These are the main news as covered by Malta’s news portals.
Malta has been pinpointed as being at the centre of illicit smuggling across the Mediterranean by an international police investigation led by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, according to a report by Daphne Project partners La Repubblica. Colonel Giuseppe Campobasso, who heads the anti-drug law enforcement for Italy’s financial police in Palermo, has said “Malta has become a crossroad of illegal trafficking”. The Times of Malta
Three cases of sexual abuse within the Church were substantiated by the Curia’s Safeguarding Commission, and were subsequently handed over to the police to investigate. The three cases all involved minors and were carried out by a diocesan priest, a religious priest and a lay person respectively. Speaking in a press conference launching the Safeguarding Commission’s Annual Report for 2017 on Wednesday, the head of the commission Andrew Azzopardi said that aside from referring these cases to the police, necessary action was taken without prejudice and restrictions were imposed on the pastoral activity that those involved could carry out. The Malta Independent
Prime Minister said the former Opposition leader was either ‘taken for a very big ride’ or was part of a systematic attempt to destabilise the country. MaltaToday – One
Karlis Meiers, aged 28, has been arraigned in Court after frightening a woman in the course of her work. It appears that the man, a Latvian national and a resident of Marsascala, frightened and threatened the woman, who works with a foundation in the voluntary sector, that he was going to resort to violence against her and her family. The accused even sent the woman a box containing bones in order to threaten her. In regard to this case the Court appointed an exorcist, and has been requested to issue a protection order for the woman and her family. TVM
The Nationalist Party launched its pre-budget document enlisting it’s economic vision. The PN leader said that the country needs to find alternative economic routes for its sustainable growth and can’t rely on existent ones. Net News
In a letter addressed to Justice Commissioner, Vera Jourova, and Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, the Government condemned the spirit in which David Casa’s letter was written. The letter was signed by and signed by European Affairs Minister Helena Dalli and Justice Minister Owen Bonnici. The Government argued that Casa’s letter was an attempt to cause reputational damage. The Head of Delegation and PN MEP David Casa described the letter to Jourova and Timmermans as a “weak attempt” to defend a colleague by the two Ministers arguing that “facts” as revealed by the media remained the same. Newsbook
The government “vehemently condemned” the spirit in which PN MEP David Casa wrote to the vice-president of the European Commission Frans Timmermans urging him to “urgently address” calls for a public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Times of Malta
