LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Maltàs Prime Minister Robert Abela and President George Vella have joined international leaders in expressing grief at Queen Elizabeth II’s death.
In a tweet, Robert Abela expressed his condolences to the Royal Family and recalled the special connection the Queen had with Malta. “Malta joins the rest of the world in mourning the death of HM The Queen Elizabeth II. As monarch and Head of the Commonwealth, she was loved by all.” He also reminded the brief period the Queen had spent living in Malta. “We will always remember her fondly, especially living here as a young princess,” Abela said.
The President of Malta George Vella tweeted: “On behalf of the government and people of Malta I salute the memory of Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty leaves a strong legacy within the Commonwealth. We will all cherish her special bond with Malta.”
Malta and Gozo were memorable by Queen Elizabeth and she always considered the time spent between 1949 and 1951 as among the happiest years of her life where she could live a relatively a normal life. Of the 100 countries she visited during her reign, she said publicly that Malta was one of her favourite countries.
Throughout her reign, Elizabeth visited Malta and Gozo several times in 1954, 1967, 1992, 2005 and 2007 when together with Prince Philip, the couple also celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in Malta. The Queen’s last visit overseas was in Malta when in November 2015 as the Head of the Commonwealth countries, when the CHOGM was held in Malta. She wanted the last country she visited to be a country which held a special place in her heart.
She is also the only Queen of Malta, having served as Maltàs head of state between its independence in 1964 and the adoption of a republican constitution in 1974.

foto: credit DOI

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Gay men in Malta will no longer find the doors closed to them when they seek to donate blood. The policy change came after the acquisition of advanced blood testing equipment. This development was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health Chris Fearne. Thus, Malta has lifted the restrictions on sexually-active gay men which were in force since the 1980s in the midst of the AIDS epidemic. Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela declared that these new and fairer protocols will eliminate discrimination against LGBTIQ+ persons. The Malta Gay Rights Movement (MGRM) said that the government’s decision is as another step forward and toward full equality while urged gay men to donate blood. The change in policy was announced as Malta is celebrating the Pride Week. This means that as from today anyone who has had the same sexual partner for more than 4 months can donate blood, irrespective of their gender or that of their partner. The National Blood Transfusion Service had enforced a lifetime ban on blood donations from men who had ever had sex with other men. Subsequently, a one-year deferral period was introduced: blood donations could be made by those who had not been sexually active for at least 12 months. Minister Fearne explained that the new equipment will analyse the blood thoroughly.
(ITALPRESS).

– credit photo agenziafotogramma.it –

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Armed Forces of Malta are being accused by the international NGO Alarm Phone for turning a blind eye and letting a group of around 80 migrants on board in serious difficulties in Maltàs search and rescue area.
Alarm Phone confirmed that two merchants ship; the Nordic Hamburg vessel ‘Brucè and another vessel ‘Sibì registered in Pakistan waited on site indicated to them by the Maltàs Rescue Coordination Centre but subsequently continued with their respective voyage without providing assistance following orders received by the Armed Forces of Malta.
Alarm Phone added that the migrants in distress informed the NGO that they could see two big ships, but none offered any assistance.
“Before we lost contact 6h ago, they also said that they probably couldn’t make it through the night,” the NGO added ominously on Thursday morning. “We are extremely worried and wonder if the Armed Forces of Malta just let a tragedy unfold before their eyes,” Alarm Phone asked in a Tweet. “Why tell ships to divert course and merely stand-by watching while people are suffering?”

