Malta has made very slight progress in this year’s Corruption Perception Index, gaining only one point over its 2020 score.The CPI is published yearly by Transparency International. Malta received a score of 54 this year, edging up only one poi...

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has defended Maltese travel rules, but hinted that things could change “once public health has been safeguarded.”Both the Malta International Airport and Airports Council International have criticised Malt...

The Nationalist Party has said that it will not participate in the parliamentary committee which Rosianne Cutajar has been appointed to lead.Cutajar was appointed as the chair of Parliament’s Health Committee, replacing fellow PL MP Silvio Grix...

Police have charged five men with having abducted a man and driving off with him in a van last Friday.The men who were arraigned are Christian Borg, 28, from Swieqi, Thorne Mangion,27, from Qormi, Tyson Grech 26, from Senglea, Burton Azzopardi, 20 fr...

The appointment of Rosianne Cutajar to head a parliamentary committee makes the House complicit in the culture of impunity, NGO Repubblika said.Rosianne Cutajar was appointed as the president of the parliamentary health committee.This comes after aro...

Reports appearing in the local press ‘give the wrong impression that the Russian Federation has placed Malta on a blacklist. The information is not correct,’ the Maltese Finance Ministry told The Malta Independent.Newsbook had reported th...

The British government announced Monday that it is scrapping coronavirus travel testing requirements for the vaccinated, news hailed by the travel industry as a big step back to normality.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that “to show that thi...

Covid-19 has impacted mobility in the country and as a result, the number of passengers using public transport are low when compared to pre-pandemic levels.Passenger numbers in 2021 amounted to 35.2 million, which is an increase on the 33.9 million p...

World health officials are offering hope that the ebbing of the omicron wave could give way to a new, more manageable phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as they warn of difficult weeks ahead and the possibility of another, more dangerous variant ar...

LONDON (AP) — The British government announced Monday that it is scrapping coronavirus travel testing requirements for the vaccinated, news hailed by the travel industry as a big step back to normality.Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that &ld...

In 2021, 32% of people aged 16 to 74 in Malta reported undertaking an online course or using online learning material in the three months prior to a survey on this, which is higher than the EU average, Eurostat statistics show.In 2019, the percentage...

At least six people died in a crush outside a stadium hosting a game at Africa's top soccer tournament in Cameroon on Monday, a local government official said, realizing fears over the capacity of the country to stage the continent's biggest sports e...

A first round of voting in Italy's Parliament for the country's next president yielded an avalanche of blank ballots Monday, as lawmakers and special regional electors failed to deliver a winner amid a political stalemate.With special pandemic precau...

The final amount in Covid aid that Air Malta will be getting will be “hammered out” in meetings between the airline and the European Commission that will take place in the coming days, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Monday.Last we...

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana was unable to give an exact timeline on Malta’s quest to getting off the FATF greylist, but did say that the government has submitted a report to assessors for consideration.Caruana was asked whether, given that a...

The Nationalist Party's anti-corruption bills were tabled in Parliament for a first reading on Monday.Last week the government refused to table the anti-corruption bills arguing that the 12 bills "contain aspects of a money bill', thus had to be pres...

Two more Covid-19 patients have died, while 202 new cases of the virus have been reported by health authorities.A 55-year-old man and a 90-year-old man died in the last 24 hours while positive for Covid-19, taking Malta’s pandemic death toll up...

Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar has been appointed as the president of the parliamentary health committee.This comes after around two months the Standards Committee voted to admonish Cutajar after adopting a report that found her in breach of ethics.The P...

Court proceedings relating to the European arrest warrant issued against former Pilatus Bank employee Maria Efimova have been adjourned sine die by the magistrate hearing the case.In a decision handed down today, the court, presided by Magistrat...

Graziella Galea has been officially co-opted to Parliament after she was approved by the Nationalist Party to replace the seat vacated by David Thake.Her nomination was approved unanimously by the PN's Executive Committee and she was sworn in on Mond...

