The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times reports how Seif al-Islam said last night that the fight in Libya goes on. It also reports the arrival in Malta last night of a top Libyan Transitional Council delegation.
The Malta Independent reports how, according to the Associated Press, Malta is to receive $4.7m from the United States for military equipment and training.
l-orizzont recalls how former Tunisian leader Ben Ali had, like Gaddafi, had also been honoured by Malta, in 2005. It also asks if Beppe Fenech Adami will take over from Carm Mifsud Bonnici because of failures in that ministry.
In-Nazzjon carries a picture of Muammar Gaddafi with Dom Mintoff, pointing out how the former Libyan leader came to Malta seven times under Labour governments.
The overseas press
The Wall Street Journal reports that inflation in the eurozone was stable in August while the number of unemployed people in the currency area rose for a third consecutive month in July. Figures issued by Eurostat showed that annual inflation was steady at 2.5 per cent in August. The number of unemployed people across the single-currency area rose by 61,000 in July to 3,143,000, of whom 20.5 were under the age of 25. Unemployment in the whole of the EU rose to 5,115,000, the under 25s accounting for 20.7 per cent.
France 24 says 60 world leaders and top-level envoys meet in Paris today to discuss Libya's future. The gathering is likely to focus on unfreezing billions in Libyan funds held abroad and reconciling differences over how to deal with the new Libya. President Sarkozy told French diplomats the conference would “turn the page of the dictatorship and the fighting, and open a new era of cooperation with democratic Libya”.
Le Soir reports that Nato forces have bombed some 37 targets near Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, southeast of Tripoli. The nearby town of Bani Walid, which rebels say was a possible hideout for the fugitive leader, was also hit. The alliance has assured its Libyan allies it would keep up its military drive from the air in an attempt to end the conflict. A Nato spokesman said that it was now focusing on the the corridor between Bani Walid and the eastern edge of Sirte.
Meanwhile, in telephone calls to Arab TV stations within minutes of each other last night, two men claiming to be Gaddafi's sons sent conflicting messages to the Libyan people. A man identifying himself as Seif al-Islam Gaddafi urged his father's supporters to fight the rebels to the death. He told the Syrian-based Al-Rai TV he was calling from a suburb of Tripoli and that his father was fine. In a separate phone call to the Al-Arabiya TV, a man identifying himself as al-Saadi said he was officially empowered to negotiate with the rebels to stop the bloodshed. He said he spoke for his father and regime military commanders in calling for talks. Rebel leaders have repeatedly said they would not negotiate until Gaddafi was gone. Meanwhile, Gaddafi himself was reported to have made a radio broadcast to the people of Sirte warning them that the would be slaughtered by opposition forces if they headed an ultimatum to surrender on Saturday. The whereabouts of Gaddafi are unknown.
The messages from the Gaddafi brothers followed reports that rebels had captured Gaddafi's Foreign Minister Abdelati Obeidi. Reuters said Obeidi was arrested at his farm in Janzour, a suburb of Tripoli.
Al Jazeera reports that in another development on Wednesday, at least four Libyan fighters were killed in Tripoli in a blast that went off as residents, already rejoicing at the fall of Gaddafi's regime, celebrated Eid-al-Fitr. Some residents said it was a car bomb and the blast was carried out by Gaddafi loyalists.
Asharq Al-Awsat says Syrian security forces searching for anti-government protesters have raided houses in central Syria. Activists said troops backed by tanks and military vehicles entered districts in Homs and Hama as part of efforts to crush street protests against President Bashar Assad. The raids come a day after security forces killed seven people as thousands of protesters poured out of mosques and marched through cemeteries at the start of Eid al-Fitr.
NRC Handelsblad reports that Dutch police have uncovered some 220,000 child pornography photos and videos on "hidden" websites, including four in the US. The discovery was made as part of the far-reaching investigation into a suspected pedophile who was arrested in Amsterdam last year. He is accused of abusing dozens of young children while he worked in at least two Amsterdam nursery schools.
According to O Globo, more than 1,000 funeral workers in Sao Paulo are on strike, delaying the release of bodies for burial and frustrating relatives of the deceased. They said in a statement that the strike would go on until city officials met their demands for a 40 per cent salary increase and better working conditions.
Le Parisien reports that President Nicolas Sarkozy's office has vigorously denied new claims that he personally took undeclared campaign cash from the heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics fortune five years ago. The leader of France's main opposition party, Socialist Martine Aubry, called for a new investigation into whether Sarkozy received illegal campaign cash from Liliane Bettencourt, Europe's richest woman. An accountant for Bettencourt said a year ago that she gave €50,000 in cash in 2007 to Sarkozy's presidential campaign – well beyond the €4,600 legal limit on individual donations.
The Manchester Evening News says a 100-year-old retired hairdresser has been told her breast cancer had not returned a year on after she underwent surgery. Dorothy Affleck, from Hyde, Greater Manchester, is thought to be one of the oldest patients in the world to undergo breast surgery. Because of her age, she had to undergo a two-hour operation under local anaesthetic to remove a tumour instead of the more commonly used general anaesthetic.