The prison agency has denied claims made by an inmate serving a life term that there is a systematic campaign of terror, fear and torture at the Corradino Correctional Facility.The inmate, who was found guilty of a double murder, requested a magister...

A girl aged nine was injured and a man was seriously hurt in a traffic accident in Marsa on Friday evening, the police said.The accident took place in Triq il-Karmnu at 11.15pm.It involved a Toyota Auris driven by a 30-year-old man of Qormi, and a Ho...

Two men were arrested by the police in a raid carried out in Marsa on Thursday.One of the men, aged 35 of Marsa, was arrested in connection with drug trafficking. The second man, aged 21 of Kalkara, was arrested as he was found to be breaching bail c...

Illegal structures placed next to a kiosk in Sliema have been removed, the Sliema local council said.In a post on Facebook, the council said it was “pleased to announce that the illegal structures placed on either side of the kiosk at the Stran...

Russia on Friday blacklisted eight officials from the European Union in retaliation for EU sanctions over the imprisonment of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.The Russian list includes European Parliament President David Sassoli and Vera Jour...

Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant abstained on a European Parliament resolution on Russia and said that the way forward for the EU and Russia should be less confrontational and more objective.In explaining his vote, Alfred Sant told the E...

Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech have submitted a request to the European drug regulator for the approval of their coronavirus vaccine to be extended to include children 12 to 15 years old, in a move that could offer younger and less at-risk populations in E...

Several thousand music fans on Friday became the first people in Britain in more than a year to legally dance, drink and listen to music in a nightclub, as part of a test to see whether social distancing measures can be eased without triggering new c...

The much-criticised Planning Authority stooped to a new low in the past week.This after it ordered the destruction of a stone garden that a man had, out of his own free will, created out of what was previously pretty much a derelict dump at Top of th...

Valletta: Empire Pharmacy, 77, Old Theatre Street; Ħamrun: Chemimart International Pharmacy, 650, St Joseph High Road; Qormi: Drugshop Dispensary, Vjal De La Cruz; Birkirkara: The Local Dispensary, Kan. K. Pirotta Street; Pietà: St Luke's...

The Maltese man who contracted Covid-19 while he was in India with his wife to finalise details for the adoption of a baby girl has passed away.The Health Ministry confirmed in a statement on Friday that the 47-year-old, who was expected to arrive in...

A hunter has been filmed hunting with a child in Mizieb, BirdLife Malta said in a statement."The suspect in question, as confirmed from last year, is a close relative of a high Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) official, who last year wa...

Michel Rizzo has suspended himself from his position as managing direct of Allied Group, as the company expressed its “immeasurable surprise” at the decision to prosecute him and one of its companies, Progress Press, over money laundering...

Malta is one of 24 countries which is likely to be included in the United Kingdom’s travel green list as from 17 May, a British travel expert said on Friday.Paul Charles, the CEO of travel consultancy firm PC Agency, said that 24 countries were...

Three sixth form student councils have issued a joint statement to the government calling for post-secondary institutions to re-open their doors for in-person education.While primary, middle and secondary schools re-opened their doors a few weeks ago...

Sixteen new cases of Covid-19 were found overnight, the health authorities said on Friday.More details were given by Health Superintendent Charmaine Gauci during her weekly briefing.The number of active cases is now 331 and the total number of cases ...

Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo railed against the Nationalist Party and its MEPs over a European Parliament resolution yesterday which he described as an “attack on Malta.”In his daily morning missive, Bartolo said that the PN h...

Hackers who got into the Nationalist Party’s IT systems and stole party and company data have given the party a week-long extension to meet its demands, but the PN remains insistent that it will not negotiate.The situation dates back to last we...

Three people are expected to be charged in court over the organisation of a lockdown-breaching birthday party earlier this month.The birthday party, which took place earlier this month and was exposed after some attendees uploaded footage online, dre...

