Agriculture Minister Anton Refalo was in no mood to reply to questions about his interrogation by police over the presence of a historical artefact inside his home on Monday.Refalo was asked a range of questions by journalists after it emerged last w...

A planning application proposing the restoration of parts of the iconic Balluta Buildings has been filed.The site enjoys Grade 1 protection.The Restoration Method Statement that was submitted to the Planning Authority as part of the application, stat...

Following the end of this year's spring hunting season, BirdLife Malta notes that it was once again a season 'riddled with illegalities', mainly the targeting of protected birds including the European Turtle-dove (Gamiema)."While Minister Clint Camil...

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights, Anton Refalo, together with Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Animal Rights, Alicia Bugeja Said, launched the AgriFair 2022 on Monday, a Fair that will see representatives fr...

Russian forces pushed forward Monday in their assault on Ukraine, seeking to capture the crucial southern port city of Mariupol as Moscow prepared to celebrate its national Victory Day holiday.Determined to show a success in a war now in its 11t...

April brought busier days for Malta's International Airport, as 513,979 passengers travelled through the terminal during the month, a statement issued by the airport read.This figure marks a recovery of 78.7% of pre-pandemic passenger numbers, which ...

On PL MEP Alfred Sant's initiative, the Socialist and Democratic (S&D) Group at the European Parliament put forward a plenary amendment calling on the European Commission to pay due attention to the impact of state aid decisions on the connectivi...

Parliament officially opened on Saturday, as MPs took their oaths and the Speaker of the House was re-elected.This legislature, Malta has the largest number of MPs in history - 79.There are a few things that this newsroom would like to see done diffe...

A comic book designed by WasteServ to help educate children on waste separation and how students can make a difference in protecting the environment has been drawn up.The comics tell the story of two characters - Commander Yellow and General Buzz - a...

TOKYO — Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says Japan will slowly phase out Russian oil imports in unity with the Group of Seven’s effort against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Leaders from the G-7 countries met online Sunday and announced ...

A man was killed in a fight in Marsalforn on Saturday evening, the police said.The victim is a Syrian man, aged 25, who was certified dead at Gozo General Hospital.The police said that a fight broke out in an apartment in Triq il-Wied, with several o...

A complex of tourist bungalows has been proposed as a replacement for two existing disused farms inside a Natura 2000 site in Marsaxlokk.Located in an area known as Il-Ballut, which contains sensitive saline marshlands, the application seeks to demol...

A protest in front of the Russian Embassy was held by the Ukrainian community in Malta on Sunday, denouncing the 'bloody and cruel' invasion of Ukraine.Sunday marked the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation for those who lost their lives during the ...

Nurses are an indispensable human resource in any hospital. It is safe to say that Malta has already had a taste of what such a nursing shortage could cause to its health department, as during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic nursing staff was stret...

A woman who was raped as a child has told The Malta Independent on Sunday that she wondered why she wasn’t getting paid for the abuse, like her mother, who worked as a prostitute. Yolanda Bonello spoke with this newsroom about the abuse she end...

119 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Sunday, as one more person has died with the virus.There are currently 2,825 active Covid-19 cases on the island.Since the start of the pandemic, Malta has had 92,848 cases of Covid-19, 88,918 of which have rec...

The compiling of the shadow Cabinet may not be as important as that of the list of ministers and parliamentary secretaries that make up the government but, nonetheless, it carries its own particular significance.Through it, the Opposition Leader dist...

Manchester City started celebrations to mark a decade since its first Premier League title by trying to prevent the sixth success being as tense or dramatic with a rout started and ended by Raheem Sterling.What had been a tight title race is now more...

Sandro Tonali celebrated his 22nd birthday by scoring two goals that took AC Milan a step closer to its first Serie A title in 11 years.Milan won 3-1 at Hellas Verona on Sunday thanks mainly to a goal in each half from Tonali after Davide Faraoni had...

His first day racing around the new Formula One circuit in Miami was absolutely horrible. Then he made a mistake in qualifying that cost him a spot on the front row.By the time race day rolled around, Max Verstappen had knocked it all out of his syst...

