CDE News - CorporateDispatchBe Informed

IEA ups oil demand forecast as vaccinations brighten outlook

14th April 2021

Vaccine rollouts are brightening the outlook for global oil demand, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Wednesday, though rising cases in some major oil-consuming countries show a recovery may be fragile. "Fundamentals look decidedly stronger," the IEA said in its monthly report. "The massive overhang in global oil inventories that built up during last year's COVID-19 demand shock is being worked off, vaccine campaigns are gathering pace and the global economy appears to be ...

Malta: Passengers between the islands decrease by a third

14th April 2021

The number of passengers crossing between Malta and Gozo in the first quarter this year decreased by 31.5 percent compared with the same period in 2020. Figures by the National Statistics Office show that a total of 710,749 persons travelled between Malta and Gozo in the first three months of 2021. February accounted for the largest number of passengers, totalling 261,636, but it also recorded the biggest month-on-month drop from over 429,000 in 2020. The number of vehicles decreased by 14.3 pe...

NATO forces to leave together from Afghanistan

14th April 2021

A coalition of NATO-led troops in Afghanistan will leave the country in coordination with a planned U.S. withdrawal by Sept. 11, Washington's top diplomat said on Wednesday, ahead of a formal announcement of the end of two decades of fighting. Around 7,000 non-U.S. forces from mainly NATO countries, but also from Australia, New Zealand and Georgia, outnumber the 2,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan but still rely on U.S. air support, planning and leadership for their training mission. U.S. Se...

Malta: Nine students for every teacher in schools

13th April 2021

The overall ratio between teachers and the student population stood at 9.2 in the academic year 2018-2019. Data by the National Statistics Office shows that the ratio was lowest in state schools with 8.3 students per teacher. It rose to 11.2 in church schools and 12.4 in private schools. The total number of teachers and academic staff was 9,317, an increase of 2.0 percent from the preceding year. Slightly over a quarter of these were engaged in upper secondary and post-secondary education while...

WTO chief seeks solutions to ‘glaring’ vaccine inequity

13th April 2021

The head of the World Trade Organization said on Monday a meeting this week to tackle "glaring" inequity in COVID-19 vaccine allocation will be attended by major manufacturers and look at solutions such as firing up idle or under-used manufacturing plants in Africa and Asia. WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former Nigerian minister and World Bank executive who took up the position last month, has vowed to "forget business as usual" at the ailing 25-ye...

Malta: Retail sector registers sharpest drop in the EU

12th April 2021

The volume of retail trade fell for a second consecutive month in February, decreasing by 1.5 percent from January. Data by Eurostat shows that the drop in Malta was the highest among EU members, followed by France and Hungary (both -1.2%). The retail sector in the EU27 registered a 2.9 percent month-on-month increase, driven by non-food products (+6.2%) and automotive fuels in specialised stores (+2.4%). Austria recorded a 28.2 percent increase in total volume of retail trade, the highest incr...

Malta: Fewer tourists but longer stays in February

12th April 2021

Inbound tourism in February dropped nearly 94 percent compared with the same month last year, with a total of 9,151 visitors. Figures by the National Statistics Office, however, show that the average length of stay more than doubled from 5.8 nights in 2020 to 12.4 nights this year. Almost nine in every ten visitors were from the EU and 6,940 were from the euro area. Holidaymakers accounted for 61 percent of all tourists while 2,281 travelled for business purposes and 1,306 visited for health, e...

Why do the age recommendations keep changing? – AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine FAQ answered

11th April 2021

The Conversation - Many people have questions about the changing guidelines for the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine. Here are some answers from infectious disease specialist Dr. Alexander Wong. ChADOx1 nCoV-19/AZD1222 (AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, also called the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and COVISHIELD) uses a modified adenovirus “vector” to deliver the genetic code for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein to the cell nucleus. This vector has been modified so that it can enter human cells...

Archaeology in West Africa could rewrite the textbooks on human evolution

11th April 2021

Our species, Homo sapiens, rose in Africa some 300,000 years ago. The objects that early humans made and used, known as the Middle Stone Age material culture, are found throughout much of Africa and include a vast range of innovations. Among them are bow and arrow technology, specialised tool forms, the long-distance transport of objects such as marine shells and obsidian, personal ornamentation, the use of pigments, water storage, and art. Although it is possible that other ancestors of mod...