A magistrate has rapped the prosecution in the compilation of evidence against the driver of a double decker bus that was involved in a fatal accident in 2018.Charles D’Amato stands accused of involuntary homicide. Two people had died when the ...

Heritage and environment NGOs Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and Moviment Graffitti have condemned the Planning Authority decision, to conditionally approve the construction of a 6-storey hotel on Saqqajja hill. The site is ...

Serving the community during the Covid-19 pandemic is a way for students to learn that knowledge and skills gained through study can and should be used for the good of communities, the Greens' Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo saidHe was accompanied by Ra...

The Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba was appointed by the Socialists and Democrats to present the political group in a new reflection process "Parliament after the COVID-19 pandemic."The President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, launched the i...

India’s coronavirus cases climbed again Friday, prompting the army to open up its hospitals in a desperate bid to control a massive humanitarian crisis created by an acute shortage of beds, medicines and oxygen.With 386,452 new cases, India now...

Artists simply cannot go and find another job, Howard Keith Debono, president of the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association, told The Malta Business Weekly."Their craft is something they have perfected over the years, often an extension of...

The Covid-19 pandemic offers the possibility to build a better society, Professor Simone Borg, who heads a steering committee for a post-pandemic strategy, said on Friday.During the first couple of months of this year the Steering Committee for the P...

Air Malta has launched its summer flight schedule with a planned operation to 20 cities.The airline said that, during the six-month program (covering May till October 2021), it will operate 3,012 flights and will offer for sale over half a million se...

A stampede at a religious festival attended by tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews in northern Israel killed at least 44 people and injured some 150 others early Friday, medical officials said, in one of the country's deadliest civilian disaster...

The Bulebel industrial zone will benefit from an investment of more than €10 million. An investment which will lead to the creation of 100 new full-time jobs, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri announced on Friday.Speaking on the 50th anniversary ...

Once again, Parliament’s ethics committee has been rendered toothless, this time through the Speaker’s vote, or rather, the absence of one. Anglu Farrugia decided to abstain on a vote on whether the committee should adopt a report, by Sta...

European lawmakers said Thursday that COVID-19 certificates aimed at facilitating travel across the European Union should be enough to move freely this summer, a position likely to clash with member states' prerogatives in their upcoming negotiations...

Allied Group managing director Michel Rizzo and the company's former financial controller Claude Licari have been charged with money laundering and fraud.The pair were arraigned in court on Thursday as part of a sprawling police investigation followi...

Malta has passed the Moneyval assessment after strengthening its ant-money laundering regime, government sources have confirmed.The Council of Europe body had given Malta until last year to conduct an overhaul of its anti-money laundering legislation...

27 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Thursday.31 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus, meaning that the number of active cases has decreased marginally to 370.For the fourth consecutive day, no new deaths related ...

A hotel on Saqqajja hill, partly replacing the site of the Tattingers club, has been conditionally approved by the Planning Authority,.The 81-room hotel plan received a non-executable permit, which will only be confirmed if the necessary geological s...

Tumas Group’s gaming arm Tumas Gaming has been fined €233,156 by the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) after it identified a number of compliance breaches in its operation.The penalties were imposed in particular over breaches of...

The Planning Authority has defended its decision to issue an enforcement order of “illegal” structures built by rock gardener at Gharghur, saying that the contravenor had agreed to remove the structures “voluntarily.”Public ou...

Social solidarity Minister Michael Falzon said today he is convinced that “internal scrutiny” will be carried out into a highly irregular €274 million Saint Vincent de Paul contract.The contract was given to a consortium formed by Ja...

Manchester United handed Roma another heavy beating at Old Trafford, winning 6-2 Thursday thanks to doubles from Edinson Cavani and Bruno Fernandes to move in sight of the Europa League final.Fourteen years after getting thrashed 7-1 in the Champions...

