New plans submitted for the controversial Delimara Bay hotel project under a new planning application will see the hotel take up even more ODZ land, but lower the height of the hotel when compared to the plans approved in 2018.The application concern...

Health officials around the world are racing to vaccinate enough people to stop the spread of COVID-19, but what qualifies as “enough” is still an open question.The goal is to get to “herd immunity,” which is when enough peopl...

Amid signs that more infectious coronavirus variants are spreading unchecked across Europe, governments and EU leaders scrambled Wednesday to speed up vaccine efforts that have been hampered by limited supplies and to fund ways to hunt down variants ...

A court in Belarus on Thursday sent two female journalists to prison for years on charges of violating public order after they covered a protest against the nation's authoritarian president.The court in the Belarusian capital of Minsk handed two-year...

There are currently 139 Reserve Police Constables active within the Police Force, the majority of whom are retired police officers, whilst seven are retired AFM members, a Home Affairs Ministry spokesperson told The Malta Independent.The government h...

Revolut, the global financial platform with more than 15 million customers worldwide, has today operationalised its European specialised banking licence in Malta. Customers in Malta who upgrade to Revolut Bank for additional services will now have th...

Fire engines were called to assist as smoke was seen emanating from a restaurant in Sliema this morning.Police said that the call for assistance arrived at 7.45am.The restaurant is Fernando's in Tigne Street.Police said that Civil Protection Departme...

In a shocking act of retaliation Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news, a milestone in the increasingly frantic jockeying between governments, media and powerful tech companies that one Australian minister called “an assault ...

Our country is being torn apart by authorities like Infrastructure Malta and only a handful of people are showing the courage to speak up and try to stop the senseless destruction of green and open spaces. Residents of Triq il-Fraxxnu were taken comp...

The Standards Commissioner has found that the Office of the Prime Minister breached ethics when it locked journalists inside a room after a press conference last year, according to reports.Lovin Malta and Times of Malta reported that Standards Czar G...

199 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Wednesday while one more patient died while positive for the virus.The patient who passed away was a 74-year-old man, who died at Mater Dei hospital.It means that 298 people have died while positive for the ...

A court has decreed that a copy of a declaration made to the police by a Times of Malta journalist is to be given to two lawyers accused of attempting to bribe him.Journalist Ivan Martin had been spoken to by the police in connection with a conversat...

Vince Muscat, one of three men charged with murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia, withdrew his appeal from a criminal court ruling that rejected 118 exceptions raised by the accused.The appeal was expected to be heard this morning but Muscat, known as il...

HSBC Malta has announced that following an additional consultation period, it will be proceeding with the introduction of a monthly Customer Account Fee of €5 which shall be applicable to personal banking customers. In a statement, the Bank said...

The NGO Moviment Graffitti has cried foul after part of a public garden started to be taken apart for the widening of a road in Zebbug on Wednesday.In a post on social media, the NGO said that Infrastructure Malta is currently breaking apart a public...

Social media platforms have replaced the old town squares where people share their personal information, only now it is happening digitally, MEP Alex Agius Saliba said on Wednesday.This was remarked when the MEP was presenting the results of a prelim...

Birkirkara bounced back from their defeat against Hamrun Spartans when they beat rivals Valletta by two goals to nil. The Stripes were the best outfit during the first period but the Citizens reacted well in the second and were unlucky not to draw le...

Porto scored at the start of each half to beat Juventus 2-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.Mehdi Taremi gave Porto the lead after just 63 seconds after a defensive mixup by Juventus gifted him an easy finish,...

Erling Haaland scored twice as Borussia Dortmund ended Sevilla’s nine-game winning streak with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory in the first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday.The hosts took the lead early through Suso Fe...

Malta on Tuesday gave credit to the European Union’s joint procurement process which enabled it to achieve success in its vaccination programme, the AFP reports.Malta is the leading EU country for Covid vaccinations, but stressed moves need to ...

Pfizer and BioNTech said Wednesday they have reached an agreement to supply the European Union with another 200 million doses of their Covid-19 vaccine.The U.S. and German companies said in a statement that the doses come on top of the 300 million in...

