The compilation of evidence against Abner Aquilina, charged with the rape and murder of Polish student Paulina Dembska began on Friday morning. Last week, Aquilina, 20, from Żejtun, was charged in front of Magistrate Ian Farrugia....

Former Labour Party deputy leader and seasoned lawyer Joe Brincat has come up in defence of Joseph Muscat, saying that the rights of the former Prime Minister were breached when the police raided his home so early on Wednesday.Police officers went to...

When the coronavirus pandemic was first declared, Spaniards were ordered to stay home for more than three months. For weeks, they were not allowed outside even for exercise. Children were banned from playgrounds, and the economy virtually stopped.But...

Italy is poised to elect a new president, meant to serve as the nation’s moral compass and foster unity by rising above the political fray.Silvio Berlusconi thinks he fits the bill.The billionaire media mogul and three times premier, who entere...

Meat Loaf, the heavyweight rock superstar loved by millions for his “Bat Out of Hell” album and for such theatrical, dark-hearted anthems as “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad,” an...

Some European countries such as Spain are making tentative plans for when they might start treating COVID-19 as an "endemic" disease, but the World Health Organization and other officials have warned that the world is nowhere close to declaring the p...

VIENNA (AP) — Austria’s parliament voted Thursday to introduce a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for adults from Feb. 1, the first of its kind in Europe, with maximum potential fines of up to 3,600 euros ($4,000) for people who don't comply afte...

The authoritative European newspaper Politico placed the Maltese Member of the European Parliament Alex Agius Saliba in the People To Watch section in the digital sector for 2022. In Politico’s opinion, Alex Agius Saliba forms part of a small g...

The Australian Tennis Open is being held in the absence of the number one athlete in the sport, Novak Djokovic, who was refused entry into the country after he did not satisfy Covid-19 vaccination requirements.The Serbian star flew to Melbourne sayin...

Six Covid-19 patients have died as the number of active cases continues to drop, figures released by the health authorities show.It is the highest number of deaths in a single day. Malta registered five deaths in a single day on several occasions, bu...

A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany's Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI's handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. The law firm that drew up the report said Benedict strongly denies...

It is up to the police to investigate claims by Joseph Muscat that he was tipped off about a raid at his Burmarrad home, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Thursday.The former PM’s home was searched as part of the magisterial inquiry into ...

Prime Minister Robert Abela has refused to say whether he knew from beforehand about the police raid on Joseph Muscat’s home. The former PM’s Burmarrad home was raided by police on Wednesday morning, in connection with a magisterial inqui...

The COVID measures that came into force on 17 January 2022 are yet again another blow to the catering industry, the Association of Catering Establishment said. Once again the Ministry for Health has shown that it is detached from reality and yet agai...

Former PL Secretary General and current Executive Chairman of the Valletta Cultural Agency and ONE Productions Ltd Jason Micallef has called for Labour supporters to protest in the streets against the injustice done to former Prime Minister Joseph Mu...

The European Commission is being asked to investigate Malta’s “breach” of Covid travel rules by a council that represents European airports. PoliticoPro said it has seen a letter sent to the commission by Airports Council Internatio...

"Let us work together not to lose Air Malta," Opposition Leader Bernard Grech told unions and representatives of Air Malta workers during a meeting on Thursday."The PN has the political commitment not to lose the national airline as if that happens, ...

Works on the indoor pool of 'international standards' in Cospicua have entered into the final phase, a government statement read.Excavation has concluded and now the pool and spectator stands are being built. The project cost €14 million.All the...

Naxxar mayor Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami expressed the council’s opinion with her vote on a proposed development in the locality, the council said on Thursday. Muscat Fenech Adami was asked to resign from the Nationalist Party and is being i...

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life has concluded that transport minister Ian Borg did not commit a breach of ethics when he commissioned an advertisement to wish the public a happy Easter.The advert in question appeared in GWUU newspaper I...

When, in the summer of 2020, a group of Nationalist MPs and other officials were doing all they could to get rid of Adrian Delia as their leader, David Thake was one of four MPs who were named by Delia as being a dissident in which he (Delia) would n...

