Category Archives: Malta

Six EU states overtake UK Covid vaccination rates as Britain’s rollout slows

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Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland overtake UK in fully jabbed percentages

Six EU states have now fully inoculated a larger share of their total populations with a coronavirus vaccine than the UK, after the bloc’s dire initial rollout took off while Britain’s impressive early jab rate has slumped.

According to government and health service figures collated by the online science publication Our World In Data, Malta, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Ireland have all overtaken the UK in terms of the percentages of their populations who are fully vaccinated.

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Malta government bears responsibility for journalist’s murder, inquiry finds

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Inquiry into death of Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 says state had created a culture of impunity

An independent inquiry in Malta into the murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has found that the state had to bear responsibility after creating a “culture of impunity”.

The 437-page report, conducted by a team of judges and released on Thursday, said the state “failed to recognise the real and immediate risks” to the investigative journalist’s life and “failed to take reasonable steps to avoid them”.

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Libyan coastguards ‘fired on and tried to ram migrant boat’ – NGO

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German rescue group issues video of Libyans’ ‘brutal attack’ on boat of migrant families in Mediterranean

Footage has emerged that appears to show the Libyan coastguard firing on a boat in distress carrying migrant families in the Mediterranean Sea.

Rescue workers from the German organisation Sea-Watch recorded the coastguard patrol vessel apparently trying to ram the small wooden boat and firing shots in an attempt to force the people onboard back to Libya.

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British nationals in France face losing rights if they miss residency deadline

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Call to extend 30 June deadline over fears Britons will lose access to healthcare and pensions

Campaigners have warned that tens of thousands of British nationals living in France and three other countries risk losing local healthcare, employment and other rights if they do not apply to remain resident in the next 14 days.

British in Europe, a group set up to protect the post-Brexit rights of about 1.2 million UK nationals living on the continent, have called on France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Malta to extend their 30 June deadline as the Netherlands has done, to 30 October.

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Britons face one-month deadline to retain rights in four EU countries

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Tens of thousands have yet to apply for post-Brexit residence in countries with 30 June cut-off date

Tens of thousands of British nationals in four EU member states have yet to apply for post-Brexit residence, meaning they risk losing the right to live and work there unless they file their demands within 30 days.

UK citizens living in France, Malta, Luxembourg and Latvia have until 30 June to apply to secure their post-Brexit rights. The Netherlands did have the same deadline, but on Monday extended it to 1 October.

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Revealed: 2,000 refugee deaths linked to illegal EU pushbacks

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A Guardian analysis finds EU countries used brutal tactics to stop nearly 40,000 asylum seekers crossing borders

EU member states have used illegal operations to push back at least 40,000 asylum seekers from Europe’s borders during the pandemic, methods being linked to the death of more than 2,000 people, the Guardian can reveal.

In one of the biggest mass expulsions in decades, European countries, supported by EU’s border agency Frontex, has systematically pushed back refugees, including children fleeing from wars, in their thousands, using illegal tactics ranging from assault to brutality during detention or transportation.

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UK likely to give green light for travel to fewer than 10 EU countries

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Traffic light system to be used cautiously despite European plan to let in Covid-vaccinated tourists from June

Britons’ summer holiday plans were given a major boost on Monday, as the EU confirmed vaccinated travellers will be able to fly to Europe from June, though it’s understood the UK could give the green light to travel to fewer than 10 countries.

The changing quarantine requirements for popular holiday destinations looks set to make 2021 the year of the last-minute booking.

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Malta still selling golden passports to rich stay-away ‘residents’

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Undercover investigation finds evidence that cash-for-passport practices revealed in Henley & Partners leak continue

The Maltese government continues to sell citizenship to multimillionaires who have minimal genuine links to the country, a Guardian undercover investigation has revealed.

Rich applicants are signing €1m deals in return for Maltese passports after a 12-month qualifying period, secret filming suggests, in news that will further alarm Brussels after this week’s leak of documents from one of the world’s largest passport brokerage firms.

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Accused brothers seek pardon in Daphne Caruana Galizia case

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George and Alfred Degiorgio offer Maltese prosecutors details on other men they say were involved in killing

Two brothers accused of direct involvement in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia have asked for a presidential pardon in exchange for supplying state prosecutors with information on other men involved in the killing, including a former minister and a “middleman”.

George and Alfred Degiorgio, both arrested and accused of planting and triggering the car bomb that killed the investigative journalist in 2017, have sent two separate letters with formal requests to Malta’s president, George Vella.

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EU’s southern states step up calls for ‘solidarity’ in managing mass migration

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Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Malta say burden has to be shared more justly with other EU partners

Europe’s southern states have stepped up calls for solidarity in managing mass migration to the bloc saying the burden has to be shared more justly with other EU partners.

Highlighting the deep divisions over the issue, politicians from countries along Europe’s Mediterranean rim said a proposed migration pact fell far short of resolving the crisis equitably.

