Health Minister Chris Fearne and Opposition spokesperson for health Stephen Spiteri are next in line to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.The vaccination campaign kicked off almost a month ago, on 27 December last year.  Healthcare workers were first...

In the first week of December, Portugal’s prime minister gave his pandemic-weary people an early Christmas gift: restrictions on gatherings and travel due to COVID-19 would be lifted from Dec. 23-26 so they could spend the holiday season with f...

Dr George Hyzler, Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, has stated that official press releases issued through the Department of Information should not include partisan political statements. The Commissioner for Standards came to this conclusion...

Engineering students who graduate from MCAST are now eligible for a warrant to be able to practice as professional engineers after a pre-warrant qualification course was approved by the Board of Engineers. In a joint statement, the Education Min...

A man from Pakistan has been arrested in connection with an investigation into alleged abuse of minors, the police said.The man, aged 32, was arrested by the Police Vice Square and the Paola district.Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech is leading an i...

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte intends to offer his resignation on Tuesday, his office said Monday, a move seen as gamble that the embattled leader will get a fresh mandate from the president to try to forge a more viable coalition.Conte survived two...

Groups of youths confronted police in Dutch towns and cities Monday night, defying the country's coronavirus curfew and throwing fireworks. Police in the port city of Rotterdam used a water cannon and tear gas in an attempt to disperse a crowd of rio...

Thousands of elderly Germans faced online error messages and jammed up hotlines Monday as technical problems marred the start of the coronavirus vaccine campaign for over-80s in the country's most populous state.North Rhine-Westphalia, whose populati...

The PN is currently carrying out a socio-economic study in Gozo which will focus on a number of factors, including working conditions, the demographic impacts, the job market, how Gozo’s health service compared to Malta’s and more.The ann...

Prime Minister Robert Abela told journalists on Monday that he is “confident” that Malta will not be impacted by vaccine shortages, as drug companies say that they would be delivering less vaccines than initially planned.In January, Pfize...

Pardoned murder middleman Melvin Theuma's testimony in the compilation of evidence against the three men accused of murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia had to be postponed after legal wrangling over his recordings.Lawyer William Cuschieri, appearing for...

Anti-terrorism police have arrested five men in connection with the alleged abduction of a Syrian national.The five men – four Syrians and one Libyan – were arrested in Safi and Zurrieq. The police had been investigating the alleged abduc...

A public inquiry into Miriam Pace’s death will not be appointed, despite calls from her family otherwise, Prime Minister Robert Abela confirmed on Monday.Answering questions from journalists on Monday, Abela said that appointing a public inquir...

The tourism sector’s success in the coming ten years is not solely based on recovery from the pandemic, but also on increasing the quality of the islands’ tourism product and services,  Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said during th...

203 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Monday while two more people positive for the virus have died, health authorities said in their latest update.175 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus.This means that the number of active cases cur...

Transport Malta has plans to reinforce signage and add on to the already present metal barricades at the Ċirkewwa quay, Transport Minister Ian Borg said. Ċirkewwa quay has become well-known for being a hotspot where parked cars get was...

There are 88 pending trials, Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis told Parliament on Monday. He was answering a Parliamentary Question by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi. Replying to other questions on the subject, the Justice Minister said there are ...

19 police officers were caught breaking the law between 2017 and today, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said in Parliament on Monday.Camilleri was answering a parliamentary question with regards to the matter.PN MP Ivan Bartolo asked Camilleri ...

The report drawn up by a panel of experts on the construction industry has confirmed the belief held by Miriam Pace’s family that a public inquiry should be launched.The report was tabled in Parliament last week by Prime Minister Robert Abela. ...

The Environment and Resources Authority will not object to the widening of a road in Gharb that would lead to a recently approved fireworks factory located Outside the Development Zone, due to safety considerations.The application is for the sanction...

The airline FlyDubai has added Malta to its European network of routes as of May 2021, with connections between Malta and Dubai kicking off on 12 May.The airline announced that flights to Malta International Airport will commence on 12 May with a fou...