Almost 2,000 people responded to the PN's call to submit their electricity bills for verification, the party told The Malta Independent.In May 2021, the Nationalist Party had called on the public to register their utility bills with them as the ...

Speaker Anglu Farrugia ruled on Monday that government MPs are free to move a motion before the ethics committee to suspend the debate on a standards report on Justyne Caruana.Last week, the government MPs on the committee said they wanted to postpon...

Six people, three of whom are minors, were released from a 58-day period of illegal detention at the Safi Barracks last Friday, although a request for the release of another detained teenager was denied, NGO aditus Foundation said on Monday.The first...

The Malta Union of Teachers will be conducting strikes after a failure from the University of Malta and the government to conclude the collective agreement for Junior College lecturers.Three years have passed since the collective agreement had expire...

The NGO Repubblika has sent a letter to all of Malta’s MPs, appealing to them to vote in favour of an anti-mafia Bill proposed by the Nationalist Party, which is up for discussion in Parliament on Thursday.You have before you a Bill which seeks...

The government announced today that €12 million will be invested in a new facility at Ħal Far for small and medium-sized businesses.Addressing the media, Minister for the Economy and Industry Silvio Schembri said that the investme...

Education is the most important pillar on which our society and our economy are built, a statement by the Malta Chamber of SMEs read. The Malta Chamber of SMEs, in representation of a number of sectors directly dependent and affected by the Mini...

How is omicron different from previous variants?There are two key differences between omicron and previous variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that emerged in late 2019. Early data suggests that omicron cases are milder than infections caused ...

The world is facing the worst known climate emergency of humankind – with fears that our planet is approaching a point of no return. Facing such a challenge, the European Union has taken up leadership of the fight against climate change and res...

A severe weather front has hit Greece, with below-freezing temperatures and snowfall in many parts of the country, including the capital Athens and many Aegean islands.Authorities have warned the public to limit their movements outdoors to the essent...

In light of the Malta Film Week, a week full of events which strives to further appreciate the filming industry in Malta, Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo launched ‘Vision 2030,’ on Monday, a series of investme...

The first round of voting for Italy’s next president opens Monday without a clear slate of candidates following three-time ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi’s reluctant withdrawal, a situation that is likely to persist until Thursday.Italy&rsq...

An elderly man reported missing by police over the weekend has been found safe and sound.Police on Sunday appealed for information on the whereabouts of 76-year-old Joseph Grech.He was last seen near Mater Dei Hospital on Friday 21 January, but polic...

BERLIN (AP) — Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Germany's 16 state governors will confer Monday to chart the country's way forward in the coronavirus pandemic, and are expected to prioritize the use of PCR tests for those most at risk as the omicron v...

The crisis in Ukraine is hardly going away — a showdown of two world views that could upend Europe. It carries echoes of the Cold War and resurrects an idea left over from the 1945 Yalta Conference: that the West should respect a Russian sphere...

As Malta approaches a point where 75% of the adult population will have received the Covid-19 booster, the health authorities are drawing up an exit roadmap to continue removing restrictions and to return towards normality, Deputy Prime Minister Chri...

The Naxxar Local Council never took an official position on a proposed development at the former trade fair grounds, despite saying that the embattled mayor’s position on the matter reflected its own position. Council meeting minutes show, in f...

Covid-19 has of course been the topic of the past two years, and a source of never-ending debate as the world navigates its way through different stages of the pandemic.But the next debate which is starting to shape up is whether Covid-19 should cont...

Seven Covid-19 patients have died while 273 new cases of the virus were reported by health authorities on Sunday.Authorities said that three men aged 86, 86, and 89 and four women aged 74, 81, 86, and 89 had died while positive for Covid-19.It is a r...

Malta’s Covid-19 measures will start to be relaxed from the first week of February as part of a plan which the government will announce in the coming days, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday.Speaking during a political event in Gozo, Ab...

Excuse the crude headline, but one has to say it as it is.Or as it will be, given that the negative impact of the law that Malta’s Parliament passed just before it rose for the Christmas recess will be known not today, but in the years to come....