WHO chief laments ‘shocking imbalance’ in COVID-19 shot distribution

10th April 2021

There is a “shocking imbalance” in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide and most countries do not have anywhere near enough shots to cover health workers and others at high-risk, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. More than 700 million jabs have been administered worldwide against the disease, but 87% have gone to high income or upper middle-income countries, with low income countries receiving just 0.2%, he said. “On average in high-income countries, alm...

Malta: January accounted for a fifth of language students in 2020

8th April 2021

The number of students enrolled in English as a Foreign Language courses last year was just under 14,500, a drop of more than two-thirds from 83,610 registered in 2019. Data by the National Statistics Office shows that January emerged as the strongest month, with 3,480 students in language schools and consistent with the previous year. July was the second-highest month in terms on numbers, reaching 3,041 students, but this figure also represents the biggest year-on-year decline in 2020. The pre...

World food price index rises in March for 10th month running -FAO

8th April 2021

World food prices rose for a 10th consecutive month in March, hitting their highest level since June 2014, led by jumps in vegetable oils, meat and dairy indices, the United Nations food agency said on Thursday. The Food and Agriculture Organization's food price index, which measures monthly changes for a basket of cereals, oilseeds, dairy products, meat and sugar, averaged 118.5 points last month versus a slightly revised 116.1 in February. The February figure was previously given as...

Malta: House prices up by 2.5 percent in last quarter of 2020

8th April 2021

House prices in Malta rose by 2.5 percent from the third to the fourth quarter 2020, almost double the average increase registered in the EU. The House Price Index released by Eurostat shows that Malta had the seventh highest quarter-on-quarter expansion in the final three months last year. The highest increases were recorded in in Cyprus and Luxembourg (both +4.7%), Lithuania (+3.9%) and Estonia (+3.8%). Spain and Hungary were the only member states to register decreases at 0.8 percent and 0.7...

Causal link between AstraZeneca shot and clots “plausible but not confirmed” – WHO

7th April 2021

GENEVA, April 7 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization's advisory vaccine safety panel said on Wednesday a causal link between the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and rare cases of blood clots with low platelets is "considered plausible but is not confirmed". The independent experts, in a statement issued after a review of the latest global data, said that specialised studies were needed to fully understand the potential relationship between vaccination and possible risk factors. "It is i...

Malta: Social Security bill rose by €80 million in 2020

7th April 2021

Expenditure on Social Security Benefits totalled €1.076.9 million in 2020, an increase of 7.9 percent from the previous year. Figures by the National Statistics Office showed a consistent rise year-on-year from 2011, driven by both Contributory and Non-Contributory benefits. Contributory benefits amounted to €878.3 million in 2020, up by €63.4 million from 2019. Old age retirement benefits made just over three-fourths of these benefits, totalling €598.2 million. The expenditure on Covid-19 bene...

WHO says AstraZeneca benefits outweigh risks; assessing latest data

6th April 2021

The World Health Organization expects there will be no reason to change its assessment that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 outweigh any risks, a regulatory official told a news conference on Tuesday. The WHO is closely studying the latest data alongside European and other regulators, in light of reports of blood clots among people who have been vaccinated, said Rogerio Gaspar, WHO director of regulation and prequalification. He said the WHO expects to reach a fre...

Ukraine says NATO path is only way to end war in eastern region

6th April 2021

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Tuesday that a path towards membership of NATO was the only way to end war in the eastern Donbass region after speaking to the transatlantic military alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg by phone. He also called on NATO member states to strengthen their military presence in the Black Sea region to act as a "powerful deterrent" to Russia. via Reuters

First round of applications for ERASMUS+ projects under the European funding programme 2021 – 2027 now open

6th April 2021

The Erasmus+ programme is now welcoming applications under the new 2021-2027 funding period. The programme aims to promote mobility opportunities for young people, along with other mobility opportunities for all those involved in the educational and vocational sector. Any public or private body active in the fields of education, training, youth and sport may apply for funding within the Erasmus+ Programme. All those who work with young people, but do not form part of an organization, are sti...

Claims that vaccinated people are more likely to infect others have no scientific basis – WHO

6th April 2021

The World Health Organization (WHO) has strongly denied claims that Covid-19 vaccines were among the factors causing the spread of new variants of the virus. These reports were being fuelled particulaly in France, alleging that vaccinated people were more likely to infect others with stronger stains of the coronavirus. The leading health body, as well as other immunologists, have insisted that such claims are not only unfounded but have no scientific basis. Speaking on Euronews, a WHO spo...

