The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press today:
The Times says the battle lines are being draw for a fight over wage increases. It also reports that the Chief Justice has raised questions on the application of suspended sentences.
The Malta Independent reports that animal rescue services have been strengthened. It also says that Special schools are to become resource centres.
The reform of the Special schools is also in the focus of In-Nazzjon. The newspaper also reports that shops in Gozo my open on Sundays and public holidays, now that the whole island has been designated a tourism zone.
l-orizont quotes the GWU saying the cost of living compensation is being threatened. It also reports nine new cases of H1N1, all in Gozo.
The Press in Britain…
The death of eight British troops on foot patrol in Afghanistan, killed in separate blasts, dominates the British nationals. They tell how Britain has suffered its bloodiest day in Afghanistan since operations began, with eight service personnel killed in just 24 hours.
Other comments:
The Sun says Tory leader David Cameron has accused PM Gordon Brown of phoney patriotism. The Daily Mirror has Katie Price weeping on TV as she tells of a heartbreak miscarriage.
The Daily Express quotes Katie Price revealing how she lost a baby, just weeks before she and Peter Andre split up.
The Daily Mail reports Scotland Yard has launched a criminal inquiry into claims that MI5 agents colluded in the torture of a UK-based terror suspect.
According to The Times, household energy bills will rise by more than £200 a year under the government's low-carbon strategy being announced next week.
The Daily Telegraph quotes Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling saying voters would have to be told the truth about cuts before the general election.
The Guardian says the Home Office was pressing Scotland Yard for a comprehensive briefing on what it knows about the News of the World phone-hacking claims.
According to The Independent, Lord Ashcroft, who has given millions to the Tory Party, is to be banned by law from giving any more unless he pays tax as a UK resident.
And elsewhere…
Corriere della Sera reports that on the last day of their summit in Italy, leaders of the Group of Eight have agreed a $20 billion (€14.3 billion) aid and security package to fight global hunger and promote more productive farming in the world's poorest countries.
Le Parisien reports that Youssouf Fofana, the leader of a group that called itself a "gang of barbarians", was sentenced to life imprisonment by a French court for kidnapping and torturing a young Jewish man for more than three weeks before leaving him to die.
The Washington Post quotes Rebiya Kadeer, the leader of the exiled Uighur community in China's northwestern Xinjiang province, saying that up to 3,000 people may have died in the recent violence. Another 5,000 people had been imprisoned. Chinese state media said 184 people were killed.
Panapress reports claims by Nigeria's main rebel group, which claims it's fighting for a greater share of the oil wealth to go to locals, to have blown up for a second time a recently-repaired oil pipeline operated by US petroleum giant Chevron. The pipeline was first hit in May.
El Pais says a 27-year-old man has been gored to death during the running of the bulls festival in Pamplona. He was the 15th person to die in the annual run, but the first to be gored since 1995 when a 22-year-old American was killed.
The mystery surrounding the death and final resting place of Michael Jackson has deepened on the eve of a memorial service expected to be attended by family members in his hometown of Gary, Indiana. The Los Angeles Times says investigators probing his death have subpoenaed medical records from the star's doctors, as the head of the police department said mujrder had not been ruled out.
O Globo reports that a transvestite at the centre of a sex scandal last year involving Brazil's football star Ronaldo has died of AIDS. Andre Albertini, a 22-year-old cross-dressing man known as Andreia, was buried after passing away on Thursday. His mother said her son contracted HIV in 2006, in Rio de Janeiro.