The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has issued a call to find a second quarantine hotel as the one currently in use is nearing full capacity. Currently, the Corinthia Marina in St Julian’s is being used as a Covid-19 quarantine for tourists. Sour...

More than 500 of the 2,300 cases of Covid-19 students are students in Malta to learn English, while the first 58 Italian students have been repatriated, describing their return home as the end of a nightmare.Italian news agency Ansa reports that some...

The International Monetary Fund has raised gross domestic product projections for Malta this year from 4.7% to 5.8%, a government statement said.As for next year, the growth is expected to be 6%, more than half a percentage point larger than the prev...

Reports of athletes, lawmakers and others getting the coronavirus despite vaccination may sound alarming but top health experts point to overwhelming evidence that the shots are doing exactly what they are supposed to: dramatically reducing severe il...

What is a COVID-19 vaccine “breakthrough” case?It’s when a fully vaccinated person gets infected with the coronavirus. A small number of such cases are expected and health officials say they're not a cause for alarm.COVID-19 va...

Malta stands out as a country with exceptionally fertile soil for the development of most forms of gambling, and the industry poses as one of the biggest contributors to its GDP. In fact, Malta was the first European country to come up with a legisla...

The Bank of Valletta branches of Balluta and Mqabba were closed today after an employee in each branch tested positive for Covid-19, BOV said.BOV said that the branches will be disinfected according to guidelines issued by the Health Authorities. It ...

Former Chamber of Commerce president David Xuereb has been appointed chairman of the Occupational Health and Safety Authority, the government said.An architect by profession, Xuereb has worked for years in sustainable design and green industry.He was...

COVID-19 cases nearly tripled in the U.S. over two weeks amid an onslaught of vaccine misinformation that is straining hospitals, exhausting doctors and pushing clergy into the fray.“Our staff, they are frustrated," said Chad Neilsen, director ...

It’s the second summer which we are facing under the ever-present eye of the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s the second summer where Malta has managed to bungle its tourism strategy.Two different ministers – Julia Farrugia Portelli last...

The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee fired the director of the opening ceremony on Thursday because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998.Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said a day ahead of the opening ceremony tha...

Libya's coast guard intercepted Wednesday four boats in the Mediterranean Sea carrying migrants trying to reach Europe, a U.N. official said. According to the migrants, 20 people from one of the vessels had gone overboard earlier in the day and were ...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year’s delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:The International Olympic Committee says it will start including images of athletes taking a knee in its ...

Despite both government and Opposition MPs saying they are available to resume a meeting of the standards committee to discuss a report on Rosianne Cutajar, no date has been set yet for the next meeting. Parliament’s ethics committee is current...

Prime Minister Robert Abela has said that he is “heartened” by the positive reviews given to Malta’s fiscal and economic status by rating agencies, as he also vowed efforts will be “redoubled” so that Malta gets out of t...

199 cases of Covid-19 have been reported by health authorities, as active cases continue to increase but hospitalisations decrease.30 people have recovered from the virus, with no new deaths being recorded in the last 24 hours again.This means that t...

Although the financial industry has been thriving in Malta for a number of years, today Malta lacks the trust, credibility and reputation that it needs in order for the industry to continue to thrive, Opposition leader Bernard Grech said. Grech was s...

Over 1,800 people received the Covid-19 jab at the mobile centre, which was stationed in Zejtun on Wednesday.Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne said 1,824 had taken the vaccine. The mobile unit will be at St Julian’s on Friday.On Monday, over 2...

A man on Wednesday tried to pay a fine with just 1 cent coins at the Naxxar local council, an act which saw him end at the locality’s police station for his troubles.In a status on their Facebook page, the Naxxar local council said that the man...

To enable the courts to more efficiently tackle serious crimes, a reform has been announced that will see a number of “less serious” breaches of the law being handled by the Justice Commissioners.Justice Minister Edward Zammit Lewis said ...

