Thursday’s Morning Briefing – 24th May, 2018

Good morning

The Maltese newspapers lead with the story related to a bomb which exploded yesterday in Gharghur. In this explosion a man Kevin Ellul (43), who happens to be known to the police, suffered serious injuries. The Independent reports that the bomb was triggered soon after Ellul walked into the room. The explosion happened around 3pm in a room in a field in Gharghur.

One person died and 18 got injured when a regional train hit a truck, which is used for special transport on the Turin-Ivrea railway line, at Caluso. The regional train 10027 has hit the truck which stopped on the tracks at the level crossing of the hamlet of Arè.

The President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella gave Professor Giuseppe Conte the task of forming the new Italian government. The decision was announced by the secretary general of the Quirinale Ugo Zampetti. He was quoted saying that he will be the defence lawyer of the Italians.

Emmanuel Macron, Daphne Caruana Galizia, Edyta Kocyk, Boyan Slat, Krisztian Imre and Florin Badita were all recognised for their outstanding contribution to their respective fields during the European Leadership Awards on Wednesday. We also learnt that laptops and Hard-Disks belonging to Daphne Caruana Galizia passed on to German police.

Yulia Skripal, who survived an assassination attempt that UK authorities blame on Russia spoke for the first time following her release from hospital. In an exclusive interview with Reuters, Skripal said that in the longer terms show wants to return to her country, despite the poisoning.

Reuters reports that “hackers have infected at least 500,000 routers and storage devices in dozens of countries, some of the world’s biggest cyber security firms warned on Wednesday, in a campaign that Ukraine said was preparation for a future Russian cyberattack.

Three Libyans were arrested in Zuwara, accused of trafficking migrants, 20 injured in gun fire from trafficker.

Trump’s personal lawyer received secret payment to arrange meeting between the US and Ukrainian Presidents. In the meantime North Korea renews threat of pulling from summit with US. In the meantime the court has established that Trump’s blocking of critical Twitter users violates the First Amendment.

While the newly wed Royal Couple made their first public appeareance, a Royal Wedding goodie bag sold on eBay for £21,400.

U2’s lead singer Bono fell on stage during a concert in Chicago. The band is currently on the Experience + Innocence Tour at the United Centre in Chicago. Alanis Morissette’s multi-million-selling breakout album “Jagged Little Pill” has been transformed into a musical for the stage by its creator and Diane Paulus’ American Repertory Theater at Harvard. The album by Alanis Morissette which sold millions of copies after its release in 1995 was an iconic album for the nineties which struck multiple chords with people at various ages, especially those in the late teens and early twenties.

Have a good day.

Jes