The Bast in Europe ħi

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2019-12-12T20:42:56+01:00Thu, 12th Dec '19, 20:42|

I wouldn't normally recommend you watch a score heads of government pose for a photograph. But this one is worth your time. Watch patiently and to the end and watch every single head of government in Europe finding ways of pretending Joseph Muscat did not exist. Thanks to him, you realise, this means that today [...]

All night protest vigil on the eve of Republic Day

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2019-12-12T20:20:56+01:00Thu, 12th Dec '19, 20:20|

A group of people are convening around the protest memorial to Daphne Caruana Galizia in Great Siege Square, Valletta to spend the night guarding the memorial from the nightly onslaught of cleaners who come to take it away. The protesters call themselves a "group of concerned citizens" and have called people to join them for [...]

Betrayed

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2019-12-12T13:56:10+01:00Thu, 12th Dec '19, 13:56|

It was Daphne Caruana Galizia that was killed in a car bomb and her family that lost their mother, daughter, sister and wife. But the government still wants to cast itself as the victim of this crime. It was Keith Schembri who is being accused in court by a witness pardoned by the government itself [...]

UPDATED: Protest in Brussels earlier today

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2019-12-12T13:58:42+01:00Thu, 12th Dec '19, 13:19|

Pride of place for a large photo of Daphne Caruana Galizia at the entrance of Dar Malta today and across the street Maltese people living in Brussels joined Andrew Caruana Galizia calling for justice for his mother. Speaking at the protest there was Tom Gibson from the Committee to Protect Journalists one of the key [...]

Sometimes we need to push back

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2019-12-12T09:30:37+01:00Thu, 12th Dec '19, 09:30|

There's a lot we have to put up with just because we step up and campaign for justice. I'm often challenged to justify myself and what I say and why I say it. And often reactions are provoked but these are mere distractions. Consider for example how Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando brands me a chicken for [...]

GUEST POST: Some Whys

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2019-12-12T09:07:57+01:00Thu, 12th Dec '19, 09:07|

Some random questions, as occur to one, with accompanying speculative muses. I’m relying on my memory, sworn testimony I’ve heard and newspaper reports. Why does Yorgen Fenech want a Presidential Pardon? Usually, it’s to direct investigators towards bringing someone higher up the tree to justice in connection with a crime committed by the beneficiary of [...]

International NGOs ask EU leaders to hold Joseph Muscat to account

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2019-12-11T18:35:01+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 18:35|

The following is a joint statement by ARTICLE 19, the Association of European Journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, IFEX, Index on Censorship, the International Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders, Scottish PEN and Transparency International: We, the undersigned organisations, urge [...]

Campania journalism union offers to sign up independent Maltese journalists to help protect them

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2019-12-11T18:30:22+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 18:30|

The president of the union of Campania journalists Sandro Ruotolo has proposed to extend the membership of the union to independent Maltese journalists committed to dig up the whole truth in the case of Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination. The proposal was made at the annual meeting of Articolo 21 in Rome. "The Italian Federation of [...]

Is this supposed to clear Keith Schembri?

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2019-12-11T17:08:38+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 17:08|

Testifying in court today Inspector Keith Arnaud says that Melvin Theuma once flew into a rage and mentioned Keith Schembri. “That was the only time Schembri’s name came up,” he says. And testifying himself in court Melvin Theuma says that he “cannot under oath state that Keith ever handed me money or ever spoke to [...]

We’re not going to rain on Friday’s parade. But the greedy, the corrupt, the complicit and the inept need to feel the heat.

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2019-12-11T15:58:01+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 15:58|

It doesn’t really need much explaining. Look at this screenshot of Neville Gafà reacting to a post by Simon Busuttil saying the formal Republic Day ceremonies keep up the false pretence that we do not have a massive constitutional crisis around us. Neville Gafà just wants to party. For him nothing’s changed. He still ferries [...]

Justice for Journalists: London conference on Justice for Daphne

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2019-12-11T15:32:30+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 15:32|

This is a recording of a conference held on 4 December at Mikhail Khodorkovsky's Open Russia Club in London where our book Murder on the Malta Express: Who Killed Daphne Caruana Galizia was also introduced to an international audience. The conference includes interventions by New Journalist of the Year awardee Paul Caruana Galizia, the director [...]

I guess then, this is as good as it gets

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2019-12-11T15:06:52+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 15:06|

Jean Claude Micallef is a new addition to our parliament. Because Jean Claude Micallef is all our parliament needed to complete the matryoshka doll of hollow, spineless, replicas of each other's characterless nothingness. The Labour Parliamentary group passed on every opportunity to resolve the present crisis. Any one of them could have taken up the [...]

GUEST POST: Christmas Crackers

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2019-12-11T14:55:22+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 14:55|

Don't know about you, boys and girls, but isn't the anticipation of what happens next, too thick to chew on? I mean let's think about it, shall we? On the one hand there's Robert Musumeci, speaking in tongues, rambling about the establishment and warning his meerkat audience about what's in store this winter. On another [...]

GUEST POST: The policy of appeasement

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2019-12-11T14:23:39+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 14:23|

Neville Chamberlain was Britain’s prime minister from the 28th May 1937 to 10th May 1940.  He is mostly remembered, pejoratively, for his policy of appeasement, previously espoused by his successors Ramsay MacDonald and Stanley Baldwin. Faced by the inexorable rise of the ugly soul of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, Britain’s prime ministers, notably Chamberlain, [...]

Socialist MEP says EU Commission can no longer drag its feet and must act on Malta’s rights violations

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2019-12-11T11:30:46+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 11:30|

Italian Socialist MEP Giuliano Pisapia has said in a statement announcing a formal parliamentary question to the European Commission that the EU, particularly the Commission, must now intervene on the situation in Malta were more signs keep emerging of violations of individual and collective rights. "The tragic death of Daphne Caruana Galizia has lifted the [...]

GUEST POST: The Most Serene Republic of Malta

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2019-12-11T10:51:31+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 10:51|

As an uncompromising republican, perhaps this is a good time to say that just because I publish a guest post does not necessarily mean I agree with all the guest author says. This one is by Aaron de Giorgio, who is not as committed to the republic as I am. The Oxford English dictionary defines [...]

Azerbaijan civil society: Ilham Aliyev’s corruption is not the people’s fault

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2019-12-11T10:32:37+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 10:32|

Azerbaijani civil society organisation “Democracy for Azerbaijan” sent a message to the people of Malta in a statement expressing regret about any confusion that may exist between the Azerbaijani people and the corruption of their government led by President Ilham Aliyev. “The current president of Azerbaijan and his family members as well as other Azerbaijani [...]

We are being watched

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2019-12-11T10:14:16+01:00Wed, 11th Dec '19, 10:14|

It is of some comfort that the governments of Germany and the Netherlands will be sending representatives to monitor the independent inquiry into Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination. It is likely other countries will follow suit. That's after international free speech NGOs and journalists from all over the world threw light on Malta and kept it [...]

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