It is a matter of weeks before Malta can start to reduce its defences against Covid-19, Health Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne told The Malta Independent on Sunday in an interview – something which is down to the country’s...

The Covid-19 r-factor has climbed to 1.39 as daily cases continue to increase, statistician Vincent Marmara said in his weekly exclusive video blog with The Malta Independent on Sunday.The reproduction factor of the virus is one of the key figur...

It's now been a year since the start of the pandemic, how has it changed your life both personally and professionally?As you rightly said, it’s been a year since the start of the pandemic. In my position as Superintendent of Public Health as we...

Several fines were issued yesterday during the Hamrun celebrations, the Police Force said in a post on Facebook.On Saturday, Hamrun Spartans fans celebrated their team's win against Hibernians with an illegal street party.Footage uploaded on social m...

The patients at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre must be protected from the Covid-19 virus, Fr Mario Attard told The Malta Independent on Sunday.Fr Mario has worked as a hospital chaplain since 2004. He had started at St Luke’s Hospital, an...

You were one of the first persons to go to ITU because of Covid-19. How did you realise you had the virus?On the 13 March 2020, I had a high temperature, and at once thought I had Covid-19. In fact, I stayed at home and I told my partner to stay ther...

A man was grievously injured on Saturday after falling at Xrobb l-Għaġin.The accident took place at around 5.30pm, the police said.An Armed Forces of Malta helicopter and patrol boat assisted in the rescue operation. The man, a 58-year-old ...

“I ended 2019 by making a promise to myself, that 2020 was going to be a record year for us. The irony is not lost on me,” Nathan Brimmer, co-owner of The Pub and the Grokk Cafe in Valletta told The Malta Independent on Sunday.2020 was a ...

“Being a teacher after 12 March 2020 was not easy at all for those with a genuine conscience and a sense of duty towards their students,” said John*, an educator who has been teaching in state schools since 1996.Over the past year, teache...

345 new cases of Covid-19 were found on Saturday, and one patient has died, the health authorities said.The number of active cases now stands at 3,403.The total number of cases so far is 24,216.The patient who died was an 88-year-old female. She pass...

Labour media chairman Jason Micallef has asked Standards Czar George Hyzler to investigate Jason Azzopardi’s tax filings.The Labour Party this week said the PN MP had not filed a tax return for his 2018 income. One News published the report aft...

Hamrun Spartans fans celebrated their team’s win against Hibernians with an illegal street party on Saturday afternoon.Footage uploaded on social media shows a large crowd celebrating in the streets as police officers look on helplessly.Mass ev...

Civil society group Repubblika has been accused of breaching NGO laws by “instigating political progaganda” by the Commission of Voluntary Organisations.The group has hit back, accusing the Commission of trying to silence it and warning i...

Opposition Leader Bernard Grech on Saturday said that the government must be transparent and provide all information on the Covid-19 vaccination programme.During an interview on NET FM, the Nationalist Party’s radio station, Grech referred to t...

People aged 60 and over will over the coming days start receiving their vaccination letter, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said on Saturday.The appointment letters will be sent gradualy over the coming weeks, he added.People aged between 71 and 7...

The Malta Developers Association (MDA) welcomes the latest results of property sales registered in February. The data shows that last month a total number of1,600 promises of sales with a total sales value of over €350 million were registered la...

A cyclist was grievously injured on Saturday after he was hit by a car in Rabat, the police said.The accident took place in Triq il-Buqana, at around 7.30am.The cyclist, a 54-year-old man from Rabat, was involved in a collision with a Toyota Aygo dri...

The Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma has asked for forgiveness for the Churh from all victims and their families, for any kind of abuse perpetrated within the context of the Church, in an Open Letter.Recently, two priests were charged with raping an altar boy...

A 30-year-old Frenchman was grievously injured on Saturday afternoon in a quadbike accident in Xaghra, Gozo.The accident took place in Triq il-Marga at around 3.30pm, the police said.The man lost control of a quadbike and fell. His injuries were late...

This time last year, Malta had its first case of Covid-19. We had been expecting it, for other countries across the world were already well into their pandemic experience, but nothing could have prepared us for what was to follow. We certainly did no...

