The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times says that just under 21,000 referendum voting documents have remained uncollected. It also reports how two persons died in accidents yesterday.
The Malta Independent leads on how two died in separate accidents yesterday. It also says that academics have called for better understanding of Malta’s youth.
In-Nazzjon leads with yesterday’s press conference by Arriva. It also says Mepa has approved a new business and residential complex instead of the Roxy cinema in Birkirkara.
l-orizzont says a Gozo business survey has found 60% of businesses claiming they do not make a profit. It also features the BOV compensation offer to property fund investors.
The overseas press
Dnevnik reports that several hundred of left-wing extremists and ultra-nationalists have protested in Serbian capital city Belgrade and in the northern town of Novi Sad against the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic. In Novi Sad, demonstrators carrying his photo shouted slogans praising him. In Belgrade, the demonstrators descended on Republic Square in the historic centre of the city. No incidents were reported. The government said Mladic’s arrest was a victory for a country worthy of European Union membership and Western embrace.
Blic says that Mladic, the most wanted man in Europe who had been on the run for 16 years, has appeared in at a special court hearing in Belgrade, following his arrest on charges of genocide, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995. Now 69, he looked frail and walked slowly into the court that would decide to transfer him to the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague. His defence lawyers said Mladic was neither physically or psychologically fit and had problems communicating. Doctors would decide later today whether the hearing should resume.
The Times says the British government minister have approved the deployment of British Apache attack helicopters to Libya. They could attack smaller targets belonging to Col Gaddafi’s forces in urban areas. At the G8 summit in Deauville, Normandy, Mr Cameron held talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy to discuss the campaign in Libya. Latter, President Sarkozy told journalists that "all options are open" if Libya's leader steps down quickly.
Aljazeera reports five powerful explosions have been heard in Tripoli. Nato has been bombarding the city for the past three nights. London’s The Daily Telegraph quotes British intelligence reports suggesting Col Gaddafi was “increasingly worried” he would be killed by Nato and had taken to hiding in Libyan hospitals to avoid air strikes. Nato publicly denies targeting Col Gaddafi, but at least one strike has been launched on a building where he was thought to be present.
EU Business announces that Hadeiba Hadi, Libya’s ambassador to the European Union, said on Thursday he was defecting along with all his staff. The envoy said he and his colleagues wanted “to place ourselves at the service of the Libyan people in the struggle for democracy”.
Le Monde reports that leaders of the world's Group of Eight leading industrial nations meeting in Deauville, France on Thursday, discussed the Arab Spring, nuclear energy after Japan's Fukushima disaster and the race for the International Monetary Fund leadership. The global economy and climate change are also being discussed at the gathering for the leaders of the US, Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada.
Le Figaro says the French first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, also received quite a bit of attention for her now unmistakeable pregnancy. Although still not officially confirmed by the President's office, the bump was all the confirmation journalists needed. Commentators in France quickly began speculating on the potential boost in popularity that a new baby would bring Sarkozy. On Wednesday, members of a British charity delivered a maternity basket to the 43-year-old Bruni containing a childbirth kit and hygiene supplies, as a way of publicising the issue of child mortality in the developing world.
Times of Central Asia reports seven American soldiers were among nine members of the Nato-led international force in Afghanistan who died in a militant attack while on a foot patrol in the south of the country. They were killed by two roadside bombs.
Arizona Herald announces that the US Supreme Court has upheld a law in the state of Arizona which gives its courts the power to shut down businesses that employ illegal migrants. The ruling could lead to other states adopting their own anti-immigration measures.
The BBC says researches had discovered that Arctic reindeer can see ultra-violet light that would blind humans. This may help them to spot predators and food in the white glare in Arctic winter ad the twilight of spring and autumn.