I don't think the government think much about the flowers, candles and protest messages left every day at the Great Siege Memorial. From their point of view the 'problem' has been addressed. Their own supporters no longer call them to harass them and use sexist metaphors about men in power not having the balls to [...]
The Nationalist Party is exactly where Labour want it to be: trailing so far behind they cannot even smell their sweat. MaltaToday’s monthly survey published today shows almost twice as many respondents would vote Labour rather than PN. Month on month the rate of respondents determined not to vote — 13% — remains stable. Those [...]
Watch this feature (in Italian) broadcast on Rai Uno following up on what happened in Slovakia since the murder a year ago of the second journalist assassinated in the EU in recent times. Jan Kuciak's girlfriend, Martina Kusnirova, was killed as well when both were shot in their apartment. https://youtu.be/pJT3KW74rEY The film, by Maria Grazia [...]
Repubblika sent this letter to the President: 1 February, 2019 The PresidentThe PalaceValletta Madame President, Re: Constitutional Reform Repubblika is a non-governmental organisation which was founded to promote civil rights, democracy, the rule of law, freedom of expression, personal liberties, social inclusion, the protection of the environment, economic sustainability and equal opportunity. Its aim is [...]
"Galadriel: Will you look in the mirror? "Frodo: What will I see? "Galadriel: Even the wisest cannot tell. For the mirror shows many things. Things that were, things that are, and some things that have not yet come to pass. "From The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) "It is 2036 and Maltese democracy could [...]
Franco Debono is nothing if not a controversial figure. Actually, he’s a bit more than that. He’s the Commissioner of Laws whom Owen Bonnici described in 2013, when he appointed him to the post, as “responsible for removing conflicting laws and other legislation which the Constitutional Court deemed unconstitutional and in breach of fundamental rights” [...]
Maria Efimova, who testified at the Egrant inquiry which the Prime Minister says exonerates him of the accusation of bribery and money laundering, reacting today to Joseph Muscat's statement in court. Well, don't want to sound heroic, but I will stand by what I've witnessed even if all the others withdraw. https://t.co/ZZa4I3IiDD— Maria Efimova (@MariaEfimova7) [...]
Joseph Muscat put journalism on trial today. And found it guilty. Read first what happened in the court room this morning. Get the detail from the court reports but in brief Joseph Muscat was testifying in the case he brought against Daphne Caruana Galizia accusing her of defamation when she reported his wife, and therefore [...]
You take a step back for a minute and what is at first inexplicable, starts making sense. Anton Refalo is accused of beating his son. Again I will not go into the reasons why the circumstances might explain his behaviour. In every situation there may or may not be extenuating circumstances but I have no [...]
The European Court of Human Rights ordered today the Italian government to “to take all necessary measures, as soon as possible, to provide (Sea Watch 3 migrants trapped outside Syracuse) adequate medical care, food, water and basic supplies". The Court also ordered Italy to give 15 unaccompanied minors aboard the Sea Watch "adequate legal assistance [...]
If you thought that asking for justice was the way you would get it, then you haven’t been paying attention. Simon Busuttil is achieving one thing, if nothing else: he is exhausting all possible avenues in the pursuit of the application of the principle that justice is equal for all and that when someone in [...]
The United States has filed criminal charges against Huawei. One of two cases concerns bank fraud and dodging American sanctions against Iran. According to the indictment, the deception goes back to mid-2007, when Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei, falsely told the FBI that the company did not violate any US export laws, and that it had [...]
The former policeman who in 2016 was witness for the prosecution in the trial of David Gatt for the 2011 HSBC Bank heist, was committed yesterday to Mount Carmel Mental Hospital. On Saturday he posted a Facebook post in which he accused David Gatt and his former law office partner Chris Cardona of masterminding the [...]
The Broadcasting Authority said today candidates for the European Parliament will be allowed in February to advertise their events on radio. That would be a trial but “if the scheme works well, with everyone’s cooperation, there is a greater possibility that it would be renewed for the following months”. It’s an odd scheme since MEP [...]
This feature was broadcast on the regional news service for Sicily of Italy's public broadcaster Rai a couple of days ago. https://youtu.be/OOIR-tUm0rQ
There will be some sympathy for Anton Refalo as he is charged in court for beating his 16 year old son. The Times of Malta report that he got angry at his son when the father of his son’s former girlfriend told him he (the minor) had been circulating revenge porn after the end of [...]
Granted that a maxim for democratic life is ‘the majority gets to decide’. You need to finish that sentence. The majority gets to decide who governs the country, but it cannot alter other maxims for democratic life, such as ‘the law is equal for everyone’. If it did, all we’re left with would be a [...]
For the first time ‘sources’ in the investigation of Satabank have actually said something about what they found and why the freezing of the bank’s transaction was justified. The sources say it’s bad. Very, very bad. Satabank handled transactions worth billions of euro that are “suspicious”. That’s bureaucrat-speak for ‘we know it’s criminal money but [...]
Yesterday marked Holocaust Memorial Day. There were many articles worth reading marking the event. I was especially struck by this one on The New York Times. It tells the story of Aristides de Sousa Mendes, a Portuguese diplomat who defied his government’s orders and issued visas to Jews escaping discriminatory laws and the violence that [...]
Statement by Repubblika: Forty people from all walks of life in Malta yesterday night formally set up ‘Repubblika’, a non-governmental organisation that wants to promote democracy and the rule of law in Malta. At yesterday’s Floriana meeting, Repubblika’s founding members approved the organisation’s statute that is now published on Repubblika’s electronic page at www.facebook.com/Repubblika. Members approved the [...]