Journalists have again been the targets of hate speech and threats on social media, the Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) said in a statement, after the pertinent questions that were asked during a press conference called by the Prime Minister l...

Magistrate Nadine Lia has withdrawn from hearing the compilation of evidence against Adrian Agius, his brother Robert Agius, and their associates Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio.The men are facing charges of involvement in two murders, inc...

"The principle that women and men should receive equal pay for the same work or work of equal value has been enshrined in the European Treaties since 1957. Nonetheless, despite the adoption of a body of gender equality legislation since then, gender ...

A man spent an extra four months in a prison ward and the authorities do not seem to be batting an eyelid over the incident.Fingers have been pointed in all directions and the parties involved have tried to shed the blame, but the unfortunate fact is...

Magistrates and judges have been instructed to defer any non-urgent cases until after April 11 as Covid-19 cases in Malta continue to increase.Chief Justice Mark Chetcuti decreed that the court must help stop the spread and must act to protect those ...

Despite a new measure banning the mixing of more than four households at private events, no mixing is recommended during this phase of the pandemic, Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci said on Friday.On Thursday, the government announced new rules,...

The government will grant €1,000 to each eatery establishment affected by the measures announced on Thursday, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo announced.As part of the government's plan to reduce the spread of Covid-19, it introduced new restric...

Residency permits for third country nationals employed in the public health sector will be valid for three years as opposed to just one year under a new agreement which was reached between the government and the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MU...

The vaccination process in elderly care homes concluded earlier than predicted, Minister for the Elderly Michael Farrugia announced todayHe said that the process has concluded in 39 elderly care homes. "More than 3,700 residents and 2,800 staff have ...

Tax Commissioner Marvin Gaerty has told a panel of three judges that he never accepted gifts or invitations to dine with Yorgen Fenech, as the public inquiry into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia continued this morning.He was replying to que...

Restaurants, kiosks and snack bars will only be allowed to provide a take-away service between tomorrow and 11 April, Prime Minister Robert Abela has announced.The PM, together with Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne and Health Superintendent Charmai...

The Archdiocese has suspended all physical group meetings, including catechism lessons for children due to Covid-19.While appreciating that a number of meetings are taking place online, the Archdiocese urged for such initiatives to, where possible, t...

65 new Police Constables were recruited on Friday, the Police Force said. 54 of the 65 are men and 11 are women. Their training within the academy lasted four months, and included both physical and academic training.Home Affairs Minister Byron Camill...

A man was seriously injured in Xghajra at 3.30pm, the police said.The man, 54 from Birkirkara, was hit by a concrete bucket while on a construction site on Triq il-Fortizza tal-Grazzja. The man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital.A Magisterial inquiry wa...

Speaker Anglu Farrugia has published legal advice rebutting claims that he exceeded his powers when he ruled that Standards Czar George Hyzler should not have investigated the 2019 lock-up of journalists at Castille.The Speaker ruled last w...

A teenage activist has dropped court proceedings against two men related to hate speech, after she received an apology from them, she wrote on Facebook.Back in 2019, Eve Borg Bonello - who was a 16-year-old student and activist - delivered a speech a...

Sorrow has befallen a school in Pembroke, as a young girl tragically passed away.In a Facebook message, the St Clare College Secondary School wrote how one of their own, Mariam Bodokia, an 8.5 student, passed away."Our students have reacted different...

There was a slight increase in the number of people seeking treatment for drugs in 2019 when compared to 2018, with 1,943 entrants recorded in 2019 compared to 1,898 entrants in 2018, the National Report on the Drugs Situation in Malta showed.This re...

Further afforestation initiatives are underway in Natura 2000 sites, as another 500 indigenous trees were planted at Majjistral Park, a government statement read. This was announced by Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning Aa...

The PN General Council has been postponed indefinitely in view of the current Covid-19 situation, the party said.Secretary General Francis Zammit Dimech said this was being done with respect towards the directives and recommendations issued by the he...

