Our morning briefing tries to compile the salient information of the major news as reported by the various news outlets around the globe. Amongst others we read the latest revealings in the Maltese court following a submission of a dossier on how an alleged racket of medical visas with Libya was being operated.
We read about how the Libya’s navy recovered the bodies of five migrants while they rescued more than 100 after their vessel sank near the country’s coast, the further escalation of the China – Us trade dispute, the way the US is insisting in pursuing its detention policy which in turn is attracting the condemnation of everyone, including the First Lady.
But there’s more and we tried to keep it brief so as you can get updated, be informed, and if you’d like seek further insights through Corporate Dispatch.
Have a good day.
Jesmond Saliba
Managing Editor
The Times reports that “transcripts of Libyans detailing how they allegedly paid bribes to an official in the Office of the Prime Minister in exchange for visas were submitted in court yesterday. The transcripts, along with a voluminous document mapping out how the alleged racket was operated, were submitted by Ivan Grech Mintoff as evidence to back claims of high-level corruption. The documents contain assertions on the alleged illicit sale of Schengen visas at the Maltese consulate in Tripoli and in the issuance of humanitarian medical visas by OPM official Neville Gafà. Mr Gafà yesterday denied all the allegations against him.
The Independent reports that after months of fiery debate, the controversial Embryo Protection Act will face its final vote in Parliament today. It is expected that all PL MPs will vote in favour, while PN MPs will vote against. The proposals, first announced earlier this year, will see the introduction of embryo freezing and adoption. In the meantime as reported by The Times, the amendments had initially included altruistic surrogacy, however, Health Minister Chris Fearne recently announced that this will be presented at a later stage under a separate Bill. Divisive amendments to the IVF law cannot be blocked on constitutional grounds, the Attorney General confirmed to the Health Ministry yesterday. The AG informed the government that he saw no legal basis for arguing the amendments to the Act that would introduce embryo freezing were unconstitutional, the ministry said in a statement. These stories are also given prominence on In-Nazzjon.
We also read that new plans for the Central Link project have been uploaded to the Planning Authority Website, showing updated details regarding the trees planned to be uprooted, as well as new details of where trees will be planted along the project (Independent).
L-Orizzont reports about the current views of the pro-hunting lobby and the pro-bird activists prior to a ruling expected this Thursday at the European Court of Justice on trapping. In another story it reports on the way in which Opposition leader Adrian Delia sought help from his in-laws which eased his debt pressure.
Libya’s navy recovered the bodies of five migrants while they rescued more than 100 after their vessel sank near the country’s coast, the navy told AFP on Monday. Libyan rescuers took three hours to reach the sinking rubber dinghy, officer Rami Ghommeidh said. A survivor said they had been close to an Italian vessel that refused to save them. “When we got closer to the Italian rescuers, they wouldn’t rescue us so we waited there” for the Libyan navy, he said. Panic ensued as the passengers sought to clamber on board the Libyan ship as their own boat was quickly filling with water.
Four people were injured in a shooting in Sweden’s third biggest city Malmo on Monday night, according to police, who said the incident was not terror related.
Residents in western Japan were cleaning up debris on Monday after a 6.1 earthquake hit the area around Osaka, the country’s second-largest city of commerce, killing three people and injuring hundreds while knocking over walls and setting off fires.
Theresa May is facing a showdown with pro-European Tory MPs after the Lords overwhelmingly backed plans to give Parliament a “meaningful vote” on the Government’s final Brexit deal. The Government was defeated by 354 votes to 235 after a Conservative peer tabled an amendment that ministers believe will undermine Brexit by tying the Government’s hands during negotiations.
Almost half of the 630 migrants that were rescued from the Mediterranean who arrived in Spain’s port of Valencia at the weekend want to seek asylum in France, the Spanish government said on Monday.
The total number of asylum applications throughout all of the EU, plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, last year, was 728,470, or some 44 percent less when compared to 2016, a report published on Monday, by the Malta-based European Asylum Support Agency (EASO) says.
