposition in Georgia is up in arms at the sentencing of the former mayor of Tibilisi to four and half years in jail for misspending public funds. Western countries have agreed with the opposition that the current administration, in power since 2012, is using selective justice to persecute its rivals. Dozens of ex-officials including a former prime minister have been arrested and charged.
Metro says a group made up of former Concorde captains hope to get the jet airborne again by 2019. Club Concorde says it has 120 million pound in reserve for the “return to flight” plan. The group also plans to put another of the supersonic aircraft on permanent display in central London. Concorde, which can travel at twice the speed of sound, last flew in 2003.
Bloomberg reports US regulators have charged Volkswagen with manufacturing cars designed to evade pollution controls, and ordered the German auto giant to recall nearly 500,000 vehicles. They were all found to have illegal “defeat devices”.
Le Parisien says some 140 coloured animals representing Noah’s Arc sailed up the River Seine in Paris to raise awareness on climate change as the French capital prepares to host a major UN climate summit in two months’ time. The animal statues were made out of fully recyclable acrylic sheet and are a creation coordinated by French artist Gad Weil. The 2015 Paris Climate Conference is set to take place from November 30 to December 11.
The New York Times announces the death in Los Angeles of Jackie Collins, the best-selling English author known for writing vibrant novels about extravagance, glamour and affluent life in Hollywood and who was the sister of the actress Joan Collins. She was 77. Her family said in a statement she died of breast cancer,.
A newborn child has been successfully operated upon in the head to remove a splinter from a bullet after a rocket attack in Syria that struck her mother. Al Thawra says the “extraordinary” operation was carried out by a group of Syrian doctors in Aleppo, documented by photos and a film which have gone viral over the Internet. The doctors have also posted the video on Facebook, announcing that “mother and baby are doing well”.