The following are the top stories in the local and international press today:
All the national newspapers today concentrate on yesterday’s arrival of Somali and Eritrean illegal immigrants from Libya. This was the first arrival since the conflict between rebels and Gaddafi forces started in Libya. It was also the first arrival this year.
The Times also gives priority to the spring hunting agreement reached between the government and the European Commission.
The Malta Independent and in-Nazzjon give importance to Malta’s official reaction to the allegations made by Italian presenter Massimo Giletti during a Rai programme last Sunday, that illegal immigrants were not landing at Malta because the Maltese were shooting at them.
In-Nazzjon also says that a ship with humanitarian assistance will leave Malta for Libya today.
The international press
CNN reports President Obama has told the American people he believed Libya would remain dangerous until Muammar Gaddafi stepped down from power. In his first formal speech on the military campaign in Libyan, Mr Obama said there was no question that “Libya – and the world – would be better off with Gaddafi out of power”. He said the American people should be proud the intervention had averted a massacre of civilians in Benghazi by Libyan government forces. And he vowed he would use military action "swiftly, decisively and unilaterally" whenever necessary.
The Washington Times quotes the White House saying events in Libya and Egypt were discussed in a video conference between President Obama, British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. The White House statement said Mr Obama reiterated that the United States would provide supporting capabilities to the coalition effort in Libya.
According to London’s The Guardian, efforts appear to be under way to offer Muammar Gaddafi a way of escape from Libya, with Italy saying it was trying to organise an African haven for him The US has indicated it would not stop the dictator from fleeing. The move came as diplomatic and military pressure on Gaddafi mounted as Britain tried to assemble a global consensus demanding he surrender power while intensifying air strikes against his forces.
Al Arabiya says Libyan rebels, trying to advance west along the coast have been stopped by government forces outside the town of Bin Jawad. Al Jazeera says forces loyal to Gaddafi were resisting an advance by the rebels towards Sirte in the fiercest clashes since the start of a sweeping offensive that has brought a string of coastal towns under opposition control. Claims that Sirte had also fallen were premature. Fighting was ongoing at Nawfaliya, about 180km east of Sirte, where opposition forces said they had come upon a heavily mined road. Pro-Gaddafi forces have dug into positions near the front line, and are shelling opposition fighters.
Libya's state-run Al-Libiyah TV quotes Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Kaim caling on nations gathering for today’s conference on Libya in London not to push Libyan towards civil war. The international conference, which would include the UN, Arab states, the African Union, and more than 40 foreign ministers, would focus on coordinating assistance and building a unified international front in condemnation of the Gaddafi regime and in support of a Nato-led military action in Libya. Earlier, the leadefs of Britain and France said Col Gaddafi must leave immediately.
Ansa reports that tension is rising on Lampedusa over the growing influx of migrants fleeing the conflict in Libya and instability in other North African countries. Fishermen barricaded the entrance of the harbour with boats seized from illegal immigrants in an attempt to prevent further vessels from reaching the shore. But this did not prevent a new boat from Libya entering the island late last night with 140 Eritrians and Somalis. Nearly 4,000 immigrants have landed in Lampedusa in recent days, bringing the total number to roughly 7,000, or one-and-a-half times the an increasingly-hostile native population.
USA Today says the Pentagon has issued another apology after an American magazine, Rolling Stone, published pictures of US soldiers in Afghanistan posing with the corpses of civilians. The pictures include one of a grinning soldier tilting a dead man’s head to the camera. Last week, the German magazine Der Spiegel published similar disturbing pictures.
Belfast Times says the British government has apologized to the family of a schoolgirl who was shot dead by the army in Northern Ireland 35 years ago. At the time a soldier was acquitted of the manslaughter of the 12-year-old girl.
O Globo reports that Brazil's sports minister Orlando Silva has invited Fifa president Sepp Blatter to the country to see for himself their preparations to host the 2014 World Cup. The invitation came after Blatter warned Brazil that they needed to speed up the work, saying they were behind the previous hosts, South Africa, had been at a similar stage. Silva said, "We have 10 of the 12 stadiums with work going full-steam ahead."