Having produced just 7.8mm of precipitation, rather than the expected 56.9mm, last February did not live up to its reputation of being a wet month, the Met Office said in a statement."The month went down on record as the sixth driest February since 1...

The Nationalist Party has said that it is expecting the country’s institutions to act decisively and with determination over a magisterial inquiry report which was presented to the Attorney General some days ago.The inquiry was the one requeste...

If the new Covid-19 measures are not properly enforced, the situation may get more serious, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association has warned.On Thursday, the government announced new restrictive measures, including the closure of restaurants u...

An appeal from chef to other chefs for restaurants not to throw away their excess food but to instead donate it to the Victory Kitchen charity which feeds families in need has been launched.In a Facebook which has now been shared over 200 times, Rafe...

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and the Xaghra local council have raised serious concerns over the proposed development of an apartment block close by to the Ġgantija temples.The site is located on Triq il-Parsott, Xaghra. The applicati...

A new record 362 cases of Covid-19 was registered today, as the number of new cases also climbed to a new high of 3,162, health authorities said.The previous record was 336, which was recorded only last Tuesday while the number of active cases had re...

Itma’ u Libbes is the 2021 Lenten campaign organised by the Archdiocese of Malta through the Caritas Parish Diaconia Network, together with Newsbook.com.mt and 103 Malta’s Heart, aimed at alleviating those struggling in strained circumsta...

Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has called for an inquiry to be launched into rumours that people are skipping the vaccine queue."I informed the Health Minister about rumours we received that, in Attard, there might have been people who received the ...

Health Minister Chris Fearne was correct to say, in Parliament last Tuesday, that one of the main reasons for the recent spike in the number of Covid-19 cases is a result of people taking more risks to exposing themselves to the virus.Last Tuesday, M...

Pope Francis arrived in Iraq on Friday to urge the country’s dwindling number of Christians to stay put and help rebuild the country after years of war and persecution, brushing aside the coronavirus pandemic and security concerns to make his f...

MEP Josianne Cutajar, member of the European Parliament's Transport and Tourism Committee, and of its Tourism Task Force, has become a signatory of the Future of Tourism Coalition. The Coalition establishes a vision for the tourism sector, setting th...

Malta has acquired new PCR swab testing kits which will be able to identify whether a patient is positive for Covid-19 and, if so, with what variant of the virus the patient is positive with, Minister of Health Chris Fearne said during a press confer...

Prime Minister Robert Abela forcefully defended Public Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci after fielding questions which put her position under question on Thursday, saying that it was she and her team who had stopped Malta from facing catastrophi...

COVID-19 cases rose 9% last week over a 53-country region of Europe, snapping a six-week run of declines, the World Health Organization said Thursday as its European chief insisted that countries need to get “back to the basics.”Dr. Hans ...

A ruling given by Speaker Anglu Farrugia in which he declared that the Standards Commissioner had gone beyond his legal remit was itself ultra vires and based on an incorrect premise, George Hyzler said.The Speaker’s ruling concerned a report b...

The Nationalist party has filed a Parliamentary motion calling for the review of a ruling delivered by the Speaker earlier this week.In his ruling, Anglu Farrugia declared that Standards Czar George Hyzler should not have investigated the 2019 lock-u...

Slow off the blocks in the race to immunize its citizens against COVID-19, Germany faces an unfamiliar problem: a glut of vaccines and not enough arms to inject them into.Like other countries in the European Union, its national vaccine campaign lags ...

Five straight home losses for the first time in the club’s 128-year history. More than 10 hours since a goal from open play at Anfield.The stadium that was once a fortress for Liverpool is the now the scene of a scarcely believable implosion by...

The police have arrested a 41-year-old man in connection with a hold-up that took place in San Gwann on Wednesday evening.A man armed with a firearm entered the shop in Naxxar Road and demanded money from the cashier, a 25-year-old Polish woman who l...

Alexis Sánchez scored twice to help Inter Milan win 2-1 at relegation-threatened Parma on Thursday to open up a six-point gap at the top of Serie A.Romelu Lukaku had a hand in both Inter goals in the second half before Hernani pulled one back ...