A 90-year-old woman suffered grievous injuries after the ambulance she was in was involved in a crash with a construction vehicle.Police said on Thursday that at around 3pm, a crash occurred between an ambulance and a construction truck in Triq l-Ass...

The prices of a 'large amount' of medicinal products will be reduced in order to increase accessibility and affordability for Maltese and Gozitan citizens, Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo announced on Thursday afternoon.I...

The government’s lack of distribution of laptops to educators in state and church schools is ‘shameful’, the Malta Union of Teachers (MUT) has said in a press statement.In 2016, the government announced a €15.4 million investme...

Members of the European Parliament have adopted a resolution stating that all allegations of corruption and fraud in Malta, especially at a high political level, should be investigated and prosecuted with the appropriate rigour and at the appropriate...

The Planning Authority has ordered a stone garden in an area known as ‘Top of the World’ in Gharghur to be destroyed, stating that the development is illegal.The man who made it his daily vocation to take care of the area – which wa...

Self-confessed middleman in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, Melvin Theuma, has insisted today that “only Yorgen Fenech” had masterminded the murder.At a point in his three-hour-long testimony in the compilation of evidence against t...

42% of people aged 40 and over have received their first shot of the Covid-19 vaccine, Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne has announced.Fearne shared the statistic on his Twitter page, where he also announced that 67% of those age...

58% of Maltese respondents in a Eurobarometer survey said they trust the police, while the health sector has a much higher trust rating of 85%.By comparison, EU citizens in general trust the police more than the Maltese (69%) but trust the health ser...

With the way things are turning out and the strategy in place for Malta, summer is looking positive for small and medium sized businesses, CEO of the Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Abigail Mamo told The Malta Independent. Howeve...

UK authorities have asked for more paperwork to justify Malta’s request for extradition proceedings to start against Adrian Hillman, Times of Malta reports.The UK’s National Crime Agency is reviewing the application to have the former All...

Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela has said that the process over his alleged breach of ethics regarding adverts which appeared in local media has now been "exhausted."Writing on Facebook, Abela said that after the process...

More than half of Europe's population should have received the coronavirus vaccine in the next two months, allowing governments to consider easing lockdown rules for those who've been immunized, the head of German pharmaceutical company BioNTech said...

Malta Enterprise said it is supporting TechforCann EU with   €2.5 million to establish the first European tech accelerator for the medical cannabis industry, in Malta. The funding will support startups  setting up in Malta, who ar...

With Covid-19 still taking up much of the public’s attention, little space and thought were given to the latest migrant tragedy.In the past days, a boat carrying 130 persons capsized in the sea north of Libya, and it is believed that all the oc...

Recent statistics published by the National Statistics office (NSO) show that through new social security measures, the amount of people living of social benefits has reduced drastically. During a press conference Thursday, Minister for Family, Child...

The National Audit Office has expressed doubt on whether a €274 million tender awarded to a consortium to manage four blocks at Saint Vincent de Paul secured value for money.The NAO also found that no political authorisation to enter into a nego...

The College of European Prosecutors has accepted the nomination of Dr Martin Sammut to act as Malta’s European Delegated Prosecutor, the government said.This role falls within the structures of the European Public Prosecutors Office (EPPO) esta...

With less than 24 hours to go before the deadline set by a hacker group that threatened to publish sensitive documents obtained by breaching the PN's IT systems, the Nationalist Party's Secretary General Francis Zammit Dimech said that "we have taken...

The government has in the past couple of years actively avoided Nexia BT, even when the audit company won tenders like any other company, on the basis that the company had become “toxic”, Brian Tonna claimed on Wednesday.Speaking at parli...

The health authorities are investigating a case of thrombosis by a person who has recently taken the Covid-19 vaccine.The health ministry said the person, 58, suffered a blood clot two weeks after taking the first dose of the vaccine. It did not spec...

Speaker Anglu Farrugia abstained his vote regarding the report published by the Standards Commissioner which suggested that Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister Carmelo Abela breached ethics, which means that the report will not be adopte...

