Close relationships which could lead to favouritism between businessmen and politicians are “not okay”, Chamber of Commerce President Marisa Xuereb told The Malta Independent when asked about the business-related findings from the Daphne ...

The Naxxar local council recently proposed the enactment of a by-law to tackle the rising number of caravans along the coast road, however this has fallen through due to the government stalling on the issue, Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adam...

Health Minister Chris Fearne and Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci will be addressing a press conference at 11am.They are expected to give details about the Covid-19 pandemic, the vaccination campaign and measures the government is imposing to co...

How has Brexit impacted importation and logistics sector? Franco Azzopardi, CEO of Express Trailers explains the repercussions and the new challenges that Brexit brought about in an interview with Dayna Camilleri Clarke.What are the new importation s...

Italy stepped up pressure Wednesday on fellow EU nations to open their ports to migrants rescued by humanitarian ships as political tension simmers in the Italian government's coalition over a sharply rising number of arrivals this summer on the coun...

We have known it for quite a while that most politicians think of the rest of the population as being in their grasp and can be easily manipulated.They smile, pose, shake hands and mingle with others simply because they need the people’s vote t...

An 84-year-old man was grievously injured when the car he was driving crashed into a wall, the police said.The man, from Ghaxaq, was driving his Peugeot Partner along tal-Barrani Road at 3.30am when the accident happened.He was taken to Mater Dei Hos...

The U.K. plans to offer coronavirus vaccines to 16 and 17-year-olds in the next few weeks after the independent body of scientists that makes vaccine recommendations to the government changed its advice.The four nations of the U.K. all accepted the c...

Australia’s most populous state is reporting the worst day of its outbreak of the coronavirus delta variant, with a record 262 new local infections and five deaths from COVID-19.New South Wales state Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Thursday tha...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:___Maddie Musselman and the U.S. beat the Russian Olympic Committee 15-11 to advance to the women’s...

82 new Covid-19 cases were registered on Wednesday, while 293 people recovered, the health authorities said.This brings the active cases down to 1,333. No new deaths were registered.Since the start of the pandemic, 34,590 cases of the virus were regi...

Melvin Theuma has been asked to show proof that he owned a Mosta flat allegedly used in the 2010 HSBC bank heist as a safehouse by the criminals.Theuma, the self-confessed middleman in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, made a brief app...

Former Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil has said that the President of Malta George Vella should resign from his post.Busuttil, who currently occupies the position of Secretary-General of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, said: "Such is the s...

The Malta Community Chest Fund Foundation has categorically denied that patient data or information was ever to be transferred to any third party, including the Blockchain Charity Foundation."All patient information is treated as strictly confidentia...

A fraud who posed as a priest collecting money for charity wept in the dock as he was remanded in custody pending sentencing after pleading guilty to defrauding a 90-year-old man of some €3,000.This afternoon, Dillon Kenneth Junior Bartolo, 28, ...

The Commission for the Rights of Persons with a Disability (CRPD) received 24% fewer complaints from persons with a disability in 2020, when compared to 2019.In 2020, the CRPD received 475 requests for investigations into discriminatory issues, while...

Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri has announced the extension of the 2020 Gozo Employment Refund Scheme.The main objective of this scheme, which is a key measure of the budget, is to drive the creation of sustainable jobs in Gozo on a full-time basis...

A legal notice implementing new social standards, regulating the operations of long-term homes for the elderly will be published in the coming days, Minister for Senior Citizens and Active Ageing Michael Farrugia said.He made this statement while bei...

The past few days have seen power cuts in a number of localities, the PN said, criticising the Labour government’s handling of the situation.“At a time when families needed stable electricity provision, the government gave them darkness a...

The Labour Party has described the PN as 'blackout experts', arguing that they are not credible when it comes to the energy sector.This was in response to a PN statement on the recent blackouts."It is an undisputed fact that energy provision interrup...