A petition was launched appealing to the government and the health authorities to change the stagnant Covid-19 regulations currently in place for weddings.At present, weddings can only occur if guests are seated.Petitioner Danielle Scerri said that i...

While Gozo Channel passenger numbers have increased, they have not reached pre-pandemic levels, company chairman Joe Cordina told The Malta Business Weekly.The National Statistics Office said this week that nearly 4.5 million passengers travelled bet...

A worker was injured on Wednesday afternoon after machinery he was using overturned, the police said.The accident took place in Bir Miftuh Street, Gudja, at 5.45pm.The worker, a 43-year-old man from Ivory Coast who is resident in Qormi, was taken to ...

Malta International CEO Alan Borg has backed the measures announced with regards to staff reduction within Air Malta, which are the last hope to ensure that the airline survives.Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced last week that the national air...

A top leader of the Knights of Malta, an ancient aristocratic Catholic order that provides humanitarian aid around the world, warned the group’s members on Wednesday that the Holy See’s latest proposals to reform the order threaten its in...

A new study in two states that compares coronavirus protection from prior infection and vaccination concludes getting the shots is still the safest way to prevent COVID-19.The study examined infections in New York and California last summer and fall ...

LONDON (AP) — Face masks will no longer be mandatory in public places and COVID-19 passports will be dropped for large events as infections level off in most parts of the country, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday.Johnson told...

The Burmarrad home of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was searched by the police on Wednesday as part of investigations into the deal transferring three public hospitals to the private sector, Muscat said.The search started at 7am when officers t...

Konrad Mizzi said that there was never any wrongdoing on his part, while addressing a Public Accounts Committee meeting about the Electrogas deal.The PAC is discussing a report penned by the National Audit Office over the highly controversial contrac...

Prime Minister Robert Abela has rubbished claims that he used the police to humiliate his predecessor, Joseph Muscat.He said the comments, made by the Opposition Leader, show “what a cheap politician” Bernard Grech is.The PM was speaking ...

Minister for Transport Ian Borg has said that he is looking forward to discussing the Marsascala marina project plans with the local community. Borg was asked by The Malta Independent whether there had been any updates to the process which would...

A study recently published in the Marine Pollution journal (https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0025-326X(21)01333-3 ) has underscored a previously-overlooked aspect of seagrass meadows – i.e. the role they play in the trapping and distrib...

Five people have died while positive for Covid-19, health authorities said as they reported 342 new cases of the virus on Wednesday. Authorities said that four women – aged 70,77, 82, and 92 – and a 77-year-old man had died while positive...

The Industrial Tribunal has ordered a company to pay €14,000 to a worker who was sacked from his job while he was going through a severe depression.The tribunal heard how the worker’s depression subsequently got worse after his sacking, to...

The PN has again filed in Parliament its 12 Bills aimed at fighting corruption, this time split into two groups, one of which includes 11 Bills that do not have any reference to money Bills.Earlier this week, the government refused to put the Bills o...

Parliament has approved amendments to the General Elections Act, which will allow voters who are in mandatory quarantine to vote in the general election.The amendments do not specifically mention how these individuals will be voting, although the pos...

The Nationalist Party on Wednesday approved the co-option of Graziella Galea, to fill the seat vacated by David Thake.Her nomination was approved unanimously by the Executive Committee, the PN said.David Thake resigned last week in the wake of a VAT ...

European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said Wednesday she will sign the Simone Veil pact, which guarantees women’s access to contraception and abortion.The announcement came shortly after a meeting Metsola held with French president Eman...

Gudja United registered a very important win in a direct relegation clash after convincingly beating Santa Lucia.Recent results were not encouraging especially for Santa Lucia whose last win dates back to November when they beat Birkirkara. On the ot...

Yorgen Fenech’s legal team have openly accused the judge slated to preside his trial of breaching Fenech’s fundamental rights during the third sitting intended to hear the defence’s preliminary pleas, which was once again derailed, ...

