The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times under the heading ‘Gaddafi is dead’ shows people taking pictures of a dead Muammar Gaddafi.
The Malta Independent carries a picture of Gaddafi’s corpse with the heading Gaddafi killed in Sirte, Gonzi hopes for new chapter in Libya.
l-orizzont also reports that Gaddafi and his son Motassim were killed and Seif Gaddafi was captured.
In-Nazzjon says Gaddafi has met his end. It also quotes the prime minister saying Malta was and remains close to the Libyan people.
The overseas press
There are conflicting accounts about how one-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed. The New York Times says that in a cellphone video that went viral on the Internet, Gaddafi is seen splayed on the hood of a truck and then stumbling amid a frenzied crowd, seemingly begging for mercy. He is next seen on the ground, with fighters grabbing his hair. Blood pours down his head, drenching his golden brown khakis, as the crowd shouts, “God is great!” Col. Gaddafi’s body was shown in later photographs, with bullet holes apparently fired into his head at what forensic experts said was close range, raising the possibility that he was executed at the hands of anti-Gaddafi fighters. The official version of events offered by Libya’s new leaders – that Colonel Gaddafi was killed in a cross-fire – was not supported by the photographs and videos.
Libyan TV says members of Libya’s Transitional Council are going to Misrata to inspect the bodies of Col Gaddafi and his son Muattassim. The Libyan Information Minister said Muattassin was killed after he was found hiding with his father.
The Washington Times quotes President Obama saying the death of Col. Gaddafi marked the end of “a long and painful chapter” for the people of Libya. He said Libyans now had a great responsibility to build a democratic country.
Deutsche Welle reports that differences over how to solve the EU debt crisis have forced the eurozone members to call a fresh summit next Wednesday. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were at loggerheads over how to expand Europe's bailout fund to pull economies like Greece back from the brink of default. It was hoped that the two could reach an agreement by a European leaders' summit on Sunday, which aims to discuss ways to leverage the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) in order to stretch its resources well beyond the current 400 billion euros. Eurozone finance minister meet today to discuss the crisis and pave the way for Sunday’s meeting.
Kathimerini says the Greek parliament has passed a further set of harsh austerity measures, much to the dismay of protesters who took to the streets in a second day of demonstrations – leaving one man dead and more than 100 hundred others injured from head wounds. Sections of the Greek capital witnessed violent clashes as some 35,000 demonstrators took to the streets to protest the new austerity package that includes new tax hikes, further pension and salary cuts, the suspension on reduced pay of 30,000 public servants and the suspension of collective labour contracts.
According to the USA Today, World Bank President Robert Zoellick has said the US protests against Wall Street and similar movements across Europe against big banks and the financial markets reflected an uncertainty about the current state of the economy. Speaking to an audience at the University of Michigan, Zoellick expressed concern that the crisis could spread to the developing countries that are now driving global growth.
The Irish Enquirer says British Labour MP Tom Watson plans to detail new findings of covert surveillance techniques employed by News Corporation that go “beyond phone hacking”. He said the revelations planned at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Los Angeles today “will leave the company liable to civil liability but also huge reputational harm”. Watson has spearheaded a 30-month investigation into phone hacking and alleged police bribery scandal at the company’s British newspaper unit. News Corp officials declined to comment.
El Pais reports the Basques separatist organization has announced “a definitive end” to all armed activity. Eta said there was now a historic opportunity to reach a just and democratic settlement in the Baqsue country.
ABC News says the owner of an exotic animal farm who killed himself after setting more loose than 50 tigers, lions, bears and other beasts in the Ohio countryside was deep in debt. Terry Thompson and his wife had owed at least $68,000 in unpaid income and property taxes. The man's body was found near the empty cages with a bite wound on the head that appeared to have come from a large cat, such as a Bengal tiger. Dozens of the animals were shot by officers. Only six – three leopards, a grizzly bear and two monkeys – were captured alive.