A 74-year-old woman was grievously injured on Thursday after she was hit by a car in Marsaxlokk.The accident took place in Triq l-Arznell at around noon, the police said.The victim was hit but a Toyota Auris driven by a 42-year-old woman. Both women ...

Two men were arrested by the police in connection with thefts, the police said today.The men, from Serbia and North Macedonia, were arrested in connection with a robbery which took place in a shop in Constitution Street, Mosta, on 11 December.The Ser...

Increasing accessibility to Gozo can enable a strategy where further economic niches can be created in Gozo, Daniel Borg, CEO of Gozo Business Chamber, said. Asked by The Malta Business Weekly about the newly proposed fast ferry link between the...

The Covid-19 vaccine is not a circuit breaker and will not reduce numbers in the immediate future, and mitigation measures need to be urgently escalated, the Malta College of Pathologists said.Calls for the stepping up of restrictive measures have in...

 For the fourth time so far, Standards Commissioner George Hyzler has found a breach of ethics by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.The latest case revolves around the lock-up of journalists at the Auberge de Castille after a 3am press confere...

Prince Philip has had a successful heart procedure at a London hospital and is expected to remain for several days of “rest and recuperation,” Buckingham Palace said Thursday.The palace said the 99-year-old husband of Queen Elizabeth II &...

New measures will be introduced in the coming hours, but a lockdown won’t be taken into consideration, Prime Minister Robert Abela told the press on Wednesday. This comes after a surge in Covid-19 cases, with the number active cases reaching 3,...

The number of new Covid-19 cases has dipped from the record 336 registered on Tuesday to 233, but fewer recoveries mean that the number of active cases has now shot up to a record 3,000.Information privded by the health authorities show that the numb...

The Standards Commissioner has found that former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, prima facie, was in breach of ethics in the incident which saw journalists prevented from leave his office in Castille following a late night press conference.But George H...

Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne on Wednesday stood by his claim that a PN MP had asked him to skip the Covid-19 vaccine queue.Fearne first made the claim on Tuesday but, on Wednesday morning, the PN’s Parliamentary Group unanimously denied t...

A story showing PN MP Jason Azzopardi to be a ‘hypocrite’ will soon emerge, Prime Minister Robert Abela said today, arguing that the MP’s allegations about Mario Cutajar were an attempt to deviate attention.Nationalist MP Jason Azzo...

The Institute of Maltese Journalists (IGM) said on Wednesday it was deeply disappointed by the Speaker’s refusal to give it a copy of the Standards Czar’s report on the 2019 journalist lock-up at Castille.George Hyzler had investigated th...

Manoel Island is a critical part of Malta's history, and remains a much-loved part of the local landscape and culture.Preserving this unique heritage is at the heart of the revised MIDI Masterplan to restore and develop Manoel Island, the consortium ...

Family Minister Michael Falzon said that this strategy will provide support and aim to break the vicious cycle that people get themselves into with regards to drug use amongst teens. During a press conference at the Aula Magna Valletta Campus on...

More information regarding moratoriums will be announced in the coming days, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said on Wednesday. The moratorium was introduced back in April 2020, where people were offered a moratorium on repayments on capital and ...

The most grueling and intense Premier League season appears to be catching up with Manchester United's misfiring players.It may yet cost them a place in next season's Champions League.There were worrying signs in United's third straight 0-0 draw, thi...

ranck Kessié scored a penalty with the last kick of the match to rescue a 1-1 draw for title-chasing AC Milan against Udinese in Serie A on Wednesday.Rodrigo Becão looked to have secured Udinese’s first win at Milan in nearly five...

Mosta booked a place in the quarter finals of the FA Trophy thanks to two second half goals against Santa Lucia.  Mosta deserved the win but the Saints were at times careless in their conclusions.Both teams made it to the round of sixteen after ...

The Malta Employers’ Association said today companies asked to take part in a survey on the Covid-19 pandemic say that recovery will take longer than anticipated.The survey covered more than 200 companies from all economic sectors, the MEA said...

The Malta Association of Public Health Medicine today called for an immediate increase in restrictive measures to curb the current high rate of new COVID-19 infections. Over the past week we have seen the highest number of new infections yet, MAPHM s...

