The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports that Malta is facing a water scarcity, according to an EU report. It also reports how a defiant Gaddafi said he is not afraid of air strikes.
The Malta Independent leads with the crash of an F-15 in Libya.
MaltaToday says the AFM is directing migrant boats which are not in distress to Lampedusa. It also says a Briton has been recommended for the Air Malta CEO job.
In-Nazzjon leads with the new Water Management plan. It also says that a German company is taking on more workers.
l-orizzont also reports how the AFM is directing migrants to Lampedusa.
The overseas press:
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has made a three-minute defiant speech – his first public appearance since the international coalition attacks over Libya to enforce a UN Security Council resolution to protect civilians and set up a no-fly zone. Libyan state TV showed Col Gaddafi denouncing the coalition attacks on his forces. He said there was a "new crusader battle launched by crusader countries on Islam" and promised enthusiastic supporters at his Bab Al-Aziziya residential compound in Tripoli, that in the end they would be victorious. "In the short term, we'll beat them, in the long term, we'll beat them," he said.
Meanwhile, troops loyal to Gaddafi continue to be engaged in fierce fighting with the rebels. Misrata – the last rebel-held city in western Libya – is one of the bloodiest battlegrounds. A doctor there told Associated Press: "The number of dead are too many for our hospital to handle." A resident of the city told Reuters: "The situation here is very bad. Tanks started shelling the town this morning."
Al Arabiya says fighting was also reported in Ajdabiya, Zintan, near the Tunisian border, and in Yafran, 130km south-west of Tripoli. Late yesterday, renewed explosions and anti-aircraft fire were heard in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as it appeared allied forces were conducting another night of strikes.
Euronews reports six villagers were shot and hurt in the US effort to rescue two US airmen who ejected from their F-15E Eagle warplane just before it crashed during allied operations in eastern Libya. The plane appeared to suffer mechanical failure near the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
France 24 says US President Barack Obama, UK Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke by telephone on Tuesday after Nato talks in Brussels had failed to secure an agreement on how to proceed on a new command structure. France had expressed fears that a Nato lead would not please the Arab world. Italy said it could withdraw its bases without a coordinated Nato structure and Norway said its jets would not take part in the action as long as it was unclear who was in overall command. Turkey wanted limits on Nato involvement and said the air strikes had already gone beyond the UN resolution. However, one US official told Reuters news agency Turkish concerns had been eased.
Al Thawra reports at least four people have died after security forces fired on protesters outside a mosque in the Syrian city of Deraa. Hundreds of people had earlier gathered in the streets outside the Omari mosque to prevent troops from storming it. The mosque has been the focus of anti-government demonstrations since Friday.
Haaretz says two Israeli military strikes on Gaza have killed eight Palestinians – two were under 18, while four were members of the armed wing of Islamic Jihad. Israel apologised for the civilian casualties but said it would defend itself against rocket fire from Gaza, which has increased in recent days. Militants fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Saturday.
According to Japan Radio, lighting has been restored in the control room of one of the most badly-damaged reactors at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. It is hoped the development will speed up work to restore cooling systems vital for stabilising the reactor. Meanwhile, the UN's nuclear watchdog says radiation is still leaking from the quake-hit plant, but scientists are unsure exactly where it is coming from.
The Jerusalem Post reports Israel's former President Moshe Katsav has been jailed for seven years for rape and other sex offences. He was convicted at an earlier hearing of raping an employee in the 1990s when he was tourism minister, and of later sexual offences while he was president. Katsav, 65, resigned from the largely ceremonial post of president in 2007. Sentencing Katsav – the first former Israeli head of state to be jailed – the judges told him no-one was above the law.
Deutsche Welle says a man whose stepdaughter bore eight of his children has been jailed in Germany for 14-and-a-half years. The 48-year-old, identified as "Detlef S", admitted sexually abusing his biological daughter as well as forcing her and his stepdaughter into prostitution.