The 2021 European Commission Rule of Law report has highlighted that “serious challenges remain as regards the efficiency of the justice system in Malta, in particular the length of court proceedings.” The report also found that the ...

Minister Michael Farrugia has been discharged from Mater Dei Hospital hospital after he was admitted to hospital on Tuesday.Farrugia announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday and as a result he was admitted to hospital for further ...

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, George Hyzler, has concluded that the government’s decision to lease the Downtown Hotel in Rabat, Gozo, for use as a home for the elderly did not represent an abuse of power or a breach of ethics.T...

Investing in innovation should encompass the principle of leaving no one behind, MEP Josianne Cutajar said.Speaking during the last plenary, the Socialists and Democrats MEP said that she was committed to research and innovation policy. "Research in ...

A new family park will be created in the area of Bengħajsa, in Birżebbuġa, through a €4 million investment, Minister for Energy and Enterprise Miriam Dalli, and Minister for Tourism and Consumer Protection Clayton Bartolo announce...

It will be Health chief Charmaine Gauci who will decide for how long Malta's travel restrictions will be retained, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo told The Malta Independent on Wednesday.Under the current travel restrictions, all unvaccina...

Repubblika President Robert Aquilina has called on Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa not to fall for the political pressure exerted upon him by former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his successor Robert Abela, and urged him to be the commissioner to ...

New vaccination certificates from foreign countries and territories are now being recognised by the Maltese authorities, a government statement read. As from yesterday, 21st July 2021, Malta officially recognises the digital Covid-19 vaccine cer...

Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Ian Borg visited the Malta National Park in Ta’Qali, where work is currently underway on three areas of this €20 million project, a government statement read. “It is good to...

The newly-completed €3 million Marsalforn waterfront project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Abela together Minister for Gozo Clint Camilleri on Wednesday.This followed works conducted in the Menqa area. The deteriorated pier in Menqa h...

John Dalli has demanded an apology from NGO Repubblika for associating him with corruption during a protest outside the police headquarters on Tuesday. Dalli’s face was one of numerous to be placarded onto the gates of the police headquart...

The Latest on the Tokyo Olympics, which are taking place under heavy restrictions after a year's delay because of the coronavirus pandemic:Top-ranked shooter Amber Hill has tested positive for COVID-19 at home in Britain and will miss the Tokyo Olymp...

The number of licensed motor vehicles in Malta is increasing by an average of 43 per day, the latest statistics issued by the National Statistics Office show.The latest release provides information as to the second quarter of 2021. “At the end ...

217 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Tuesday – a tally which sees the number of active cases soar over the 2,000 case mark.Just three people were reported as having recovered and no new deaths were reported in the pa...

Emerging data shows that economic and social inequalities have persisted, indeed grown in the EU in recent years, with peripheral regions especially affected, Alfred Sant has stated in the European Parliament.In an intervention during the European Pa...

Malta being placed on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control’s (ECDC) red list will not have direct consequences on the country’s tourism sector, Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo told The Malta Independent.Malta was placed...

Prime Minister Robert Abela is saying what he was saying a year ago – that the Covid-19 situation is under control.When he said these words last year, Malta was heading into the second wave of the pandemic, which led to more than 400 deaths and...

Minister Michael Farrugia has been admitted to hospital, days after testing positive for Covid-19.A spokesperson for his ministry confirmed with The Malta Independent that Farrugia is currently in hospital and that he is under observation.Farrugia an...

A court has ordered that DNA tests be carried out on the remains of Tumas Fenech after a prisoner claimed that he is the late businessman’s illegitimate son.TVM reported that prisoner Victor Buttigieg filed a case before the Family Court in 201...

Melvin Theuma has told a court that he had rented a flat to one of the men accused of carrying out the failed HSBC headquarters heist in 2010 as the compilation of evidence reopened this morning.Theuma testified in front of Magistrate Monica Vella in...

