The following are the top stories in the national and international press today.
Times of Malta quotes Prime Minister Joseph Muscat saying that UN military intervention in Libya is necessary to re-establish security as time is running out for rival factions to form a national unity government. In another story it says Malta Football Association’s integrity officer said on Times Talk a former president of a Maltese football club admitted that although he started out with the intention of playing clean, he had no choice but to become the most corrupt of the lot.
The Malta Independent says seasoned soldiers have expressed concern at what seems to be a lack of army patrols in the seas to the south of Malta, given the chaotic and anarchic situation in Libya. It also says Malta is willing to join a UN-led coalition against the Islamic State.
L-Orizzont says that a Union Haddiema Maghqudin mandate of prohibitory injunction to stop the General Workers Union and Malta Public Transport from implementing an agreement led to company workers losing out on better wages. It also says the Electoral Commission will be appealing the court ruling deciding to give the Nationalist Party an additional two seats in Parliament.
In-Nazzjon says Enemalta workers were worried about their future. It also says Speaker Anglu Farrugia expressed concern about the government’s plan to move the monti near the new Parliament building.
Malta Today reports Dr Muscat saying that a meeting of the United Nations Security Council must send a strong message to the rival Libyan factions that the UN would have to intervene unless they resolve their differences.
International news
Kathimerini reports Greece is expected to request a six-month extension of its loan agreement later today. Quoting sources close to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, the paper said the loan would not be an extension of the current bailout agreement. On Monday night, Greece rejected a plan to extend its €240bn bailout, describing it as “absurd” and “unacceptable”. Without a deal, Greece is likely to run out of money.
Euronews announces France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States have strongly condemned all acts of terrorism in Libya. In a document released yesterday evening, which fully supports the diplomatic efforts of the UN, the seven countries emphasise that terrorism affects all Libyans and no faction can face alone the challenges facing the country. The European Union also continues to push for a diplomatic solution.
The New York Times says the UN Security Council is to hold an emergency session to discuss the crisis in Libya later today. As Egypt asked for a UN resolution authorising international intervention, the country’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will also hold bilateral meetings in New York with security council members and representatives of Arab states.
Meanwhile, Al Ahram reports Egypt continued to bomb Isis jihadists in the Libyan stronghold of Derna. Egyptian F-16s, supported by Libyan Migs of General Khalifa Haftar, linked to the internationally recognised government of Tobruk, have made 10 night raids. Shoukry said dozens of jihadists were killed or wounded.
Islamic State militants have burned to death 45 people in the western Iraqi town of al-Baghdadi. The BBC quotes the local police chief saying who these people were and why they were killed was not clear, but Col Qasim al-Obeidi said he believed some were members of the security forces. Earlier, it was announced that IS fighters had killed at least 27 Iraqi policemen in the same city.
AGI reports more than 3,500 migrants, of which 250 were minors, landed in Italy in the past four days. Save the Children said this year alone, the toll has been of 6,482 migrants, including 500 women and over 700 minors. In January, arrivals registered an increase of 60 per cent over last year – resulting in acute overcrowding at Lampedusa's immigrant reception centre.
As the cease-fire in Ukraine moved to the brink of collapse, Kyiv Post says German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko have agreed “on concrete steps” to enable an OSCE mission to enter Debaltseve to monitor the situation. The three leaders held a three-way telephone conversation as US Vice President Joe Biden blamed separatist fighters and Russian forces for the violation of a three-day-old ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, and warned of increased costs to Russia.
O Globo reports three Brazilian revellers died after being electrocuted while standing atop a Carnival float that hit a power line in Nova Iguacu, a city of 800,000 people on the northern outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. During Brazil’s 2011 carnival, 16 people were killed at a packed street party in Minas Gerais state when a power line fell atop the crowd.
Meanwhile, Le Matin says at least 16 people have been killed and 78 injured after a carnival float hit power lines in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince and caught fire. Video footage of the incident appeared to show the electric cable catch the head of a singer from popular Haitian hip-hop band Barikad Crew.
Former IMF chief and one-time French presidential hopeful Dominique Strauss-Kahn should be acquitted of pimping charges, the French prosecutor has told a court in the northern city of Lille where an alleged vice ring was based. Le Parisien reorts Lille prosecutor Frederic Fevre said neither the investigation nor the evidence heard in court had established that he was guilty. Strauss-Kahn has always denied knowing that women who took part in orgies with him were prostitutes. In France, being found guilty of pimping carries with it a jail sentence of up to 10 years and a fine of €1.5 million.
The New York Times says President Obama has hit back at a ruling in Texas that brought to a halt his controversial migrant plan. In a decision late on Monday, Judge Hanen ruled in favour of 26 states saying the administration’s programmes would impose major burdens on states, unleashing illegal immigration and straining state budgets, and that the administration had not followed required procedures for changing federal rules. The ruling came a day before hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants were to begin applying for work permits and legal protection.