Israel’s Netanyahu in court for corruption trial

5th April 2021

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's legal and political troubles will play out simultaneously on Monday, at his corruption trial and in the president's residence. Judges ordered Netanyahu to be in court for the prosecution's opening argument on three cases involving charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Meanwhile, President Reuven Rivlin will begin talks over who should lead the next government after a fourth inconclusive election on March 23. A man wearing a mask...

A crack at freedom

4th April 2021

by Jesmond Saliba The angry crowds that filled the streets of Tunisia in 2011 shouted “Employment, freedom, dignity”, a slogan that would echo in other revolts across the Middle East. Soon, that demand transformed into an outright call for state leaders to resign. The dramatic events carried a tinge of optimism and confidence, but ten years later, many observers express pessimism if not utter disappointment at the “Arab Winter” that followed the uprisings. None of the Arab Spring nations ...

Is that a good egg? How chocolate makers rate on social and environmental measures

3rd April 2021

Easter is the biggest chocolate-buying time of the year. But who’s really paying for the cost of that chocolate? The second annual report on the social and environmental performance of the world’s major chocolate makers show human exploitation and environmental degradation continue to be key ingredients in many chocolate products. It is a collaboration between five advocacy groups – Be Slavery Free, German-based social justice organisation INKOTA and US environmental outfits Green America...

FACTBOX-Global train accidents with highest fatalities over past decade

2nd April 2021

A Taiwan express train with almost 500 aboard derailed in a tunnel on Friday, killing at least 48 passengers and injuring 66 in the island's worst rail disaster in almost four decades. https://cde.news/taiwan-train-derails-at-least-four-dead-many-injured/ Following is a list of train accidents around the world with the most fatalities over the past decade: Oct. 31, 2019 - Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan. At least 64 people killed, 30 injured due to a fire on a passenger train Sept. 5, 20...

Suez Canal blockage: how cargo ships like Ever Given became so huge, and why they’re causing problems

2nd April 2021

The six-day blockage of the Suez Canal by a megaship named Ever Given came to an end on March 29 after salvage teams used dredging and tug boats to heave the vessel back into operation. The capacity of a single vessel to block one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors, creating a traffic jam of hundreds of boats, has sparked a debate about the ever-growing size of megaships, with the Ever Given’s accident taken as evidence that they’ve simply become too large. At 400 metres long, the ...

Opinion – Europe really needs to get its shot together

2nd April 2021

Italy, the first developed nation to get thoroughly thwacked by the coronavirus, earlier this week began allowing some pharmacies to provide Covid-19 vaccines to eligible citizens. While that’s more than two months behind the UK and United States, it’s at least a step forward. So, it’s unfortunate to see Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government spending so much of its political capital arguing about another bewildering measure it unveiled this week in the name of protecting people from the viru...

Opinion – AstraZeneca could use a shot of under-promising

2nd April 2021

Pascal Soriot must be wondering what he has done to deserve it. Having developed a cheap and effective Covid-19 vaccine in super-quick time and offered to the world at cost, the AstraZeneca chief executive is now a political punchbag between governments bickering over supplies. His best bet is to keep his head down and promises to a minimum. AstraZeneca has a good product in high demand. But it may take a refresh of the board and chairman’s role to overcome the dent to its credibility. Amid ...

U.N. experts alarmed by Russian security contractors’ ‘abuses’ in Central Africa

1st April 2021

U.N. experts expressed alarm over reports of executions and other abuses by Russian security contractors in Central African Republic and over their close contacts with U.N. peacekeepers. Russia first sent security contractors to CAR in 2018. It stepped up its support late last year to help the government fend off a rebel advance launched before the Dec. 27 presidential election. Since then, the contractors have accompanied national forces as they retake towns from the rebels, CAR’s go...

WHO says Europe vaccine rollout ‘unacceptably slow’ amid ‘worrying’ case surge

1st April 2021

Europe's rollout of vaccinations against COVID-19 is "unacceptably slow," the World Health Organization's European head said on Thursday, raising concern that delays in giving shots could prolong the pandemic as cases of variants spread. Only 10% of the region's population have received one vaccine dose, and 4% have completed a full course, Hans Kluge said. "The rollout of these vaccines is unacceptably slow," he said in a statement. "... We must speed up the process by ramping up manufac...