The question of what happens if you’ve tested positive for Covid-19 and therefore have been unable to get the third jab of the vaccine is one which is on the lips of many: particularly those who tested positive via a rapid test, rather than a P...

NGO Repubblika has called on the police to charge a number of former Pilatus Bank officials with money laundering, saying that there is enough evidence for such a case to stand up in court.Repubblika President Robert Aquilina said that Police Commiss...

Infrastructure Malta rebuilt a total of residential 220 roads in 2021, for an average of four roads per week, Transport Minister Ian Borg said on Wednesday.Now entering its fourth year, the seven-year national programme to improve the quality of resi...

A tree fell on a car as it was being driven in the direction of Paola this morning, the police said.The circumstances of the accident are still being established by the police, with eyewitnesses saying that a heavy vehicle which was being driven in t...

Standards Commissioner George Hyzler has ruled that the judicial letter sent by a lawyer on behalf of Speaker Anglu Farrugia to Matthew Caruana Galizia might be antagonistic in tone, but does not include any threats or undue pressure.When Matthew Car...

The worst of the coronavirus pandemic — deaths, hospitalizations and lockdowns — could be over this year if huge inequities in vaccinations and medicines are addressed quickly, the head of emergencies at the World Health Organiz...

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses today called out Health Minister Chris Fearne and Permanent Secretary within the Ministry Joseph Rapa over its silence regarding allowances not paid to certain Mater Dei specialised medical equipment technicians...

December brought a year of meteorological records to a close on a sunny but cooler-than-average note: the sunshine quota for the month was exceeded by 18.2 hours while the mean air temperature was 0.6˚C lower than the climate norm of 14.3 &...

Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola was yesterday elected as President of the European Parliament, only the third woman to make it to this prestigious position. The other two were both French.The election culminates her steady rise in the corridors of th...

BRUSSELS (AP) — European Council President Charles Michel on Wednesday became the second top-level European Union official who has had to pull out of the bloc’s parliament session because of contact with someone who tested positive for th...

The Nomad Residence Permit scheme has proved to be extremely successful in attracting quality foreign residents who work remotely from Malta, said CEO of the Residency Malta Agency Charles Mizzi in a press conference on Wednesday.In the first six mon...

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson defied calls to resign in a feisty performance Wednesday in Parliament — but it may be too little to prevent his Conservative Party's lawmakers from trying to oust him over a string of lockdown-flouting gove...

The Labour Party has accused PN Leader Bernard Grech of failing to put the national interest first when he admitted to not making arguments that Malta should benefit from funds for hydrogen-ready pipeline projects.In a statement, the PL was referring...

TV presenter Karl Stagno Navarra has said that he is going to file a libel case against media house Lovin Malta over what he called a piece of “malicious and irresponsible” reporting on his position in Air Malta.Lovin Malta on Wednesday r...

Discussions are still ongoing regarding the European Commission’s concerns over Malta’s controversial “golden passports” scheme which allows for wealthy individuals to be able to buy Maltese citizenship. Parliamentary Secretar...

Airlines across the world, including the long-haul carrier Emirates, rushed Wednesday to cancel or change flights heading into the U.S. over an ongoing dispute about the rollout of 5G mobile phone technology near American airports.The issue appeared ...

Delays in the Gozo Channel ferry service may result due to maintenance work on the M.V Malita and works being carried out at the Mgarr Quay 2, the company announced through their official Facebook page.Last weekend, many reported waiting in line for ...

PN MEP Roberta Metsola has become the first Maltese person to hold the post of European Parliament President after achieving an overwhelming majority in an election held between MEPs in Strasbourg on Monday.She achieved a total of 458 votes from 616 ...

Roberta Metsola gave her maiden speech as European Parliament President soon after taking the coveted seat on Tuesday morning, giving due focus to things such as climate change, truth and justice, and to what needs to be done to make Europe a better ...

Roberta Metsola wants to be a reformative president, she told The Malta Independent in a brief interview following her election to the post of President of the European Parliament.Metsola became the first Maltese to be elected to such a post on Tuesd...

