Updated 1745- News Portal Briefing
Times of Malta reports that tributes have poured in on Monday afternoon as news broke that artist Ed Schembri had died suddenly, aged 45.
Newsbook reports that during last month, October 2020, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index, RPI, was 0.35%, according to the latest statistics published by NSO, the National Statistics Office.
TVM reports that four new cabinet ministers have been sworn in.
MaltaToday reports that Malta has shown firm resolve in stemming violence against women, the Council of Europe’s group of experts on domestic violence, GREVIO, said in a first report on implementation of the Istanbul Convention.
Updated 1700
Health authorities announced the death of four more persons from COVID-19. The four fatalities are all men, aged 71, 75, 80 and 94 respectively.
These deaths take Malta’s grim count to 117.
Updated 1233 – Covid-19 Update
80 new cases of coronavirus were reported in the past 24 hours, from 2192 swabs. With 177 persons recovering, the number of active cases has gone down to 2060.
Two men died of COVID-19 on Sunday, the Ministry of Health reported. The men were aged 98 and 67 respectively. Both died at Mater Dei Hospital. This takes the number of fatalities to 113.
Updated 1142
Driver causes multiple accidents in Marsascala
A 38-year-old woman suffered serious injurities after being hit by a car, which had also hit a motorcyclist and several parked cars, the police said this morning in a statment. It is understood that the accident happened in two different locations. The Peugeot 106 first hit a Pakistani motorcyclist in Triq Sant’Annin, and later hit the woman, who was walking, and a number of cars.
The driver, a 49-year-old man, was not injured and is being questioned by police as part of an investigation.
Updated 0900 – Newspaper Review
The Times speaks to police inspector Timothy Zammit who said that self-made child indecent material is rising year after year. At the same time, the age of children publishing compromising photos of themselves is getting younger.
L-Orizzont quotes Prime Minister Robert Abela who described the new-look Cabinet announced on Saturday as Malta’s most “youthful, feminine, and capable”. Abela said that, for the first time, there are three members of the Cabinet from Gozo.
In-Nazzjon quotes PN Leader Bernard Grech who described Robert Abela’s second Cabinet reshuffle in 10 months is a “certificate of incompetence”. Grech said that all ministers responsible for sectors directly hit by Covid-19 have been replaced.
The Independent publishes an interview with school psychologist Darlinka Barbara who said that overconsumption of social media is not an issue only among teens, but adults as well. She warned about the adverse effects of uncontrolled social media use.
L-Orizzont says that the Hate Crime and Speech Unit received more than 300 reports since it was set up in October last year. The unit saw a surge in complaints between March and June, issuing 41 legal actions.
The Times reports that the Franciscan Order in Rome to which jailed former parish priest Donald Bellizzi belongs, has made a formal request for Pope Francis to defrock the cleric. Bellizzi was found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy in his care.
In-Nazzjon picks up a social media post by government MP Silvio Parnis who said he will not contest the next general election. The former Parliamentary Secretary for Active Ageing was moved out of the Cabinet after this weekend’s reshuffle.
The Independent asks MEP Roberta Metsola about the Prime Minister’s failure to congratulate her on her election as European Parliament vice president. Metsola said the electorate will ultimately judge Robert Abela for his pettiness.
L-Orizzont reports that a balcony collapsed in Pietà on Sunday; no one was hurt but a police investigation is underway. Restoration works are being carried out on the corner house in Zammit Clapp street.
Covid-19 Update – Two men die on Sunday
Two men died of COVID-19 on Sunday, the Ministry of Health reported. The men were aged 98 and 67 respectively. Both died at Mater Dei Hospital. This takes the number of fatalities to 113.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday as he drew comparisons with the pandemic situation abroad that the Covid-19 situation in Malta remains “stable and under control”,
102 new COVID-19 cases were found in the previous 24 hours, the Health Ministry reported. With 89 persons recovering, active cases edged up to 2159. 3,221 swab tests took place yesterday.
Addressing a Labour political event on Sunday, PM Robert Abela expressed hope that by next year, Malta will have the anti-coronavirus vaccine which will allow a return normality. Abela said that the government is working to ensure that Malta is among the first countries to receive the vaccine once the candidate shots are approved and produced for global consumption.
He urged the public to respect to the coronavirus regulations and measures, saying that one should not give up now with a possible vaccine around the corner.
Politicians should serve communities, not seek votes – Archbishop
Good politics is when a politician serves everyone, Archbishop Charles Scicluna said on Sunday. Delivering his homily at the Basilica of Christ the King in Paola on the occasion of the liturgical feast of Christ the King, Archbishop Scicluna reflected on Pope Francis’ encyclical letter “Fratelli Tutti” focusing on the Holy Father’s teachings regarding politics. Good politics serves everyone,
Archbishop Scicluna said, noting that when a government builds a new road, it is there to serve everyone. “If a politician does what he does to secure votes, if he seeks to please everyone, then he might be serving his community,” Mgr Scicluna.
Party Leaders react to Cabinet reshuffle
Prime Minister Robert Abela insisted that the new Cabinet was “one of substance”. He highlighted that the new executive included the most youthful, feminine, and Gozitan group of ministers ever appointed. Abela also referred to the country’s economic strategy.
With other countries stuck in cycles of debt and austerity, Abela noted Malta’s recent A+ credit rating from a German credit rating agency and an EU-approved national budget as sure-fire signs of sound government finances. According to Abela, the EU praised Malta for controlling national debt and on the COVID-19 measures implemented throughout the year.
Opposition leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday that the fact that Prime Minister Robert Abela was forced to change his Cabinet after less than a year was a sign of his “incompetence”.
He remarked that ‘after only ten months, this country has a Prime Minister who is showing us that he is incompetent. Ten months ago, PM Robert Abela boasted that he has the biggest cabinet in history but now acknowledges that he was wrong and what he did was a failure.’
Meanwhile, following this omission from Cabinet, former Parliamentary Secretary Silvio Parnis, has indicated that he might not seek re-election. “Now the time has come for me to give more time to myself and to my family” he wrote on Facebook.
CDE News
