The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times reports that Malta is involved in talks to avoid a massacre in Sirte, the last major stronghold in Gaddafi hands.
The Malta Independent says the Canadian police are exploring extradition options for convicted priest Godwin Scerri, who is wanted on other abuse allegations.
In-Nazzjon reports how a Libyan man severely injured in Misurata has been brought to Malta for treatment. It also says officials had to wait for hours before they could unload humanitarian aid from Malta at Tripoli yesterday.
l-orizzont gives prominence to the Church’s decision to allow Debbie Schembri to practice once more before the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.
The overseas press
The Daily Telegraph reveals the identity of the suspected killer of PC Yvonne Fletcher from a single bullet that hit her in the abdomen during a siege at the Libyan embassy in London in 1984. The paper claims Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, a junior diplomat, was seen firing a machinegun from an embassy window. The 11-day armed siege ended when 30 Libyans from the embassy were deported. No one has ever been charged with killing the officer. Following the collapse of the Gaddafi regime, Scotland Yard, which has kept the case open, is planning to send officers to Libya in the hope of bringing the suspected killer and his alleged accomplices to justice.
Al Jazeera reports that the African Union has refused to explicitly recognise Libya's National Transitional Council. The council has already been recognised as the legitimate government by more than 40 countries. Instead, at a meeting of the union’s Peace and Security Council meeting in Addis Ababa, the council has called for an inclusive transitional government that would also involve officials from Gaddafi's side.
More than 200 decomposing bodies have been found abandoned at a hospital in Tripoli where there has been fierce fighting in the recent days. A BBC correspondent who went to the Abu Salim hospital found the bodies of men, women and children on beds and in the corridors. Doctors and nurses had fled the hospital because of the fighting and survivors said many of the injured had been left to die in the heat.
Meanwhile, the head of the rebel operation for the takeover of the capital told AFP that forces loyal to Gaddafi killed more than 150 prisoners in a “mass murder” as they fled the rebel takeover of Tripoli. He claimed that before running away, the guards threw hand grenades at them.
As news about the atrocities emerged on Friday, Al Arabiya TV reported rebel leaders saying they were now in almost complete control of Tripoli, with just a few pockets of resistance from forces loyal to Gaddafi in the Abu Salim and Salah al-Din areas. There had been some fighting, mainly in and around the international airport, but the centre of the city was mostly quiet.
Le Matin says 18 people have been killed after a large explosion tore through the United Nations' building in the Nigerian capital Abuja, leveling an entire wing of the four-storey structure. A Nigerian Red Cross spokesman warned that the death toll could be higher. The Nigerian Islamist group Boko Haram claimed responsibility. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the attack.
The New York Post reports that a six-day UN mission to Syria has concluded that civilians there urgently need more protection from the authorities’ excessive use of force. However, a UN spokesman said there was no country-wide humanitarian crisis.
The New York Times says that for the first time ever, the mayor of New York City has ordered the mandatory evacuation of coastal areas in preparation of the arrival of hurricane Irene. Millions of people living along the east coast of the US would be affected. Seven states from North Carolina to Connecticut have declared emergencies ahead of Irene's arrival, which President Obama warned could be a "historic" storm.
El Universal reports that President Felipe Calderon of Mexico has offered a $2.4-million-reward for the capture of those behind an arson attack on a casino of Thursday, in which more than 50 people died. Placing a wreath in memory of those who died, stern-looking Calderon called the attack an "act of terror".
Helsingin Sanomat says a Finnish ferry has crashed into a rock after the captain was unable to leave the toilet because the lock was jammed. The Finnish coastguard is set to investigate the incident, which left some passengers bruised and tables broken.