Good morning,
Maltese papers feature prominently the government’s decision to drop plans to legalise altruistic surrogacy and anonymise gamete donation from the Embryo Protection Act. The announcement was made by Health Minister Chris Fearne yesterday when the 2018 estimates of the Embryo Protection Authority were discussed in Parliament. Children born from gamete donation be given the right to know who had donated the gametes used to conceive them once they turn 18.
In another story (Times) we read that some 480 trees have been uprooted so far this year as the government mulls over a set of new protection laws that lobbyists insist could not come soon enough. Conservationists have called for an investigation into the removal of trees from various localities in recent weeks, saying the laws protecting trees urgently needed to be bolstered. Wasteserv applied for a permit to construct a Multi Material Recovery Facility on Hal Far road, Birzebbugia, adjacent to an existing civic amenity facility. (Independent) CEO Tonio Montebello explained that the planned development will help tackle a multitude of waste streams, like dividing up different woods so that they can be exported, reused or recycled, to separate gypsum boards “which we foresee will be largely used in the future,” for them to be exported abroad rather than dumped in a landfill, and other possible streams, including possibly dealing with bullet cartridges.
We also read that former PM Lawrence Gonzi and his wife had spent almost €300,000 in travelling between 2004 and 2012 (L-Orizzont) and how Parliamentary Secretary Clifton Grima gave a direct order of €60,000.
Pop legend Anastacia arrived in Malta for a concert which will take place tomorrow.
The US President Donald Trump asserted his presidential power and escalated his efforts and declared that he has the “absolute right” to pardon himselfand attacking the investigation as “totally UNCONSTITUTIONAL!”
France financial prosecutor is probing Macron’s Chief of Staffon allegations of breaching conflict of interest rules.
Vladimir Putin claims that the fierce political situation in the USis the main reason why the US-Russia summit didn’t take place.
North Korea’s top threearmy officials have been removed from their post.
Some 70 percent of women with early-stage breast cancer and an intermediate risk of cancer recurrence can safely skip chemotherapy after their tumors have been removed, U.S. researchers said on Sunday. “This is a major finding,” said Dr. Larry Norton, a breast cancer expert at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, who helped organise the government-funded study more than a decade ago.
Grenfell Tower victims had more than half an hour to escape the high-rise block before the stairs filled with toxic smoke, but were told to stay put by the fire service, the official inquiry was told on Monday.
Jordan’s Prime Minister was made to resign, to diffuse tension in the country.
Ryanair cabin crew are threatening to strike by the end of this month if the company does not meet a series of demands from members.
The Duchess of Sussex is to embark on a lifetime of public service from the most glamorous of events to the rather mundane under the guidance of Her Majesty the Queen.
Chinese citizens around the world are remembering the lone man, armed with nothing more than two shopping bags, who stepped in front of a row of tanks moving down the streets of Beijing in 1989.
IATA warns about possible airports’ capacity crisisas demand for international travel grows.
Medical tests suggested that Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius was suffering from concussion Lwhen he made two terrible errors in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid after he was hit by an elbow from Sergio Ramos.
Jesmond Saliba
Managing Editor
