The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta says the Armed Forces of Malta were last night assisting the Italian coastguard in a major rescue operation involving over 1,000 migrants in about 12 boats some 180 kilometres south of Lampedusa. In another story, it says the first successful applicants for Maltese citizenship under the investment scheme are due to take their oath of allegiance and receive their passports.
The Malta Independent says former Police Commissioner Peter Paul Zammit is adamant that not enough evidence to convince John Dalli over fraud allegations by OLAF is available.
In-Nazzjon says that the belvedere in Nadur is under threat because of a government decision to return land expropriated years ago to its owners.
L-Orizzont speaks to the the CEO of the Gozo Tourism Association who says that a fixed link between Malta and Gozo can change tourism in Gozo.
International news
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has said Egypt reserved the right to respond anyway it deemed fit for the killing of a group of Egyptian Coptic Christians by militants in Libya affiliated with the Islamic State. Al Ahram says al-Sisi was speaking in an address on national TV after a video had emerged purporting to show at least 10 of the group being beheaded.
According to The Associated Press, the killings raised the possibility that the Islamic militant group – which controls about a third of Syria and Iraq in a self-declared caliphate – had established a direct affiliate less than 800 km from the southern tip of Italy. One of the militants in the video makes direct reference to that possibility, saying the group now plans to “conquer Rome”.
Ansa announces the arrival in Sicily of the group of Italian nationals, including Italian embassy staff in Tripoli, evacuated from the Libyan capital by a Virtu Ferries Catamaran chartered by the Italian government. The catamaran arrived in Malta yesterday evening and left after re-fuelling. Italy closed its embassy in Libya due to the worsening conflict there and stepped up its call for a UN mission to help calm the situation.
Ekstra Bladet reports the man suspected of killing two people in attacks on a synagogue and the debate on free speech in Copenhagen has been identified by police as a 22-year-old with a history of gang-related violence and may have been inspired by Islamic terrorists - and possibly the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris. He was shot dead by the police yesterday. Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt mourned the two people killed and vowed to protect freedom of speech and Denmark's Jewish community.
Le Monde says several hundred Jewish tombs have been damaged in a cemetery near the northeastern French city of Strasbourg. French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve condemned the incident, which led Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu say he would welcome European Jews who chose to move there.
Kathimerini reports at least 15,000 people took to the streets of Athens in support of Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on the eve of a crucial meeting of the Eurogroup which will discuss the issue of the Greek debt. Chanting “No extortion, no going back, we will win!”, the protesters flooded Syntagma Square, the Parliament precincts, and the squares of dozens of cities' in the country.
Germany's euroskeptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party may win seats in its first western state. Deutsche Welle says should the right-leaning AfD reach the five percent threshold needed to enter the Hamburg regional assembly, it would establish the party as a potential long-term rival to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Conservatives.
Kyiv Post reports the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine appeared largely to be holding, although continued fighting over a bitterly-contested railway hub is threatening to upend the delicate settlement. The leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany, who last week brokered a deal to try to end the conflict that has raged since April, agreed in a conference call yesterday that hostilities should also cease around the government-held town of Debaltseve, where undeterred, armed separatists appeared intent to pursue their claim to the town.
Meanwhile, according to Radio Svoboda, the OSCE has said it would make another attempt later today to send monitors to Debaltseve. The monitors said Russian-backed separatists had not allowed them to approach the city where Ukrainian government troops had been besieged for weeks.
The New York Times says the UN Security Council has demanded that Shia Houthi rebels, who ceased power in Yemen, relinquish their control of the government. A unanimous resolution also urged the Houthis to release Yemen’s president and prime minister and return to UN-brokered negotiations. The UN did not support a call by some Arab nations to authorise possible military action to enforce the resolution.
Le Parisien announces the death of French film star Louis Jordan, He was 93. Jourdan was best known for playing a suave bon vivant in the Oscar-winning film Gigi, which dominated the 1959 Academy Awards with nine Oscars, a record at the time. He had a long reign as Hollywood's top choice to play elegant international gentlemen, appearing alongside actors such as Bridget Bardot, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra.