Updated 1610 – Newspaper Review
Times of Malta says that at least 21 COVID-19 patients are part of a cluster of construction workers involved in the Marsa Junction project.
Malta Today reports that the ministry for the economy will give former Air Malta pilots whose jobs were terminated by the airline, a job inside the public sector at their same take-home pay as calculated in a pilots’ collective agreement.
Newsbook says that the Minister for European and Foreign Affairs Evarist Bartolo has stated that in the last fifteen years, only 8% of immigrants arriving in Malta have been relocated to EU countries.
TVM reports that during a conference organised by the Chamber for Small to Medium Enterprises, the Prime Minister Robert Abela said that the Government is investing the funds it has saved over the last few years, so that Maltese businesses can continue to expand and increase jobs, which are the country’s biggest resource.
The Malta Independent says that the community policing will be introduced in 11 new localities for residents to have a more direct connection to their police officers.
Updated 1305 – Covid-19 Update
42 new COVID-19 cases and 43 recoveries were reported between Wednesday and Thursday, the health authorities said this afternoon.
The number of active cases remains stable at 487.
Updated 0841 – Newspaper Review
The Malta Business Weekly leads with the launch of a pre-budget document by the government outlining a plan for economic growth. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said that the deficit is expected to continue through next year, but no taxes will be increased.
Business Today says that the 2021 budget is expected to build on the economic regeneration plan unveiled by the government this summer. The pre-budget document presented on Wednesday highlights Gozo, the environment and rule-of-law as the priorities.
The Independent quotes Finance Minister Edward Scicluna who warned that the economic fallout of the pandemic will likely carry on into next year even if a vaccine is available before the end of December.
L-Orizzont quotes the Finance Minister who said that Malta’s economy is expected to recover completely during the coming year. Minister Scicluna said that the government will issue more sector-specific fiscal measures in the upcoming budget.
The Times quotes Andre Galea, whose pit bulls attacked and killed his grandmother on Monday. The paper reports Galea was still shocked by the event and said that he frequently warned his grandmother not to enter his house alone because of the guard dogs.
In-Nazzjon says that teachers reported the loss of learning resources stored in their schools after employees of the education ministry moved furniture out of classes to allow for social distancing. The Union of Teachers called on the ministry to resolve the situation.
The Independent follows the testimony of former Police Commissioner Lawrence Cutajar before the Caruana Galizia public inquiry during which he said that the Attorney General was not in favour of investigating claims made by the murdered journalist on her blog.
Business Today reports that Eden Leisure Group is projecting a €6.8 million loss this year as a result of the Covid-19 crisis after a €15 million profit before tax last year. The group owns the Eden Cinemas, Bay Radio, the Eden Superbowl and a number of hotels and properties.
The Malta Business Weekly quotes blogger Kenneth Riyock who claimed that two Maltese cabinet ministers are understood to be cooperating with law enforcement agencies in two foreign countries on cases that are still sealed.
The Times reports on the testimony of Viktor Dragomanski, charged with the killing of Ivor Maciejowski and Chris Pandolfino in August. The North Macedonian said that it was another suspect, Daniel Muka, who fired the shots in the double murder.
L-Orizzont reports on a case of domestic violence flagged by Aġenzija Appoġġ but where the alleged perpetrator was liberated after his wife refused to testify in court. The paper says that the number of reported domestic violence cases rose by 15 percent this year.
In-Nazzjon says that a global forum on combating offshore tax evasion has downgraded Malta to the lowest levels in the EU. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is a monitoring body set up by the OECD.
The Malta Business Weekly reports that new Covid-19 cases jumped to 63 in the last 24 hours, a sharp increase from the average 20 to 30 daily cases that were being registered in the last days.
Morning Briefing
Sliema double murder – Dragomanski in Court
Homicide inspector James Grech told the Court that 36-year-old North Macedonian national Viktor Dragomanski had told police that he was stationed in a car close to the Sliema apartment where two men were shot and killed last month, and only entered the same residence after hearing such shots and was called inside.
The man testified that Albanian Daniel Muka was the one to pull the trigger, adding that the other men involved in the murder had “ruined his life in four minutes” when they approached him for an unspecified “job” and that he had accepted without question.
“There was no plan, and he didn’t know what it was about, he said. After circling the targeted block he noticed Muka was carrying a gun and had warned him not to use it.”
Dragomanski admitted that he helped Muka change the number plates of the car involved in the crime.
Covid-19 in Malta
After a couple of weeks where coronavirus cases appeared to be slowly going down, Health authorities reported a significant increase of 63 cases over the past 24 hours. This is the highest increase for the past three weeks and resulted from 2,044 swab tests.
Active cases have gone up again, to 388.
Malta’s total number of cases per 100,000 population is 79.8, the fifth-highest in the EU, according to the European Centre of Disease Control’s daily list.
Meanwhile, Health authorities have yesterday evening
Health authorities have dismissed rumours that a 15th coronavirus patient had died and said that official COVID-19 figures published by the health ministry were accurate.
MEA shares survey on business impact
A survey conducted by the Malta Employers’ Association (MEA) shows that 44% of businesses in Malta think that they will require governmental help in 2021.
The research findings show that 81% of respondent companies have experienced a loss of businessdue to COVID-19, 3% experienced an increase in business and 16% of respondents claim that COVID19 is having no effect on their business operations. June-August have been better than March-May
for 48% of respondents; 38% of respondents claimed that business remained the same and 16% of respondents claimed that business performance was worse.
Only 19% of respondents declared that they have made redundancies, with 85% of those who have stating that the rate of redundancies has been, so far, less than 25%.
CDE News
