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

Times of Malta leads with news that a footballer offered an opposing team's goalkeeper a government job if he helped Qala Saints win the Gozo football league, a court was told during the arraignment of two footballers in a match-fixing case.

The newspaper also reports that the health ministry has defended its spending on the Gozo hospital, insisting funds allocated towards the hospital “increased by at least €7million".

The Malta Independent leads its front with news that the Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises' SME Barometer for the third quarter of 2024 shows that staff shortages and unfair competition remained the most pressing issues small Maltese businesses were facing.

In a separate piece, the newspaper reports that BirdLife Malta recovered a young Black Stork with severe leg injuries from a reservoir near the prime minister’s official summer residence in Girgenti on Tuesday morning.

In-Nazzjon meanwhile published comments by PN leader Bernard Grech that the government's budget plans for 2025 will increase problems for the country.

It separately reports that the majority of businesses believe the government is headed in the wrong direction.

L-orizzont reports that the Moviment Graffitti protestors who disrupted the budget speech on Monday had entered parliament under the guise of Mcast students. 

It also reports that the government will be increasing pensions for the 10th consecutive year.