The European Union is pressuring the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to deliver more coronavirus vaccine doses to its 27 nations and to stick to its initial promises once the jab gets EU approval, especially since the bloc has already invested in ...

Frank Lampard was fired by Chelsea on Monday halfway through his second season in charge after being unable to replicate his success as the club's record scorer in his first Premier League managerial job.Chelsea has lost five of its last eight Premie...

The Floriana Local Council has lashed out at comments by Kristina Chetcuti in a Times of Malta opinion piece, saying it “categorically” condemns “any comment and tone that is intended to ridicule the locality and its people.”C...

A public consultation has been concluded highlighting certain aspects which help to determine what laws need to improve when it comes to adoption, especially from the children’s point of view, Ministry for Social Justice and Solidarity, th...

All complaints received by Mount Carmel Hospital (MCH) are taken seriously, CEO Stephanie Xuereb told The Malta Independent.Earlier this month, a former MCH patient shared the story of her stay at the facility with the media, outlining the structural...

Britain is expanding a coronavirus vaccination program that has seen more than 6 million people get the first of two doses — even as the country’s death toll in the pandemic approaches 100,000.Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Sunday tha...

A warden’s car in Qormi was set on fire last night, the GWU said.It informed people of the case through with a Facebook post.The GWU expressed solidarity with him and his family. Posted by GWU - Disciplined Forces, Security & Law Enforcemen...

A 45-year-old woman was arrested after allegedly robbing three elderly people along with her 13-year-old son, police said on Monday.Police said that they were called to a residence in Triq Sir Luigi Preziosi in St. Paul’s Bay at around 12:00 on...

President Trump's relationship with the EU was not a good one. After Biden's inauguration, how do you think the diplomatic relationship between the US and the EU will develop? George Vital Zammit (GVZ): With the Biden Presidency I see a reset bu...

A man will be taken to court on Monday in connection with a number of robberies, police said in a statement.Following days of investigations in connection with an alleged robbery, the Valletta district police together with the Valletta community poli...

Chinese state media have played up questions about Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine and whether it could be lethal to the very old. A government spokesperson suggests the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab.As the ruling Communist Party ...

A teenager who was reported missing on Christmas Day has been found safe and sound, the police said Monday.Luana Borg, 15, had been reported missing, with the police saying that she wears a burka so as not to be recognised.Borg had been reported miss...

A man was seriously injured after falling off a bastion in Valletta, the police said.The accident took place at 3.45am on Monday.The police said that the man, aged 25 from Switzerland, had fallen off the bastion in St Sebastian Street.He was taken to...

A 16% decrease in criminality was recorded in Malta in 2020 when compared to 2019, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri announced on Saturday.This is certainly good news. While the Covid-19 pandemic must have played a part in this, given the restric...

Fifty three per cent of companies in Malta made use of cloud computing in 2020, Eurostat statistics show.This statistic is far higher than 2016, where only 35% of companies in Malta made use of such services.Enterprises can access computing resources...

Secretly recorded conversations between Melvin Theuma and a Dutchman, in which the pardoned middleman made statements that “contradict” some of the evidence he gave in court are being sought by both Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers and the p...

116 new cases of Covid-19 were registered on Sunday, as the number of active cases decreased slightly, down to 2,606.This decrease was due to 155 people recovering.One more death was registered, bringing the total up to 251. The latest victim was an ...

After the end of March, the government is planning to implement measures which encourage economic growth and operational improvement, rather than being limited to cost minimisation for businesses, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri told this newspaper ...

Co-options have always been a part of our electoral system. Parties co-opt MPs when they are replacing others who resign after the latter were elected via casual elections. Or else when casual elections organised by the Electoral Commission are shunn...

Covid-19 has taken its toll on Carnival companies this year, but plans are already underway for 2022 and it is expected to be one of the best yet, Festival Malta Carnival Artistic Director Jason Busuttil told this newsroom.For the first time since WW...

