The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times quotes the prime minister saying that the safety of Malta is government’s priority. It also says that Libya is insisting it is respecting the truce ordered by the United Nations.
The Malta Independent reports how Malta will not be a base for the enforcement of the no-fly zone. It also says that hoteliers have reported a drop in bookings because of the Libya crisis.
l-orizzont says Libya has asked Malta to send ceasefire monitors. It also reports how a man from Zabbar died in a UK motorway traffic accident yesterday.
In-Nazzjon reports how Libya has declared a ceasefire, and that Malta will not be a face for the enforcement of a no-fly zone.
The overseas press
The Washington Post says President Obama has warned Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to stop all attacks on civilians if he was to avoid international military intervention following Thursday’s UN Security Council’s resolution. He said Gaddafi must also pull back his troops from rebel-held towns and cities and allow in humanitarian aid. US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice said Gaddafi’s forces had already violated the resolution which called for an immediate ceasefire, a claim denied by the Libyan regime.
Global News says reports from Libyan said forces continued to attack rebel-held areas despite a government statement that it was observing a ceasefire. A doctor in Misrata, Libyan’s third biggest city and the last held by rebels in the west of the country, said 25 people were killed.
Khaleej Times reports President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemeni has imposed a nationwide state of emergency after a violent crackdown on anti-government protests in the capital Sanaa killed at least 41 people, and left many others injured. Friday's attack came as tens of thousands gathered across the country, continuing to demand that Saleh, the country's ruler of 32 years, step down.
The New York Times quotes UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemning Syria's harsh crackdown on protests and use of deadly force against demonstrators. He said this was "unacceptable". Syrian security forces killed three protesters and wounded hundreds in the southern city of Daraa on Friday as demonstrations erupted across the country in the first major show of discontent under Bashar al-Assad's rule. The demonstrators were demanding political freedom and an end to corruption.
Gulf Daily News says authorities in Bahrain have torn down a concrete statue of six dhow sails holding up a pearl at the centre of Pearl roundabout in the capital, Manama, where pro-democracy protests were held for weeks. Bahrain's foreign minister said the demolition of the statue was an effort to erase "bad memories".
TV Asahi reports Japanese engineers are trying to restore power to the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant after reconnecting a cable to cooling systems knocked out by last week’s tsunami. Radiation has been escaping from the plant despite attempts to cool the overheating reactors by dropping water from helicopters.
According to Sky News, a man has been pulled alive from rubble in Japan eight days after the country was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami. The rescue was one of few reported after the disaster. Japan's police agency has said over 7,000 were confirmed dead and more than 10,900 were missing.
Asahi Shimbun says a study has revealed that the tsunami which devastated Japan last week was at least 23 metres high. Japan's biggest-ever tsunami was recorded at 38.2m high when a massive earthquake struck back in 1896. However, an official said that without the coastal levee that did not exist in 1896, last Friday's tsunami was likely to have been the biggest ever to hit Japan.
The Church has welcomed the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights saying the display of crucifixes in state schools was acceptable. L’Osservatore Romano said the Cross was an expression of the cultural and religious identity of traditionally-Christian countries. The case was brought by a Finnish-born woman living in Italy who objected to the crucifixes in her children's classrooms, arguing they violated the secular principles public schools are supposed to uphold.
El Pais reports that Spain’s National Court has convicted two members of the Basque separatist group Eta of attempted murder and sentenced them to 377 years in prison, even if the maximum time a person can serve for terrorism convictions is 40 years. The two men were found guilty of being involved in planting a bomb to assassinate Esther Cabezudo, deputy mayor of the northern town of Portugalete in 2002.
Le Matin says former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned home from seven years in exile to a celebrity welcome, and immediately took a swipe at the decision to bar his political party from the country’s presidential election. Many of its members are boycotting Sunday’s run-off election. Nevertheless, several people affiliated in the past with the now-less prominent party ran in the first round of the election.
According to Space Observer, there's a full moon this Saturday, but it won't be just any old full moon. It will be the closest full moon of 2011. It'll be bigger and brighter. It will appear larger as it makes its closest approach to Earth in 18 years. Scientists estimate the "supermoon" rising in the east at sunset will appear 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter at its peak.