VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The national information technology agency in Malta has blocked the social media application TikTok on all government electronic devices over concerns that the software may be used as a means of spying and surveillance by groups linked to China and suspicions that data will be leaked to the Chinese government.
The Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA) said that the dangers related to TikTok access and use may be data gathering, personal identifiable, possible software tampering by TikTok and possible manipulation of material designed to influence public opinion.
The European Council and the European Parliament has instructed that TikTok should be removed from work devices by 20 March. The European Commission is of the opinion that TikTok spied on journalists by utilising their IP addresses. TikTok is used by over 250 millions European citizens.
The European authorities filed a series of complaints contesting the use of TikTok.
Italy, Ireland, the Netherlands and Romania opened investigations that are costing the social media platform millions in fines.
Some other European countries, like Belgium and Finland have completely restricted TikTok, other countries are assessing the situation before making a final decision. The United Kingdom, Spain, Slovakia, Slovenia, Greece, Latvia, and Austria are all keeping an eye on the situation in neighbouring countries before making a decision. In Luxembourg, Bulgaria, and Poland TikTok is under investigation.

– photo Malta Information Technology Agency –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

ROME (ITALPRESS) – A prominent news agency has reported that according to “unspecified” sources the Global Combat Air Programme would progress with a non equal participation of the three member countries. This information is totally speculative. The UK-JPN-ITA activities on GCAP endeavour are well progressing getting pace in the Programme in accordance with the principles jointly recorded by the Memorandum Of Cooperation signed in last December.
The three Nations are steadily and swiftly working together on a partnership informed by the shared principle of equal partnership as stated by the three Prime Ministers with the joint Ministerial declaration of last December.

– photo Agenziafotogramma.it –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

TRIPOLI (LIBYA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Italian Embassy in Libya announced a new collaboration initiative with the Italian company Almaviva for the collection of visa applications in Libya. The company will operate from three Libyan cities – Tripoli, Benghazi and Misrata.
The Italian Embassy stated “an innovative appointment system will be soon available to secure unequivocal identification of users with facial recognition and advanced biometric security checks.”
Meanwhile, the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani confirmed that the Italian governement “is in talks with all parties in Libya, in an effort to achive stability in the country”. In a statement to SkyNews Arabia, Tajani said that “if the situation in Libya stabilises, this will reflect positively on the security of North Africa as a whole, and countries south of the Sahara”.
Tajanìs statements came a day after the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily announced his plan to advance the political process and pave the way for holding Presidential and legislative elections during 2023.

– photo Agenziafotogramma.it –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese Finance Minister Clyde Caruana confirmed that 351 Air Malta workers have received a payout after applying for an early retirement scheme or a voluntary redundancy scheme offered by the government.

The payouts range from €40,000 to €210,000 for workers who accepted voluntary redundancy, depending on their years of service. Workers aged 50 and over eligible for the early retirement scheme are expected to receive a maximum of €300,000, based on their take-home pay.

The Maltese national airline is undergoing a restructuring process, however Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela while confirming Malta will retain a national airline, did not categorically deny that the government has the plan to dissolve Air Malta and be replaced by a new airline.

The Maltese government is awaiting a decision from the European Commission on a proposed bailout of Air Malta. The EU has so far refused to sanction the demand by the Maltese government to inject €290 million into Air Malta.

– photo press office Air Malta –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

TBILISI (GEORGIA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The political tension in Georgia continued as anti-European protesters in Tbilisi lowered the flag of the European Union and burned it near the Parliament building.
The activists, belonging to the Conservative Movement, are requesting a referendum on the law related to “foreign agents” which the ruling Georgian Dream party had revoked in recent days after several pro-European demonstrations in the capital. The protests led to clashes with the police while dozens ended injured.
Yesterday the President of the European Council Charles Michel had met Georgian President Salomè Zourabichvili in Brussels
to discuss, among other things, the necessary reforms to advance Georgiàs membership bid
to the European Union.

– photo Agenziafotogramma.it –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta is calling on the European agency Frontex to fight the illegal trafficking of migrants from Northern African countries to Europe. Maltàs Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri declared In Parliament that Malta and other Mediterranean countries are expecting the EU border agency to fight against human trafficking.
“How many people have to die before we decide to take a stand against human trafficking? The keys to Europe cannot be in the hands of human traffickers”, Camilleri said. “I am fed up with the situation”.
He insisted that prevention can save lives. “Prevention prevents people from crossing illegally from Africa towards Europe”.
His remarks in Parliament came following another tragedy when around 30 migrants are presumed drowned after their overcrowded boat capsized during a rescue operation off the Libyan coast. “Prevention can save lives. If we had prevention policies in place, those people would not have died”, he said.
The latest tragedy occured in the Libyan search and rescue area. However, the Libyan authorities, responsible for search and rescue efforts in this area, reported “a lack of availability of boats” and asked the Italian authorties for help, which sent three other merchant ships to the area towards the boat of the migrants.
Minister Camilleri also declared that the Maltese government will only grant asylum status to those migrants who really deserve it and will enhance its commitment to work with third countries to ensure the return of individuals once the asylum status is rejected.