Malta needs to be open to negotiations with other countries regarding the international minimum level of taxation, with Finance Minister Clyde Caruana sure that the country will not "give up what it has achieved throughout the past decades -- fa...

Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo has defended the government’s decision to offer vouchers as an incentive for English language students to choose Malta.The way the vouchers for English students worked was that for every night that an English la...

Prime Minister Robert Abela continues to fail when it comes to taking the necessary measures to tackle the spread of Covid-19,  PN Leader Bernard Grech said.Malta was placed on the red list by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Contr...

A toddler suffered serious injuries after falling a storey and a half out of a window on Tuesday morning, police said.In a statement, the police said that at around 10:30am it was informed that assistance was needed in Triq ir-Rattan in Mellieha.Prel...

The lifelong disability of a child like Down syndrome no longer needs to be re-evaluated by a medical board at Agenzija Support when the child turns 16 in order to receive social security benefits, it was announced today.Till now, the guardians of th...

Corks popped, beats boomed out and giddy revelers rushed onto dancefloors when England’s nightclubs reopened Monday as the country lifted most remaining coronavirus restrictions after more than a year of lockdowns, mask mandates and other pande...

The British government has decided not to inoculate most children and teenagers against COVID-19 until more safety data on the vaccines become available.Children as young as 12 with severe neuro-disabilities, Down syndrome, immunosuppression and mult...

The 27-year-old Briton who died in Malta last week after finding himself in difficulty while swimming was a “a warm hearted person who loved life”, friends have said.Chris Dodd, from Runcorn, was reported to have “encountered d...

India's excess deaths during the pandemic could be a staggering 10 times the official COVID-19 toll, likely making it modern India’s worst human tragedy, according to the most comprehensive research yet on the ravages of the virus in the South ...

The World Pro Racing, Development and Entertainment Centre was inaugurated on Tuesday, with an investment of around €300,000. Situated at Montekristo Estate in Ħal Farruġ, Luqa, this new centre seeks to provide opportunities to yo...

A France-based migrant rescue organization soon will be getting medical and other assistance aboard its charity ship in the Mediterranean.The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, known as IFRC, said Monday that its teams ...

The floods seen in Europe last week caused havoc, death and destruction. It was a worrying situation, one that shocked European nations.International news report that climate scientists say the link between extreme weather and global warming is unmis...

For the country to remain attractive to visitors it needs to avoid changing protocols which are introduced or making U-turns as much as possible, as although mistakes are anticipated, the protocols need to be sustainable, CEO of the Malta Hotels and ...

146 new cases of Covid-19 were reported on Monday, something of a dip in numbers when compared to recent days.15 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus, and with no new deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the number of active cases now stan...

Over 2,400 people received their Covid-19 vaccine at the mobile unit on Monday, the first day that such a service is being provided.The surge in the number of cases must have pushed unvaccinated people to get the jab.Malta has seen a rapid surge in t...

PN Żebbuġ councillor Daniel Cordina has insisted that a boundary wall on private property should be built in accordance with the Law, as this is leading to a rat problem in Triq Frank Debono, Marsalforn, Gozo. In a Facebook post, Cordi...

Nationalist MP Kevin Cutajar was forced to take down a Facebook post where seemed to justify a brutal alleged attack on a Somali man in Gozo by blaming it on a “rapid mixing of cultures” which Gozo is seemingly not ready for.Cutajar was c...

National Book Council chairman Mark Camilleri will be publishing a book which is set to include “previously untold facts about corruption and the government.”He hopes that the new information will lead to new arrests and police investigat...

Sports administrator Louis Borg passed away today. He was aged 85.Well known for being a pioneer in how sport should be part of the education system, he played football and was the founder of the Malta Basketball Association. He remained part of the ...

The case against restaurateurs Florinda Sultana and Albert Buttigieg, who are both charged with money laundering, had to be postponed after the prosecution failed to turn up in court on Monday.Sultana and Buttigieg were, along with their lawyer Stefa...

