The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press
The Times reports that Pakistani nurses have claimed a racket by a private company which brought them to Malta to work at Mater Dei.
The Malta Independent says that pictorials on cigarette packaging become obligatory on Wednesday. It also reports complaints by the Mayor of Marsa about rising prostitution in Marsa, particularly at Albertown.
l-orizzont and In-Nazzjon both lead with the series of tremors felt in Malta yesterday.
In-Nazzjon also says that stone from a quarry in Qala is to be used for the façade of the new parliament building and the new bus terminus. This type of hard stone was also used in the building of the Valletta breakwater more than a century ago.
The overseas press
Associated Press reports a Nato air strike on Muammar Gaddafi's sprawling compound in Tripoli early today has damaged three buildings, described as locations where Gadhafi holds meetings. The roof of one of the structures caved in. Authorities said between two and four large missiles or bombs exploded in the compound early today, lightly wounding four people. The BBC had earlier said three TV stations – Libyan Television, Jamahiriya and Shababiya – were out off the air. The explosions were among the strongest to have hit Tripoli so far.
Al Jazeera says Gaddafi's forces unleashed a barrage of shells and rockets on Misrata on Sunday in an especially bloody weekend, countering Libyan government claims that the army was holding its fire into the western city. Despite the barrage, which doctors say killed 32 and wounded dozens in two days, rebels said they drove the last pro-government forces from the centre of Libya's third-largest city.
Meanwhile, Pope Benedict XVI offered an Easter prayer for diplomacy to prevail over warfare in Libya and for citizens of the Middle East to build a new society based on respect. L’Osservatore Romano says the Pope, who delivered his Easter greetings in 65 languages, also called on Europeans to accept more migrants from war-torn countries.
Rome’s Il Tempo reports that a 48-year-old man – reportedly a member of the Kazakh delegation at Unesco in Paris – has been overpowered by cabin crew on an Alitalia flight from Paris to Rome, after he drew out a small knife and demanded the plane divert to Tripoli. A female flight attendant was slightly injured as the man was subdued and given a sedative by a doctor who was travelling on the flight. There were 131 people on board the flight.
At least 17 people were killed and 24 others were injured in an early morning fire today in a four-storey building in southern Beijing. China's official Xinhua News Agency said did not immediately give a cause for the blaze. Last November, 58 people were killed in a Shanghai apartment fire that was blamed on welders ignoring safety precautions.
Jakarta Post says a strong and shallow earthquake hit the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi early on Monday. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but several homes were damaged.
Syrian security forces detained dozens of opposition activists and fired from rooftops in the seaside town of Jableh on Sunday. A human rights activist told Asharq Al-Awsat the strategy appeared aimed at rattling the opposition's leadership and showing that the state's ability to conduct arrest sweeps had not changed despite abolishing nearly 50-year-old emergency laws last week.
The deadly crackdown by Syrian security forces during weekend funerals has sparked international condemnation and calls by activists for an independent investigation into recent killings. Le Soir says the European Union has strongly condemned the violent attacks while Russia joined UN chief Ban Ki-moon and a host of Western governments, including the United States, Britain, France and Germany, to condemn the violence.
Al Ahram reports that Egypt's prosecutor general has ordered that former president Hosni Mubarak be moved from his hospital in a Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to a military medical facility, after a doctor declared him well enough to travel. He has been in hospital since falling ill during questioning about corruption allegations and protesters' deaths. Prosecutors said the 82-year-old was supposed to go to Tora prison hospital, but it was not ready to receive him. The military council that took power in February is under pressure to try him.
At least 500 people died in religious rioting that followed Nigeria's presidential election. A civil rights group told The Nigerian Independent said at least 11 college graduates who helped run polling stations as part of the country's national youth service corps have been killed in post-election violence, while other female poll workers have been raped.
London’s The Independent says the Crown Prince of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, has decided not to attend next Friday's royal wedding, amid a row over his role in the Gulf state's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. Human rights activists had pledged to disrupt the prince’s stay in Britain with a series of protests. However, protests are still expected to go ahead outside Westminster Abbey and five-star hotels because of invitations to foreign despots and figureheads from autocratic regimes.