Malta: Public expenditure grew by almost a fifth in 2020

30th March 2021

Total government expenditure rose to €5.82 billion in 2020 from €4.96 billion the previous year. Figures by the National Statistics Office show that Capital Expenditure increased by 86 percent year-on-year as, reaching €1.04 billion by December 2020. Of this, €384 million went for the Covid-19 Business Assistance Programme. Recurrent Expenditure stood at €4.64 billion, a rise of €423 million from 2019. Two-thirds of the increase was spent on Programmes and Initiatives, which included medicines ...

World leaders back idea of treaty on future pandemics

30th March 2021

Leaders of 23 countries and the World Health Organization on Tuesday backed an idea to create an international treaty that would help deal with future health emergencies like the coronavirus pandemic by tightening rules on sharing information. The idea of such a treaty, also aimed at ensuring universal and equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for pandemics, was floated by the chairman of European Union leaders, Charles Michel, at a summit of the Group of 20 ...

Egyptian royal mummies to parade on Cairo’s roads

30th March 2021

Egypt is is preparing to transfer royal mummies from ancient Egypt from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square in the center of the Egyptian capital to their final destination at the National Museum of Egyptian Civilisation (NMEC) in its southeastern outskirts. In an official statement, cultural authorities said that the parade will be held at 6 PM on Saturday and will showcase 22 mummies (18 kings and 4 queens) dating back to between the seventeenth and twentieth dynasties. The parade will...

Prof Charmaine Gauci hints at re-opening of schools

30th March 2021

Health Superintendent Prof Charmaine Gauci today gave a strong hint that schools might re-open after the Easter holidays, saying that authorities have done all they could to allow school to re-open. The matter has been the subject of intense debates among educators, parents and students. With cases going down to below 1,000, and with the lowest count of new cases registered on Tuesday, many have brought up again the issue of whether kids will be back behind their desks after the end of the h...

COVID-19 probably passed from bats through another animal – WHO report

29th March 2021

A joint WHO-China study on the origins of COVID-19 says that the virus was probably transmitted from bats to humans through another animal, and that a lab leak was "extremely unlikely" as a cause, a summary seen by Reuters said on Monday. The WHO did not immediately reply to a query seeking comment, but said the full report by the independent experts would be published on Tuesday at 1400 GMT after member states have been briefed. The findings, first reported by the Associated Press,...

Malta: Three-fourths of current jobseekers registered within the last year

29th March 2021

Registered unemployment stood at 2,585 in February, with 76.8 percent of jobseekers only added to the register during the previous twelve months. Data by JobsPlus and released by the National Statistics Office shows a year-on-year increase of 926 people in registered unemployment. There were 895 female jobseekers in February 2021, almost 400 more than a year earlier, while the number or registered unemployed males increased by 530 year-on-year to reach 1,690. Compared with January 2021, howeve...

Malta: All producer groupings register price increase from last year

29th March 2021

The Industrial Producer Price Index stood at 108.90 in February, a decrease of 0.74 percent from January but up by 0.51 compared to February 2020. Figures by the National Statistics Office showed a year-on-year increase in both domestic and non-domestic prices, rising by 1.16 percent and 0.09 percent, respectively. In January this year, industrial producer prices for the domestic market were 0.02 percent higher than in February, while non-domestic prices fell by 1.20 percent from the first to t...

North Korea accuses U.N. Security Council of ‘double standard’ over missile tests

29th March 2021

North Korea said on Monday that the U.N. Security Council showed a double standard as its sanctions committee criticised the country's recent missile test as a violation of U.N. resolutions. North Korea launched a new type of tactical short-range ballistic missile last week, prompting Washington to request a gathering of the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) sanctions committee. At the committee meeting on Friday, the United States called for imposing additional sanctions...

The seasons of a revolution – Dr Tonio Borg

28th March 2021

by Tonio Borg The popular revolts that raged across the Arab region in 2011 were a turning point, but the direction of change varied from country to country. Dr Tonio Borg, Malta’s Foreign Affairs Minister at the time, reflects on the events in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya from a Euro-Mediterranean perspective. THE UNCONTROLLABLE SPREAD OF THE UPRISINGMany observers were surprised that the Arab Spring started in Tunisia, which had the more liberal policies in the region andmaintained good re...