Lithuania has become the first country to re-impose quarantine restrictions on people entering the country from Malta, only hours after the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) classified the country in its red-list for number of...

A man was remanded in custody on Monday after he pleaded not guilty to stabbing another person in Gozo on Sunday.The incident took place in Triq l-Ewropa in Victoria, at around 4:30pm.The accused, 45, from Victoria, was accused of slightly injuring t...

Malta’s tourism season could take another blow after Malta was placed on the red list by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).The move comes amid a recent surge in the number of Covid-19 cases.Malta currently has over 1...

Police are set to charge a Maltese man for allegedly beating a Somali man before throwing him into the sea in front of a cheering crowd in Gozo.TVM reported that the man – a Maltese national – will be charged with the incident, where the ...

Corinthia Hotels submitted plans to build a low-lying, highly landscaped resort on the site currently occupied by the disused Hal Ferh Holiday Complex, the company said in a statement.The development will comprise a top-tier 5-star hotel having 162 k...

Minister for Education Justyne Caruana has announced that a pilot scheme to extend the hours and days of government run childcare centres will start operating at six centres starting from October 2021.The participating centres in this scheme will ext...

The Planning Authority is set to decide on three planning applications proposing apartment blocks on Thursday.One apartment block is located in Naxxar and is separate from the other two, which form part of a masterplan in an area in St Paul’s B...

PN Whip Robert Cutajar has written to the Chairman of the Parliamentary Economic and Financial Affairs Committee requesting that an urgent meeting be called to place a discussion about the FATF report greylisting Malta on the agenda.This came after P...

Moviment Graffitti is calling for an investigation into expropriations carried out by Infrastructure Malta after the roadworks agency was “again caught trespassing onto a farmer’s land in Żabbar without having reached any agreement w...

Just as the European Union was announcing plans to spend billions of euros to contain climate change, massive clouds gathered over Germany and nearby nations to unleash an unprecedented storm that left death and destruction in its wake.Despite ample ...

Far-right British commentator Katie Hopkins will be deported from Australia after she boasted on social media that she planned to breach the country's quarantine rules, an official said on Monday.Hopkins traveled to Australia to appear in a reality t...

A Maltese man was grievously injured in a fight with a Serbian man in St Paul’s Bay on Sunday afternoon, the police said.The fight took place at 2.20pm in Port Ruman Street.It involved a Maltese man aged 59 and a Serbian man aged 39, both resid...

During an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, PN MP Mario de Marco said that the party had not received any real feedback from the government on the idea of setting up a national task force to tackle Malta’s greylisting.This newsroo...

It will take at least 67 more years to close the average gender equality gap in traditional news media worldwide if everything stays the same, a global media monitoring project revealed.In 2015, the period remaining to achieve complete gender equalit...

Recently laid electricity and water services, together with skyrocketing land prices, have raised the spectre of development at rural Wardija. Over the past weeks, one of the rural lanes in Wied Safsafa has been dug up, water and electricity connecti...

The government has a lot to answer for after Malta was greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force, but the solution requires a national effort, PN spokesperson for Finance Mario de Marco said.The MP was answering a question about the Nationalist P...

Minister for the Elderly Michael Farrugia has tested positive to Covid-19.The minister announced the infection on his Facebook page.The minister said he will be in quarantine for the next two weeks.

195 new Covid-19 cases were registered on Sunday, as the number of active cases rose to 1,832.Just five people recovered from the virus.This means that the total number of cases reported in the country since the start of the pandemic now stands at 32...

With 81 per cent of the population fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Malta remains the top country per capita in this particular category, international media report.Nearly another six per cent have received the first dose, a report on Greek Reporte...

Sparkling wine, confetti, a midnight countdown: It’s not New Year’s Eve, but it might as well be for England’s clubbers. After 17 months of empty dance floors, the country’s nightclubs are reopening with a bang.From London to ...