KYIV, Ukraine — The Ukrainian army said Sunday that Moscow was focusing its main efforts that day on destroying airfield infrastructure in eastern and southern Ukraine, in order to prevent Ukrainian air forces from operating effectively.At leas...

Dozens of Ukrainians were feared dead Sunday after a Russian bomb destroyed a school sheltering about 90 people in the basement as Moscow's invading forces kept up their barrage of cities, towns and villages in eastern and southern Ukraine.The govern...

Davina Sammut Hili, a former mayor of Floriana, was one of the six women candidates who were elected to Parliament thanks to the gender-corrective mechanism.Here she tells us about her favourite pastimes, the food she likes and what she will take wit...

Russian forces kept up their barrage of southern Ukraine, hitting the major Black Sea port of Odesa with cruise missiles and bombarding the steelworks up the coast in Mariupol, where Ukrainian fighters remained trapped underground after the last civi...

French President Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated for a second term on Saturday, vowing to take action to avoid any further escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine and promising he would promote France and Europe on the world stage.Macro...

President George Vella said Saturday that the government’s emphasis over the next five years will be the environment.Addressing MPs during a ceremony marking the start of the legislature, Vella highlighted the aims of the government for the nex...

The 14th legislature since Independence opened today with a ceremony that was held at the House of Representatives in Valletta.Mass was said at St John's Co-Cathedral, following which all 79 Members of Parliament walked up Republic Street to the Parl...

Archbishop Charles Jude Scicluna said Saturday that Malta and its people need to work towards overcoming the tribal mentality of “you and us, them and us.”Scicluna was delivering his homily during a ceremonial Mass of the Holy Spirit at S...

9am to 12pm & 4 to 7pmValletta: Collis Williams Pharmacy, 15, Republic Street; Ħamrun: St Gaetan Pharmacy, Kappillan Mifsud Street; Qormi: Tal-Ħlas Pharmacy, 60, Tumas Fenech Street c/w Mdina Road; Birkirkara: Herba Pharmacy, 166, Salvu...

Health authorities today reported 132 new Covid-19 cases, while there were no deaths.The total number of victims remains 708.In all, 92,729 cases have been registered in Malta, with 88,728 people who recovered.The number of active cases has dropped t...

Singer Dr Lynn has launched a new song dedicated to all mothers.She has written it with her mother Carmen Chircop in mind on the occasion of Mothers’ Day, celebrated today.In her message on Youtube, Dr Lynn also mentioned her mother-in-law Eliz...

ADPD – The Green Party Chairperson said the new Parliament is a reflection of a legally rigged system that is meant to favour the PLPN. The electoral mechanisms that ADPD has insisted upon throughout the election campaign as being discriminator...

Michelle Muscat has been elected as new president of the Association of Catering Establishments.Muscat is a leading entrepreneur in the catering industry, ACE said in a statement.Matthew Pace is the new vice-president, Omar Vella is the new honorary ...

Ħamrun Spartans will play European football next season after winning a direct clash against Birkirkara by a solitary goal scored by Franklin Sasere in the first part of the match.This match was considered as a decider for a place in next season...

Frustration but no moaning from Jürgen Klopp, even after a title setback for Liverpool.Klopp's side being held 1-1 by tactically disciplined and defensively robust Tottenham on Saturday handed Manchester City an even greater initiative in the Pr...

Napoli won at Torino 1-0 despite missing a penalty and consolidated third place in Serie A on Saturday.Fabián Ruiz scored in the second half after Lorenzo Insigne had another spot kick saved.Napoli moved four points above fourth-placed Juventu...

Ferrari stormed to the front of the grid for the inaugural Miami Grand Prix as Formula One championship leader Charles Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz Jr. locked up the front row in Saturday qualifying.It's the first time Ferrari will lead the fiel...

Efforts to evacuate more civilians from the tunnels beneath a sprawling steel mill were to go on Saturday as Ukrainian fighters make their last stand in Mariupol to prevent Moscow's complete takeover of the strategically important port city.Dozens of...

