Good morning,
Malta‘s newspapers cover a myriad of topics. The salient points include the ongoing investigations in Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder and the investigations carried by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja on the Egrant company ownership and a story unearthed by the slain journalist and followed by the international journalists’ consortium in the Daphne Project. We also read about the current electoral polling situation.
Amongst others we read on The Sunday Times that diesel smugglers received tips on patrols and inspections from an official in the Fisheries Directorate, who the police believe to have been working hand-in-hand with a gang of criminals selling smuggled Libyan diesel in and around Maltese territorial waters. On The Independent on Sunday we read that so far, the Maltese authorities have not asked the German police for a copy of the data found on the laptops and hard drives of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the chief prosecutor of Wiesbaden has confirmed. Contacted by The Malta Independent on Sunday, Attorney General Oliver Kuhn said he could not answer questions on which information Germany would be willing to share with Malta, and that the German police would make sure that Caruana Galizia’s sources are protected, because the German authorities are still examining the data. MaltaToday says that the inquiring magistrate investigating allegations on the Prime Minister’s wife ownership of a secret offshore Panama company, told MEPs visiting Malta this week he had interviewed “hundreds of witnesses” on the case. Aaron Bugeja met MEPs Sven Giegold, Ana Gomes, and David Casa during their follow-up mission on rule of law in Malta, where he briefed them on details concerning the overall investigation of the Egrant affair.
Joseph Muscat has restored his stratospheric lead on Opposition leader Adrian Delia with the latest MaltaToday trust barometer putting the Prime Minister 29 points ahead. Muscat’s trust rating now stands at 52.6%, up four points since last month’s survey when the Prime Minister had registered a decline of four points over March. The Prime Minister’s trust rating outstrips Delia’s across all age groups, all regions, all educational levels and among both males and females. The Nationalist Party leader sees his trust rating slip to 23.5%, a loss of almost four points since the last trust barometer in May.
The newspaper ILLUM reveals that an art teacher is currently undergoing court proceedings following a magisterial inquiry which took place after allegations of corruption of minors in the Hamrun Lyceum back in November 2016. We read in The Sunday Times that public employees at the Home Affairs Ministry were instructed to build a wooden structure to serve as a large veranda on the roof of the minister’s private residence in Żejtun on government paid time which took place in the spring of 2015 and was coordinated by Melanie Abela, wife of now Foreign Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela.
UK
30% of teachers and 11% of teaching support staff say they have suffered sexually inappropriate behaviour.
Spain
Socialist party leader Pedro Sanchez has been sworn in as Spain’s new Prime Minister a day after a vote of no-confidence booted his conservative People’s Party (PP) rival Mariano Rajoy from power.
Italy
EU Commission’s President Jean Claude Juncker invited ‘German-speaking’ countries not to repeat the Greek mistake with Italy and avoid giving lessons to Rome. In the meantime almost 160 persons were rescued in the Mediterranean and taken to Sicily.
BREXIT
Michael Gove should be installed as the new Tory leader because Theresa May has shown that she cannot “carry Brexit through”, Crispin Odey, a major party donor has publicly warned in a stark sign of the frustration among prominent Brexit supporters over the government’s handling of negotiations with the EU. The Northern Irish party that supports Britain’s minority government dismissed the idea of giving Northern Ireland joint European Union and UK status after Brexit as at best contradictory, one of its lawmakers said, adding that the idea had not been raised with the party.
Libya
The USA confirmed its commitment to a stable, democratic and united Libya
Trade Tariffs War
The United States’ closest allies attacked the Trump administration for imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports at a G7 finance leaders meeting.
The EU has launched legal proceedings in the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against Chinese legislation that undermines the intellectual property rights of European companies.
USA
WHO plans to recommend higher taxes on sugary drinks to fight obesity ‘torpedoed’ by US administration.
Google will not renew a contract to do artificial intelligence work for the US Pentagon, company sources say. Employees were resigning due to the ethical concerns they had over Google’s expertise being used in military technology that could lead to the loss of human life.
Others
The head of Brazil’s oil giant Petrobras, Pedro Parente, has resigned, following a nationwide strike by lorry drivers that caused huge disruption.
In Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been sworn in for a second term as Egypt’s president with a vow to fight “those who choose violence, terrorism and extremism”.
Total greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union (EU) decreased by 0.4 % in 2016. Tragedy averted in MOTO GP practice session at Mugello.
Jesmond Saliba
Managing Editor