Inside an old warehouse in south Texas, hundreds of children wait away from their parents in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets. Melania Trump waded into a debate over children being separated from their families at the Mexico border, saying the United States should “govern with heart”. In a rare intervention the first lady’s spokeswoman said she wanted Republicans and Democrats to work together to achieve “successful immigration reform”. Her comments were taken by some as an implicit criticism of her husband’s recently introduced “zero tolerance” policy at the border.
As long as Rudy Giuliani is serving as President Donald Trump’s lawyer, he’ll advise the president to say no to pardons in the Russia investigation, Giuliani told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
China will fight back firmly with “qualitative” and “quantitative” measures if the United States publishes an additional list of tariffs on Chinese goods, the commerce ministry said, accusing the U.S. of initiating a trade war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, where he will likely brief Chinese President Xi Jinping on his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week, as Washington and Seoul agreed to suspend a major joint military exercise.
The Duchess of Sussex’s father, Thomas Markle, has revealed his daughter cried when he told her he would not be attending her wedding to Prince Harry. He also revealed his upset at not walking her down the aisle. “I’m a footnote to the greatest moment in history rather than the dad who walked his daughter down the aisle. That upsets me somewhat,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. He said he watched the event from a B&B in the US.
German authorities have detained the chief executive of Volkswagen’s luxury division Audi, Rupert Stadler, as part of a probe into manipulation of emissions controls. Stadler is the most senior Volkswagen to be arrested over the so-called Dieselgate that came to light in 2015.
Matteo Salvini, the far-right Italian interior minister who once questioned Pope Francis’s legitimacy, has met Raymond Burke, the Argentinian pontiff’s fiercest critic in the Vatican, signalling an unprecedented gulf between the leader of the Catholic church and a key figure in the new populist government.
More than 3,000 offences of grooming children online for sex have been committed by paedophiles in only the first year since a new law on sexual communication was introduced last April, police have revealed Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram accounted for almost three-quarters of the cases with sexual predators targeting children through a total of 80 different sites, apps or platforms, according to the figures obtained from police forces by the NSPCC. They youngest victim was just five years old.
Saudi Arabia’s official team plane caught fire in mid air as they travelled to their next World Cup match. Flames were seen from the engine as the Russian Airlines Airbus was en route to Rostov where they take on Uruguay on Wednesday.
Protestors threw flares, rocks and bottles at police outside the national parliament and chanted “Macedonia, Macedonia.” Officers responded with tear gas and flash grenades. The demonstrations are a result of a deal with Greece to change the name of the former Yugoslavian republic to the “Republic of North Macedonia”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other city leaders from across Britain said on Monday a government plan to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars should be brought forward by 10 years to 2030, in the latest push to improve air quality.
Apple will automatically share a user’s location with emergency services when they call 911 in the future, the company said Monday. The new feature will be part of iOS 12, the upcoming software update for the iPhone and iPad, and will help emergency services locate a person more quickly when in need. It will be available to users in the U.S. only.
Harry Kane’s stoppage-time winner ensured England started their World Cup campaign with victory after Tunisia threatened to snatch a point in Volgograd. Belgium won against Panama 3 – 0, with all goals coming in the second half. In the other match, Sweden won against the Korean Republic 1 – 0.
Libya’s navy recovered the bodies of five migrants while they rescued more than 100 after their vessel sank near the country’s coast, the navy told AFP on Monday. Libyan rescuers took three hours to reach the sinking rubber dinghy, officer Rami Ghommeidh said. A survivor said they had been close to an Italian vessel that refused to save them. “When we got closer to the Italian rescuers, they wouldn’t rescue us so we waited there” for the Libyan navy, he said. Panic ensued as the passengers sought to clamber on board the Libyan ship as their own boat was quickly filling with water.
Four people were injured in a shooting in Sweden’s third biggest city Malmo on Monday night, according to police, who said the incident was not terror related.
Residents in western Japan were cleaning up debris on Monday after a 6.1 earthquake hit the area around Osaka, the country’s second-largest city of commerce, killing three people and injuring hundreds while knocking over walls and setting off fires.