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday authorized the shipment of another $150 million in military assistance for Ukraine for artillery rounds and radar systems in its fight against Russia’s invading forces.Biden said the latest spend...

Malta will from Monday scrap its red and dark red travel lists, Health Minister Chris Fearne announced on Friday.Speaking in a comment to state broadcaster TVM, Fearne said that as from Monday travellers coming from any country will no longer require...

Transport Malta announced that the financial initiative for the purchase of new or used Plug-in Hybrid vehicles has been fully taken up. For this reason, the scheme will be available only for cars ordered by 31 May 2022, the agency said in a sta...

Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri has revealed the government’s plans for an extension to the Xewkija helipad with a 450m runway for small aircraft. Speaking in a press conference, Camilleri said that a public consultation regarding the plans for t...

Former economy minister Chris Cardona appeared in court on Friday morning in a case filed by the heirs of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The family is requesting damages suffered as a result of Cardona’s now infamous...

Investigators found traces of murder victim Mario Farrugia’s blood smeared on the wall of Eliot Paul Busuttil’s bedroom, a court has been told as the compilation of evidence against Busuttil began before magistrate Astrid May Grima on Thu...

A lot has been said of many Maltese being experts at fattening their pockets.  But the fact is that, besides that, we continue to be experts when it comes to fattening up our own figure.That’s shown by the World Health Organisation, with t...

Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Friday that Opposition Leader Bernard Grech has refused to reach compromises over the appointment of important roles in the institution, such as the Parliament Speaker, the Ombudsman, and the Standards Commissioner...

70% of citizens are satisfied with the way public service in Malta is given, outgoing chief Mario Cutajar said on Friday.Speaking at a conference for Public Service Week 2022, titled “Investing in Quality,” Cutajar said that the public se...

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to address the Maltese Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.The announcement was made by Speaker Anglu Farrugia on TVM on Friday morning.Zelenskyy is expected to address MPs via video conference. Farrugi...

122 new cases of Covid-19 were reported by health authorities on Friday, while no new deaths were reported.285 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus, meaning that the number of active cases currently stands at 2,995.1,569 swab tests were car...

A man was grievously injured on Friday morning in a fight in Siggiewi, the police said.The incident involved a man aged 59 of Tarxien, and two others aged 34 and 43, both of Siggiewi.The man from Tarxien suffered grievous injuries in the fight, and w...

The Church in Malta collected €358,366 for the benefit of the people in Ukraine, a Caritas Malta statement read."This is one of the initiatives the Church in Malta took to help the Ukrainian people. This fund raising campaign was led by Caritas ...

Principal Permanent Secretary for Public Service Mario Cutajar announced FRiday that he will be retiring.Speaking at a conference for Public Service Week 2022 in Ta’ Qali, Cutajar announced his retirement after 46 years as a public officer. Cut...

Lautaro Martínez may have saved Inter Milan’s title challenge.Martinez scored twice to help the defending champion recover from two goals down to beat Empoli 4-2 and move to the top of Serie A on Friday — for 48 hours at least.Inte...

Sta Lucia were relegated to the Challenge League after losing to Valletta by the odd goal in three. It was a match that the Saints had to win in order to keep up their hopes alive. Instead they left the pitch empty handed and Balzan are now safe foll...

A pillion rider was critically injured after the bike she was riding on was involved in a collision in Mosta on Thursday evening.The accident took place in Independence Avenue at 11.30pm.It involved a BMW 120D driven by a 28-year-old woman of Gzira, ...

Life expectancy at birth in Malta stood at 82.9 years in 2021, Eurostat figures show.The statistical office of the European Union said that this figure shows a return to the same expectancy that Malta had in 2019, after it had dipped to 82.3 years in...

In January 2022, 110 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applied for international protection in Malta, Eurostat data shows.In the EU in total, there were 52,865 first-time asylum applicants (non-EU citizens) applying for international pro...

Pensioners received two increases to make up for a rise in the cost of living, Minister for Social Justice and Solidarity, the Family and Children's Rights Michael Falzon said Friday.He was giving a reaction to a cost-of-living survey carried out by ...

