The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times of Malta reports that the police are investigating claims by a Chinese worker in Malta that he was abused and not paid his wages.
The Malta Independent says that Economic Services Minister Chris Cardona has moved out of an apartment in Portomaso he rented from a businessman. It also reports that the police are investigating slain lawyer Carmel Chircop's property dealings.
Retired Magistrate Carol Peralta has reappeared on a freemasons list as the Grand Registrar of the Grand Lodge of Malta, MaltaToday says.
Il-Mument reports that the Budget features measures which weaken competitiveness. It says Simon Busuttil will outline the PN's vision for Malta when he replies to the Budget speech tomorrow.
The Maltese passport is the seventh most valuable in the world, based on the number of countries which can be accessed, It-Torca says.
KullHadd carries an interview with Finance Minister Edward Scicluna on the performance of the economy.
Illum quotes reports that Norwegian interests are interested in building the tunnel between Malta and Gozo, linking ta-Xhjma below Nadur to Ic-Cumnija close to Paradise Bay.
The overseas press
Kölner Rundschau reports a German mayoral candidate, 58-year-old Henriette Reker, active in helping refugees, was seriously wounded yesterday in what police described as a stabbing with a “racist, political” motive.
Dnevnik says Slovenia is drafting in the army to help police cope as thousands of migrants surged into the country from Croatia after Hungary sealed its border.
The Church of England bishops have called on the British government to accept a further 30,000 Syrian refugees, in addition to the 20,000 already due to be re-settled in the UK over the next five years. The 84 bishops released to the Observer a private letter they sent to Prime Minister David Cameron last month in which they accuse him of ignoring their offers to help to provide housing, foster care and other support for up to 50,000 refugees.
VOA News quotes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon saying more than four million Syrians have been forced to leave their homes due to the on-going civil war. He said some 60 million people across the globe are currently refugees that represents a tough challenge for all countries of the world, including the Middle Eastern and European ones.
The New York Times reports the UN Security Council has threatened to “impose sanctions against anyone hindering the political transition in the country”, now plagued by a bloody civil war. It has urged all parties “to work together to form, as soon as possible, a unity government.
Jerusalem Times says Palestinian assailants carried out five stabbing attacks in Jerusalem and the West Bank yesterday, as a month-long outburst of violence showed no signs of abating.
Meanwhile, Jerusalem Post reports hundreds of Israelis, Jews, Arabs, and Palestinians marched through the centre of Jerusalem calling for an end to the current round of violence and calling on people to support coexistence and a solution to the occupation.
Voters go to the polls in Egypt today for the first round of long-delayed elections to choose a new parliament. The Egyptian Gazette says most of the candidates are supporters of President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The largest Islamist group, the Moslem Brotherhood, is prohibited to run.
China’s General Fan Changlong has dismissed concerns that Beijing was trying to strengthen its control over the South China Sea and reiterated that the artificial islands were mainly to aid shipping. Xinhua says he made the comments as the US considered sending a Navy ship inside the 12-nautical mile territorial limit surrounding one of the man-made islands.
Metro reports British police have appealed for information after a mother went missing from a London hospital, leaving her newborn child behind. Anna Chudy, 35, is believed to have left Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, north-west London, with a man on Friday morning.
There has been widespread condemnation and protests in India as two girls, aged two-and-a-half and five years old, were raped in separate incidents in New Delhi overnight, with at least one confirmed as a gang rape, police. Times of India quotes the police saying they had launched a manhunt for the suspects but so far no arrests have been made.
Sky News reports Big Ben needs up to £40 million (€54.5 million) of urgent and drastic repairs – but the work may see its famous chimes silenced for four months. The cross-party Commons Finance Committee’s report says it would only cost £4.9 million (€6.7 million) to “prevent the clock from failing” but that the cost could rise to £40 million if Big Ben's other problems are not dealt with at the same time.