The Santa Lucija underpass has been inaugurated after an investment of €20 million, a statement by the Office of the Prime Minister read.The project was partially financed by European Funds.Prime Minister Robert Abela, along with Minister for Tr...

A 90th minute goal scored by striker Luke Montebello gave Birkirkara another victory this time over Mosta in a well balanced match.Mosta were the better team in the first half but Birkirkara came back strongly in the second half and snatched the winn...

Prime Minister Robert Abela said that next week, the government will unveil the details regarding the €1 million in support it will provide to bars and clubs that were closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.At the end of December, the government sa...

A scream from Andy Robertson was a forlorn attempt to distract Mason Greenwood beginning Manchester United's comeback. The defender won't be the only one shrieking at Liverpool after going out of the FA Cup.Not that everything went wrong for Liverpoo...

Most of us go to Valletta quite regularly, and we all like to think that we know our capital city quite well. But how true is that? Many would be able to recognise most buildings and know what role they play today, but once you start to dig deeper, t...

The number of new Covid-19 cases registered this past week again supersedes the number of patients who have recovered, but the two statistics are now getting closer, statistician Vincent Marmara said.In his weekly vlog for The Malta Independent on Su...

Weston McKennie scored to help Juventus beat Bologna 2-0 in Serie A on Sunday and bounce back from its demoralizing loss to title rival Inter Milan.The American headed in Juve’s second goal, in the 71st minute, after Arthur had given the Bianco...

The Nationalist Party is conducting a socio-economic study in Gozo, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.In a political address in Nadur, Gozo on Sunday morning, Grech said that he wants to see progress in Malta's sister island."I want a ne...

A 37 year old man and a 24 year old man were arrested yesterday night after the Rapid Intervention Unit found them in possession of drugs.The police saw two people acting suspiciously at Ġnien Spencer, Marsa at around 7pm. As one of the policeme...

A 25-year-old Hungarian man was injured in a motorcycle accident at 10.30am this morning.He was taken to Mater Dei Hospital. The police believe that the man lost control on the Coast Road. The man is grievously injured and investigations are ongoing.

Ian Borg’s slip of the tongue may not have constituted a breach of ethics, according to Standards Czar George Hyzler but, according to us, the incident served to highlight the ongoing culture of double standards in this country.We say this beca...

A year ago, a notice sent to smartphones in Wuhan at 2 a.m. announced the world's first coronavirus lockdown, bringing the bustling central Chinese industrial and transport center to a virtual standstill almost overnight. It would last 76 days.Early ...

Norway says its capital, Oslo, and nine municipalities have been placed under strict restrictions to contain the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus first detected in Britain.The Norwegian government said shopping centers and other non-essen...

A man was grievously injured in a fight in St Paul’s Bay on Saturday night, the police said.The police were informed that a person was lying injured on the street at 11.30pm.Officers turned up in Xtut Street but the victim was not there.The pol...

Aaron Ciantar was born on the 3rd March, 1980 and he hails from Marsa.  ‘Back to the Eighties’, he recalls when speaking about his early days on this planet.  “When I was still very young my father had a farm and also some...

When Joe Biden took the oath of office as the 46th president, he became not only the oldest newly inaugurated U.S. chief executive in history but also the oldest sitting president ever.Biden was born Nov. 20, 1942, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 7...

There were 119 new Covid-19 cases reported today, but 211 patients have recovered, the health authorities said.Two more deaths were reported, bringing the total to 250. The last two victims are an 89-year-old woman and a 77-year-old man, who died at ...

For the fourth consecutive year, Malta has seen a decrease in reports of criminal offences. Criminality in Malta decreased by 16% in 2020 when compared to the previous year, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri announced on Saturday.Minister Camille...

