Update 1230 – Covid-19 update
102 new COVID-19 cases were reported by health authorities on Tuesday.
83 patients recovered. The new cases were found following 2,768 swabs.
BOV preparing contingency plans for correspondent banking
Bank of Valletta is preparing contingency plans in case it loses its last US dollar correspondent banking partner and expressed hope that it will each a settlement in a major litigation case that has hamstrung it for years.
Timesofmalta.com reports that BOV CEO Rick Hunkin said that a number of alternative options to US dollar correspondent banking are being explored, but conceded that these would not be straightforward.
Updated 1045: Four more Covid-19 deaths
Four COVID-19 patients died between Sunday and Monday, the Health Ministry reported this morning, meaning Malta’s death count has reached 141.
The four victims were two women aged 80 and 79 and two men aged 73 and 67. Three of them passed away at Mater Dei Hospital while one of the men died at St Vincent de Paule.
Updated 0830 – Newspaper Review
The Independent leads with a court decision declaring a 2015 news article as fair comment on an issue of public interest. A middleman for a property purchase by Ian Borg, then parliamentary secretary, had filed a libel against the newspaper.
In-Nazzjon quotes a decree by Magistrate Victor G. Axiak who said that testimony by Minister Ian Borg in a case filed by a collaborator was ‘hard to believe’. The case was about the purchase of land from a vulnerable person in 2014.
L-Orizzont leads with the inaugurationof the Gender-based and Domestic Violence department within the police. Minister Byron Camilleri said that nearly a third of cases investigated by the police were filed by men.
The Times quotes a report by Doctors for Choice on a case of an ectopic pregnancy that was developing into a risk to the mother’s life. The doctors said that the current abortion laws complicated access to medication to terminate the pregnancy.
The Independent follows the testimony of Europol experts in the Caruana Galizia public inquiry on Monday where they presented four terabytes of data extracted from the electronic devices of businessman Yorgen Fenech.
The Times reports on a police operation to free an abducted 50-year-old woman on Saturday, tracked down at a Buġibba apartment. The victim’s son reportedly owed one of the kidnappers some €4,000.
L-Orizzont reports on a kidnapping of a woman by two men and a woman last Saturday. The suspect held the victim against her will in an apartment and warned her son that he would not see her again unless he paid back money owed.
In-Nazzjon reports that four Covid-19 patients died on Monday, raising the total number of casualties to 137 since March. Infections reached 10,000 for the first time after 121 new cases were registered between Sunday and Monday.
L-Orizzont follows the compilation of evidence against Jesper Kristiansen, accused of involvement in the Sliema double murder in August. The Dutchman refused to answer questions by the prosecution.
4TB of data extracted from Fenech’s devices
Morning Briefing
Four terabytes of data were extracted from electronic devices belonging to Yorgen Fenech by Europol experts, the court was told on Monday. The devices included mobile phones, laptops, SIM cards and other devices lifted from the Portomaso business tower and Fenech’s yacht, the Gio.
During the nearly five-hour sitting the court heard how one of the devices analysed by the experts was a wifi camera disguised as an air freshener, which had no data on it. Investigators also found new SIM cards belonging to Monaco Telecom.
Experts from the EU law enforcement agency have spent months extracting and analysing data from the devices as part of ‘Operation Blue Elephant’.
A court-appointed expert will be making copies of the four terabytes of data presented in court, with these copies then being presented to the defence team and to the parte-civile.
The court ruled that the parties cannot publish any parts of the data and warned it would be a prosecutable offence if they shared the contents with third parties.
Covid-19 Update
There were 121 new cases of coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, health authorities said. With 108 persons being declared COVID-free on Sunday, the active case tally has gone up again, to 2071.
The rate of deaths stands at 137.
DB Group Chair wants compromise on Caruana Galizia libels
Business entrepreneur Silvio Debono said that he wants to reach a compromise with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family over almost 20 libel cases which are pending against the journalist.
He argued that he had filed such cases as he felt that he was unfairly painted as a corrupt businessman. Debono was testifying in front of the public inquiry on the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The DB Chairman also said he used to discuss ongoing projects with Keith Schembri, but insisted they were not friends. On the other hand, he testified that he had never spoken to former Minister Konrad Mizzi.
Unemployment in October stable
The unemployment rate for October 2020 stood at 3.9 per cent, at par with the previous month and up by 0.3 percentage points when compared to October 2019. This was revealed this morning by the NSO.
During October 2020, the number of unemployed persons was 10,681 with the unemployed males and the 25 to 74 age group being the major contributors to the overall level of unemployment.
Unemployment stood at 9,705 a year ago.
CDE News