Foto: agenziafotogramma.it

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Libyan Prime Minister of the Tripoli-based government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah met Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela in Valletta late this afternoon.
Following an official meeting between the two leaders, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela reiterated Maltàs commitment and support to the Libyan nation. “The past days in Libya have been difficult. The peace and stability in the past two years was something we were happy to see.” Abela added “Malta will remain friends with the people of Libya and we will also continue to push for proactive involvement in the European Union.”
Dbeibah arrived in Malta on Wednesday afternoon for a two-day visit following Saturday’s deadly clashes that took place in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
Without refering to any third countries, Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela declared that Libyàs future should be determined by the citizens and leaders of the country and not by any external influences.
The Libyan Prime Minister said he is confident that Malta will help Libya through the tougher times. He specifically pointed out that Libya has to stop the few individuals who want to take advantage of the instability and added that the Libyan people look forward to the next elections in order to guarantee peace not only in Libya, but also in the whole region including Europe.
Abdul Hamid Dbeibah is accompanied by the Governor of the Central Bank of Tripoli.
According to local reports, although there was no fixed agenda, both leaders discussed the issue related to Libyan money held in Malta. The first case is about a considerable amount of money held at the Satabank which is being liquidated and all the funds are held at the Central Bank of Malta. Also, in 2019 the Maltese Customs siezed two containers packed with $1.1 billion in a parallel Libyan currency, printed in Russia. To date, this amount of money was not released. Last June, a Maltese court ordered Bank of Valletta to return over 90 million linked to the heirs of former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. However the case is still subject of an appeal before the Maltese courts.
Dbeibah’s last visit to Malta was in September of last year.
The fighting in Libyàs capital, Tripoli, on Saturday was the worst in two years. At least 23 people were killed and dozens more were wounded during the clashes. Following the deadly clashes, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah stressed the need for elections and called on all Libyan parties to forget the conflicts of the past, stressing that the solution lies in elections.
Libya failed to hold elections for a president and parliament on 24 December 2021 partly due to rows over the eligibility of three controversial candidates, but also a wider fear that armed militia across the country would not accept the result if their candidate lost.
(ITALPRESS).
– photo Department of Information (DOI) –

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – A marine survey for the second interconnector between Malta and Sicily is being carried out by the Italian company Fugro S.p.A., as a 60 metre long vessel ‘Urbano Montì has set sail from the port of Valletta. The vessel is analyzing 600 metre corridors in the proposed route which extends about 100 kilometres from Bahar Ic-Caghaq to Marina di Ragusa. The maximum depth that will be reached is 160 meters.
This study is considered crucial for the construction of the best and safest route for the second interconnector on the seabed. It will also provide the necessary information on how the interconnector will be installed with the best protection systems. Interconnect Malta designed the preliminary route to avoid areas of ecological importance as well as bunkering, aquaculture, tourist, fishing and trawling areas as well as other restricted areas. This route also ensured that this cable would be as far as possible from the first interconnector. This interconnector has been used since 2015 as the first undersea electricity cable between the two countries. The survey works close to the shore in Sicily started last week using a smaller vessel, while the survey works in Ba?ar ic-Cag?aq will start shortly, the offshore survey will continue until mid-October. The contractor will then be able to analyze the data and complete the necessary reports. Interconnect Malta has recently issued other public calls for tenders, which include the front-end engineering design for this project and for the environmental impact assessments. These are necessary to obtain the development permits from the Maltese and Italian authorties. The second interconnector will increase the security of supply for today’s and future energy demand and will also provide the necessary capacity reserve to deal with intermittency in energy production with renewable sources. As a result, it will help Malta reach the country’s environmental goals to curb climate change.