Valletta: Royal Pharmacy, 271, Republic Street; Marsa: Trinity Pharmacy, 32 Marsa Road; Qormi: Evans Pharmacy, 96/98, St Sebastian Street; Birkirkara: Marrit Pharmacy, 1st of May Street, Fleur-de-Lys; Gżira: St Matthew's Pharmacy, Promenade Stre...

Health chief Charmaine Gauci was vaccinated against Covid-19 this morning.The government started a vaccination campaign on 27 December, with frontliners among the first to get the first and, later, the second dose.It is understood that although she w...

Operators found in breach of construction regulations can face a fine of up to half a million euro, according to a draft Bill that is currently being debated in Parliament. Speaking in the House on Wednesday, Prime Minister Robert Abela pledged en en...

Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba announced that if employers took action against employees who exercise their right to disconnect, it will not be the employee who will have to justify any actions taken, but it will be in the hands of the employer.On Thur...

Larry King, the suspenders-sporting everyman whose broadcast interviews with world leaders, movie stars and ordinary Joes helped define American conversation for a half-century, died Saturday. He was 87.King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los...

The police said that it has received 1,416 reports of alleged domestic violence cases between March 2020 and December 2020.The numbers provided by the police to The Malta Independent show a rise in the number of reports since the Covid-19 pandemic st...

Hibernians and Floriana figured out a 1-1 draw with the Paolites missing the chance to take sole leadership. It was a balanced affair with Hiberians dominating the first half with the Greens responding well in the second half. This result neither ple...

Last season’s FA Cup winner Arsenal was eliminated from the competition in the fourth round on Saturday thanks to Gabriel’s own-goal in a 1-0 loss to Southampton, while Manchester City survived a scare to beat fourth-tier Cheltenham 3-1.I...

After a week marked by the highly anticipated arrivals of former Juventus forward Mario Mand?ukić and Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori, AC Milan was expected to celebrate winning Serie A's halfway title in style.Instead, the Rossoneri were handed ...

There is some evidence that a new coronavirus variant first identified in southeast England carries a higher risk of death .than the original strain, the British government’s chief scientific adviser said Friday -- though he stressed that the d...

A teenager was grievously hurt this morning after falling off a ladder on a construction site, thepolice said.The accident took place at Hal-Farrug at 9am.The teenager, a 17-year-old Syrian man, was taken to hospital with grievous injuries.

Patients at Karin Grech Hospital who are aged 85 years or older, and others over 60 who are long-term patients are receiving the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination, the government said today.This excludes patients who are positive to the virus or...

WasteServ will be opening four Reuse Centres to enhance its Civic Amenity Site experience and to further widen the concept of a circular economy.These centres, which are expected to be opened by the end of the year, will offer used and ‘pre-lov...

Malta Enterprise invites businesses and self-employed operating from Malta to take a Brexit Impact Check through the newly launched Brexit website: brexit.maltaenterprise.com.The website aims to serve as repository of information for businesses ...

NGOs and individuals contesting the Ahrax and Mizieb deal signed between the Lands Authority and FKNK, intend to appeal a ruling of the Tribunal for Administrative Review, as they were denied legal standing in the case being heard before the Tribunal...

Nearly a year to the day after the Chinese city of Wuhan went into lockdown to contain a virus that had already escaped, President Joe Biden began putting into effect a new war plan for fighting the outbreak in the U.S., Germany topped 50,000 deaths,...

Labour MEP Alfred Sant has expressed disagreement with a European Parliament resolution that seeks to override the tax sovereignty that EU member states have under the treaties.Sant said that the resolution supports Europe-wide minimum tax rates that...

A report drafted after the tragedy that claimed the life of Miriam Pace last year was finally published this week. The report confirmed what we already knew – that very dangerous building practices were being used in a bid to cut time and costs...

It's a club Donald Trump was never really interested in joining and certainly not so soon: the cadre of former commanders in chief who revere the presidency enough to put aside often bitter political differences and even join together in common cause...