A court has decreed that there is sufficient evidence to place lawyers Gianluca Caruana Curran and Charles Mercieca under a bill of indictment over an alleged attempt at bribing a Times of Malta journalist.Magistrate Natasha Galea Sciberras made the ...

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of at least 6.0 struck central Greece Wednesday and was also felt in neighbouring Albania and North Macedonia, and as far as Kosovo and Montenegro.One man was injured by falling debris but there were no othe...

The prison agency never received a court judgment that said that an inmate was to be moved from a prison ward in Mount Carmel to the main hospital building, Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri said on Wednesday.The case was first flagged by Profess...

A woman with Cystic Fibrosis has urged authorities to import life-saving medication to Malta to help with her, as well as others who also suffer from the condition on the island.26 year-old Mandy Vella took to Facebook to explain her situation and ta...

Family doctor Joseph Ferriggi has strongly appealed for every person to look after their health and abide by all measures and regulations as the current situation in Malta is very worrying. This appeal comes following the high rise of Covid-19 c...

The variant of the coronavirus discovered in Britain is prevalent among Italy's infected schoolchildren and is helping to fuel a “robust” uptick in the curve of COVID-19 contagion in the country, the health minister said Tuesday.Roberto S...

Mario Cutajar categorically denied allegations levelled against him by PN MP Jason Azzopardi in Parliament on Monday.In a statement issued through the Department of Information, the head of the civil service said that while it is not his role to wade...

Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi claimed on Tuesday that a top-level public officer was forced to hand in his resignation after being arrested on “made-up criminal allegations”.Speaking in Parliament on Tuesday, Azzopardi called for the res...

The Nationalist Party parliamentary group today denied that a PN MP tried to jump the vaccination queue, as alleged by Health Minister Chris Fearne.On Tuesday, Fearne said that a PN MP had asked to be pushed up the Covid-19 vaccination queue.In a sta...

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) has submitted its objection to an application that proposes the construction of 31 apartments close by to the Ggantija temples.The application proposes the demolition of a dwalling and the construction of t...

These past 12 months have taught us to be very careful with making predictions about how the Covid-19 pandemic will develop.Many countries, including Malta, have made many mistakes in the way they tackled the onset of the disease, often taking hasty ...

A record 336 cases of Covid-19 were recorded Tuesday, taking the number of active cases to a new high of 2,931, health authorities said.It is the first time that the number of cases has surpassed 300. The previous record was 263 on 28 February.It is ...

Addressing Parliament this evening, Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne spoke about the recent spike in Covid-19 cases and highlighted that the recent spike could be due to the Covid-19 variants present on the island.Fearne said that the record amount...

The government has rejected a shift to exclusive online teaching as opposed to teaching in-person, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) said.Speaking to The Malta Independent, MUT president Marco Bonnici said that the MUT is closely monitoring the rise ...

A 39-year-old Italian was arrested by the police in St Paul's Bay through a European Arrest Warrant, the police said.The man is wanted by the Italian police for organised crime and drug trafficking.Over the past days, the Central Intelligence and Ana...

The efforts of the health sector and the education sector to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic have been crushed by the Labour Party’s poor governance, the Nationalist Party said today.Spokesperson for Health Stephen Spiteri and Spokesperson for ...

If the daily cases continue to rise as they are right now, the daily cases will go into "the high hundreds", the Medical Association of Malta (MAM) president, Martin Balzan, warned. Speaking to The Malta Independent, Balzan said that the public ...

The husband of the late Miriam Pace said that his life will never be normal again, as he feels like a body without a soul, Carmel Pace said in a Facebook post.Miriam Pace, a 54 year old mother of two, was found dead under the rubble of her own house ...

The Government has to consider stricter enforcement and the introduction of new measures, MUMN president Paul Pace told The Malta Independent.This comes after Malta registered its highest number of daily new cases since the start of the pandemic, wit...

Measures to ensure that the pension of people currently entering retirement are not affected by the Covid-19 pandemic were announced on Tuesday.Social Justice Minister Michael Falzon and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana launched a new measure which eff...