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Daphne Caruana Galizia: killer lays out murder plot in court

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Vincent Muscat describes spying on the journalist and discussions about how she would be killed

The self-confessed killer of Daphne Caruana Galizia told a court on Thursday that he and two other men used binoculars and a telescope to follow the movements of the investigative journalist for days, before planting and triggering the car bomb that killed her in 2017.

Speaking in the presence of journalists and Caruana Galizia’s relatives in hall 22 of the law courts in Malta’s capital, Valletta, Vincent Muscat gave the fullest account yet of the plot to murder the journalist.

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All suspects in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder arrested, says police chief

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Angelo Gafa says all those who masterminded killing of Maltese journalist now apprehended or charged

Every person involved in the 2017 murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has been apprehended, Malta’s national police chief has declared.

Commissioner Angelo Gafa was speaking before a court hearing on Wednesday evening at which two new suspects were arraigned.

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Saunas to sourdough: Unesco updates culture heritage list

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Thirty-five entries from around the world added to 2020 list of national traditions

Sauna culture in Finland, sourdough making in Malta, Budima dancing in Zambia and a grass mowing competition in Bosnia and Herzegovina have been added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s prestigious list of intangible cultural heritage.

The entries were among the 35 from around the world added to the list for 2020, and also included the tradition of playing the hunting horn, a status awarded jointly to Italy, France, Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as the art of glass bead making.

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More than 110 migrants die in Mediterranean in three days

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Bodies of 74 people wash up on beach in western Libya as baby boy dies on rescue boat

Four shipwrecks in the space of three days have claimed the lives of more than 110 people in the Mediterranean, including at least 70 people whose bodies have washed up on the beach of al-Khums, in western Libya.

According to the UN migration agency (IOM), that boat was reported to be carrying more than 120 people, including women and children. Forty-seven survivors had been brought to shore by the coastguard and fishermen, while the bodies of at least 74 people were floating near the water’s edge on Thursday.

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‘She left a strong legacy’: children’s book tells story of Daphne Caruana Galizia

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Friend of Maltese journalist recounts her battles against corruption for young readers

Her death brought thousands of people on to the streets of Malta and led to the resignation of a prime minister. Now the life of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has inspired a book for children.

Written and illustrated by her friend Gattaldo, the designer, Fearless: The Story of Daphne Caruana Galizia is being released by a UK publisher this month to mark three years since the Maltese writer was killed by a car bomb in October 2017.

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‘Golden passports’: EU launches legal action against Cyprus and Malta

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Brussels says schemes selling citizenship to wealthy investors are illegal

Brussels has launched legal action against Cyprus and Malta over their “golden passport” schemes for wealthy investors, saying they were illegal and undermined EU citizenship.

The European commission has written to the two countries, which both joined the EU in 2004, to demand explanations, warning that the schemes increased the risks of money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.

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Justice on trial: three years after murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia – video report

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The murder of the Maltese anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 plunged the country into turmoil. Guardian journalist Juliette Garside, who has been investigating Caruana Galizia's death, speaks with Matthew Caruana Galizia about his mother, his family's quest for justice, and how tragedy may be uniting the country over political divides

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The captain rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean during the Covid-19 pandemic – video

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Savvas Kourepinis is the captain of the Astral, a humanitarian boat patrolling the Mediterranean Sea to rescue people attempting to cross the main maritime route from north Africa to Europe. For most of this year, the Covid-19 pandemic forced these vital search-and-rescue missions to cease in what is often referred to as the deadliest migration route in the world. As Kourepinis and his crew set out on one of their first patrols since lockdown restrictions eased, they face stringent coronavirus regulations and the reluctance of nearby countries to take in the people the Astral has rescued

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Malta may demand return of fossil given to Prince George by David Attenborough

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Attenborough gave seven-year-old a giant shark tooth found on a family holiday

From the world-famous Koh-i-noor diamond to the Rosetta Stone, British royals have long been gifted rare objects that campaigners want repatriated to their rightful lands.

Prince George, it seems, is the latest in the line of fire, after being given a giant prehistoric shark tooth by the environmentalist and national treasure Sir David Attenborough, found on a family holiday to Malta more than 50 years ago.

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Maltese police arrest former PM Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff

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Keith Schembri is under investigation for money laundering linked to sales of passports to rich foreigners

Police in Malta have arrested Keith Schembri, the former prime minister Joseph Muscat’s chief of staff, as part of an investigation into alleged kickbacks connected to the sale of Maltese passports.

Schembri was arrested just after midnight on Tuesday, hours after a court issued a wide-ranging order for all his assets and those of his family and companies to be frozen. Being questioned alongside Schembri is the high profile Maltese accountant Brian Tonna, and one of his associates, who are also subject to the same freezing order. All three men deny wrongdoing.

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