Times of Malta says the counting hall will be restricted to those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, Chief Electoral Commissioner Joseph Camilleri said.
MaltaToday says that The government has announced historic amendments to the criminal code to introduce the concept of femicide that will be tabled in parliament this afternoon.
Newsbook says that the group of children whose assault of a 12-year-old girl was captured on video were planning to attack her again, her parents have revealed to Newsbook.com.mt.
TVM says that a 42 year old man from Gudja lost his life in a traffic accident in Gudja.
Updated 1245 – Mid-Day Briefing
EC unhappy with Malta’s shorter vaccine certificate
The European Commission for Health pushed for streamlining of vaccine certificate rules, suggesting that Malta’s approach differed from the EC’s proposals, adding that such action could lead to “fragmentation which weakens a common response to the crisis”. In comments to the Times of Malta, Stella Kyriakides said, while member states can decide on domestic uses of the certificate, the commission is urging countries to implement the same rules to avoid “disruption and confusion”. According to new rules introduced in January, the Maltese vaccine certificate is considered expired once three months from the second dose have passed or nine months from the booster dose.
MUT files police report on online hate speech
The MUT has filed a report to the Commissioner of Police on alleged hate speech and incitement of violence against particular educators. The comments appeared on Facebook as a comment under a news page in the past few hours. The MUT is calling for an investigation and action to protect the educators. The said it had sent screenshots with all the details to the Commissioner of Police. According to other media reports, the alleged perpetrators called for educators to be ‘hung’ after failing to address violence issues at a particular schools.
Covid-19 Update
227 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday, along 353 recoveries. During the past 24 hours, five men aged between 78 and 86 died while Covid-19 positive, taking the death tally to 556. 94 persons remain in hospital, five in ITU.
Morning Briefing
Femicide to be included in Maltese criminal code
PM Robert Abela has announced that femicide is to be introduced as a concept in the criminal code, with Cabinet agreeing to the change as part of amendments to “strengthen our fight against gender-based violence”. The decision was taken four weeks after the brutal murder of Paulina Dembska, a Polish student who was raped and killed in a Sliema garden.While certain crimes already carry a harsher punishment under Maltese law if they are deemed gender-based, this does not apply to murder. (Times of Malta)
Green NGOs want pipeline funding to be refused
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth want EU funding to be limited to renewable energy projects and therefore exclude the gas pipeline proposal. The project that was included with Malta arguing that the use of gas was as a “transitional” fuel to hydrogen. The EP Industry Committee will be debating the issue later today, with a vote expected next week. The NGOs want funding to be limited to projects that are in line with EU legal commitments under the Paris Agreement and European Green Deal, namely “electricity projects which can deliver renewable and clean energy”. (Maltatoday)
Covid-19 update: There were 249 new cases of Covid-19 and 266 recoveries in the last 24 hours. Active cases stand at 2954 and there are 102 patients being treated at Mater Dei hospital. Five of these cases are in the ITU. During the last 24 hours, a woman aged 57 years died.
