The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press:
The Times leads with yesterday's press conference by Médecins Sans Frontières who slammed conditions at detention centres, saying the medical condition of migrants was deteriorating as a result. It also features the talks in Malta by EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot. In another story it reports the death of a bed-ridden man in a Nadur house fire.
The Malta Independent features the official opening of a new school in Verdala, Cottonera as well as the comments by MSF and the Nadur fire.
In-Nazzjon says Stainless Steel Co. is to return to a normal working week and invest in new production lines after government investment. It also reports that there was a very strong uptake of government stocks.
l-orizzont also leads with the fatality in Nadur and reports an 'offensive' by the CMTU and the UHM against the GWU.
The Press in Britain
The Guardian suggests that taxi rapist John Worboys, who plied his victims with champagne laced with sedatives before pouncing on them in the back of his cab, may have attacked scores more women over a six-year period. The Daily Mail claims that the number could be as high as 500.
The Times leads with the same story and reports an incident in 2007 where police gave Worboys plenty of time to destroy potential evidence.
The Sun says the attacker can expect a "very substantial" jail sentence after he was found guilty of 19 charges of drugging and sexually assaulting 12 women passengers, in one case raping his victim.
The Daily Mirror also leads with the Worboys conviction, saying he may be the UK’s worst sex attacked.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson's claim that France offers Britain many important lessons in industrial policy is the lead story in the weekend edition of the Financial Times.
The Independent quotes a study which found that much of the 'new' money pumped into the UK economy by the Bank of England is ending up abroad according to a study.
The Telegraph claims the travel plans and personal details of every holidaymaker, business traveller and day-tripper who leaves the UK are to be tracked by the government in a bid to tighten border security.
Low energy lightbulb fears concern the Daily Express, which claims doctors have seen patients coming forward with skin complaints after being exposed to the UV light emitted by the new-style bulbs.
The Daily Star claims Jade Goody is hosting a final ‘farewell party’ for her loved ones this weekend.
And elsewhere…
Al-Quds al-Arabi quotes the leader of Lebanon's Islamist Hezbollah movement, Hassan Nasrallah, saying his group will never recognise Israel's right to exist.
The International Herald Tribune says cracks in the global fight against the economic downturn were on display as finance ministers of the Group of 20 nations gathered in southern England, many of them voicing alarm that the US is trying to spend its way out of the recession.
Börzen Zeitung reports that Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland would relax their strict banking secrecy rules and comply with international standards on tax evasion probes. The three countries made the concessions after similar moves by Andorra and Liechtenstein.
The Wall Street Journal says Bernard Madoff’s lawyers are appealing a judge’s decision to revoke his €7.5m bail and send him to jail to await sentencing. Dhaka Courier leads with Bangladesh's biggest shopping mall fire which killed at least seven people and injured 50 others. A helicopter plucked survivors from the roof.
Al Raayam announced that three foreign aid workers, who had been taken hostage in the war-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, have been freed. The medicial charity Doctors Without Borders confirmed the release of an Italian doctor, a Canadian nurse and a French administrator after they were kidnapped at gunpoint on Wednesday along with two Sudanese nationals.
Corriere della Sera reports that an Italian man named by German police as the main suspect in the murder of six men outside a pizza restaurant in Germany in 2007 has been arrested by Dutch police.
Christian Science Monitor quotes a Catholic Church report saying that the number of new claims of sexual abuse made against US Roman Catholic priests rose by 16 per cent to more than 800 last year. It says the Church paid more than $430 million (€333 million) in 2008 for abuse cases. Most of the money was used to compensate victims.
USA Today says an FBI investigation has been launched into civil rights violations at a Texas school for mentally disabled people where staff were allegedly filmed watching fights between residents.