– photo Agenziafotogramma.it –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela is under fire following his remarks on the judiciary, with the Opposition and the Law Student’s Association accusing him of undermining the autonomy of the judiciary. Meanwhile a leading judge harshly criticised the government for failing to provide the necessary resources for the judiciary to function effectively and deliver justice within a reasonable time.

The Prime Minister’s remarks were made in a statement when he rejected the Opposition’s request for a public inquiry into the death of a 20-year-old man in a building collapse accident that happened on December, 4 and instead the Prime Minister urged the inquiring magistrate to conclude the process “without further delay”.

The Nationalist Opposition and the Law Students’ Association condemned the Prime Minister’s statement. The Opposition described the statement as “irresponsible, unjustifiable and solely to offload the political responsibility” for the death. The Law Students’ Association said the Prime Minister’s remarks weaken the autonomy of the Maltese judiciary and noted that while a criminal inquiries are aimed to conserve traces of a possible offense, a public inquiry is aimed at identifying potential administrative failures, and therefore not related and do not impact or prejudice one another.

The Association for the Judiciary and members of the judiciary have no right to reply and cannot comment on matters relating to issues that are still before the courts. However, a leading judge took the opportunity to make his voice heard when he was delivering a judgment over what he described as “shameful” the delay in a case instituted by a Maltese firm owed almost €100,000 by a bankrupt Italian catering company, International Catering SRL. The Maltese courts took five years to appoint the debtor’s appeal for hearing.

The leading judge also criticised the government for failing to provide the resources necessary for the judiciary to function effectively and deliver justice within a reasonable time. He added the number of sitting judges and magistrates remained much lower than that in any other European state and staff numbers were constantly dropping because of the meager salaries offered to those working in court.

Both the Opposition and the Law Students’ Association echoed the criticism with the Opposition insisting that the Prime Minister should instead have assured the judiciary that they would be given the human and financial resources necessary to carry out their work effectively and within a reasonable timeline.

Some magistrates are burdened with more than 160 inquiries, in addition to all the other cases assigned to them.

– photo Department of Information Malta –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta will take two asylum seekers who were saved from drowning and will undergo medical interventions at Malta’s general hospital.
The migrants were onboard a boat which was not in a good condition and in a very extremely dangerous weather conditions.
The migrants on board were yelling on their phones, telling the NGO Alarm Phone that they needed help and they will be brought on board of the cargo vessel ‘Froland’. The migrants were rescued by the merchant vessel and the pair were part of a larger group, some 30 of whom are still missing, feared dead.
The boat capsized whilst the asylum seekers were being rescued. A total of 17 migrants were saved. The merchant vessel will first stop in Malta to disembark the two individuals while the rest will be brought to Italy. The rescue operation was monitored by a Frontex aircarft and all merchant vessels in the area were alerted.
The NGO Alarm Phone confirmed that the migrants were in distress and first alerted the Italian authorities about an “urgent distress situation” of a boat northwest of Benghazi. At all times, the Maltese and Libyan authorities had been kept informed. The Italian authorities said that the rescue operation took place outside its search and rescue area, adding that the Libyan coastguard had been inactive.
-photo agenziafotogramma.it-
(ITALPRESS)

Source: medNews

NEW YORK (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to speak with the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the talks between Xi and Zelensky is likely to take place at the end of Xi’s visit to Moscow.
The Chinese President was unanimously re-elected last Friday for a third presidential term by the nearly three thousand delegates of the National People’s Congress, the legislative body of the Chinese parliament.
The initiative would form part of Beijing’s efforts to take on a more active role on the Ukrainian situation. On February 24, Beijing published a 12-point document proposing a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
-photo agenziafotogramma.it-
(ITALPRESS)

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – More anti-corruption protests are in the offing against the Labour government, as the Nationalist Opposition will be rallying protestors next Thursday to meet in front of the Parliament as the MPs debate an Opposition motion calling on the government to reclaim some €400 million in taxpayer money that was spent on the “corrupt and fraudulent” hospitals deal. The Leader of the Opposition Bernard Grech noted that a week had passed since he had asked Prime Minister Robert Abela to sue Vitals Global Healthcare and Steward Healthcare to reclaim the money back. During a Labour Party activity, Labour Prime Minister said the government will look into recovering the money given to the private operator as payment for the obligations which have not been honoured.
The Opposition declared that it would insist that the motion it had presented in parliament should be voted upon without amendment on Thursday, and it would back the government on action to recover the funds that had gone into the hospitals’ contract.
The Vitals-Steward hospitals scandal led the Labour Party to register the worst-ever public survey result since 2013, with the gap between the major two parties going down to 2%, or 8,500 votes. The Labour Party’s popularity has plummeted by 7.9% to 30.8%, while the Nationalist Party has seen a rise in trust by 5.6%, up to 28.4%. In February, the gap between the Labour and the Nationalist party stood at 56,400 votes. This means that the Labour party lost nearly eight percentage points, or 48,000 votes, within a month.
(ITALPRESS).
-Photo credit Doi Clifton Fenech-

Source: medNews