Speaker Anglu Farrugia has been asked to deliver a ruling over a motion to suspend the discussion on Justyne Caruana's ethic's breach within the Standards Committee.Commissioner for Standards in Public Life George Hyzler had found that the awarding o...

Newly-elected European Parliament President MEP Roberta Metsola said that she and Prime Minister Robert Abela had agreed to work together on issues that concern both Malta and Europe.Addressing her first press conference shortly after becoming the th...

Speaker Anglu Farrugia has said that Parliament will need the President's address to discuss the PN's 12-bill anti-corruption document."Unless there is a recommendation by the President, the House will not discuss a Bill, or any legislative amendment...

Three more patients have died while positive for Covid-19, health authorities said on Tuesday, while another 379 new cases of the virus have been reported.Authorities said that three men aged 60,64, and 89 had passed away while positive for the virus...

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana told EU counterparts on Monday that he has to “answer to my people” on the issue of a global minimum corporate tax rate. He again insisted that Malta has strong concerns about some aspects of the proposal. T...

A policewoman did what could be described as an act of heroism after she jumped out in front of a car to save a 4-year-old girl from being run over in Rabat.The girl’s mother described what happened on Facebook, saying that the policewoman &nda...

Congratulatory messages from Maltese and EU politicians began pouring in after Metsola's election to the post of President of the European Parliament.President George Vella said: "I congratulate Roberta Metsola on her remarkable accomplishment of bei...

Sliema Wanderers were beaten by neighbours Gzira yesterday to slump to their fifth successive defeat, a defeat that leaves them winless and firmly at the bottom of the table. Although Gzira grabbed the points at stake, the result was rather harsh on ...

Marvin Gaerty will be stepping down as Malta’s Tax Commissioner at the end of this month, and will be replaced by the Permanent Secretary of the Transport Ministry Joe Caruana, the Finance Ministry announced on Tuesday.The Ministry said in a st...

A man from Żabbar has denied stabbing and attempting to kill his wife with a chisel in a domestic violence incident.Police inspectors Darryl Farr and Sherona Buhagiar, assisted by prosecutor Kaylie Bonett from the office of the Attorney General ...

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's health officials say that the country has entered a new, fifth wave, in the coronavirus pandemic, predicting that it it will peak in mid-February at about 60,000 new infections per day or even more.Waldemar Kraska...

More than 2.5 million passengers travelled through Malta International Airport last year and, although this is a 45.3% increase over the 2020 figures, it marks a recovery of just 34.8 per cent of 2019 passenger numbers.CEO of Malta International Airp...

A roundabout in the limits of Ħal Safi has become the first solar-powered roundabout, as all its electrical and irrigation features will be using renewable energy generated by the photovoltaic cells installed. This was announced by Min...

Hong Kong authorities said Tuesday that they will kill about 2,000 small animals, including hamsters, after several tested positive for the coronavirus at a pet store where an employee was also infected.The city will also stop the sale of hamsters an...

Roberta Metsola has called on MEPs to trust her with their vote for the post of European Parliament President so that together they can “help people believe” again.Giving her final presentation to MEPs just before the vote, PN MEP Metsola...

Lifting of Covid-19 restrictions depends on the results of immunity studies carried out on vulnerable and elderly who got booster jab four months ago, Health Minister Chris Fearne said.The minister said that an ongoing assessment to determine the lev...

MEPs honoured the memory of Parliament’s late President David Maria Sassoli in a ceremony during the Plenary in Strasbourg on Monday.Sassoli died last week, days before completing his term.Opening the ceremony, Parliament’s acting Presi...

The Nationalist Party expects all of its candidates to remain close to the people and to be sensitive to their needs, “but candidates must abide by the law and work to eliminate the culture of clientelism, not encourage it,” a spokesperso...

A man was grievously injured on Monday afternoon after he was hit by a car, the police said.The accident took place in St Joseph High Road, Hamrun, at 5pm.The man, aged 58 of Hamrun, was hit by a Honda Fit driven by a 47-year-old woman of Pieta.He wa...

Total inbound visitors for November 2021 were estimated at 127,183, the National Statistics Office.The figures are a far cry from the 14,936 visitors registered in November 2020.The NSO said that, from the total for November, 110,831 were tourists wh...

