The following are the top stories in Malta's newspapers on Wednesday.

Times of Malta, The Malta Independent and l-orizzont report from court how Prime Minister Robert Abela said the government kept migrants on boats off Malta in 2020 because of the Covid health emergency, but they were kept as comfortable as possible.

Times of Malta also reports that a call for the replacement of disgraced Transport Malta director Clint Mansueto will be announced “within a month”, according to government sources.

MaltaToday, also reporting from court, says former Refugee Commissioner Robert Buhagiar had flagged concerns about migrants being kept offshore on tourist boats. The newspaper also reports that Cospicua residents fear noise from a proposed multipurpose venue on top of the former Rialto theatre. 

L-orizzont in its second story reports on the start of a 'much expected' cat neutering campaign. 

In-Nazzjon leads with how the mother of construction site victim Jean Paul Sofia is asking why the government is so forcefully resisting her calls for an independent public inquiry. It also says that no one, even within the Labour camp, is excluding allegations by author Mark Camilleri that Joseph Muscat was involved in a frame-up on Chris Fearne.