Enemalta engineers worked overnight after a fire broke out at the Avenue Solana Hotel substation in Mellieha, an Enemalta statement read.The fire had broken out at 8pm Tuesday and damaged the low voltage panel, but did not damage the transformer and ...

The massive increase in the Horizon Europe budget, which now totals €95.5 billion, gives a clear political message at a European level that Research and Innovation are key factors that drive our future, Research Minister Owen Bonnici said. ...

A biker was grievously injured in an accident which involved the motorcycle he was riding and two other cars.The accident took place in Hotba Street, Zejtun, on Tuesday at 5.15pm, the police said.The biker, a 46-year-old man from Munxar, was riding a...

A language policy document for the later primary school years has been put up for public consultation.The document,‘A Language Policy for the Junior Years’, follows on the publication of the Language Policy for the Early Years in 2016.&nb...

The adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s award-winning novel, Foundation produced by Apple TV+, has finished shooting in Malta, the outlet FilmNewEurope reported on Wednesday.The production spent more than €10 million on the island, employing more...

A man was seriously injured after he lost control of the car he was driving and crashed into five parked cars, the police said.The accident took place in San Mikiel Street, Marsa, at 11pm on Tuesday.The man, aged 44 of Zabbar, was driving a Citroen C...

Mount Etna belched smoke and ashes on Tuesday, but Italian authorities said it posed no danger to the surrounding villages. The Catania airport was closed as a precaution."We've seen worse," the head of the INGV National Institute for Geophysics and ...

There is a good chance that the Superdraw jackpot will be won in the EuroMillions draw on Friday, 19 February 2021. Amazingly, you could win the €202 million prize from the comfort of your home in Malta! And when you play EuroMillions, you&...

There are stories which take journalists hours, if not days, to investigate and write, but the impact among readers, in spite of the enormity of the revelations, is limited when compared to the amount of effort and dedication put in.Then there are st...

Libyans on Wednesday marked the 10th anniversary of their 2011 uprising that led to the overthrow and eventual killing of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi.The day comes as Libyans have their eyes on a recently appointed government tasked with leading t...

A shipment of COVID-19 vaccines produced in China arrived in Hungary on Tuesday, making it the first of the European Union's 27 nations to receive a Chinese vaccine.A jet carrying 550,000 vaccine doses developed by the Chinese state-owned company Sin...

Months after other major economies, Japan began giving the first coronavirus vaccines to front-line health workers Wednesday. Many are wondering if the campaign will reach enough people, and in time, to save a Summer Olympics already delayed a year b...

Malta has found its first case of the South African variant of Covid-19, Health Minister Chris Fearne said on Tuesday.Fearne was answering questions posed by The Malta Independent following a press conference.He also said that Malta now has over 50 c...

Workers in essential settings, such as teachers, will start receiving their invitation to get vaccinated by the end of February or the beginning of March, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on Tuesday. These include work...

102 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday as the total number of cases of the virus in Malta since the beginning of the pandemic surpassed 20,000 cases.Two people meanwhile have passed away while positive for Covid-19.  They are an 83-y...

The Nationalist Party has accused Finance Minister Clyde Caruana of closing an eye to the illegal employment of 1,200 foreign nationals.A statement written by PN MP Jason Azzopardi and President of the PN’s workers’ Solidarity Group Ivan ...

Health Minister Chris Fearne has received his second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.Fearne tweeted that he had received the second does this morning at Mater Dei Hospital, and called on the public to “believe in science.”He is the latest hi...

An agreement worth €2.5 million over a period of three years, until 2023, was signed in order to provide Hospice Malta with more funding for their palliative care service, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on Tuesd...

Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has said that prison inmates are, in "very rare cases", tied to their beds to prevent them from hurting themselves.PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami asked Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri to state whether there were ...

A 26-year-old man was grievously injured in a traffic accident on Triq Erin Serracino Inglott, Iklin.The accident occurred at 4.15pm on Tuesday. The 26-year-old from San Gwann was riding an e-kick scooter, when a crash occurred with a Kymco Agility w...