U.N. migration agency says 2,276 persons died trying to reach Europe last year but true toll higher

27th March 2021

More than 2,200 people perished at sea trying to reach Europe last year, more than a third on the increasingly busy route to Spain’s Canary Islands, the U.N. migration agency. The true toll is probably far higher as aid groups reported at least five “invisible shipwrecks” that were never confirmed as they left no survivors, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said. In all, 2,276 migrants are known to have drowned while 86,448 arrived by sea in Europe in 2020, IOM said i...

The unbroken promise of Libya

26th March 2021

by John Naudi ‘Democracy!… Stability!… Prosperity!’. These were a few of the buzz words used by many when the political uprisings and widespread protests erupted in 2011, known as the Arab Spring, and had shaken the entire North Africa region. History today tells us that the uprisings across the region did succeed in toppling the dictators in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Thereality however is that they have produced only modest political, social, and economic benefits for some of the region’...

Malta: Youth employment rate drops by five points in a year

25th March 2021

The rate of employment among the 15-24 age bracket stood at 47.3 in the last quester of 2020, a decrease of 5.4 percentage points in the same period a year before. Data released by the National Statistics Office that the decline in the total rate of employment year-on-year was 0.1 percentage point, reaching 73.8 percent in 2020. The rate showed a decrease among people aged 55-64, from 52.5 in 2019 to 51.3 last year. The 25-54 age bracket, however, registered an increase of 1.1 percentage points...

Malta: Three in ten inactive women choose personal life

25th March 2021

Just under 32 percent of inactive women in the final quarter of last year said they were not working or looking for a job because of personal or family responsibilities. Data published by the National Statistics Office shows that there were 100,295 inactive women between October and December 2020. The number of inactive men stood at slightly over 64,700, with more than 46,000 (71.1%) having either reached retirement or taken early retirement. Buy contrast, the share of women who were inactive f...

Fifth instalment of SURE financial support to Member States

25th March 2021

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has disbursed €9 billion to seven EU Member States in the fifth instalment of financial support to Member States under the SURE instrument. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Commission sets research & innovation priorities for a sustainable future

25th March 2021

by Keith Zahra The European Commission has adopted the first strategic plan for Horizon Europe, the new EU research and innovation programme worth €95.5 billion in current prices. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Dutch tilt

25th March 2021

In February, Amsterdam replaced London as Europe’s largest trade sharing centre. The Capital had held the title for decades, but a ban on EU-based financial institutions trading in the UK from this year, sucked billions of euros out of London. Brexit was the major driver behind the sudden change, but Amsterdam’s early win testifies to the growing pull of the Netherlands. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Ewropej: ‘Children’s rights should be safeguarded during the pandemic’

25th March 2021

Children’s rights should be safeguarded during the pandemic, Member of the European Parliament Josianne Cutajar said. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

EU extends Ukraine-related sanctions

25th March 2021

by Keith Zahra The European Council has extended the sanctions targeting those responsible for undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine for a further six months until 15 September 2021. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Ewropej: EU is late on COVID-19 vaccine distribution – European Commission

25th March 2021

The European Parliament discussed the Covid-19 vaccine in the presence of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last month. During the debate, the European Commission President admitted that the EU is running late in its distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine. She also said it was too optimistic that the vaccines would arrive in time. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Eurogroup Finance Ministers warn against premature withdrawal of financial support

25th March 2021

by Keith Zahra Eurozone Finance Ministers agreed that respective Member States will ensure that until the health crisis is over and recovery is firmly underway, they will continue to protect economies through the deployment of the necessary level of fiscal support. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

Danone CEO exit gives France governance upgrade

25th March 2021

by Dasha Afanasieva via Reuters Breakingviews Activist shareholders may find a more receptive audience in Paris. The ouster of Danone boss Emmanuel Faber shows French companies can no longer be impervious to uppity investors. Other underperformers should be nervous. View and Download your free edition of CD Pro here:

When can kids get the COVID-19 vaccine? A paediatrician answers 5 questions parents are asking

25th March 2021

A big question among parents and teachers right now is whether their kids will be vaccinated against COVID-19 in time for the fall school semester. Some have wondered whether the vaccine is even necessary for children. Dr. James Wood, a pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases, explains what doctors know today about the risk children face of getting and spreading the coronavirus and when vaccines might be available. The short answer is yes. A lot of studies have ...