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

Times of Malta leads with news that Isabelle Bonnici, the mother of construction victim Jean-Paul Sofia, has been selected as the newspaper's Person of the Year.

The newspaper also reports that patients who need a fractured bone operation are waiting up to three days for surgery at Mater Dei Hospital and people in emergency have been forced to wait on stretchers for up to 10 hours, as the hospital faces a chronic bed shortage.

The Malta Independent publishes details on how the footprint of Vittoriosa's lost clock tower will be marked out in the partial pedestrianising of the city's square.

It also reports on the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association's positive outlook for the Christmas period.

In-Nazzjon leads with comments by PN leader Bernard Grech who on Thursday marked 46 years from the murder of his cousin Karin.

L-orizzont publishes comments by Leo Brincat, chair of the Malta Development Bank, who said that the models the bank is based on need to be continuously updated.