The current increase in deaths of people who are positive for Covid-19 reflects the spike experienced in December and the death-to-positive case ratio remains unchanged, health sources have told The Malta Independent on Sunday. Over the past few days...

Public transport passenger numbers are still nowhere near pre-pandemic levels but a positive trend has been noted, information passed on by the Malta Public Transport shows.“Passenger numbers in 2021 amounted to 35.2 million, which is an increa...

The Nationalist Party is the underdog because it does not have millions in taxpayers money to “squander” like the PL is doing and because of the lack of an impartial national broadcaster, said Opposition Leader Bernard Grech in the PN&rsq...

Floriana are now just four poinst adrift of leaders Hibernians after winning a difficult match against Birkirkara in the last game of the fifteenth day of the BOV Premier League. After taking the lead in the first half and being superior to their opp...

Once Hakim Ziyech's curling, dipping strike landed in the Tottenham goal, Chelsea never looked back.Sure, it took until two minutes into the second half to break the deadlock and the Moroccan was justified in ranking it “10 out of 10." But the ...

AC Milan lost more ground on league leader Inter Milan and also lost another important player ahead of the derby as it drew 0-0 against Juventus at San Siro on Sunday.Key forward Zlatan Ibrahimović limped off in the 28th minute with an apparent ...

Prime Minister Robert Abela has made significant efforts to distance himself, the government and the Labour Party from its recent dirty past and from the Muscat era. But this is proving to be a very tall order, and his predecessor, as well as the sca...

BRUSSELS (AP) — Police fired water cannons and thick clouds of tear gas in Brussels on Sunday to disperse demonstrators protesting against COVID-19 vaccinations and restrictions that aim to curb the fast-spreading omicron variant.The protest dr...

The director general of the Civil Protection Department, Emanuel Psaila, is often seen in the thick of things when some accident takes place or a rescue operation is needed.But what is his favourite food? And does he like sport?He remembers his child...

Fr Hilary Tagliaferro was born in Tarxien on 28 October 1934. He is the son of William and Censina.Fr Hilary remembers his early days, a child who passed through the difficult times of World War II. “For us war was time spent in the shelter and...

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi on Saturday bowed out of Italy's presidential election set for next week, claiming he had the votes to win but the country could ill-afford political divisions during the pandemic.Berlusconi also announced that he is ...

A man was grievously injured after he was attacked by another man in Marsalforn on Saturday night, the police said.The accident happened in the area known as Qbajjar at 10.30pm.The man, a Sudanese aged 26, and resident in Zebbug, Gozo, went to the po...

The British government on Saturday accused Russia of seeking to replace Ukraine’s government with a pro-Moscow administration, and said former Ukrainian lawmaker Yevheniy Murayev is being considered as a potential candidate.Murayev is head of t...

Four more patients with Covid-19 have died while the number of active cases dropped to below 7,000 for the first time since 27 December, figures released on Saturday show.The four latest victims are a woman aged 89, and three men aged 79, 81 and 86. ...

A court has turned down a request for bail by a man awaiting trial over the 2020 Sliema double murder.Victor Dragomanski, 38, is one three men accused of the murder of Christian Pandolfino and Ivor Maciejowski, who were shot dead inside their Sliema ...

Valletta: Regent Pharmacy, 70, Merchants Street; Ħamrun: Thomas' Pharmacy, 796, St Joseph High Road; Qormi: Evans Pharmacy, 96/98, St Sebastian Street; Birkirkara: Herba Pharmacy, 183, Main Street; Gżira: O'Hea Pharmacy, 128, Manoel de Vilh...

The Nationalist Party has taken credit for the announcement made by Health Minister Chris Fearne today that Covid-19 restrictions are to be eased in the coming days.This confirms the position taken by the PN, which said that the measures introduced o...

The Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA) today welcomed the announcement made earlier today by Health Minister Chris Fearne that an "exit roadmap" to unwind existing COVID-19 health restrictions will be unveiled this coming week. MHRA said...