Liverpool’s players will take any help they can get as the stuttering English champions look to snap out of an alarming slump in form.With two defensive blunders, Leipzig obliged in the Champions League on Tuesday.Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane p...

Kylian Mbappé outplayed Lionel Messi as Paris Saint-Germain put Barcelona up against the ropes in the Champions League again.And with Mbappé in that kind of form, it's hard to see Barcelona staging another epic comeback this time.After ...

The number of accidents at the workplace dropped drastically in 2020 when compared to 2019, statistics issued by the National Statistics Office show.In 2020, 2,328 non-fatal accidents were reported, which is significantly lower than the 3,258 reporte...

A 49-year old man has been arrested in connection with 21 thefts from various construction sites and vacant residences. The man, who resides in Birżebbuġa, was arrested Sunday evening. The police surrounded his residence and arrested h...

The government has launched the School Milk Scheme for the scholastic year 2020-2021, which has a €441,000 budget.The School Milk Scheme is administered by the Agriculture and Rural Payments Agency (ARPA), within Ministry for Agriculture, Fisher...

The sand replenishment project for Ghadira Bay is still on the cards and studies are ongoing.The project, first announced in 2018, aims for sand to be distributed in order to create a seaward extension of a sandy beach by a further 20 m to 40 m.Answe...

A 75-year-old man was grievously injured after getting hit by a car on Tuesday, police said in a statement.Police said that they were informed of a traffic accident at 8:30 on Tuesday morning in Triq ix-Xatt in Ta’ Xbiex.Preliminary investigati...

Economy Minister Silvio Schembri visited the Gulf Med Aviation Services on Tuesday and announced that the company will start to collaborate with MCAST for apprenticeship programmes.During the visit, Schembri met with the CEO of Gulf Med Aviation Serv...

The European Commission is expected to unveil plans on Wednesday to prepare the bloc to tackle the increasing worries posed by new Covid-19 strains. The plans are also an attempt by the EU to address concerns about vaccine production and distribution...

The NGO Repubblika has expressed its preoccupation at the fact that nobody from the political camp has been taken to court to answer for their behaviour in connection with the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.In a letter sent to Police Commissioner A...

The World Health Organization has granted an emergency authorization to AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, a move that should allow the U.N. agency's partners to ship millions of doses to countries as part of a U.N.-backed program to tame the pandemi...

An internal Enemalta investigation into the Montenegro wind farm scandal has been passed on to the police, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli told parliament on Monday.Replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Ryan Callus, Dalli said that it would be &...

Malta could be among the first EU Member States to introduce the Right to Disconnect, MEP Alex Agius Saliba said on this week's edition of Indepth.The MEP said Minister Carmelo Abela, who is responsible for social dialogue, has indicated that the gov...

Britain’s newly established quarantine hotels received their first guests on Monday as the government tries to prevent new coronavirus variants from derailing a fast-moving vaccination drive that has delivered more than 15 million shots in ten ...

We Maltese love celebrating. When our political party holds a mass meeting or wins some form of election, when it is our village feast and, of course, when our football team wins.Most people have opted to forgo such celebrations for the time being fo...

91% of medical frontliners have accepted and indeed have been vaccinated against Covid-19, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne said in Parliament on Monday.Replying to a parliamentary question by PN MP Maria Deguara, Fearne said th...

156 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Monday, as two more patients died while positive for the virus.During the last 24 hours, a 97-year-old woman passed away at Mater Dei while positive for the virus, and an 82-year-old ma...

The police will be “taking steps” against several people over celebrations which took place at an establishment in Hamrun over the weekend after the locality’s football team won a match against Birkirkara FC.Footage emerged on Satur...

Employers have urged the government not to use Malta as a “guinea pig” by introducing the Right to Disconnect before the European Union Directive actually comes info force.The MEA statement came in reaction to this week’s edition of...

The government will focus on a “stepped approach” when it comes to restarting Malta’s air routes, which aims to ensure “the right mix of destinations and frequencies,” a spokesperson for the Tourism Ministry told The Mal...