Maltese Member at the European Court of Auditors Leo Brincat has been assigned two important tasks linked to the Court’s latest annual work programme, the court said.He has been assigned to assess whether the European External Action Services, ...

The IT company responsible for a personal data breach of 337,384 Maltese voters has been found guilty of breaking a number of data protection laws and subsequently fined €65,000.C-Planet (IT Solutions) Ltd was in the crosshairs after a mammoth t...

Frank Fabri has resigned from his long-time position as Permanent Secretary within the Ministry for Education.The news was announced by the Principal Permanent Secretary’s office on Monday afternoon, who said that Fabri had offered his resignat...

Prime Minister Robert Abela has wished Roberta Metsola luck ahead of the EP president election on Tuesday.Abela is in Strasbourg, where a memorial ceremony is being held to honour the late EP President David Sassoli, who died earlier this month.In a ...

The authorities are investigating a case where a dog was bitten by an exotic animal in Ghajnsielem, Gozo. It is understood that the incident took place at a residence where a Puma and a Black Panther were being kept. According to sources, the owners ...

The number of daily Covid-19 cases has continued their decline, with 288 new cases being reported by health authorities on Monday.699 meanwhile have recovered, meaning that the number of active cases now stands at 9,509.No new deaths were recorded on...

The Nationalist Party expects all of its candidates to remain close to the people and to be sensitive to their needs, “but candidates must abide by the law and work to eliminate the culture of clientelism, not encourage it,” a spokesperso...

The Malta Women’s Lobby has expressed its “utter disappointment that the police and society are continuing to try and negate the obvious in the case of Paulina Dembska.”Dembska was found dead in Independence Garden in Sliema at arou...

Local Football finally returned when  on Monday evening a highly-awaited derby between Valletta and Floriana was the highlight of this match day.Competitive football took a longer Christmas break  with two further weeks  following a su...

Little went AC Milan’s way in a dispiriting 2-1 home loss to Spezia as the Rossoneri wasted a chance to move back atop Serie A on Monday.Emmanuel Gyasi was left unmarked to finish off a counterattack and score a stoppage-time winner for Spezia,...

New Covid-19 rules come into force today and among other things, people will require a valid vaccination certificate to enter a number of establishments.The establishments where a valid Covid-19 vaccine certificate must be presented are: bars, clubs ...

Yorgen Fenech's money laundering case continued before Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech on Monday, hearing testimony about the international transport of racing horses.Malta Racing Club representative Mark Consiglio, who had also testified in the p...

The government is refusing to table the PN’s anti-corruption bills for a first reading in Parliament, arguing that the 12 bills “contain aspects of a money bill.”The Nationalist Party had announced a package of 12 legislative bills ...

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece imposed a vaccination mandate Monday for people 60 and older, as the country's vaccination rate remains below the European Union average and a spike in infections has put sustained pressure on Greek hospitals.O...

Political party Volt Malta believes every worker has the right to a living minimum wage. In a statement, the party expressed its belief that the minimum wage should already be €1,100 a month and aims to achieve this within 3 years. “The wa...

The compilation of evidence against Abner Aquilina, who is accused of murdering Paulina Dembska in Sliema on 2 January, will begin on Friday, Malta Today reports.Aquilina, 20, from Żejtun, on Thursday was charged with the rape and murder of the ...

The libel cases filed by Konrad Mizzi and his former aide Lindsey Gambin against Daphne Caruana Galizia will continue later this year after the parties failed to reach a settlement.Mizzi and Gambin had sued the journalist for libel in 2014 after Caru...

Nearly 4.5 million passengers travelled between Malta and Gozo in 2021, the National Statistics Office said.The number of passengers went up by 677,711, or 18% when compared to 2020, amounting to a total of 4,451,692 passengers.This includes both the...

Members of the ‘Freedom Movement’ protested on Monday against the new Covid-19 regulations stating that information was being withheld by the government. The new mitigation measures enforced as of Monday 17 January include the need of a v...