Malta News Roundup

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Malta News ROUNDUP

The police interrogated former Economy Minister Chris Cardona, following claims that he had met an alleged triggerman in the Caruana Galizia assassination. Cardona confirmed the interrogation but said he was not cautioned.

Enforcement officers descended on the site of an underground party after videos by attendees showed a large crowd in breach of Covid-rules. The partygoers quickly dispersed but the person behind the event was identified and will face charges.

The Commissioner for Standards in Public Life raised concerns over the detainment of journalists at Castille by government officials in November 2019, accusing former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat of breach of the ethics code for the fourth time.

Seven in ten companies in Malta believe it will take them a year or more to recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic. The survey was conducted by the Malta Employers Association and analysed responses by 200 members.

Models suggest that Malta could reach herd immunity by October if vaccination continues at the current rate of around 2,000 every day. For the country to reach the 70 percent immunisation target by the end of summer, vaccination would need to ramp up to more than 2,500 jabs daily.

The government announced new restrictions on restaurants and nonessential shops to curb the spread of Covid-19. Schools will be closed until The second week of April and gatherings in public are limited to four persons.

The compilation of evidence against brothers Robert and Adrian Agius and their collaborator Jamie Vella started with the testimony of self-confessed hitman Vincent Muscat. The three men are linked to the murders of Carmel Chircop in 2015 and Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017.

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Malta registered 510 new Covid-19 infections on March 10, the highest number in a single day since the start of the pandemic. Authorities said that the virus variant first discovered in the UK is now responsible for 60 percent of all local cases.

Survey findings by Malta Today show that eight people in every ten in Malta identify the coronavirus pandemic as their major worry, almost double the rate in December. Corruption was the second most mentioned concern by respondents.

The government has informed the European Commission that it will open the trapping season for seven protected songbirds this spring. A spokesperson explained the decision as part of a scientific study on migratory patterns.

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‘Children’s rights should be safeguarded during the pandemic’

Children’s rights should be safeguarded during the pandemic, Member of the European Parliament Josianne Cutajar said.

She said access to education should remain a priority, despite students moving to online schooling. Cutajar also said that children in vulnerable situations have been affected greatly.

“There’s also poverty among children,” Cutajar said, adding that there are other aspects of children’s health which need to continue to be safeguarded. These include online abuse and digital literacy.

She said it is essential that we see children recover from the psychological effects that the pandemic has left on them in a concrete way.

The European Parliamentary group Renew said that children’s interests should always be first priority in the European Union’s policies. 100 million children currently live in the European Union. This means that one in five people living in the EU are children.

The quality of life of these children is at risk because of this pandemic. The political party group said that there could be a disproportionate and devastating impact on children, especially those who live in vulnerable and precarious situations or in poverty. Because of the pandemic, many children are facing violence or abuse. Their physical or emotional health is going backwards.