LATEST UPDATE Updated 1745- News Portal Briefing
Times of Malta reports The Maltese flattened sourdough bread, best known as the ftira, will be the first local product on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
MaltaToday reports that Moviment Graffitti says that the DB Group is attempting to increase the built-up area by stealth
Newsbook reports that experts are reviewing the MCAST engineering course
TVM reports that the government has welcomed revisions to the Auditor General report on risks of poverty.
Updated 1300
Covid-19 update
The Health Department reported 112 new cases of coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, with 96 recovering. The number of active cases has reached 1719. 3049 swab tests were carried out in the past 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths linked to Covid-19 has reached 180.
One out of every five at risk of poverty or social exclusion
A fifth of the Maltese population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, an EU-wide survey found.
The European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey found that 20.1% of the population fell into the at-risk category last year, while 9.9% were classified as being materially or socially deprived.
The study was published by the National Statistics Office. It set the threshold for risk of poverty at 60% of national annual income (€9,212). The largest share was registered among those over 65 (28%). The relative median at-risk-of poverty gap is an indicator which measures the extent to which the income of those persons
who are at-risk-of-poverty falls below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold.
Those who qualify as severely materially deprived include those who cannot afford a washing machine, a car and those who are unable to have a meal with meat, chicken, fish or vegitarian equivalent every second day.
Valletta businesses hopeful Christmas will help with financial recovery
Valletta businesses are hoping that a last-minute Christmas shop bonanza will turn a
miserable year into a somewhat more profitable one, according to MaltaToday.
The CEO of the Malta Chamber of SMEs told the newspaper that sales in Valletta have
started to pick up in December. However, this was not happening at the same rate as
previous years.
“We consider the public holidays on the 8th and 13th December as regular milestones to
determine retail sales levels in the buildup to Christmas,” she said. “And this year is no
different, in that we are seeing business in Valletta picking up pace, although still far below
previous years’ levels.”
Updated 0830 – Newspaper Review
The Times says that Malta was among the countries that petitioned the European Medicines Agency to accelerate the authorisation process for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. The agency will meet on December 21 instead of December 29.
In-Nazzjon quotes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who expects the first Covid-19 vaccines to start being administered in the EU by the end of the year. The European Medicines Authority will review the latest data by Pfizer on Monday.
The Independent speaks to Chamber of SMEs CEO Abigail Mamo who said that, while retail sales over Christmas will be better compared with the rest of the year, businesses anticipate a drop of 30 to 50 percent from last year.
L-Orizzont says that the Customs Department is investing in new technology that scans luggage going through the airport. Customs head Joseph Chetcuti said that frequent flight from the UK after Brexit will increase the volume of arrivals from outside the EU.
The Times quotes a government statement in reaction to the decision by the Caruana Galizia public inquiry board to extend beyond the December deadline set by the Prime Minister. The statement read that the inquiry will have to carry the ‘consequences’ of its actions alone.
The Independent says that the government criticised the Caruana Galizia public inquiry for unilaterally taking the decision to extend the period of the inquiry. The board on Monday said that it needed more time to bring the process to its “just fulfilment”.
In-Nazzjon says that Education Minister Justyne Caruana declined questions by the paper about the American University of Malta, which reported a loss of over €11 million in the period between 2018 and 2019.
L-Orizzont reports that the courts did not find former Castille operative Neville Gafà guilty of threatening an Italian journalist with a tweet advising him to stop his ‘dirty business’. The sentence read that the journalist failed to prove how he was being threatened.
Morning Briefing
War of words between Government and Caruana Galizia Public Inquiry Board
Tensions escalated between the Public Inquiry Board looking into the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination and Government, with the latter telling the judges presiding it that once they had taken it upon themselves to extend the inquiry’s deadline and its terms of reference, they must now assume responsibility for the consequences.
Prime Minister Robert Abela had given yesterday as an extended deadline to the board, but on Monday the judges said they needed more time to conclude their work, and they said the inquiry would therefore continue past the new deadline. They pointed out in particular they needed to know about the findings of data from electronic devices analysed by Europol which will become available in January.
However, Government said that “the board has taken upon itself the right to extend its deadline indefinitely. The board has also decided that it alone has the right to determine the limits of its terms of reference. The board has to assume responsibility for its decisions and its consequences.”
Edward Scicluna resigns from MP
Former Finance Minister Edward Scicluna has formally brought to an end his role as a Member of Parliament to take on the role of Governor of the Central Bank of Malta.
In his farewell speech, Scicluna called for an improved relationship between the political parties in the room, while also the need for institutions to be transparent.
An economist himself, he expressed hope that Parliament managed to attract not solely lawyers and doctors but also economists, accountants, architects, people who study arts and people from other backgrounds in society.
Government to come up with 10-year tourism plan
The Government will be drafting a strategy for the tourism sector to cover the next ten years. Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced this during a meeting with the MHRA.
Bartolo said: “We are working on various schemes which wil be announced shortly. The work is being carried out by the Tourism Ministry and the Tourism Authority to see how we can once again attract tourists to our country and look forward in the long term to obtain the title of destination of excellence in the tourism sector.”
Minister Bartolo said that it is important for the tourist product to be genuine and to reach a level of excellence. He praised investors in this sector for continuing to invest and work hard so that it can keep moving forward despite the challenges which the pandemic has brought with it.
Covid-19: Status Update
49 cases of coronavirus were reported on Tuesday, identified from 24,46 swab tests. With 101 persons recovering, the number of active cases now stands at 1,706. Three COVID-19 patients died on Monday at Mater Dei Hospital, meaning the death count has now reached 177. The three victims are two women, aged 99 and 94 respectively, and an 86 year old man
CDE News
