The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press.
The Times leads with a warning by the Libyan prime minister that Gaddafi loyalists may use Malta and other countries as a base for activities to destabilise Libya.
The Malta Independent, like the other newspapers, gives prominence on page one to US diplomatic cables released yesterday. It also reports how restoring security and stability are priorities of the new Libyan government.
In-Nazzjon says the Libyan rebels have indications of where Muammar Gaddafi may be hiding. It also says that Alfred Sant had invited a Gaddafi delegation to attend the Labour Party conference.
l-orizzont said the Corinthia group made arrangements for Lawrence Gonzi to fly to Malta on a private jet from Prague last week to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting on the Libyan situation.
The overseas press
The Washington Post reports that Libyan fighters have started leaving Tripoli in preparation to attack Sirte, where many believe Muammar Gaddafi and three of his sons could be holed up waiting for a showdown. It quotes Abdul Basset Haroun al Shahaidi, a top commander in the rebels' state security services, saying he believed Gaddafi was there. In an audio statement on Thursday, Gaddafi said he had moved "the Libyan capital of the resistance" to his native Sirte, warning that his forces there were heavily armed and prepared to fight to the death.
The news comes as London's Sky News quotes the new Libyan Oil and Justice Minister Ali al Tarhouni revealing that the group had knowledge of Gaddafi's whereabouts – but they would reveal it later for fear he would go on the move. Sky also reports that a spokesman for Gaddafi's son, Saif al Islam, said he had met tribal leaders close to Tripoli as he prepared to retake the capital at the same time as negotiations were also going on between the new Libyan leadership and tribal elders in Bani Walid for a peaceful surrender.
Al Arabiya says that back in Benghazi from the Paris conference on Libya, the head of the National Transitional Council Mustafa Abdel Jalil announced that the council would move to the capital next week. "Tripoli is the permanent capital of Libya," he said, adding that the capital "deserves" the presence of the council.
Die Presse reports the UN nuclear agency has said it was "increasingly concerned" that Iran was secretly working on a nuclear weapon programme. The agency said it had new credible information about the programme and development of a new nuclear payload for a missile.
Tribune de Genève quotes federal prosecutors saying three Swiss men suspected of aiding an international nuclear smuggling ring that supplied Libya and Iran are likely to face charges this autumn. They were reacting to a report in Swiss daily Blic, which claimed that federal prosecutors and the men's lawyers were in negotiations for a shortened procedure. Such a deal could ensure politically-sensitive aspects of the investigation would not be discussed in court. The three have been under investigation by Swiss authorities for almost a decade for supplying equipment and technical know-how to a black market nuclear network led by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
The Washington Times says the US State Department has expressed regret over the diplomatic row between Israel and Turkey over the deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla last year which killed nine Turkish nationals. The US comment came after Turkey decided on Friday to downgrade the Turkish-Israeli diplomatic relations to the level of second-secretary and suspend all military ties with Israel, in response to the Jewish state's refusal to apologize for the deadly attack. A long-awaited UN report investigating the incident said Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal and appropriate, but that the raid of the flotilla was "excessive and unreasonable".
Television Nacional de Chile reports that a Chilean air force plane with 21 people aboard, including a popular local television host, has crashed in the Juan Fernandez islands off the country's Pacific coast. Rescue boats were searching for the wreckage of the plane but so far they have only found some equipment.
Giving vitamin A supplements to children under the age of five in developing countries could save 600,000 lives a year. Writing in the British Medical Journal, UK and Pakistani experts found deaths were cut by 24 per cent if children were given the vitamin. And they say taking it would also cut rates of measles and diarrhoea. The body needs vitamin A for the visual and immune systems to work properly. It is found in foods including cheese, eggs, liver and oily fish. The World Health Organization estimates that, around the world, 190 million children under the age of five may have a vitamin A deficiency.