– credit photo agenziafotogramma.it –

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – A Sicilian who works in the construction industry admitted before a Maltese court that he stole tools belonging to his employer after he was not paid for his work. G.A. 32 years old from Catania was accused of theft, breaching the public order and assaulting his employer.
On August 20, the police at the Qawra police station received a report on an argument in the vicinity of Bugibba. At the scene, the police found that community police officers had already detained the Sicilian, who was then taken to the police station for further investigations.
C.L. who used to employ G.A., told the police that the accused had stolen around 1.500 euro in construction tools from a building site. However, some of the items were later returned.
The accused was detained as he was about to return to Sicily. G.A. pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to one year in prison suspended for three years and ordered him to pay the remaining 1.200 euro to C.L within three months.
credit photo agenziafotogramma.it
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta together with France has registered the lowest annual inflation rate when compared to the rest of the European countries. This was confirmed by the European agency – Eurostat when comparing July 2022 with the same month of last year.
While the average rate of inflation in the European Union states reached 9.8%, Malta has reached its record of 6.8% annual inflation.
The Baltic countries reached the highest rate of inflation – Estonia once again reached the highest annual rate, this time at 23.2 per cent, followed by Latvia, at 21.3 per cent, and Lithuania, at 20.9 per cent.
The largest contributors to annual inflation in Malta were food and non-alcoholic beverages, at 11.8 per cent, followed by housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, at 9.2 per cent.
On the other hand, the lowest annual inflation rates were registered in alcoholic beverages and tobacco (1.4 per cent) and communication (1.4 per cent). Italy reached the rate of 8.4%.
In July, the highest contribution to the annual euro zone inflation rate came from energy (+4.02 percentage points), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (+2.08pp), services (+1.60pp) and non-energy industrial goods (+1.16pp).
(ITALPRESS).
– photo agenziafotogramma.it-

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The first doses of a vaccine against monkeypox have arrived, health minister Chris Fearne announced on Twitter.
The vaccine doses are part of the EU Joint Procurement Mechanism, and will be offered to primary contacts of confirmed cases free of charge.
To data, Malta has had 30 confirmed monkeypox cases according to data available online.
Those infected with monkeypox are being asked to isolate at home, and that so far, none have been serious enough to warrant hospitalisation. On 28 May, the Public Health Authorities announced that the first case of virus had been detected in Malta. Confirmed positive cases for monkeypox need to remain in isolation for 21 days from the completion of the swab test.
Over 27,000 monkeypox cases have been confirmed worldwide. The cases have been detected largely among men who have sex with men.
The World Health Organisation have said that supplies of the Bavarian Nordic shot, the only vaccine authorised to prevent monkeypox and a key part of the global public health response, are scarce.
(ITALPRESS).
-photo agenziafotogramma.it-

Source: medNews

LA VALLLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Meteorological Office in Malta confirmed that the sea surface temperature in July was almost 3 degrees celcius higher than the usual temperatures recorded during the same month in previous years. This is the first year that the sea surrounding Malta reached 30 degrees by the end of July, and marine biologists are very concerned that this will have a negative impact on the marine eco system.
Statistics published by the Meteorological Office, the sea surface temperature for July was 2.7 degrees celcius warmer than normal levels and even warmen by 1.2 degrees celcius when compared to the sea surface tempreture recorded during the month of August in previous years. Higher sea surface temperature is predicted for the month of August, as the Meteorological Office in Malta confirmed that this month the temperature has already reached 28 degrees celcius, and in some cases 29 degrees celcius to the south of Malta and closer to the Libyan sea. As the sea surrounding Malta is getting warmer, marine biologists ar the University of Malta confirmed that last month was recorded the first marine heatwave posing a threat to the entire marine eco-system. As a result some alien species such as the lionfish and the nomadic jellyfish had reached the Maltese waters and could start leaving a negative impact on the local marine system.
(ITALPRESS).
-photo credits agenziafotogramma.it-

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta is registering the lowest rate of COVID-19 infections since last March, with a 5.9% positivity rate which is also the lowest in Europe. This was confirmed by the European Centre for Disease Prevntion and Control. The positive cases started decreasing in July following a dramatic increase in positive cases from March up to June. According to the local health authorties, 524 patients are still recovering from COVID-19. According the European Centre for Disease Prevntion and Control, it was also noted a decrease in the number of patients admitted for treatment at Mater Dei hospital, with 4 patients for every 100,000 people. This is considered as one of the lowest rate in Europe. The Maltese health authorities are carrying over 500 tests every day, and each patient admitted in all hospitals in Malta is being screened for COVID-19. However, Malta is registering the second highest death rate in Europe following Greece. The number of death patients due to COVID-19 started increasing as from last June. Howvwer, for the last four days, no new deaths were registered. The number of victims stood at 797.
(ITALPRESS).
– photo credits agenziafotogramma.it-

Source: medNews