The Malta Independent this morning warned the government their decision to barricade the Great Siege Memorial to prevent the continuation of the protest demanding justice that started when Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed 11 months ago “will backfire”. The newspaper respects the tenacity of activists protesting there and thinks the government should be showing the [...]
Adrian Delia’s call to Maltese people “to stand up to foreigners” is the pits. It is the lowest point a politician can reach when they seek to split the community into subsets, creating division and drumming up the hate for the vulnerable. There have been signs the PN was going to lurch to the right [...]
This video by Deutsche Welle sums up the outcome of Valletta 2018. Our chance to be in the spotlight, to boost the support and confidence of the local artistic community, to live and experience genuinely European values of openness, tolerance and critical debate has been squandered and replaced with the silencing of protest. The feature [...]
An attempt by the government to stop a Council of Europe report on “ensuring the whole truth on Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination emerges” has failed. The attempt was made by the Parliamentary Labour Party’s representative in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, former Minister Manuel Malia. Manuel Mallia asked the Committee on Legal [...]
Il-Kenniesa's statement: We note that the government has taken the extraordinary step of covering and cordoning-off the 'The Great Siege' Monument, also known as the makeshift memorial for Daphne Caruana Galizia, on Victory Day. The day on which this monument is normally honoured. The official version is that this was done to “restore” the monument. [...]
The ninth part of Godfrey Leone Ganado’s review of the conclusions of the Egrant inquiry: In this article, which for now, should be my concluding one, except for Part 10 which will be a summary of the comments made, and except for any further developments related to Egrant which I anticipate. I will now move [...]
The Great Siege Memorial in Valletta has been consolidated as the most important and symbolic front in a struggle for basic freedoms in this country. The flowers and candles and printed messages and photographs started out little less than a year ago as an outpouring of grief and popular anger at the killing of a [...]
Although he doesn’t explicitly say so, Fr Joe Borg’s article in The Sunday Times of yesterday responds to articles appearing on this blog about 3 clerics in Gozo and in Malta accused or convicted of child abuse and how the church managed the situations. Being taught the rules of journalism by Fr Joe Borg is [...]
It is customary to review Malta Today’s monthly survey of public opinion on parties and political leaders. Except that the significance of the result is in the fact that there has been no change to consistent results throughout Adrian Delia’s first year as party leader. It’s quite simple really. Two of every five respondents who [...]
Illum’s front page on Felix Cini, the convicted child abuse priest permitted to say Mass in Bormla “on special occasions” made me angry. Reading the actual report inside the newspaper gives an altogether different impression. The newspaper challenges Felix Cini and his contortionate attempts at self-justification convince no one, least of all the author of [...]
From my article in The Sunday Times today: "There’s something wrong with the law (whether civil or canonical) when the power abused by any priest remains within his grasp. Quite apart from compassion and understanding, removing the means used to exploit the vulnerable for pleasure should be an obligation. That decision rests with the Church. [...]
ABLV Bank, itself currently in liquidation after major money laundering revelations, had informed its Latvian regulator of payments worth $1.4 million from a Seychelles company owned by an Azerbaijani energy businessman to 17 Black, a company that contracted to pay funds to secret companies owned by Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi. The information emerges from [...]
The attorney general responded to lawyers for Daphne Caruana Galizia’s family in a brief “interim” letter (see below) supposedly to meet the deadline they gave him. He said the opinion they sent him is being “actively considered” but since they insisted on a reply by the end of August he had to send them something. [...]
I don’t remember a time when Karl Stagno Navarra was not being chased by irate creditors. The man is a pathological liar but a very capable con artist. He disproves the notion that in a small island you can’t get away with a lifelong career in bullshitting people out of their goods or money. I [...]
Ana Gomes got an answer from the Latvian anti-money laundering agency who told her they shared with Malta’s authorities information about 17-Black six months ago. Emails on 17-Black that have been published show it is one of two companies committed to transfer millions into Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi’s Panama companies. Since these emails [...]
New York-based journalist Denise Hassanzade Ajiri published a report on global news site France 24 about "Iranians in name only" who use nationalities of other countries to dodge US sanctions. Her story focuses on Ali Sadr Hasheminejad, born in Iran but who used his purchased St Kitts and Nevis nationality to do business in the [...]
The eighth part of Godfrey Leone Ganado’s review of the conclusions of the Egrant inquiry: In this article number 8, I will be moving from the Boardroom of Pilatus Bank (article 7) to the so much talked about kitchen, to smell the coffee. However, before doing so, I must describe the substance rather than the [...]
From Steve Bonello's Facebook Page
European Parliamentarians are promoting an initiative that tries to get something useful out of the anger and horror after the assassinations of Daphne Caruana Galizia and Jan Kuciak. They both tripped on the live wire in the dark that kills journalists that try to find out what the powerful and corrupt would rather hide. But [...]
News of the Magħtab fire broke around 6.30am this morning. The plume of smoke now, three hours later, appears to be abating with reports it is now considerably less black than when it started. Minister Michael Farrugia tweeted the fire should be under control this morning. In the meantime, the central part of the island [...]