China suspended flights and trains, canceled professional basketball league games and announced mass coronavirus testing in Wuhan, as widening outbreaks of the delta variant reached the city where the disease was first detected in late 2019.While the...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:World champion the Netherlands is out of the women’s handball competition at the Tokyo Olympics aft...

A new sea transport service between the Grand Harbour and Esplora was inaugurated as part of a project to restore the Kalkara coast near the facility, which was done through an investment of €2.5 million.During the inauguration, Prime Minister R...

One of our duties as journalists is to inform the public about various issues.Here is a lesson for some people out there, particularly those who comment beneath our stories on Facebook: hate speech is a crime.We say this because, over the past few da...

The PN's Executive Committee has elected Rudolph Marmara as its new Executive Organisational Secretary.This election came about after the post was vacated by Michael Piccinino, who was elected Secretary General.Marmara will be responsible for the org...

Jesmond Saliba has been appointed as the new Commissioner for Voluntary Organisations.Jesmond Saliba has worked in the public, private, and voluntary sectors where throughout his career he was entrusted with the policy-making of various entities and ...

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo faced mounting pressure Tuesday to resign, including from President Joe Biden and other onetime Democratic allies, after an investigation found he sexually harassed nearly a dozen women and worked to retaliate against one o...

The Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia has refused the Nationalist Party's request to convene Parliament with urgency to discuss a motion of no confidence in Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, the PN said in a statement.The Speaker noted that wha...

Assistant Commissioner Ian Abdilla, who is a former head of the economic crimes unit, has been suspended from the police force.Replying to The Malta Independent, the police said: "The Malta Police Force has suspended an MPF official in line with...

The Malta Development Bank has provided support to over half a billion euro in loans since the first scheme was launched back in late 2018, it said in a statement.These loans were taken up by close to 650 local businesses, operating across the local ...

Calls for the dismissal of Edward Zammit Lewis from his ministerial post continued on Tuesday evening, as Repubblika held a protest outside the Justice Ministry. "On his Wikipedia page, Minister Edward Zammit Lewis describes himself as being one...

The Speaker and Clerk of the House have hit back at the NGO Repubblika, describing a protest they had filed for not being allowed into Parliament last week as “unfounded” and “baseless.”In a counter-protest filed on Tuesday, t...

69 new cases of Covid-19 have been reported by health authorities, as the number of vaccinated persons exceeded 400,000.134 people meanwhile have recovered, and with no deaths reported in the last 24 hours the number of active cases currently stands ...

In view of heatwave that hit the Maltese Islands, Enemalta is postponing all maintenance works that are regularly scheduled on its distribution system, with the exception of those considered to be essential."All of Enemalta's engineers and technician...

The Public Inquiry Board has said that three pages were missing from the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry report that was published last week.In a statement issued through the Department of Information, the board said that pages 23, 61 and 261 from the...

A fishing trawler allegedly rammed a small fishing boat, leaving its two occupants in the sea, after it deemed the vessel to be in its way.Taking to social media, one of the two who ended up in the sea recounted how his first recreational fishing tri...

The significant increase in energy demand over the past weeks, together with the high temperatures caused damages on the low-voltage network, which effected a number of Enemalta clients in different localities, Enemalta said in a statement."Enemalta ...

A host of lengthy power cuts throughout the night have forced some to seek refuge in their air-conditioned cars in a bid to avoid Malta’s summer heat.Dreading more sleepless nights, the recurring lengthy power cuts across the island have forced...

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo said the government is targeting sustainable quality tourism as it looks ahead to better times after the Covid-19 pandemic, which put the industry on its knees.Replying to questions by The Malta Independent, Bartolo s...

A 67-year-old Swieqi resident fell from a height of around one storey at 12.45pm, a police statement read.The man was working in a construction site on Naxxar road, San Gwann.The man suffered grievous injuries. Investigations are ongoing.

