The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Sunday Times says Malta and Libya are in gas and oil talks. The newspaper also carries an interview with Yana Mintoff Bland.
The Malta Independent on Sunday reports that the government is revamping financial aid for disabled children in the wake of reduced funding for Inspire.
MaltaToday says that Delicata Wines are being investigated for alleged use of Italian grapes in ‘Maltese’ DOK wine.
It-Torca says a gaming shop is opening every week. It also refers to a recent interview in The Sunday Times and says that MIDI appears to be in trouble and wants to let go of Manoel Island. Its CEO recently resigned.
Il-Mument reports that 1,000 businesses applied for Microinvest funds.
Illum leads with an interview with Fr Colin Apap on what Jesus would do if he was in Malta today.
KullHadd says that NET TV had interviewed a notary facing fraud charges, about the Shroud of Jesus.
The overseas press
L’Avvenire reports that during the Easter vigil mass in Rome, Pope Benedict has expressed concern that mankind was “probing in the dark, unable to distinguish between good and evil”. He warned that technological progress, in the absence of awareness of God and moral values, was a threat to the world. The Pope, who turns 85 on April 16, looked tired at the long service, during which be baptised eight adults from different parts of the world. Mass was brought forward by a few hours to minimise the strain. Later today, he will preside at an Easter day Mass and then deliver his twice-yearly "Urbi et Orbi" (to the city and the world) blessing and message from the central balcony of St Peter's Basilica.
Fox News quotes activists in Syria saying government forces have killed as many as 130 civilians across the country. In an apparent escalation of violence ahead of a ceasefire deadline, troops were reported to have shelled and attempted to storm the town of Latamneh. Video footage posted on the internet showed what appeared to be a summary execution of 13 men in Homs.
The Wall Street Journal says the FBI has joined an investigation into a series of shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which police say may have been hate crimes. Three Afro-Ameerican men were killed and two others critically wounded in the space of an hour. Police were searching for a white man driving a white pick-up truck.
The Maravi Post says Malawi’s Vice-President, Joyce Banda, has been sworn in as the country’s first female head of state following the death of President Bingu wa Mutharika. She took the oath of office at a ceremony in the Malawian capital, Lilongwe. Ms Banda, who had been vice-president since 2009, was cheered and applauded before, during and after the ceremony. The delay in announcing Mutharika’s death had prompted fears of a power struggle.
Afrique en ligne reports that the Speaker of Parliament in Mali, 70-year-old Dioncounda Traore, has returned to his country where he would play a key role in re-establishing civilian authority following the recent coup. He is expected to head a transitional government until fresh elections are held.
Frontier Post says the army in Pakistan is continuing its efforts to find 135 people, most of them soldiers, buried under an avalanche in the Himalayas. A spokesman said hundreds of troops have tried to dig down through the snow but it was so deep and covered such a wide area that so far no survivors have been found.
Global Post reports rescue workers in Peru have been trying to free nine miners trapped underground by a rock fall at a depth of more than 200 metres. The miners are receiving oxygen and rinks through a hose but rescuers have so far been unable to get heavy machinery to the illegal copper and gold mine.
CNN says Chinese dissident Fang Lizhi, whose speeches helped inspire the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, has died aged 76, in the United States. In the 1980s, he was accused of stirring student unrest and expelled from the Communist party.
Atuz Sheva reports that a member of the Iranian parliament, Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam, has told the parliament's news website that Iran could easily create the highly-enriched uranium that is used to build atomic bombs, but it was not Tehran's policy to go down that route. It was the first time an Iranian politician has publicly stated that the country has the knowledge and skills to produce a nuclear weapon.
AFP says baton-wielding police on Saturday fired teargas to disperse a demonstration by thousands of jobless Tunisian graduates in the capital Tunis. The interior Ministry said the police had to act when protesters defied a ban on demonstration on the main thoroughfare in Tunis.
According to El Tiempo, members of Colombia’s biggest rebel group, the Farc, have killed at least six soldiers at a military checkpoint in the northwest province of Choco. The attack came just hours after the rebels uploaded a video message denying claims by the military that they had been weakened.
There have been chaotic scenes at the annual boat race between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge on the River Thames in London. Sky News says the race was stopped when a man swam into its path. When it re-started, the teams clashed oars and Oxford broke a blade, giving Cambridge an easy win. The man, 35-year-old Trenton Oldfield, has been charged with a public offence and released on bail.