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Good morning
An eventful 36 hours for Theresa May and the UK. But not only. Trump’s nomination for the Supreme Court, Libya’s deal with Italy on migration and the rescue in Thailand, Erdogan’s start to the new Presidency are amongst the events which took place.
This briefing attempts to provide you with a quick overview of the essential news and also presents highlights from some of Malta’s newspapers.
Whether a week or a day, for Theresa May, both seem to be far too long to be in politics. The past 36 hours proved to be a whole May-hem and in the circumstances one needs to see where things will heed in the coming days. Very particular days for the UK as it prepares for the visit of Donald Trump and a major NATO summit. For the latest click here.
President Trump announced from the White House East Room that he is nominating Brett Kavanaugh to replace Justice Kennedy on the Supreme Court.
The Serbian man who stands charged with the attempted murder of Paceville entrepreneur Hugo Chetcuti was a former employee who had recently been sacked, police sources have told The Malta Independent.
Four ambulances on Monday left the area around the flooded cave in northern Thailand where members of a youth soccer team have been trapped for more than two weeks, suggesting that a total of eight of the 13 trapped people have now been extracted. Thai officials have been tight-lipped about the rescue operation, and would not comment on how many people were removed Monday.
“Oh well. It can’t be helped.” These were the words said by young driver Liam Debono to officers who informed him that he might have just killed a police officer in a hit and run incident which took place last month. Debono is accused of attempted murder. (Malta Independent).
After months of legal turmoil, Romania’s anti-corruption chief has been fired. Her sacking and controversial legal reforms to weaken corruption charges is raising concern in Brussels.
The Home Affairs Minister is ultimately politically responsible for the cases of tampering of evidence at the law courts, Adrian Delia said, emphasising the point that the justice system in Malta had to be restored. (Maltatoday)
Turkey has officially switched to an executive presidency after President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took the oath of office on July 9. Erdoğan was re-elected as the country’s president in the June 24 elections, in which he garnered 52 percent of the votes.
Italy’s hardline Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, vowed on Sunday to stop foreign naval vessels that have saved migrants in the Mediterranean Sea from docking in Italian ports, extending a ban first placed on ships chartered by charities.
Italy and Libya have agreed to reactivate a friendship treaty signed a decade ago that allowed migrants to be returned to Libyan territory. “We agreed to reactivate the 2008 Italian-Libyan friendship treaty,” said Libya’s foreign minister Mohamad Siala in a joint press conference in Tripoli with Italian counterpart Enzo Moavero Milanesi.
President Emmanuel Macron declared himself “humbled” by his first year of governing on Monday, but said he was determined to push ahead with his ambitious agenda and reform in spite of polls showing him losing support among working class voters.
Israel threatened a “harsh response” on Monday to any attempt by Syrian forces advancing against southern rebel areas to deploy in a Golan Heights frontier zone that was demilitarised under a 44-year-old U.N. monitored truce between the neighbouring foes.
In response to ongoing violence on the Gaza border, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Israel will close the Kerem Shalom border crossing.
The Times of Malta reports that European Environment Agency’s European Waters report for 2018 says that Malta is among the three southern member states, the others being Cyprus and Spain, where the groundwater levels are drying up fast.
British police say they believe the latest victims of poisoning by nerve agent Novichok must have handled the material’s container. Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that Moscow “is deeply concerned over the continuous cases of these poison elements” in Britain. Peskov added that such attacks present a danger not only inside the UK, but also in Europe as a whole.
The leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a “joint declaration of peace and friendship”, Eritrea’s information minister said, a day after a landmark summit marked a start to normalisation of ties between the longtime foes.
The Times of Malta reports that Turkish firm Ayhanlar Yol Asfalt- lama will be constructing one of the largest road projects in Malta – a seven-tier flyover in Marsa – after the Maltese consortium that bid for the lucrative project lost its appeal.
Prince Louis has been christened in a private ceremony, without the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh attending.
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