15 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Wednesday, while no new deaths related to the virus were reported for the fourth consecutive day.41 people meanwhile have recovered, meaning that the number of active cases has now decre...

Former Economic Crimes Unit superintendent Ray Aquilina has reportedly been arrested in connection with an investigation into leaks of information about the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder.The Times of Malta reported that Aquilina was taken in for poli...

53% of Maltese respondents in the latest Eurobarometer survey said they are very satisfied or fairly satisfied with the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.44% stated that they were not very satisfied or not satisfied at all.In th...

Two young children were grievously injured in a traffic accident in Mgarr on Wednesday morning.The accident took place at around 8am in Triq San Pawl, the police said.Preliminary investigations showed that a Toyota Funcargo driven by a 70-year-old wo...

Paris Saint-Germain lost its composure and the match as Manchester City rallied to win 2-1 away from home in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal on Wednesday.PSG led 1-0 through captain Marquinhos’ early header from a corner, but ...

A Maltese hunter was caught on video shooting a protected turtle dove.Footage of the incident was uploaded to Twitter by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS).It said the footage was taken by one of its teams in the field at Chadwick Lakes.The ...

A 44-year-old hunter has pleaded not guilty to a string of hunting charges, including shooting down a protected Honey Buzzard.The incident allegedly took place on Tuesday at Mizieb.Jimmy Muscat, 44, was released on bail.Police inspector Elliott Magro...

A modernist house in Balzan has been handed its death knell after the Planning Commission approved its demolition and replacement with a five-storey block of apartments.The building on Old Railway Street in the quiet village will make way for a maiso...

All licence fees of agencies falling under the Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) will be cancelled for the rest of the year, Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo announced on Wednesday afternoon.This move, Bartolo continued, will ...

The Nationlist Party will be presenting a number of proposals to the electorate regarding new sectors for the economy which will aim to protect the environment and avoid making any profit from precarious work, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said.&nb...

A newly-set up action group representing voluntary organisations is going ahead with plans to tell the Council of Europe about the new ‘draconian’ fund raising rules.Robert Aquilina, from the Voluntarjat Action Group, described the new ru...

Total cruise passenger traffic during the first quarter of 2021 amounted to 7,966 passengers, a decrease of 80.2% over the corresponding period in 2020, the National Statistics Office said.During the first quarter of 2021, there were 9 cruise liner c...

People who are fully vaccinated and meet each other do not need to wear masks, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has said.This comes a few hours after the U.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention also suggested that ...

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation Malta (FKNK) has suspended the membership of a hunter who was arrested by police for allegedly shooting down a protected bird on Tuesday.In a statement, the FKNK said that they had suspended the hunter&rsqu...

A man was seriously injured in a fire which developed in a private residence in Birkirkara early on Wednesday, the police said.The fire developed in a house in Papa Piju XII at around midnight.The 55-year-old man, who lives in Balzan, suffered seriou...

India crossed a grim milestone Wednesday of 200,000 people lost to the coronavirus as a devastating surge of new infections tears through dense cities and rural areas alike and overwhelms health care systems on the brink of collapse.The health minist...

Brussels prosecutor's office warned potential partygoers they should stay away from an unauthorized gathering planned this weekend in one of the city's biggest parks as police briefly detained one of the organizers on Tuesday.After an April Fools&rsq...

We had a heart-wrenching story a few days ago.Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola used her Facebook page to speak about a letter she received from a six-year-old boy, who described how some of his colleagues at school were going hungry because their pare...

The EU needs to have a Union-wide system of Information Communication Technologies security for its financial institutions such as banking, investment and insurance, Alfred Sant told the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee of the European Parliam...

Support schemes for rent and for electricity bills will be extended into the summer for businesses, while a number of new measures intended to stimulate economic activity as the pandemic wanes are also set to be implemented.Addressing the press confe...

