From Trump’s back pedalling to the Queen’s messages hidden in brooches. From the court room in Valletta to the temporary beach volley court in the same city.
Our Morning Briefing for Thursday, bringing you the salient news, as reported around in Malta and around the World.
President Donald Trump spent a second day Wednesday managing the political fallout from his widely criticised meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, shifting stances and mopping up what the White House said were misstatements.
More than half of Americans disapprove of the way U.S. President Donald Trump is handling relations with Russia, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted after his controversial summit and joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The twelve boys and their football coach who were rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand have left hospital in preparation for returning home.
Malta: Archbishop Charles Scicluna had strong words yesterday on the ongoing migration tussles between EU countries, saying that it goes against all human decency to leave people dying in the middle of what is now called the blue desert. The Malta Independent.
Tunisian ship, with 40 people on board, blocked off Tunisia. It claims it was refused permission to dock by Tunisia, Italy and Malta.
The Mediterranean becomes the sea of dead for 16 people in a tragedy off Cyprus.
The Spanish NGO Open Arms migrant rescue ship which on Tuesday said it had rescued a woman and recovered the bodies of another woman and her child off Libya on Wednesday set off for Spain after Interior Minister Matteo Salvini accused it of lying.
Migrants in Libya face the greatest danger in years of being trafficked, exploited or enslaved by armed groups and criminal gangs – which are becoming stronger – as Europe clamps down on migration, the United Nations and analysts said on Tuesday.
Boris Johnson has said that it is “not too late to save Brexit” as he savaged the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan as a “miserable, permanent limbo”.
Malta: The court heard yesterday that when businessman Hugo Chetcuti had regained consciousness after being stabbed the night before, he asked his brother Isaac, “Why did he do this to me? I don’t even know him.” “I feel I’m going to die,” were among his final words, as he was later taken in for surgery and never regained consciousness. The Independent
The man accused of murdering Hugo Chetcuti yesterday appeared in court wearing a bullet- proof vest and surrounded by armed police officers, also wearing protective gear. The Times
After two decades of bloody conflict, Ethiopia and Eritrea have been repairing their relationship with remarkable speed following a peace deal reached last week. On Wednesday, a new milestone was marked — the first commercial flight between the neighbouring countries in 20 years.
Malta: Members of the judiciary will see a steep rise in their paycheques over the next three years following an agreement with the government signed earlier this week, the Times of Malta is informed.
Malta: Binance, one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges by traded value, is seeking to lay the groundwork for a new bank whose owners will be digital-coin investors, Cindy Wang and Todd White reported on Bloomberg last week. (The Malta Business Weekly)
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet on Wednesday ahead of a challenging 2019 election, stressing the need to diversify trade away from the United States while leaving key ministers in place.
Malta: The Maricann Group has announced that Malta Enterprise (the country’s official economic development agency and the government entity responsible for licences) has approved Maricann’s application to set up a business in Malta to manufacture finished dose medical cannabis. (The Malta Business Weekly)
700,000 small and medium-sized companies are set to benefit from improved access to finance through European Investment Plan.
Alitalia will return to be being Italy’s national flag-carrying airline, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Wednesday.
British Airways has apologised after IT issues caused dozens of flights in and out of Heathrow Airport to be cancelled, described by one passenger as “complete chaos”.
Cliff Richard has won his privacy case against the BBC and will be awarded an initial payment of £210,000 in damages, over the broadcaster’s report that the singer was being investigated about historical child sexual assault claims.
The Guardian’s Fashion journalist Hadley Freeman writes an interesting analysis on how possibly, Queen Elizabeth was sending coded messages via the medium of her brooches.
Two engineering projects completed this week by Express Trailers, continue to confirm the company’s resourcefulness and versatility. These past months have in fact been particularly busy for the team of around 25 employees who work in Express Trailers’ engineering and servicing section whose work culminated last weekend with the completion of a side-loader and a container stacker.
Part of St George’s Square in Valletta has been turned into a giant beach volleyball pitch, with an inflatable pop-up court filled with 50 tonnes of sand. The beach volleyball tournament features Maltese and international teams and will run for six days. (Times of Malta – Photo Mark Soler)
President Donald Trump spent a second day Wednesday managing the political fallout from his widely criticised meeting with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, shifting stances and mopping up what the White House said were misstatements.
The twelve boys and their football coach who were rescued from a flooded cave in northern Thailand have left hospital in preparation for returning home.
Malta: Archbishop Charles Scicluna had strong words yesterday on the ongoing migration tussles between EU countries, saying that it goes against all human decency to leave people dying in the middle of what is now called the blue desert. The Malta Independent.
Tunisian ship, with 40 people on board, blocked off Tunisia. It claims it was refused permission to dock by Tunisia, Italy and Malta.
Migrants in Libya face the greatest danger in years of being trafficked, exploited or enslaved by armed groups and criminal gangs – which are becoming stronger – as Europe clamps down on migration, the United Nations and analysts said on Tuesday.
Boris Johnson has said that it is “not too late to save Brexit” as he savaged the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan as a “miserable, permanent limbo”.
Malta: The court heard yesterday that when businessman Hugo Chetcuti had regained consciousness after being stabbed the night before, he asked his brother Isaac, “Why did he do this to me? I don’t even know him.” “I feel I’m going to die,” were among his final words, as he was later taken in for surgery and never regained consciousness. The Independent
After two decades of bloody conflict, Ethiopia and Eritrea have been repairing their relationship with remarkable speed following a peace deal reached last week. On Wednesday, a new milestone was marked — the first commercial flight between the neighbouring countries in 20 years.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shuffled his cabinet on Wednesday ahead of a challenging 2019 election, stressing the need to diversify trade away from the United States while leaving key ministers in place.
700,000 small and medium-sized companies are set to benefit from improved access to finance through European Investment Plan.
Alitalia will return to be being Italy’s national flag-carrying airline, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Wednesday.
British Airways has apologised after IT issues caused dozens of flights in and out of Heathrow Airport to be cancelled, described by one passenger as “complete chaos”.
Cliff Richard has won his privacy case against the BBC and will be awarded an initial payment of £210,000 in damages, over the broadcaster’s report that the singer was being investigated about historical child sexual assault claims.
The Guardian’s Fashion journalist Hadley Freeman writes an interesting analysis on how possibly, Queen Elizabeth was sending coded messages via the medium of her brooches.
Two engineering projects completed this week by Express Trailers, continue to confirm the company’s resourcefulness and versatility. These past months have in fact been particularly busy for the team of around 25 employees who work in Express Trailers’ engineering and servicing section whose work culminated last weekend with the completion of a side-loader and a container stacker.
Part of St George’s Square in Valletta has been turned into a giant beach volleyball pitch, with an inflatable pop-up court filled with 50 tonnes of sand. The beach volleyball tournament features Maltese and international teams and will run for six days. (Times of Malta – Photo Mark Soler)