As English language schools were forced to close last Wednesday and with most of them switching to online teaching, parents of children who are learning in Malta feel that they are being “scammed”, one parent told The Malta Independent. L...

It was a night to remember.For the winners, and the losers too.The Italians will remember it as the night when they won their second European championship, 53 years after their first.The English will remember it as the night when their dreams of winn...

Malta is planning repatriation flights for 250 Italians who are being held in quarantine after testing positive to Covid-19 or having been in touch with an infected person, Italian news agency Ansa reports.Apart from Italian nationals, a number of Ge...

Prime Minister Robert Abela said that the low number of Covid-19 cases in hospital confirms that the situation is under control.Speaking on ONE Radio on Sunday, Abela said that "although the pandemic remains a struggle, from what health experts are t...

Prime Minister Robert Abela needs to denounce Joseph Muscat's legacy for the honour and reputation of the country and for the dignity of the people, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said on Sunday.Speaking in a brief radio interview on NetFM, he was a...

Two South African soccer players have become the first athletes inside the Olympic Village to test positive for COVID-19, with the Tokyo Games opening on Friday.An official with the South African soccer team also tested positive, as did a fourth memb...

Thousands of Gozitan families have received their water conservation kit over the last seven weeks, as part of the national conservation campaign: 'Water - Be the Change', which was touring localities in Gozo.Through this campaign, more than 12,000 G...

Beppe Galea has been elected chairman of Europe's largest youth political organisation on Saturday.Galea won the European Democrat Students (EDS) post with 98% of the vote.This is the first time that a Maltese is occupying such a position. He will le...

A man was grievously injured in a motorcycle accident on Triq Valletta, Qormi at 1pm on Saturday.The 51-year-old man from St Paul's bay was involved in an accident with another vehicle.The man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital. Investigations are ongoi...

The past two weeks have been truly chaotic with regard to Covid-19 and travel, with the scenario changing so fast and often that it was hard, if not impossible to keep up.The rapid changes did not only leave us scratching our heads but also gave Malt...

Over 100,000 people protested across France on Saturday against the government’s latest measures to push people to get vaccinated and curb rising infections by the delta variant of the coronavirus.In Paris, separate protest marches by the far-r...

Rescue workers labored to deal with damage laid bare by receding water Saturday as the death toll from disastrous flooding in Western Europe rose above 160 and thoughts turned to the lengthy job of rebuilding communities devastated in minutes.The dea...

In 2020, the MFSA issued a Discussion Paper proposing a comprehensive, enforceable cross-sectoral Corporate Governance Code for listed entities and persons authorised by the Authority. The Authority put forward several proposals regarding the scope a...

The Labour government has buried the country in the same problems that it was facing 30 years ago, and the time has come for it to re-emerge with stronger foundations under a Nationalist administration, PN leader Bernard Grech said Satuday.Closing th...

Two hundred and six new Covid-19 cases were recorded on Saturday, with five patients who have recovered, health authorities said.The sharp rise in the number of active cases continues to reach 1,642, when just two weeks ago the number was only 23.In ...

The Health and Tourism Authorities are proceeding with technical arrangements for the verification of the United States CDC COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card.As from Monday 19th July 2021, Malta will recognise the United States CDC COVID-19 Vaccinatio...

A man was seriously injured in a traffic accident in Attard on Friday afternoon, the police said.The accident took place in Mdina Road at 4.30pm.It involved a Subaru Sambar driven by a 41-year-old man of Marsascala and a Seat Arona driven by a 28-yea...

Mark Anthony Sammut has been confirmed as president of the Nationalist Party general council.He was confirmed with 79% of the votes cast.The PN also elected its executive committee members:Paula Mifsud Bonnici – 845 votes Julie Zahra – 82...

European nations are scrambling to ramp up vaccination drives, using a carrot-and-stick approach to persuade the reluctant to get their shots as the more transmissible delta variant drives a surge in infections.Greece became the latest to enact new r...