45 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Tuesday as the number of active cases decreased to 400.67 new recoveries were registered, while for another day no new deaths were registered either.This means that the number of active cases now stands at 40...

A hunter was arrested by police on Tuesday after he was spotted shooting down a protected European Honey Buzzard (kuċċarda).Police said in a statement that they were informed of the incident at around 11am on Tuesday morning in Mizieb &ndas...

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has republished, for public consultation, the Environment Impact Assessment regarding the outline application for the construction of a Waste to Energy Plant at Maghtab.The consultation period for the ori...

Prime Minister Robert Abela questioned whether the role of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life should be held by a former MP, saying that a debate on this point would be good to have.Abela was asked by The Malta Independent about an ongoing...

Vince Buhagiar was unable to explain to police payments he received from a Gibraltar company belonging to former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, a court heard today.Buhagiar, a former chairman of Progress Press and managing director of Allied News...

The global COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in disruptions to travel around the globe, with new restrictions for various countries being implemented on a daily basis. This has been no different for those who wish to travel to Turkey during coronavirus,...

With a dominant start and a milestone goal by Christian Pulisic, Chelsea showed its strength against Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals.Chelsea took control early in Tuesday’s first leg to hold the Spanish powerhouse to a 1-1 away d...

The roadwork which took place between February and March on Comino are illegal, the Commissioner for Environment and Planning within the Ombudsman’s office ruled on Tuesday.The works in question were conducted by a contractor engaged by the Min...

An Egyptian man has been charged with assisting a number of migrants to enter Malta illegally by speedboat.The 34-year-old man was arraigned in court on Tuesday before Magistrate Ian Farrugia.He was accused of being instrumental in helping a group of...

Culture Minister Jose Herrera has said that his remark wherein he claimed the artists’ IQ is not business oriented, a remark which has prompted widespread anger amongst the arts community, was “distorted” and has in turn been misund...

Further measures will be introduced in the coming days so that businesses are safeguarded, Minister for the Economy and Industry Silvio Schembri told Parliament on Tuesday.This comes after Prime Minister Robert Abela and Minister for Energy and Enter...

BirdLife Malta’s patrol numbers have dwindled this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, representatives of the NGO told The Malta Independent.Spring hunting season in Malta will last until 30 April, during which time the Common Quail is the only ...

Employees and employers are part of the solution for economic recovery, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Tuesday.He was speaking during a meeting with the Malta Employers Association.Grech said it is important that employees and employers unde...

The Qala Local Council announced what they described as another win for the locality after another application to sanction ODZ development was turned down by the Planning Commission. The Local Council had objected to an application to sanction existi...

A legal framework needs to be set up for enterprises that focus on social issues, Minister for Energy and Enterprises Miriam Dalli said.She was speaking in Parliament on a Bill to regulate social enterprise organisations, to establish the Regula...

The prosecution in the compilation of evidence against Zenith directors Matthew Pace and Lorraine Falzon have been told off by the court for summoning witnesses who had already testified in a magisterial inquiry into the money laundering allegations ...

A bus operated by Malta Public Transport caught fire this morning, the company said.All passengers were disembarked safely, it added.“A bus operated by Malta Public Transport was involved in a fire incident in Burmarrad, while serving Rout...

Former PL MP Deborah Schembri will lead the Malta Developers Association after being appointed its Director General with immediate effect, the association said in a statement.Schembri, who rose to prominence as one of the people behind the pro-divorc...

In the first quarter of 2021, the number of licensed motor vehicles increased by 1,876 over the previous quarter, the NSO said.At the end of March 2021, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 404,303. Out of this total, 76.5% were passenger ca...

A British comedian has admitted to buying an old Malta bus online without knowing that it needed to be shipped.The Mirror reports that stand-up comedian Johnny Vegas bought the bus on e-bay, only to realise that it had to be transported from Malta.&l...