The Labour Party has always believed in the importance of having a social security department, Social Policy Minister Michael Falzon said on Friday, on the occasion of the department’s 66th anniversary.He added that this department has always m...

Ukrainian fighters in the tunnels underneath Mariupol’s pulverized steel plant held out against Russian troops Thursday in an increasingly desperate and perhaps doomed effort to deny Moscow what would be its biggest success of the war yet: the ...

It seems that the Nationalist Party’s wounds will never be allowed to heal. Not only has the party suffered another trashing at the polls, but now, one of its former top MPs has declared open war against its leader, Bernard Grech. And it seems,...

Former PN MP David Thake has withdrawn a libel suit he had filed against the Labour media station over a story on unpaid VAT.One News reported that Thake has reached an agreement with the tax department to repay the €270,000 bill owed by his com...

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon says the majority of Russian forces that had been around the port city of Mariupol have left and headed north, leaving roughly the equivalent of two battalion tactical groups there, or about 2,000 troops.Pentagon spoke...

Minister for Transport Aaron Farrugia defended the decision of issuing over €430,000 in direct orders related to the Malta Metro, saying that the government simply makes decisions according to the situation.The Malta Independent reported on Tues...

Five Covid-19 patients have died while positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, while health authorities reported 167 new cases of the virus on Thursday.287 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus, meaning that the number of active cases c...

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 15 million people were killed either by coronavirus or by its impact on overwhelmed health systems during the first two years of the pandemic, more than double the current official death toll of ove...

Former Nationalist Party secretary general Louis Galea denied allegations that he had advised current leader Bernard Grech to reject the nomination of Anglu Farrugia as Speaker and to leave out from the shadow Cabinet MPs who formed part of the Gonzi...

Minister for Transport Aaron Farrugia announced a record 500% growth in the aviation register over the past decade, with 665 aircraft currently registered in Malta. Speaking at a press conference in Lija, Farrugia said that despite the impact of the ...

A biker has died after losing control of the motorbike he was riding on the Coast Road on Thursday morning, the police said.The biker, a 35-year-old French man who resides in Sliema, lost control of the Honda CB 600 he was riding and crashed into a c...

The Bank of Valletta group has registered a €22.0 million for the first quarter of 2022, up by €12.7 million from the same period in 2021. This improvement reflects the ongoing but as yet incomplete recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, furt...

Floriana and Gudja cross swords in the last match of their campaign. A match which both sides had nothing to play for. Floriana certain of second placing and European football come next season and Gudja holding on to sixth place in the Top Six and th...

Eintracht Frankfurt reached its first European final in 42 years by knocking West Ham out of the Europa League on Thursday, setting up a title game against Scottish club Rangers.Frankfurt beat 10-man West Ham 1-0 at home to complete a 3-1 aggregate v...

Pope Francis has arrived at an audience in a wheelchair as his knee pain continues to limit his mobility.Francis was wheeled into the meeting Thursday with nuns and religious superiors from around the world who are meeting in Rome. It was the first t...

A senior nurse is unfairly facing criminal charges over what is nothing short than a failure of the health system.Joseph Pace is expected to be arraigned in July on charges of criminal misconduct, in a case going back to 2017. At the time, a patient ...

MADRID — Spanish authorities have arrested a Ukrainian politician-blogger accused of treason in his home country.An official with the Spanish national police confirmed that Anatoly Shariy had been detained Wednesday in Tarragona under an intern...

As part of Public Service Week 2022, themed 'Investing in Quality', five new projects were launched to continue to change and improve the way the Public Service works, the government said.The projects are the Digital Transformation Hub, the Central R...

A man was arrested by police a mere 90 minutes after he allegedly robbed a shop in Floriana on Wednesday.Police said in a statement on Thursday that they were alerted to a theft from a shop in Triq San Tumas in Floriana at around 1:30pm on Wednesday....

Following the Annual General Meeting of the Malta Chamber of SMEs, held last week, today the first council meeting took place, during which Paul Abela was elected and confirmed as president.Abela thanked the SME Chamber members and the executive coun...

