In today’s MaltaToday we read that Gżira mayor Conrad Borg Manche has warned developers his council will not stop attacking abuse and urged them to respect residents, during a protest yesterday evening. It made little sense for the MDA to present a cheque of €150,000 to l-Istrina in an attempt to show how generous developers were when residents were disregarded all year round, he said. The protest in Gżira was called in the wake of an incident in which Nationalist Party councillor Jeremy Cardona was almost run over by a developer last week. The developer was identified as Ivan Stivala, the brother of Malta Developers Association secretary, Michael Stivala. He also criticised Malta Developers’ Association Sandro Chetcuti’s reaction in an attempt to minimise the incident as disappointing, to say the least.
The Independent reports that OmbudsmanAnthony Mifsud has warned against the “systemic refusal or stubborn reticence to disclose information” that undermines good governance and the democratic process after noting that the public administration, including the public authorities, have appeared to adopt “a generally negative approach” towards disclosing information and the citizen’s right to be informed in his Annual Report for 2017.
We read that more than 500 medical doctors have signed a declaration expressing their opposition to the government’s plan to introduce embryo freezing, insisting that life starts at conception. The move came just a month after a group of 100 academics from the University of Malta expressed concern about the proposed amendments to the law regulating in vitro fertilisation (IVF). (The Times). We also read that Malta’s increased awareness of sexual and romantic relationships between persons with disability has been flagged as a “promising practice” by the EU’s Agency for Fundamental Rights – FRA. In its annual report published yesterday, FRA says that according to its research, there is lack of attention to people with disabilities’ relationships, mentioning only two efforts that have attempted to address this issue – one in Malta, the other in the Czech Republic.
Malta’s Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela’s refusal to confirm that work being carried out at his home in Zejtun was not being carried out by government workers during their normal working hours may lead to some serious repercussions. (MaltaToday).In-Nazzjon reports about lack of Ministerial statement.
The paper quotes party insiders that it was clear Abela had fallen into a trap because he had not realised how much evidence the journalist questioning him about the work already had. We also read (Independent) how Chairman of the V18 Foundation Jason Micallef has called for a national dialogue on mitigating anger exposed on public forums, and for society to have a “moment of reflection” on the written hate speech often found on social media.
In-Nazzjon reports about the Prime Minister which keeps defending Keith Schembri following revelations of a deposit of $430,000 in his account following a visit to Baku.
L-Orizzont Economic Minister Chris Cardona reacting positively to statistics showing economic growth. It also carries reflections by Oliver Friggieri in Joseph Muscat’s 10th anniversary as Labour Party Leader. It also features a report on the GWU’s Secretary General speech during the ILO conference in Geneva.
