1745- Latest News update
Times of Malta says Malta has eased one of the last remaining pandemic travel rules by ending a restriction that required people without a vaccine or recovery certificate to present a negative COVID-19 test before entry.
MaltaToday says a former Gaming Authority technology officer now facing money laundering charges had no work-related reason to access the agency’s procurement database, a court has been told.
Newsbook says a teenager from Togo has been described as a hero for saving a four-month-old baby after the boat they were on got shipwrecked off the Libyan coast last week. Both the baby and the mother were later airlifted to Malta.
TVM says Luke Zammit Haber, a 30-year-old resident of Xewkija Gozo, has been remanded in custody at the Corradino Correctional Facility after being arraigned in the Gozo Court on various charges including having cultivated dozens of cannabis plants in a field, limits of Xewkija.
Updated 1155 – Mid-Day Briefing
Underworld knew of impending Caruana Galizia murder arrests – reports
Concerning revelations on the aftermath of the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder continue to emerge, with the Times of Malta reporting that plans to carry out a dangerous raid on the journalist’s suspected killers were leaked to the “underworld”. This was revealerd by one of the suspect’s former lawyers has confirmed. Arthur Azzopardi, the ex-lawyer of self-confessed killer Vince Muscat, recounted that an “intermediary” had approached him with details of the planned December 2017 Marsa raid, days in advance. Speaking in a Wondery podcast called ‘Who killed Daphne’ hosted by Reuters’ Stephen Grey, Azzopardi said the intermediary asked him to prepare for the eventual arrests, so he could represent one of the suspected bomb triggermen.
Nurses Union says hospital congested with Covid cases
The Nurses Union lamented the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases being admitted to Mater Dei Hospital and expressed concerned about a community outbreak that is no longer visible to anybody save the nurses on the hospital wards. The Union said that a host of wards are now taking in COVID-19 patients that previously hosted inpatients assigned to medical wards. Several wards that once housed inpatients allocated to medical wards are now accepting COVID-19 patients, it said. “With nothing to increase capacity, for a population that today includes a growing foreign cohort of 100,000 people, what we’re seeing here is a big issue in the community that the government is not talking about.” Paul Pace, Union President, said that the congestion being experienced currently in hospital is typical of Winter months, not mid-Summer.
Covid-19 Update
Overnight fatalities of three Covid-19 patients raise the overall number of pandemic-related deaths in Malta to 762. According to the most recent daily report from the health authorities, 355 new instances of the disease have been discovered during 1,904 tests. There are already 450 individuals who have been determined to have fully recovered, bringing the total number of known active cases to 7,764.
Morning Briefing
Lawyers argue Mario Philip Azzopardi doesn’t own rights over controversial play
Lawyers for blogger Manuel Delia assert that writer Mario Philip Azzopardi, who is suing Delia for violating copyright by leaking the play’s script, does not possess ownership rights to the contentious play Ix-Xiha. They believe that Stagun Teatru Malti, a theater group, is the rightful owner. The defense team for Delia brought up this concern in their response to an application in which Azzopardi sought to file charges against the blogger and activist for disseminating the playscript that was based on the deceased journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. (Times of Malta)
Paceville no more dangerous then other localities – Superintendent
Despite the fact that fights in the middle of the night are not uncommon, Paceville’s superintendent Melvyn Camilleri has downplayed the idea that the community is becoming more violent with time. Camilleri, who is in charge of the St. Julian’s police district, stated that he was more inclined to link worries about Paceville to a “moral panic” that results from people noticing something unusual and interpreting it as posing a greater threat than it actually does, frequently as a result of increased media attention to the relevant issue. (Maltatoday)
Archbishop calls for resistance to culture of waste
Archbishop Charles Scicluna emphasised his opposition to the introduction of pre-implantation genetic testing – as foreseen in the IVF Bill approved by Parliament last Wednesday – as he celebrated mass on Sunday morning. The Archbishop appealed to the faithful to resist a “culture of waste” – one often decried by Pope Francis – that made it acceptable to cast people, including the unborn, aside, and insisted that whatever the legal status of abortion was, they were compelled to choose the “law of love”. (Newsbook)