143 new cases of Covid-19 were registered on Friday, as the total number of active cases dropped to 2,740, statistics published by the health authorities show.The number of active cases dropped as 201 people recovered from the virus. A total of 16,53...

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) has come out against the idea of a curfew, arguing that such a measure is draconian, unnecessary, and counterproductive if enforcement is adequately applied to all the industry.The Medical Associati...

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has concluded that there was no breach of ethics by Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis in the engagement of Cheryl Azzopardi as a legal advisor in his ministry. The Standards Commissioner arrived at thi...

Rebecca Caruana, a Maltese medicine and surgery student, has taken her locally published articles to the international scale, co-authoring a Covid-19 e-book with renowned professionals from across the globe.On 25 March, when Covid-19 was still in its...

Brothers Alfred and George Degiorgio, two of the three men accused of carrying out the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, have demanded that the compilation of evidence against them be restarted, claiming that the Magistrate presiding their compilatio...

Gzira United continued with their positive streak when in the first match played on Friday at the Centenary Stadium they beat Tarxien Rainbows by two second half goals.A win which kept the momentum for the Maroons and instilled more confidence in Dar...

The second Covid-19 vaccine dose has been administered to the first elderly woman who had taken the vaccine, the government said in a statement. The woman resides in St Vincent de Paul.Minister for the Elderly Michael Farrugia said: "Now that every r...

The Financial Intelligence and Analysis Unit (FIAU) has said that it was never directed by the Law Courts to "cut fines" on sanctions already imposed by the Unit.The FIAU was reacting to an article which appeared in the Times of Malta, which read tha...

MAM said today it is seriously preoccupied with persistent high daily numbers of Covid patients which average above 150 a day.  While the increasing number of daily vaccinations is encouraging, this should not lure the authorites into a false se...

Today, the international community is celebrating the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). Malta ratified the Treaty on 21 September 2020, and was among the first fifty states to do so, thereby enabling its ent...

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa on Friday inaugurated a new police station at the Malta International Airport.The new station offers more security and privacy for all those seeking police services there, the ...

Wider Reforms are needed to create a more level playing field for women to enter politics, The Malta Women's Lobby (MWL) said.MWL said that it supports the reforms that address the low female representation in our national parliament, but wants more ...

A 25-year-old man has been arrested through a European Arrest Warrant (EAW), the police said in a statement. The man is from Cameroon.The EAW was issued by Germany, and the man is wanted over armed robbery and organised crime charges. The man is curr...

European Union leaders agreed that borders should remain open and assessed more measures to counter the spread of coronavirus variants during a video summit Thursday as the bloc's top disease control official said urgent action was needed to stave of...

The Ministry for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family and Children's Rights has already reached a 90% implementation rate of the Electoral Manifesto promises for this sector presented back in 2017, it said in a statement."This Ministry is set to...

Minister for the National Heritage, the Arts and Local Government Jose Herrera and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Animal Rights Anton Refalo revealed that 50 local councils' applications were accepted through which they will receive fi...

President Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of transportation, Pete Buttigieg, was headed down a smooth path to quick confirmation, pledging to senators on Thursday to work with them to carry out the administration’s ambitious agenda to r...

When, nearly one year ago, the Covid-19 pandemic started and, as a consequence, there was so much alarm in the country, the health authorities made it a point to be constantly present in the media to explain what was happening.We soon started having ...

A recommendation to approve the conversion of two villas in Wied Ghomor into a hotel was rejected by the Planning Commission.The commission argued that it would run counter to ODZ policies. The Planning Directorate had previously recommended tha...

Edward Scicluna bumped up the salary of the governor of the Central Bank of Malta by €11,000 shortly before he took up the same role, the Nationalist Party said on Friday.The news was first reported by The Shift, which published a letter Sciclun...

Two people were arrested by the police after drugs were found in a vehicle, a statement read.At 6pm yesterday, a 35-year-old man from Sliema and a 38-year-old woman from Santa Venera were arrested near the Cirkewwa terminal. Their vehicle was search...