Good Evening, the following are today’s main stories.
Daniel Holmes, who was controversially jailed in 2011 for cannabis for cultivating cannabis has been released today.
Activists were forcibly removed from Planning Authority buildings where they were peacefully protesting the controversial fuel stations policy.
Public sector employment up by 1,469 in one year as new statistics are released by the NSO.
Tajani backs Forza Italia’s statement claiming that the rule of law breaches occurring in Malta are worse than those in Hungary.
Peter Agius, speechwriter to Tajani, will run as a PN MEP in the 2019 elections.
The Times of Malta reports that Daniel Holmes, arrested in 2006 and jailed in 2011 for cultivating marijuana, was released today. His jailing was subject to controversy as he was treated unfairly according to family members.
The Briton flew back to his homeland on Thursday after being released from Corradino prison. For years, many had considered his sentence as too tough with his family members claiming they had been “insulted, betrayed and persecuted” by the treatment.
Mr Holmes was fined €23,000 and served a 10-and-a-half year prison sentence after cultivating cannabis.The case was decided in 2011, and an appeals court confirmed the judgment in 2013.
The Times of Malta reports that the number of people employed in the public sector went up by 1,469 between April 2017 and April 2018, according to figures released by the National Statistics Office on Thursday.
In April 2018, registered full-time employment increased by 6.5 per cent while part-time employment as a primary job increased by 2.3 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2017.
All portals report the story about the environmental NGOs Moviment Graffitti and Kamp Emergenza Ambjent turned up in protest at the Planning Authority offices this morning, when a hearing about an application for the relocation of a fuel station to ODZ land in Żejtun.
Activists unfurled a streamer saying “Tiżfnu għad-daqqa tal-iżviluppaturi” (You dance to the tunes of developers) while beating a drum. They demanded that all pending applications for fuel stations be dropped until a new service station policy promised nine months ago is enacted. Acting chairman Elizabeth Ellul told the protestors that the hearing had to take place by law and invited them to address the meeting “calmly”.
When the activists refused to leave the meeting, police and RIU officers were called in who forcibly ejected them. Media footage shows the protestors being dragged out of the building, with at least two of them suffering bleeding wounds. The hearing went ahead, and the application was turned down with 10 votes cast against and one in favour.
Report on The Malta Independent
Net News reports the statement issued by the Nationalist Party after the action taken by the police and the RIU officers on the protesters.
In the meantime, the application for the new petrol station in Zejtun was refused. – One News.
Peter Agius will be running as a Nationalist MEP candidate in 2019, MaltaToday reported. Peter Agius is currently the speechwriter to Antonio Tajani.
“In some sectors it seems we are EU members in name only, given that our citizens cannot really enjoy their EU rights. We should have blue flag beaches, and yet you have the sea slime in summer. We should have EU standards for pesticides and air quality. We should have EU standards for rule of law and money laundering and so on so forth. 14 years down the line, it seems that the standards we voted for are now only on paper,” Agius said, announcing his candidature.
TVMIndustrial actions ordered for tomorrow by UĦM at Aġenzija Sapport were temporarily suspended for talks with the hope of finding a solution. It was pointed out in a Government statement that the Permanent Secretary at the Family Ministry, Mark Musu’, invited the UĦM to suspend the actions and holds negotiations on the pending issue. UĦM agreed to suspend the industrial actions tomorrow morning so that a meeting is held between both sides.
