Malta Evening News Roundup

Good evening

These are the news as featured on Malta’s news portals.

Prime Minister  Joseph Muscat assured Parliament that Malta’s relations with Italy are good, despite what he called provocation from certain elements within the Italian government. Dr Muscat was speaking in a reply to an Opposition question following a statement he made on the recent disembarkation of 49 migrants in Malta. The Prime Minister stated that he is building a good relationship with Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, adding that Government ministers report cordial relations with Italian ministers in bilateral meetings during international meetings. He stressed that we shouldn’t allow difficulties that emerge to misguide the relations between the two countries. –TVM 

The Shift News says that it is being targeted by a cyber attack that is threatening to take the site down. The news portal says that the ‘well-funded, professional attack’ comes after it revealed details of the deal struck in the transfer of three formerly public hospitals to private ownership.

In their story, The Shift reveals how the controversial takeover of Technoline last year by one of its managers who put up €5 million to buy out his bosses only months before the company was granted a lucrative deal on Malta’s public hospitals, was funded by the hidden owners of Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH) through their Jersey companies.

The Corinthia Group dismissed stories saying that it is planning to build twelve tower blocks in St George’s Bay. Speaking to LovinMalta, the hotel group said that it wants to attract six-star clients and that overdevelopment would defeat the whole purpose.

Meanwhile, Net News reports that the government has granted Corinthia full rights for land reclamation in the area surrounding the peninsula. The website says that the company denies that it has plans to actually build on the seabed.

Budget measures extending free public transport to young people between 14 and 20, as well as full-time students over 21 came into effect today. The Times reports that the initiative is estimated to cost €3.3 million over the year.

The case filed by Manuel Delia against the Minister of Culture and the Cleansing Department director was heard in court today. The Malta Independent says that among the witnesses was PN MP Karol Aquilina who testified that a person caught clearing the impromptu memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia was identified as an OPM official.

Infrastructure Malta has received seven offers for the formation of expert teams to plan and implement the Gozo-Malta tunnel with an average value of €10.5 million. One News announced that in the next months, the Ministry for Transport will publish international calls for the development of the project.

The storms are having their toll on the Parliament building in Valletta as rainwater has been gushing in. Newsbook reports ‘extraordinary damage’ that results in water leaking in several parts of the three-year-old building.

A woman has come out of Intensive Care after undergoing liver transplant surgery. TVM speaks to the woman’s daughters-in-law who said that with every passing hour, patient Helen Caruana is growing stronger.