The following are the top local and overseas stories in the press. The Maltese newspapers are dominated by the end of the public transport strike.

The Times says the strike has been lifted, and carries a picture of a bus leaving the Valletta terminus, past a concrete barrier put on the road by the police.

In-Nazzjon says the road to liberalization has been opened. It also reports that hearses were back at work yesterday.

l-orizzont says the transport situation is back to normal, and The Malta Independent also quotes the Prime Minister saying the way to liberalization of transport had been set.

The Press in Britain

The Daily Express reports that Prime Minister Gordon Brown “has betrayed Britain” by ratifying the Lisbon Treaty in secret earlier this week.

The Independent says an investigation has found airlines across Europe are flying planes with known defects because pilots routinely fail to report faults.

The Evening Standard reports Madeleine McCann suspect Robert Murat has accepted £600,000 (€757,000) in libel damages over claims that he was involved in her abduction. His law firm described the settlement as a record.

The Sun says the McCanns' status as suspects in the police investigation into their missing daughter Madeleine will be lifted on Monday.

The Daily Star says every four minutes a blade is used in a crime in the UK.

The Daily Mail says families have been warned that gas bills are set to hit £1,000 a year.

The Times says that the energy crunch has started to bite as fuel bills rise by a third.

The Herald reports on plans for mixed-sex prisons where men and women would be housed together and nearer their homes.

And elsewhere…

Sydney Morning Herald reports Pope Benedict telling a huge gathering of young people that they were inheriting a planet whose resources had been scarred and squandered to fuel insatiable consumption.

The Jerusalem Post says thousands have attended the burials of the two Israeli soldiers returned in a prisoner exchange with Lebanese guerrillas. The pair’s 2006 capture in a cross-border raid by Hezbollah sparked a month-long war.

The Washington Times leads with a US judge’s ruling that the war crimes trial of the former driver of Osama bin Laden can go ahead as scheduled on Monday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Irish Times says a faulty computer device was blamed for the €100m radar system meltdown at Dublin Airport last week which sparked days of travel chaos.

The Irish Independent says the first electricity obtained from tidal power in the world has been put on to the national grid in the North, in what has been described as “an important milestone for the development of the marine renewable energy sector”.

Tribune de Geneve reports the youngest son of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, Hannibal, has been arrested and charged in Geneva for allegedly assaulting two servants.

El Mundo says Spain’s Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of a Rabei Osman, an Egyptian considered to be a top suspect in the 2004 Madrid commuter train bombings, on the grounds the man had already been convicted of the same crime in Italy. Ten backpack bombs ripped through four packed rush hour commuter trains on the morning of March 11, 2004, killing 191 people and injuring more than 1,800 in Europe’s worst Islamic terror attack.

La Tribune quotes Airbus announcing a healthy order book at the end of this year's Farnborough Air Show. Airbus chief, Thomas Enders, said that the company had secured 247 firm orders and nine commitments to purchase worth more than 25 billion euros.

Dubai’s Gulf News reports that police have detained 17 foreign men for allegedly being gay and wearing women’s clothing in malls and other public places. The men were either visiting or working in Dubai.

Le Figaro says France’s health minister is working on a Bill which will prevent under-18s drinking in bars or buying alcohol. At the moment, anyone aged 16 and over can order drinks including beer and wine in bars.

Variety announces actor Billy Crystal is to join the board of directors of the foundation raising money to build a memorial to victims of the September 11 attacks.