The National Book Council is pleased to publish the list of titles that were submitted to participate in the adjudication of the National Book Prize and Terramaxka Prize 2022, for books published in 2021. The National Book Prize is the highest litera...

Russia moved to obstruct the flow of Western weapons to Ukraine by bombarding rail stations and other supply-line targets across the country while the European Union weighed whether to further punish Moscow with a ban on oil imports.Heavy fighti...

VisitMalta will become the official destination partner of EOLO-Kometa Cycling Team. This agreement will see VisitMalta branding present on all race kits and team vehicles during one of the most high profile sporting events of the cycling world, the ...

A husband and a wife died within two days of each other after being married for 62 years, Italian media report.Rosalia Fascella, 94, died in her own bed on 28 April, and her husband Giuseppe, 99, who was already fragile from a health point of view, r...

The debacle surrounding former PN MP Jason Azzopardi has been declared as “closed” by Bernard Grech; but the PN leader has said that he would not ignore what the former MP has to say in the future, despite his resignation from the party.G...

The Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses (MUMN) insisted that the charges against a Mount Carmel Hospital (MCH) nurse over unprofessional conduct in 2017 and MCH manager Joseph Pace, must be revised and dropped immediately. “The union will n...

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Bank of Valletta p.l.c.'s (BOV) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to 'BBB-' from 'BBB' and Viability Rating (VR) to 'bbb-' from 'bbb', and removed them from Under Criteria Observation (UCO). The Outlook on the Long-Te...

A Europol digital forensics expert has handed a court his report on over 20 devices, together with the devices themselves, all of which had been seized as part of the police investigation into Jamie Vella and George Degiorgio as well as the ta&r...

Audio recordings of a domestic incident on Easter Sunday in which a man threatened to shoot his partner’s three children and himself have been played in court.Magistrate Caroline Farrugia Frendo continued to hear evidence as the compilation of ...

One Covid-19 patient has died while positive for the virus in the last 24 hours, while health authorities reported 158 new cases of the virus on Wednesday. 202 people meanwhile have recovered from the virus, meaning that the number of active cases cu...

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat today defended Malta’s hedging agreement, saying that Malta saved around €125 million.Muscat said that if one compares what the country paid in the five years of the hedging agreement, with what wou...

Bank of Valletta has announced that it has settled a massive €363 million claim by bondholders of a defunct Italian shipping company for €182.5 million without admitting any liability on its part.The news comes while the bank was appealing ...

The “Si se puede! (Yes we can!)” chants gradually faded at the Santiago Bernabéu as the minutes passed and Real Madrid looked beaten.As the end of regulation approached, many in the stands — and on the field — were clos...

Yorgen Fenech’s considerable assets in several countries, his access to cryptocurrencies and his influential contacts abroad were just a few of the reasons given by a judge in her decision, earlier this week, to dismiss a claimed breach of huma...

A 32-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a drug trafficking and importation operation.The man, who lives in Marsaxlokk, was allegedly importing drugs from Sicily.He was arrested on Monday evening after the police followed the movements ...

The World Health Organization says the rates of people who are obese and overweight in Europe have hit “epidemic proportions," with nearly 60% of adults and a third of children in one of those categories.In a report issued Tuesday, th...

The Nationalist Party said it will not back the re-appointment of Anglu Farrugia as Speaker of the House of Representatives.In a statement issued late Tuesday, the PN parliamentary group invited the Prime Minister to hold a discussion with the opposi...

The high cost of living that is affecting so many families needs to be addressed, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said.Speaking during a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce, Grech said that the country needs to strengthen its economic sectors and cr...

A woman was grievously injured in Ta’ Xbiex early Wednesday morning in a stabbing incident.The police said the attack took place in Testaferrata Street at 12.30am.The woman, aged 47, from Birkirkara, was involved in an argument with another wom...

The European Union's top official on Wednesday called on the 27-nation bloc to ban oil imports from Russia in a sixth package of sanctions targeting Moscow for its war in Ukraine.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also proposed t...

The State opening of Parliament will take place on Saturday, a full six weeks after the election was held on 26 March.That day, the Labour Party obtained a record victory, the third in a row, and will be governing the country for the next five years....