Employers have called for a ban on the government carrying out any public sector recruitment up to six months prior to a general election unless it is in critical professions, as a pre-election drain on human resources is forcing companies to opt for...

The police received reports of a man damaging cars on Cassarino road, St Paul's Bay, at 11.30pm on Monday night.In a statement, the police said that upon arrival at the location, they found a man, 25-years-old from Nigeria, nearby with a long metal r...

The €10 million Infrastructure Malta (IM) project that sought to rehabilitate Malta’s four main tunnels is now in its final stages, and is expected to be completed by the end of September, an IM spokesperson told The Malta Independent.Tech...

In a landmark judgement, the Agricultural leases board has ordered the eviction of two farmers from a field which they were renting under a protected pre-1995 lease. The judgement means that Nazzareno Pulis and Antonia Pulis, whose family has been re...

The Nationalist Party has called for the immediate resignation of Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis after "colluding with criminals" and referring to labour voters as 'fools', the party said in a statement.During a press conference, PN MP Karol Aq...

A Marsa shop owner has testified how he served as the go-between to hand over money to the brother of two men accused with Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.Joseph Brincat known as Sukku testified how Lawrence Pace, known as il-Lolly, used to giv...

Malta is one of 16 countries to be added to the United States’ ‘very high risk’ travel list as the country grapples with the Delta variant of Covid-19.The directive was issued by the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, whi...

News reports last week revealed the kind of communication between Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis and Yorgen Fenech, the man who stands accused in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.While a number of whatsapp chats so far appear to ...

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo and MTA Chairman Gavin Gulia announced a €35,000 investment to continue the restoration works at Auberge de France.Birgu Mayor John Boxall said that although the restoration works had been started by the local co...

Germany will start offering coronavirus vaccinations for all children and teenagers aged 12 and older, top health officials said Monday.German Health Minister Jens Spahn said after a meeting with the 16 German state health ministers that “we ke...

The governor of the area including Italy’s capital, Rome, sought on Monday to assure residents that a powerful hacking intrusion into the region's website, into its second day, won’t interrupt COVID-19 vaccinations.The Lazio region govern...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:___MEDAL ALERTAthing Mu has won the 800-meter gold medal for the United States in her first Olympics afte...

Edward Zammit Lewis has defended himself amidst calls for his resignation over ties to alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder mastermind Yorgen Fenech, saying that nothing new had been revealed in stories published over the weekend.Reports by MaltaTod...

64 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Monday, with the number of active cases decreasing.168 people have recovered, while nobody passed away in the last 24 hours – meaning that the number of active cases currently stan...

The PN have pledged to eradicate the ever-pervading obstacles of accessibility to Malta from the minds of Gozitans.The party’s Gozo spokesperson Chris Said, the MP Joe Ellis and the candidate Alex Borg on Monday addressed a press conference out...

Suspended police officer Glenn Carabott, who is currently facing rape charges, was granted bail by a court on Monday.In a decree in the criminal court, Judge Aaron Bugeja granted Carabott bail against a €5,000 deposit and a €5,000 personal ...

The Nationalist Party has filed its motion of no confidence in Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis, it said in a statement.“Edward Zammit Lewis is not worthy to serve as a government minister after the news emerged that he was conspiring and l...

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has issued guidelines to regulate the use of advertising and promotional material by the government and public entities.Earlier this year, the Commissioner had issued a number of guidelines for public con...

The popular show L-Erbgħa Fost il-Ġimgħa will be replaced by a new show called ‘Topik’, which will be hosted by the former presenter of Popolin Quinton Scerri.The news comes after it emerged on Sunday that L-Erbgħa Fos...

There have been many objections to the uprooting of mature trees around the island due to the countries several recent large-scale infrastructural projects with many arguing that Malta’s future generations will have to reap an increase in pollu...

The family of the late Brigadier Alfred Gatt has made a public appeal for help after Gatt’s Military Cross was lost while it was being taken to the National War Museum last week.Gatt is one of only nine Maltese to be awarded the Military Cross ...