Theresa May is facing a showdown with pro-European Tory MPs after the Lords overwhelmingly backed plans to give Parliament a “meaningful vote” on the Government’s final Brexit deal. The Government was defeated by 354 votes to 235 after a Conservative peer tabled an amendment that ministers believe will undermine Brexit by tying the Government’s hands during negotiations.
Almost half of the 630 migrants that were rescued from the Mediterranean who arrived in Spain’s port of Valencia at the weekend want to seek asylum in France, the Spanish government said on Monday.
The total number of asylum applications throughout all of the EU, plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein, last year, was 728,470, or some 44 percent less when compared to 2016, a report published on Monday, by the Malta-based European Asylum Support Agency (EASO) says.
Inside an old warehouse in south Texas, hundreds of children wait away from their parents in a series of cages created by metal fencing. One cage had 20 children inside. Scattered about are bottles of water, bags of chips and large foil sheets intended to serve as blankets. Melania Trump waded into a debate over children being separated from their families at the Mexico border, saying the United States should “govern with heart”. In a rare intervention the first lady’s spokeswoman said she wanted Republicans and Democrats to work together to achieve “successful immigration reform”. Her comments were taken by some as an implicit criticism of her husband’s recently introduced “zero tolerance” policy at the border.
As long as Rudy Giuliani is serving as President Donald Trump’s lawyer, he’ll advise the president to say no to pardons in the Russia investigation, Giuliani told CNN’s Jake Tapper.
US President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that Germany’s leaders were losing the support of the public over the migration issue. His untimely comments come amid a deepening split between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leader of her coalition ally, Horst Seehofer, over asylum policy and border controls.
China will fight back firmly with “qualitative” and “quantitative” measures if the United States publishes an additional list of tariffs on Chinese goods, the commerce ministry said, accusing the U.S. of initiating a trade war.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, where he will likely brief Chinese President Xi Jinping on his summit with U.S. President Donald Trump last week, as Washington and Seoul agreed to suspend a major joint military exercise.
The Duchess of Sussex’s father, Thomas Markle, has revealed his daughter cried when he told her he would not be attending her wedding to Prince Harry. He also revealed his upset at not walking her down the aisle. “I’m a footnote to the greatest moment in history rather than the dad who walked his daughter down the aisle. That upsets me somewhat,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. He said he watched the event from a B&B in the US.
German authorities have detained the chief executive of Volkswagen’s luxury division Audi, Rupert Stadler, as part of a probe into manipulation of emissions controls. Stadler is the most senior Volkswagen to be arrested over the so-called Dieselgate that came to light in 2015.
Matteo Salvini, the far-right Italian interior minister who once questioned Pope Francis’s legitimacy, has met Raymond Burke, the Argentinian pontiff’s fiercest critic in the Vatican, signalling an unprecedented gulf between the leader of the Catholic church and a key figure in the new populist government.
More than 3,000 offences of grooming children online for sex have been committed by paedophiles in only the first year since a new law on sexual communication was introduced last April, police have revealed Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram accounted for almost three-quarters of the cases with sexual predators targeting children through a total of 80 different sites, apps or platforms, according to the figures obtained from police forces by the NSPCC. They youngest victim was just five years old.
Saudi Arabia’s official team plane caught fire in mid air as they travelled to their next World Cup match. Flames were seen from the engine as the Russian Airlines Airbus was en route to Rostov where they take on Uruguay on Wednesday.
Protestors threw flares, rocks and bottles at police outside the national parliament and chanted “Macedonia, Macedonia.” Officers responded with tear gas and flash grenades. The demonstrations are a result of a deal with Greece to change the name of the former Yugoslavian republic to the “Republic of North Macedonia”.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan and other city leaders from across Britain said on Monday a government plan to ban the sale of new diesel and petrol cars should be brought forward by 10 years to 2030, in the latest push to improve air quality.
Apple will automatically share a user’s location with emergency services when they call 911 in the future, the company said Monday. The new feature will be part of iOS 12, the upcoming software update for the iPhone and iPad, and will help emergency services locate a person more quickly when in need. It will be available to users in the U.S. only.
