The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times says that a European Court ruling means that women will have to pay more for insurance. It also says that Gaddafi forces have targeted Ajdabiya.
The Malta Independent says there was a very low turnout in a demonstration for Palestinian unity. It also says there is panic over Japan radiation levels.
MaltaToday says Gaddafi had threatened seizure of Maltese businesses in Libya.
l-orizzont says the GWU has told the CMTU to be serious about unity talk. It also says that a court has awarded €1.25m in damages to the victim of a motorcycle accident.
In-Nazzjon leads with comments by the prime minister on the responsibility being borne by MPs as they vote today on the divorce referendum question.
The overseas press
Japan’s TV Asahi reports that operations to prevent the stricken nuclear plant at Fukushima from melting down were suspended early today after a surge in radiation made it too dangerous for workers to remain at the facility.
Earlier, Asahi Shimbun quoted officials saying 70 percent of fuel rods at one of the six reactors at the plant were significantly damaged in the aftermath of Friday's calamitous earthquake and tsunami. White smoke was seen rising from the buildings, apparently coming from its number three reactor. Edano said the smoke was probably caused by the evaporation of water being poured to cool the systems. News reports said 33 percent of fuel rods were also damaged at another reactor.
Kahoku Shimpo says temporary shelters have been set up for 500,000 victims of the earthquake but there are shortages of water, food, fuel and blankets as weather forecasts show freezing temperatures and snow returning to the area. Some local hospitals were struggling to cope with the number of seriously injured people.
Nikkei reports that Japan's Central Bank today injected a further ¥3.5 trillion ($43 billion) into financial markets for a third day to ease the impact of last week's quake. That came after injections totaling ¥23 trillion (€204 billion; US$284 billion) over the past two days. The injections have helped stabilise currency markets. But the benchmark Nikkei 225 stock average slid as much as 14 percent, closing at 8,605.15.
The New York Times says Britain, France and Lebanon have tabled a draft resolution at the UN Security Council that would ban all flights over Libya to prevent Muammar Gaddafi’s air strikes. They said this was in response to an Arab League request for such a measure. France urged quick action but Russia and Germany expressed misgivings.
Al Jazeera says a defiant Gaddafi restated his determination to crush the rebellion. Speaking on national TV, he also attacked the Arab League, describing the organization as “history”.
Meanwhile, Associated Press reported that pro-government forces overwhelmed rebels in the strategic eastern city of Ajdabiya, hammering them with airstrikes, missiles, tanks and artillery in an assault that sent residents fleeing and appeared to open the way for an all-out government offensive on the opposition's main stronghold in the east, Benghazi. In desperation, rebels sent up two antiquated warplanes that struck a government ship bombarding Ajdabiya from the Mediterranean
Gulf News reports that Bahrain's king has imposed a three-month state of emergency to quell a Shiite uprising, as clashes spread through the capital and surrounding villages in a showdown that left at least two Bahrainis and a Saudi soldier dead. Hundreds of protesters were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs.
Meanwhile, Al Motamar says a Yemeni tribal leader has been killed in confrontations between security forces and protesters demanding the resignation of President Abdullah Saleh.
Asia One reports a convoy of gunmen chased a man into a home in the resort city of Acapulco and sprayed the residence with bullets, killing two children aged six and two and a 60-year-old woman inside. A 23-year-old woman was also wounded.
The Washington Post says the last US veteran of World War One has been buried with full military honours in Arlington national cemetery, outside Washington. Frank Buckles died last month in West Virginia, aged 110. He had outlived almost five million Americans who saw service in the war.
USA Today reports that William a 48-year-old former nurse accused of seeking out depressed people online and encouraging two to kill themselves has been found guilty of aiding the suicides of an English man, 32, and Canadian girl, 18. Melchert-Dinkel, who posed as a woman in both cases, faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine.
Corriere della Sera quotes Milan prosecutors saying that Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi paid for sex with Karima El Mahroug, a Moroccan belly dancer known as Ruby, 13 times at his villa near Milan. In a document filed yesterday, seeking indictments against three aides for allegedly soliciting prostitutes for the Italian leader, they said 33 young women were involved in a just-closed probe into alleged prostitution at parties held by Berlusconi between 2009 and January 2011. Ruby was allegedly first paid for sex when she was 16 in September 2009, five months earlier than the previously thought.