Two Turkish mothers who were recently jailed for passport offences have filed an appeal, claiming that their six month jail sentences were too severe and that they were, essentially seeking asylum from the Erdogan regime in Turkey.On 28 July, Ra...

Civil society NGO Repubblika is urging the public to attend a protest on Tuesday where it will step up its call for Justice Minister Zammit Lewis to resign.The minister is under fire after the publication of more Whatsapp conversations he shared with...

Britain opened its borders to fully vaccinated travellers from the U.S. and the European Union on Monday as travel industry leaders urged the government to further ease restrictions and allow people to enjoy the benefits of a successful Covid-19 inoc...

A 74-year-old man was grievously injured in a traffic accident in Zurrieq on Monday.The accident took place on Triq il-Wied, at around 9:15am.The man was driving a Toyota Belta that was involved in a collision with a Ford Fiesta that was being driven...

A relative of pardoned middleman Melvin Theuma refused to testify on Monday in the compilation of evidence against Yorgen Fenech since she is facing separate criminal proceedings.The relative, whose name cannot be published, is accused of financial c...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:MEDAL ALERTDiscus thrower Valarie Allman won the first track and field gold medal for the United States a...

A Nationalist MP, an NGO head and journalists have been the target of hate speech on the social media, incidents which yet again show how this tool is being used to spew venom against others.Nationalist MP Karol Aquilina said he has written to the po...

In a bid to demonstrate their indebtedness to government employees who work in the psychoeducational sector (such as: student counsellors and learning support educators) - Minister for Education Justyne Caruana presided over the signing of a new 'Stu...

HSBC Malta said today that profit before tax for the six months ended 30 June 2021 was €17.5m, an increase of €15.6m from the same period in 2020. Higher profits reflect a positive performance by the life insurance subsidiary in view of fav...

Charity ships rescued nearly 450 migrants from a wooden boat that was taking on water in the Mediterranean Sea, aid groups said Sunday, while dozens of mostly Tunisian migrants reached the Italian island of Sardinia unaided.The French humanitarian gr...

The appointment of architect David Xuereb as the head of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority hopefully bodes for a better-regulated and ultimately safer construction industry.There have been countless incidents at construction sites, and the...

The Customs Department intercepted drugs, contraband cigarettes and also found undeclared cash on a passenger last week.On Friday, at the Airport Departures’ Lounge, Customs Anti-Money Laundering Officials elevated €11,500 in undeclared ca...

In June, the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,711, decreasing by 2,559 when compared to the corresponding month in 2020.Data provided by Jobsplus for June 2021 indicates a year-on-year decrease of 2,359 persons registering under Part...

The Nationalist Party has lodged a request for Parliament to convene for an urgent session so that they can file a motion of no confidence against Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis after chats between him and Yorgen Fenech emerged.Edward Zammit Le...

The members of the board of inquiry that looked into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia were “alarmed” by former PM Joseph Muscat’s justification of government closeness with business people. The inquiry, whose findings were publi...

The public inquiry board that was looking into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia said they were very surprised to learn that the Finance Minister at the time, Edward Scicluna, was not involved in the negotiation of the Electrogas...

The Malta College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists is strongly advising pregnant women to take the COVID-19 vaccine in view of the recent increase in COVID-19 complications that we are seeing in pregnant women.Vaccination is the best way to reduce...

The number of Covid-19 patients in Mater Dei’s Intensive Therapy Unit has increased to five, as 80 new cases of the virus were reported on Sunday.32 Covid-19 patients are currently being treated at Mater Dei Hospital, with five of those being i...

Unless the next Michael Phelps, Nadia Comaneci, Usain Bolt or Valentina Vezzali are born in Malta – or someone with similar potential buys a Maltese passport and chooses to represent us – we will probably never hear the Maltese national a...

