Times of Malta says a 71-year-old worker died on Thursday when he was hit by a truck he was helping manoeuvre.
MaltaToday says that Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced that workers and students will receive a €100 cheque, while pensioners and people on social benefits would receive a €200 cheque.
Newsbook says Joseph Muscat’s office at Sa Maison which was recently searched by police was handed over to the disgraced former prime minister as part of his severance package.
TVM says that The Nationalist Party’s main spokesman Peter Agius has stated that Dr Robert Abela is deviating attention from the realities of the day after it became known that he used to be getting 17,000 euro per month for legal work he carried out with the Planning Authority before he became Prime Minister.
Updated 1315
Workers to get €100 cheques, pensioners €200 as part of €70m cash injection: Workers and students will receive cheques worth €100, while pensioners and people on social benefits will recieve up to €200 as part of a cash injection to the economy. The government’s total outlay in the form of the cash cheques and tax refunds will be €70 million and it will benefit 380,000 people. Prime Minister Robert Abela said the wage supplement scheme will be retained for as long as needed to ensure the economy recovers quickly post-COVID. Abela said the government’s aggressive intervention in the face of rising energy and fuel prices had saved people €500 annually on their bills.
Pedestrian injured in apparent hit-and-run in Balzan: A man was seriously injured in an apparent hit-and-run in Balzan early. The police said the man was found on Valley Road at 6am. Initial investigations showed he was hit by a vehicle which failed to stop. A search for the vehicle is underway. The man was hospitalised. Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit is holding an inquiry.
Covid-19 update: Two men and a woman have died, as 240 new COVID-19 cases were diagnosed overnight. The health authorities said the number of cases in hospital had stayed constant at 92, with five in intensive care. The latest victims were aged 63, 93 and 87. The number of people who died while COVID-positive has now reached 559. A total of 318 people recovered overnight, leaving 2,742 active cases.
Newspaper Review
Morning Briefing
No dramatic exodus of foreign companies since grey-listing – MFSA Chair
FATF Greylisting has not brought about a ‘dramatic exodus’ of foreign companies leaving Malta, MFSA Chairman John Mamo told a parliamentary committee. Questioned by the appointments committee, he said that the number of companies set up in Malta has also remained unchanged. “Everyone must do their part but at the end of the day it is the entities directly involved that need to act and I think we are doing our best to get out of the list”. Mamo was reappointed by four votes to three, with the Opposition voting against, arguing that they had insisted for a longer tenure than one year for such posts. (Times of Malta)
PN motion against tax amnesty defeated
Parliament, through Labour’s majority, has shot down an Oppostion motion calling for the removal of a legal notice that cancels out tax arrears against property tax owed. Defaulting taxpayers to not pay any tax due on the transfer of property purchased before March 2021, against their arrears. A number of organisations including the Malta Chamber of Commerce and the Malta Institute of Accountants had also called for the removal of legal notice seen as rewarding tax defaulters. (Maltatoday)
Covid-19 Update
227 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday, along 353 recoveries. During the past 24 hours, five men aged between 78 and 86 died while Covid-19 positive, taking the death tally to 556. 94 persons remain in hospital, five in ITU.
