Corporate Dispatch Morning Briefing and Newspaper Review

Good morning,

Dr George Vella will today be sworn in as Malta’s 10th President. He will succeed Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who served as President since 2014.

Suspected offensive in Tripoli, the lates on Brexit, Trump’s tax declarations and New Zealand’s Prime Minister help to a mother in supermarket are amongst the main news we are reporting this morning.

These are the headlines from Malta’s newspaper front pages.

The Malta Independent runs a feature on George Vella, who will today be sworn in as President of the Republic. The paper looks at the milestones in the former Minister’s political career and personal achievements. L-Orizzont also reports the appointment of Dr Vella on its front-page.

The Malta Business Weekly reports that Toly has achieved its targets of €100 million in sales two years ahead of plan. The company said that it has set a new objective or reaching €250 million business.

The Times leads with the publication of a study on migrant crossings from Libya conducted by the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime. The report says that smuggling of immigrants increased since the withdrawal of rescue missions.

The Malta Business Weekly announces that the first crypto asset agents were approved by the Financial Services Authority. 14 agents were seeking a licence since the Virtual Financial Assets Act was passed five months ago.

The Malta Independent says that the Greco report published on Wednesday makes 23 recommendations for Malta to improve anti-corruption practices. The report says that a system of sanctions against government officials is lacking. In-Nazzjon also reports about the GRECO report saying that this is another condemnation for the Maltese government.

The Times reveals that the Tax Compliance Unit retrieved €9 million from the 237 taxpayers in Malta featured in the Panama Papers leaks in 2016. Just over €5 million was paid in ‘pure tax’ and the rest in ‘omission tax and interest’,

L-Orizzont also reports a statement by a humanist and ethics teacher, about the need to discuss Euthanasia in a compassionate way without leaving the debate to run into a sensational one.

This is our selection from the main headlines from around the world. 

Libya’s Presidential Council declared a military alert Wednesday after forces loyal to commanderKhalifa Haftar were deployed to western parts of the country, Anadolu reports.

The House of Commons have narrowly approved a bill in the commons this evening, that will compel Theresa May to seek a further extension on Article 50, to prevent a no-deal exit on 12 April.

European Union lawmakers approved a law Wednesday that will allow Britons visa-free visits even after a “no deal” Brexit, despite a furious dispute over the status of Gibraltar.

Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez said lessons needed to be learned from Brexit – not least how internal differences in a single political party can swell into “a global problem”.

House Democrats have formally demanded Donald Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service, marking a major bid to obtain information about the president’s finances and business dealings.

Ukrainian Presidential candidate Volodymyr Zelensky has challenged Ukraine’s current leader to a debate.

Four armed men kidnapped an American tourist in Uganda Tuesday and have demanded $500,000 as ransom, the Ugandan Tourism Board and Ugandan police force have said.

A school district in Indiana, US has come up with a simple, yet effective solution for simultaneously tackling both student hunger and food waste.

The Australian government is seeking to rush through tough new laws targeting social media and tech companies that host violent material online despite objections from the industry.

A campaign by the French government encouraging people to register to vote in the European Parliament elections has been blocked on Twitter, officials said on Tuesday.

Jacinda Ardern has confirmed she helped an Auckland mother pay for her groceries during a recent visit to the supermarket.

A toilet-seat based cardiovascular monitoring system created by a team of Rochester Institute of Technology researchers aims to lower the hospital readmission rates of patients with congestive heart failure.

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