Two establishments were found in breach of Malta’s Covid-19 restrictions over the carnival weekend after over 3,000 inspections were carried out, the Tourism Ministry said on Monday.In a statement, the Tourism Ministry said that ever since the ...

251 children were in foster care in 2019, the Minister for Social Justice, the Family and Children’s Rights Michael Falzon said in reply to a parliamentary question.Girls accounted for 129 of the total sum, while 122 were boys. The total number...

Administrative penalties issued by the Malta Financial Services Authority shot up from €54,000 in 2019 to €975,462 in 2020, data tabled in Parliament shows.The information was provided by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana in reply to a Parliam...

A total of 196,508 trips abroad were taken by people living in Malta during 2020, statistics issued by the National Statistics Office show.This is a decrease of 72.2% over 2019. Total nights spent by outbound tourists went down by 64.1%, reaching nea...

After exactly 1,000 minutes without finding the net, Timo Werner ended his Premier League goal drought.The Chelsea striker tapped in at the far post after Olivier Giroud had failed to connect with a high cross to complete a 2-0 victory over Newcastle...

Residents and staff at Id-Dar tal-Providenza began receiving the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine this morning.In a short statement, the management said: “Our thanks go to the Social Care Standards Authority (SCSA) for the collaboration throu...

2,227 cases of Covid-19 were reported and investigated since the opening of schools in October, Health Minister Chris Fearne said on Monday.He was answering a Parliamentary Question by PN MP Stephen Spiteri.Fearne explained that this number includes ...

Politicians need to have a more humane approach towards people who use cannabis and a change in law in this regard is needed, NGO Releaf said in a statement. Releaf is a community-based NGO that seeks the regulation of cannabis in Malta through ...

The writer and composer Anthony Burgess came to live in Malta in 1968. He wrote many of his best books in his home at 168 Main Street in Lija, including the novels MF, Napoleon Symphony and Earthly Powers. Burgess gave his famous lecture on Obsc...

Tony Gambin, who served as the Maltese national football team’s masseur for almost four decades, has passed away, The Malta Football Association announced.Gambin, from Sliema, served in this role for around 350 matches. He had retired in 2016.T...

Many Europeans are desperate for a coronavirus vaccine. But not just any vaccine.As AstraZeneca shots are rolling out to European Union nations this month, joining the Pfizer and Moderna doses already available, some people are balking at being offer...

Home Affairs minister Byron Camilleri has hinted at changes to the law governing cannabis after the arrest of two youths in a hotel room over the weekend.Camilleri was reacting to the arrest of a couple – a 21-year-old man and a 19-year-old wom...

Airborne particulate matter (PM), apart from several toxic components, is also contaminated with tobacco smoke-driven particulates, Dr Noel Aquilina from the Department of Chemistry discovered in a study with other researchers.Noel Aquilina, alongsid...

A charity refugee rescue ship saved the lives of over 140 people in the central Mediterranean within Malta’s search-and-rescue (SAR) zone this weekend, the Morning Star reports.The Open Arms, an NGO rescue ship operated by the Spanish charity o...

The Malta Chamber of SMEs has won the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) solidarity prize.The entry submitted by the Maltese Chamber of SMEs is among 23 projects from the EU and the UK that have received the award “for their outstand...

For the second time in as many weeks, Hamrun Spartans fans are being investigated for breaching protocols related to Covid-19.Two weeks ago spontaneous celebrations that erupted in the streets of Ħamrun as well as a club after the Spar...

The keeping of exotic animals as pets is one that brings about strong feelings from both sides of the argument.Recently, the authorities found two foxes, dead, in the streets of Zebbug. These were obviously imported animals, and the police are curren...

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expecting their second child, their office confirmed Sunday.A spokesperson for Prince Harry, 36, and Meghan, 39, said in a statement: “We can confirm that Archie is going to be a big brother. The Duke and Duch...

Edward Scicluna, arguably one of Malta’s highest-paid public sector officials, who has a €138,000 package as head of the Central Bank, will be getting another €12,000 as a member of the board of the financial services watchdog –...

