Corporate Dispatch Morning Briefing

Good morning,

Your daily digest of world headlines, and a review of Malta’s newspaper front-pages. This is your morning briefing for Friday.

Libya : Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told the Lower House Parliament that the conflict in Libya risks creating a humanitarian crisis with major consequences for security.

Sudan: Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir has been arrested by the army which has taken control for the next two years, the country’s defence minister has announced.

Brexit: After being granted a Brexit reprieve by the European Union, British Prime Minister Theresa May urged British lawmakers to pause, reflect on the need for compromise and then fulfil their “national duty” to approve a Brexit deal to take Britain out of the EU.

Slovakkia: The man charged with Slovak journalist Jan Kuciak’s murder has confessed to shooting him, Slovakia’s public television RTVS, the aktuality.sk news website and daily Dennik N reported on Thursday, quoting police sources.

Malta’s Newspaper Front-page Review

The Malta Independent claims that the European Commission is trying to sweep the visa-issuing scandal by the Maltese consulate in Algiers under the carpet. The paper says that a statement by the Commission ignored the years 2014-2015, when the practice took place.

The Times says that a clause restricting companies with tax arrears from bidding for public tenders has been ‘illegally’ annulled by the Contracts Department. A firm in the cleaning services sector said this was done to favour one of its competitors.

The Malta Independent quotes Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi who said that a revised deal with the Corinthia Group will set new parameters, not methods. The minister declined to give further details of the deal to transfer public land in St George’s Bay.

The Times reports that housing property increased by four percent in the last quarter of 2018, among the three highest rates in the EU. Eurostat statistics show that the average across the EU was 3.8 percent and 0.7 percent across the Eurozone.

L-Orizzont speaks to activists and academics who expressed concerns that racial hatred is on the rise in Malta. Dr Josann Cutajar said there is a link between racial hatred and populist politics.

In-Nazzjon says that while Health Minister Chris Fearne was reassuring the Union of Midwives and Nurses that there were no plans to bring people injured in the Libya civil war, Health Department officials were preparing for the arrival of the first patients.

L-Orizzont quotes a Politico report which names Maltese Miriam Dalli among the 40 most influential MEPs between 2014 and 2019. Italian Matteo Salvini and British Nigel Farage placed first and second.

Other headlines: 

Finland: Finnish police said they have cracked a large cocaine ring in the Tampere region which imported 13 kilos of cocaine from the Netherlands to Finland in 2017-2018 and involved dozens of suspects. Finnish police said that this is the largest ever case of cocaine in Finland. Police said that the drugs were carried inside the bodies of traffickers during 21 separate deliveries.

Israel: The first privately funded mission to the Moon has crashed on the lunar surface after the apparent failure of its main engine.

WikiLeaks: U.S. prosecutors announced that they had charged Julian Assange, founder of the WikiLeaks website, with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 2010. Assange  faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison on the American charges, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.

Election Watch: As the European Parliamentary elections approach, Politico gives a look at the top 40 MEPs who mattered most during the last legislature between 2014 and 2019. The only Maltese MEP to make the list is Miriam Dalli who was listed in the 26th place. Ahead of names like EPP Parliamentary leader Manfred Webber who now is running to become European Commission President .

Microsoft Corp. announced new partnerships with global higher education institutions to align and integrate Microsoft’s technical skills programs and credentials to help address the growing 21st century talent gap.
The skills programs will help students prepare for the jobs of tomorrow with in-demand technologies in fields like artificial intelligence, computer science, cybersecurity and data science.

The morning briefing is brought to you by CI Consulta’s media monitoring service Be Informed. Contact us if you require specific media monitoring service for your business, to make informed business decisions.