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

Times of Malta leads with news that the freezing order request by former chief of staff Keith Schembri and former minister Konrad Mizzi was upheld. 

The judicial scrutiny comes in the wake of a ruling delivered by Madam Justice Edwina Grima in proceedings related to the Vitals case wherein former prime minister Joseph Muscat, his former minister Konrad Mizzi and former chief of staff Keith Schembri face criminal charges over their alleged involvement in the fraudulent hospitals concession. 

The newspaper also reports that a worker died after he suffered an electric shock while assembling scaffolding in St Julian’s. The victim, a 31-year-old Somali resident in Qormi, died in hospital soon after he was admitted. 

The Malta Independent similarly reports about Schembri and Mizzi's request on the new freezing order law. 

The newspaper also reports that the Malta Union of Teachers and the government agreed on a second draft of the sectoral agreement. A vote should take place next week. 

In-Nazzjon meanwhile publishes a statement by the PN about how the government continues to ignore the crises it created at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology.

In recent weeks, the post-secondary institution has been overshadowed by ongoing industrial actions, with the college remaining locked in a dispute with the Malta Union of Teachers over a long-lapsed collective agreement. 

L-orizzont reports comments by Prime Minister Robert Abela on discussions held so far between European Union heads of state in a summit in Brussels.