A man was grievously injured after falling off a ladder, the police said.The accident took place in Merzuq Street, Zebbuga, Gozo, at 1pm.The man, 48 of Xaghra, was taken to Gozo Hospital for treatment.

A man was slightly injured during a hold-up that took place in Paola on Friday evening. The robbery took place in Triq Ghajn Dwieli, at around 9:15pm, the police said. Two masked men brandishing firearms entered a shop and demanded money from the cas...

A number of organisations working in the field of human and women’s rights gathered in front of the police headquarters to express their anger and frustration at how the most recent femicide was claimed “to not be gender-related”, s...

Two late penalties, the second one in stoppage time gave champions Hamrun Spartans a dramatic equaliser against Balzan in a highly interesting and entertaining draw. Balzan took a two-goal lead by the end of the first half with a Bojan Kaljevic brace...

Man City dropping points. Newcastle winning a game. A drone stopping play.There were plenty of unusual occurrences in the Premier League on Saturday, even if a late, late winner by Manchester United at Old Trafford felt ever so familiar.Few could hav...

Edin D?eko netted a last-gasp winner to help Inter Milan beat virus-hit Venezia 2-1 and move five points clear at the top of Serie A on Saturday.It was D?eko’s first goal since the beginning of December. Nicolò Barella had canceled out T...

A woman’s €3,000 fine for breaching quarantine has been revoked by a court, which pointed out that the Local Enforcement System Agency (LESA) had no legal power to enforce Covid regulations.Pavla Stejskalova had been accused of having brea...

The UHM-Voice of the Workers said that PBS workers who did not take the booster jab are not being allowed to enter the premises unless they take a PCR test, paid out of their own pockets, once a week.The “vaccination policy”, which starte...

ROME (AP) — Some 1,900 Italian doctors and dentists have been suspended from the country's professional association because they haven’t complied with a law requiring them to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including having a booste...

It appears that there is little that can possibly deter the government from pushing through with its plans to build a giant yacht marina in Marsascala Bay.It appeared that, at least in the past week, the news about the plans for a massive yacht marin...

Revelations that Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff partied while Britain was in a coronavirus lockdown have provoked public outrage and led some members of his Conservative Party to consider ousting their leader.If they manage to push J...

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat would not say if claims made by journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia about his contract with Accutor was worth €540,000.Caruana Galizia claimed on Friday that Muscat’s contract with the Swiss company ...

In Costa Rica, officials are encouraging those infected with the coronavirus to skip voting in upcoming national elections. On the other side of the world, Beijing is locking down residential communities as the country anxiously awaits the start of t...

ADPD - The Green Party Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo and Deputy Secretary General Sandra Gauci said today that the party stands in solidarity with victims of violence, rape, harassment and femicide, and their families. They expressed support with the ...

306 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Friday, while a woman has also passed away while positive for the virus, health authorities said in their daily update.Authorities said that a 74-year-old woman had died while Covid-19 ...

Abner Aquilina, the accused in the Paulina Dembska murder, told police his mind was "a cooker", and that he received "frequencies" when interrogated on the attack.He made many references to conspiracy theories and Satanists, the court was told.Magist...

A Birkirkara tow-truck driver has been accused of using her personal tow truck to steal cars and sell them as scrap.Carmelo Butler, 58 from Birkirkara, was arraigned in court following a joint investigation between the Rabat, Mosta and Qawra police.H...

The Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Malta, launched a discussion document to encourage Maltese citizens to reflect on how, as a country, we can work to build peace, promote the common good in society and improve the well-being of p...

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...

Following consultation with experts in the field, as well as the industry and academia, the Ministry for Equality, Research and Innovation has launched the first National Space Strategy for Malta.Minister for Equality, Research and Innovation Owen Bo...

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...

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania on Friday hit a new pandemic record of 19,649 COVID-19 infections amid a rapid rise of cases, but hospitalizations and deaths remain significantly lower compared to the previous wave, official data shows.Just a...

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...