Latest Update- News Portal Briefing
Times of Malta says the aviation and maritime sectors are being hived off Transport Malta in what will mean a return to the autonomy they enjoyed a few years ago.
MaltaToday reports that law students are fuming at their faculty over the capping of places in elective study units, camping outside the faculty overnight to secure their places in what has been described as an “appalling situation.”
Newsbook reports that Jonathan Cardona’s appointment at the helm of Enemalta is nothing but an attempt to hide the scandals and abuses of the past eight years, the Nationalist Party said
TVM says that an elderly woman, aged 86, was grievously injured after she was hit by a vehicle.
Updated 1250 – Mid-Day Briefing
Covid-19 Update: 19 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Thursday, while 15 recovered. Nine virus patients currently requiring hospital treatment. One patient is in the ITU.
Police called to homes of politician, journalist in spoof attack: Police had to call out to the homes of MP Jason Azzopardi and a high-profile unnamed journalist in the early hours of Wednesday morning after receiving spoof calls impersonating their numbers and saying they were in distress. The phone spoofing appears to be an escalation of a harassment and misinformation campaign that has previously seen the creation of a series of fake websites and e-mails. Phone spoofing is when someone falsifies the number and name that appears on a recipient’s caller ID.
Government sued over breach of human rights: 32 asylum seekers, who had been held on board tourist boats after being rescued at sea in the Maltese search and rescue region in April 2020, have sued the government in a constitutional case claiming their detention onboard commercial pleasure craft constituted a breach of their fundamental rights. The case dates back to 2020 when the government had chartered four commercial sightseeing boats from Captain Morgan and used them to detain asylum seekers who were rescued in the Maltese search and rescue region.
Morning Briefing
Life sentence for Cmelik
Bojan Cmelik has been given a life sentence including a term of solitary confinement.
The sentence was delivered by Judge Aaron Bugeja after Bojan Cmelik, 39, was found guilty of having murdered 52-year-old businessman Hugo Chetcuti.The jury returned an eight-to-one guilty verdict for wilful homicide after deliberating for less than six hours. The jury also unanimously found Cmelik guilty of having violently resisted arrest and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Finance Minister says Konrad Mizzi should answer to PAC
MP Konrad Mizzi should respect parliament’s Public Accounts Committee and appear in front of it to answer MPs’ questions, the Finance Minister told Parliament yesterday as he answered a PQ by PN MP Karol Aquilina, shorlty after the former Energy Minister refused for a second time to appear in front of the PAC. The committee is looking at the National Audit Office’s report on the Electrogas tender, which was awarded when Mizzi was energy minister.
“He should respect any invitation made to him by parliament… good sense dictates that the individual should answer any queries parliament may have,” Caruana said.
Covid-19 Update: 18 new cases were reported on Wednesday, with 13 recoveries, increasing the active case tally to 285. Seven persons are currently hospitalised, none of whom are in ITU. Health Superintendent Prof Charmaine Gauci said that the seven patients showed few or no symptoms, but were kept in hospital as they returned a positive swab prior to surgery.
CDE News
