LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese authorities are under continuos pressure after failing to take action to save two groups of migrants who are currently in distress in Maltàs search and resue zone. The first group of 40 migrants is reported to be in severe distress in Maltàs SAR region after they fled from Libya. The NGO Alarm Phone said that the migrants are extremely exhausted, and they don’t have neither water nor food.
The second group of 45 migrants has been lost at sea for several days in the Maltese SAR zone. The migrants fled from Egypt and were reported to be in difficulties in south of Crete. The NGO Alarm Phone confirmed that the Maltese and Greek authorities were alerted “but while Malta did not confirm if a resue operation was underway, the Greek authrities denied any responsability and requested the NGO to ask for the Maltese authorities to intervene. Alarm Phone asked the Armed Forces of Malta “to fulfil its duty” and “to stop playing with peoplès lives”.
(ITALPRESS).
-credit photo agenziafotogramma.it-

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Three Maltese football clubs – Hibernians, Hamrun Spartans and Gzira United qualified for the third round of the UEFA Europa Conference League for the first time in local football history. This has never happened before, as Malta has never had one football club that has reached this stage in a European competition.
The Maltese champions Hibernians registered a great success who won with an aggregate of 4-3 against FCI Levadia of Estonia. Hibernians are managed by the Italian Andrea Pisanu who took over the management of the club from the Italian Stefano Sanderra who has just signed an agreement to join S.S. Lazio Primavera in Italy.
The dream of Hamrun Spartans continued with a 1-0 victory, which sealed another step for the Hamrun club with an aggregate of 2-0 over Velez Mostar of Bosnia.
With an impressive performance, Gzira United achieved an important qualification when they defeated Radnicki Nis of Serbia with penalties. Gzira United were always at a disadvantage but forced the penalties to win 3-1.
Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela said that the success registered by the three football teams would inspire local sprots to achieve more positive results. Supporters of the three teams gathered in their respective localities celebrating the success registered by their football team.
The three Maltese clubs have an important challenge, with Hibernians facing RFS of Latvia, Gzira United meeting against Wolfsberger AC of Austria while Hamrun Spartans will face Levski Sofia of Bulgaria.
– photo Conference League Uefa –
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Debris from an out-of-control massive Chinese rocket are expected to fall on Earth on Saturday and may affect several European countries. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has warned seven European states to be on alert as debris caused by the 25 tonne rocket will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere between next Saturday and Sunday.

Malta, Italy, France, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Bulgaria have been instructed to put into effect restrictions for a 200km wide area. The debris will fall on Earth in an uncontrolled re-entry and according to space experts, a detailed prediction could be available only a few hours before the impact. However, the probability of it landing in any populated area is extremely low although there is still a possibility for pieces of the rocket to come down over a populated area as happened in May 2020 when properties in Ivory Coast were damaged.
The rocket – a 53 metre long March CZ-5B took off from Hainan Island in China last Sunday and delivered a new module to Tiangong station, Chinàs space station.
NASA called the Chinese Space Agency to design its rockets to disintehrate into smaller pieces upon re-entry, as it is the international norm.

foto: agenziafotogramma.it

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta will be exempted from a European Commission’s regulation that will introduce obligatory reductions of 15% for the use of gas by EU member states to secure the supply emergencies.
The European Commission is urging the EU states to save gas for the winter months following Russian’s decision to reduce supplies and due to the possibility that Russia will cut off the supply to EU countries as a meas of retaliation over the sanctions imposed on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Energy Minister Miriam Dalli argued that Malta is disconnected from the European gas network, and such mandatory reduction would be detrimental for households and businesses. “We stand united together with the rest of the European Union in sending a strong signal of solidarity and cooperation to safeguard our citizens and ensure security of supply. Even though Malta is exempt from a mandatory reduction of 15% in reducing its gas use, we will continue working hard to increase our share of renewables and incentives for businesses and households, to promote a switch to energy efficient operations and renewable energy models”, Dalli said.
Malta is not connected to the European gas network and its use of LNG is exclusively restricted for electricity generation. Malta partially relies on Italy to meet its electricity demand due to the interconnector cable that runs between Malta and Sicily.
– photo Department of Information (DOI) –
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Seven cancer patients will leave Malta for Rome tomorrow so that they can be given radiotherapy. Radiotherapy treatment for cancer patients at the Sir Anthony Mamo Oncology Centre has been cancelled due to a technical fault with the equipment. Another group of patients will leave Malta to Rome on Thursday. The patients affected will all be contacted and categorized according to the urgency of the case. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health confirmed that the Maltese Government will be paying the costs of the patient and of one person who can accompany the patient.
The Ministry of Health explained in a statement that the fault was in the linear accelerators and that an internal inquiry board has already been set up to establish what led to these faults.The Ministry claimed that from the first indications, from the preliminary investigation carried out by the administration of the hospital, it appears that the source of the damage is in the system of engine regulating coolers. “The technical team has established that the damage is repairable and preparations have already begun for the necessary repairs,” the Ministry promised.

