These are the leading stories in local newspapers this Saturday.

Times of Malta reports that a priest who made homophobic comments online, Fr David Muscat, is to be charged with hate speech by the police. The newspaper also reports that Malta ranked among the ECDC’s most concerning countries for COVID-19 as of the end of 2021. 

The Malta Independent leads with Poland’s ambassador to Malta saying he was “profoundly touched” by Maltese solidarity following the murder of Paulina Dembska, a 29-year-old woman murdered in Sliema last week. 

L-Orizzont reports that the General Workers Union is opposed to having days that workers spend in quarantine taken out of their leave allowance. The newspaper also reports that half of the social measures announced in the 2022 Budget will be implemented by the end of January. 

In-Nazzjon leads with reflections by PN leader Bernard Grech, who in a video on social media said that society must take greater care to ensure that what happened in the Dembska murder never happens again.

The newspaper also describes a plea bargain deal that the attorney ġeneral struck with Darren Debono it-Topo as “a scandalous manoeuvre.”