The Hospice Malta fundraising telethon, Bl-Imħabba Naslu, which came to an end on Sunday, raised €311,017.The funds will help Hospice to continue to provide its services free of charge to thousands of patients and families each year, a...

138 new virus cases were registered on Sunday, the health authorities said, while 109 people recovered.The number of active cases has risen to 2,370.The health authorities also said that three more people have died with the virus, bringing the total ...

Certain people in the construction industry are not following the laws and more should be done to enforce against these illegalities, MEP Alfred Sant told The Malta Independent on Sunday.This newsroom held an interview with the political veteran to d...

A consultant who used his wife’s car to attend to duties at Mater Dei Hospital expressed anger after the vehicle was clamped.Writing on Facebook, Patrick Sammut, Consultant in Paediatric Respiratory Medicine and Allergy, said he went to the hos...

A few days ago, Parliament approved the formation of the electoral districts valid for the coming election, which constitutionally needs to be held sometime in the next 18 months.The House accepted the recommendations presented by the Electoral Commi...

The Covid-19 r-factor will start going down as more people are being vaccinated against the virus, which means that fewer people will be at risk of becoming infected, statistician Vince Marmara said. The reproduction number of the virus is one of the...

After four matches  in which they only collected one point, Valletta returned to winning ways beating Sirens 1-0 in a drab affair which only came to life in the last quarter of the match. For Valletta this victory comes after another victory in ...

It won't be a dog's life for a Tennessee canine whose owner recently died.Lulu, an 8-year-old border collie, will be living the good life in Nashville after inheriting $5 million in her owner's will, WTVF-TV reported.Martha Burton, Lulu&rsq...

Four people were arrested during drug raids, the police said.The first was a 48-year-old woman. The police searched her home and found what they believe to be 50 packets of cocaine. The second was a 49-year-old woman from Msida. A package was deliver...

Manchester United’s Premier League title hopes took another blow in a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday.Having been top of the standings only 19 days ago, Ole Gunnar Solskjær's second-place side is now seven points behind Manches...

Romelu Lukaku scored twice and took his tally to 300 career goals as Inter Milan moved top of Serie A with a 3-1 win over Lazio on Sunday.Lukaku netted a penalty and doubled his tally at the end of the first half with the landmark goal. He also set u...

If you felt cold today (Sunday), you will feel colder tomorrow (Monday), according to the Met Office.Today’s temperature was 13 degrees Celsius, but it felt like 10. For tomorrow, the highest will be just 8 degrees, while the feel like temperat...

The Malta Chamber of Psychologists (MCP) has reacted to the distressing reports of a young woman's private video footage being shared without her consent, saying that it was an act of abuse.The Chamber noted that the video was even projected on a scr...

Prime Minister Robert Abela predicts that this summer will be a difficult one when it comes to migration.Speaking during a political activity in Floriana, Abela said that like he is convinced that the country will experience a strong economic recover...

The PN has proposed that people charging electric vehicles pay 10.5c instead of 13c cents as a night tariff, Opposition leader Bernard Grech announced on Sunday at a political activity held at the PN's headquarters."Last week I announced a proposed m...

The U.K. government said Sunday that it reached its goal of giving at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot to the most vulnerable people in the country, increasing pressure on ministers to clarify when they will ease a lockdown imposed in early January.So...

A 75-year-old woman from Attard was grievously injured after being hit by a car, the police said.The incident occurred on Triq il-Pitkali, Attard at 10am.The woman was hit by a Citroen C3 which was being driven by a 73-year-old Attard resident. The ...

Street artist James Micallef Grimaud has painted a mural at the skatepark, depicting a crowned Prime Minister Robert Abela as the king of carnival.The mural also depicts hunters and the police along with him, and dead birds, signifying hunting irregu...

The €10 million Infrastructure Malta project to rehabilitate the four main tunnels of the Maltese road network is advancing rapidly and all works are expected to be completed in June, Infrastructure Malta said.  In replies to The Malta Inde...

The government has issued a public call for the appointment of four new judges and will shortly be issuing a similar call for the appointment of new magistrates. This is a very welcome development, given the lack of sitting judges and magistrates, an...