– foto: agenziafotogramma.It
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – According to official statistics from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Malta currently has the highest COVID-19 death rate in the EU with a death rate at 36.8 deaths per one million people.
Since the start of the pandemic, the increase in deaths have mostly been confirmed two weeks after the increase of positive cases in the commuity. The total number of deaths linked to the pandemic in Malta is 778.
Statistics from the ECDC also show that Malta has a positive rate at 40.6 per cent, which is one of the highest in Europe. The positive rate has been growing for weeks, with the total number of active cases stands at 5,228.
Earlier this month, the number of new confirmed positive cases increased dramatically, however, as from this week, the daily number of new cases has dropped below 200 new cases.
– photo agenziafotogramma.it –
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The European Commission is alarmed about the worsening situation concerning the judiciary and the media independence in Malta.
In its annual Rule of Law report, the Commission urged the Maltese government to enhance the efforts to improve the efficiency of justice and to reduce the length of proceedings. In its report, it was said that despite increased resources allocated to investigative and prosecution entities, the investigation of high-level corruption cases remains lengthy. “Results in terms of final judgments are still lacking,” the commission declared.
The European Commission also called for the strengthening of the Permanent Commission against Corruption, which was subject to a reform in 2020, but has limited resources and no tangible results were made.
The commission also urged Malta to address the need for involvement of the judiciary in the procedure for appointment of the Chief Justice, as proposed by the Venice Commission.
In its annual report on Malta, the European Commission noted that “while an independent review of the applicable legislation related to the media in Malta is underway, journalists and citizens at large continue to face obstacles when requesting access to information held by public authorities.”
The report also called on Maltàs government to introducee legislative and other safeguards to improve the working environment of journalists, including on access to official documents.
It added that the independence and governance of public service media are a cause for concern. The commission called on Malta to “strengthen the rules and mechanisms to enhance the independent governance and editorial independence of public service media taking into account European standards on public service media.
Meanwhile, the Maltese Justice Ministry said that the government will analyse the recommendations made by the commission, adding that work on some of them is already underway and legislation will be proposed.
– photo agenziafotogramma.it-
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (ITALPRESS/MNA) – A new IVF bill was approved by the Maltese Parliament by 66 votes against 3, although it is still unknown whether the new law will be signed by the President of Malta George Vella.
Vella, a doctor by profession, in private have expressed reservations about the new approved amendments and in the past, he declared that he would rather resign than sign a bill legalising abortion. The new law approved by the Maltese Parliament was strongly opposed by anti-abortion campaigners, who objected to the genetic testing of fertilised embryos to screen for nine serious medical conditions.
However, the President of Malta confirmed that the law will be signed, leaving the possibily open that the bill will be signed by the newly-appointed acting president, University of Malta pro-rector, Frank Bezzina.
All government MPs voted in favour of the bill while three Opposition MPs including former Nationalist Leader Adrian Delia voted against the IVF bill that introduces the possibility of pre-implantation genetic testing defying the Nationalist party’s whip. Nationalist Leader Bernard Grech said that altough a number of MPs defied the party whip, he insisted that it was the actual vote that counted. It is still unknown whether the 3 MPs who voted against the new law will face a disciplinary action. A number of Opposition MPs asked to be given a free vote, however this request was declined.
Maltese Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne remarked in Parliament that the Labour government promised to amend the IVF law within the first 100 days of the legislature.
– foto agenziafotogramma.it –
(ITALPRESS)

Source: medNews

LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Former prime minister Joseph Muscat was elected as chairman of the Malta Professional Football Clubs Association following a vote in which he got seven votes in favour, four against and three abstentions. The Malta Professional Football Clubs Association was set up in 2021, and is made up of 12 presidents of Maltàs Premier League clubs.
Muscat, who was nominated last week for the post was forced to resign as Maltese Prime Minister in 2020 following a political crisis linked to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The association stated “the planned changes should lead to a more professional and sustainable Premier League, which attracts more fans to the stadium and audience. They should also attract more investment in young players and more involvement of women in the leadership. This will lead to Maltese clubs becoming more competitive at a European level. Dr Muscat will kick off this process, while discussions with the Malta Football Association will be initiated shortly”.
Following the vote, Muscat thanked the clubs that approached him to head the association. “My role will not interfere with the individual club’s leadership, however, together we shall plan and execute ambitious reforms that will modernise local football,” he said.
– foto Image –
(ITALPRESS).

Muscat said that the role would be voluntary, and promised that he would work hard to deliver on his promises.
– foto Image –
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese judicial authorities have opened a magisterial inquiry following the arrest of two young foreigners. The arrest took place on Saturday evening after the Maltese police confiscated a significant amount of drugs on the catamaran upon its arrival in Valletta from Pozzallo.
The police said the people under arrest were a 24-year-old man from Moldova and an 18-year-old girl from Russia.
They were arrested by the Anti-Drug Squad Police as soon as they got off the catamaran. The police had received some information and searched the car. The cocaine was found in the petrol tank and was distributed in 25 packs for a value of approximately 2.2 million euros.

– photo credit: Police of Malta –

(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews