The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports how the Italian Secret Service is expecting a wave of migrants to cross the Mediterranean. They include people released from prison by Col Gaddafi. The newspaper also reports that up to 500 Maltese could lose their job if the crisis in Libya continues.
The Malta Independent features the story of a young migrant boy who lost his sister when escaping from Libya for a better life.
In-Nazzjon devotes its front page to the traffic arrangements ahead of the demolition of City Gate next month.
l-orizzont says agreement has been reached between Enemalta and the GWU on the credit control section. It also reports how investors from China had felt insulted in the process for the granting of visas.
The overseas press
The Wall Street Journal announces that finance minister from the G20 group of industrialised nations have agreed on a plan for identifying countries which could put the global economy at risk if left unchecked. The ministers agreed on a system for measuring the types of dangerous imbalances which they believed they have contributed to the world’s financial downturn in seven decades.
The Washington Times says President Obama has said that the world economy could plunge back into recession unless the US congress agrees to increase the country’s debt limit. He said a failure to raise the ceiling on the money the US is able to borrow could destabilise markets
Berliner Zeitung quotes US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying Nato allies were searching for ways to provide funds to Libya's rebels. She told reporters after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin that the opposition needed a lot of assistance, on the organisational side, on the humanitarian side, and on the military side.
Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi fired a hail of rockets into the besieged city of Misurata for the second day in a row. A local doctor told Al Jazeera at least eight people were killed and seven others were wounded in the attacks. Gaddafi's forces also opened fire on rebels on the western edge of Ajdabiyah.
CNN reports that Human Right Watch has accused pro-government forces in Libya of firing cluster bombs over Misrata. Cluster bombs, in which a delivery bomb releases many little bomblets over a zone, are forbidden under international law because of the indiscriminate deaths they can cause in civilian populations. Human Rights Watch observed at least three cluster munitions explode over the El-Shawahda neighbourhood in Misrata The Libyan government has denied the reports.
Syria Daily says security forces have used tear gas and batons to disperse tens of thousands of protesters in the capital, Damascus. The protesters called for reforms, while some demanded the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. The protests, in Damascus and other cities including Deraa, Latakia, Baniyas and Qamishli, are believed to be the largest in a month of unrest in which about 200 people have been reported killed.
Al Arab al Yawm reports that dozens of people have been injured as ultra-conservative Salafist Muslims clashed with pro-government supporters in Jordan's northern city of Zarqa. Meanwhile, up to 1,000 people protested in the capital Amman, calling for political and economic reform. Opposition groups want free and fair elections and an end to corruption.
Al Thawra says Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has addressed large crowds in the capital, Sanaa, denouncing protesters and vowing to stay in office. There were rival anti-government rallies in Sanaa and in other towns, with clashes reported in the southern flashpoint town of Taiz. Protesters want Mr Saleh to step down immediately after 32 years in office.
According to Le Matin, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has promised to amend the constitution to "strengthen democracy". Delivering a long-awaited speech on state TV, he said a constitutional commission would be created to draw up the necessary amendments. It was his first address to the nation in three months.
allafrica quotes human rights groups saying they have been told of an alarming number of rapes in Ivory Coast during the fighting of the last few weeks. The International Rescue Committee heard from women who had fled to neighbouring Liberia that they had been imprisoned for up to a week and repeatedly raped.