The new CEO of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Joseph Gavin, has been given a remuneration package worth over €160,000.Gavin, who previously served as General Counsel at the Central Bank of Ireland, is the first ever non-Maltese national...

More needs to be done in order to ensure the safety of construction workplaces in terms of “seriousness, proactiveness and site organisation” so as to reduce workplace deaths and injuries, the new chairman of the Occupational Health and S...

Popular TV presenter Mark Laurence Zammit has announced that he will stop presenting the current affairs programme L-Erbgħa Fost il-Ġimgħa on TVM, blaming interference from the national broadcaster for his decision.Zammit, who found fa...

The judges who carried out a public inquiry into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia have recommended that a legal framework should be introduced to protect journalists and ensure the profession is self-regulated.The report, which ...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:Belarus track sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya says her Olympic team officials tried to remove her from J...

Up until a few years ago many people would say that, while it was true that the Labour administration made many mistakes and allowed corruption to permeate into the top levels of government, Muscat was still ‘the best Prime Minister Malta ever ...

Introducing reforms to make the journalism industry more sustainable both financially and as a profession is the next step following the publication of a report by the public inquiry investigation Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, Prime Minister...

PN leader Bernard Grech has called on the Prime Minister to stop boasting about new legislation which has been implemented and to turn those words into facts. In a telephone interview on NET FM on Sunday, Bernard Grech spoke about his prese...

Frenchman Esteban Ocon won a chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton finished third to take the Formula One championship lead from Max Verstappen by six points heading into the midseason break.Verstappen placed 10th after being ta...

Thousands of people protested France's special virus pass with marches through Paris and other French cities on Saturday. Most demonstrations were peaceful, but sporadic clashes with riot police marked protests in the French capital.Some 3,000 securi...

Panicked tourists in Turkey hurried to the seashore to wait for rescue boats Saturday after being told to evacuate some hotels in the Aegean Sea resort of Bodrum due to the dangers posed by nearby wildfires, Turkish media reported.Coast guard units l...

With temperatures reaching the high 30s Celsius on Saturday, many believed that we had reached the peak of this heat wave.But it’s not to be.The Met Office is forecasting a 40 degrees Sunday and Monday, with a feel like of 41.And it will not be...

A cyclist was seriously injured last night when he lost control of his bike and crashed.The cyclist, a 17-year-old Libyan who resides in Msida, was taken to hospital with serious injuries.The accident took place in San Gwann tal-Ghorghar Street, San ...

A biker and a boy were injured in a crash in St Paul’s Bay on Saturday afternoon.The police said that the biker, a 41-year-old man from Serbia who resides in St Paul’s Bay, lost control of the Peugeot bike he was riding and crashed. He su...

Valletta: Regent Pharmacy, 70, Merchants Street; Marsa: Trinity Pharmacy, 32 Marsa Road; Qormi: Drugshop Dispensary, Vjal De La Cruz; Birkirkara (Fleur-de-Lys): Marrit Pharmacy, 1st of May Street; Pietà: St Luke's Pharmacy, St Luke's Road; Pa&...

Ninety-four new Covid-19 cases were recorded on Saturday, with 219 patients recovering, the health authorities said.No deaths were recorded, for the total number of victims to remain at 423.In all, 34,295 cases have been registered in Malta, with 31,...

NGO Repubblika has written to the Labour Party to demand the expulsion of former leader Joseph Muscat from the PL.In a letter addressed to the president Ramona Attard, the NGO said that the demand is being made following the publication of the report...

Former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi says that the country’s reputation is in tatters as some did not want to see the writing on the wall.Reacting to the Daphne Caruana Galizia Inquiry Report, Gonzi says that the recommendations by the judges s...

A 14-year-old boy today was charged with two separate stabbings that took place within a week. The Msida teenager, who cannot be named on court order, pleaded not guilty in both cases, claiming that he acted in self-defence.The youth was arrested on ...