One year on

Activists, politicians and mourners gathered at Bidnija and Valletta on Tuesday to mark the first anniversary of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination. Archbishop Charles Scicluna said he prayed for journalists and insisted they needed State protection. The government said it was confident those behind the murder would be brought to justice. The PN said Daphne’s murder scarred the country’s reputation and repeated its call for a public inquiry into the murder. As a sign of respect Malta’s Parliament did not meet on Tuesday.

What made the headlines

Rental market White Paper aims at stability, transparency: Minimum lease periods are being considered in the government’s proposed reform of the rental market but rent prices will remain at landlords’ discretion. The long-awaited White Paper proposes mandatory minimum leases as one possible means of tackling the instability and uncertainty of six-month leases, the other being financial incentives for contracts longer than a year.

PA recommends minister’s ODZ development amid objections: The Planning Authority agreed that a controversial application by Transport Minister Ian Borg to develop an ODZ agricultural land next to his home close to Rabat should be given the green light. NGOs, including Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar and the Ramblers’ Association, objected to the application, arguing that policies for the area, a rural hamlet in the limits as Santa Katerina, did not allow such development. Dr Borg is politically responsible for the planning watchdog.

African children in Malta ‘face poverty’: Four out of every five Sub-Saharan African origin children living in Malta are at risk of poverty, according to a report by the EU’s human rights agency. The publication, issued to mark the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, shows that 79 per cent of Sub-Saharan children or descendants of Sub-Saharan migrants are at risk of poverty compared to the European average of 70 per cent.

‘Malta failing to safeguard freedom of expression’: Malta is failing to live up to its obligations under Maltese and international law to guarantee and safeguard freedom of expression, according to international press freedom organisations. In their findings at the end of a two-day mission to Malta, the groups said the apparent lack of progress in the investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia was having a chilling effect on public interest investigative reporting. The organisations also demanded an independent public inquiry into whether Daphne’s murder could have been avoided and called on Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to guarantee independent media “full, regular access and interviews”. The mission was made up of the Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Centre for Press and Media Freedom, the European Federation of Journalists, the International Press Institute, PEN International and Reporters without Borders.

Trappers can catch 700 plovers and 5,000 song thrushes: Trappers will be allowed to catch 700 golden plovers and 5,000 song thrushes throughout the season following talks with the European Commission. The trapping deal with the Commission comes just four months after the European Court of Justice declared that the practice of trapping another species – protected finches – was illegal.

Disgraced ex-Allied Newspapers MD gets government consultancy: Adrian Hillman, the disgraced former Allied Newspapers Limited managing director, is earning €4,000 a month from a government consultancy job at the Malta Gaming Authority. Answering a parliamentary question tabled by Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Mr Hillman was assisting the Malta Gaming Authority in its public relations and communications strategy. Mr Hillman was put on forced leave and later resigned from all positions within the Allied Group following the Panama Papers leaks.

Ex-John Dalli canvasser to be indicted: There were sufficient grounds for Silvio Zammit, a former canvasser of ex-Nationalist minister John Dalli, to face trial, a magistrate ruled. Mr Zammit is accused of demanding payment on two occasions, including a €60 million bribe from a Swedish snus tobacco producer, to influence changes to an EU directive when Mr Dalli was European health commissioner. 

Multi-million-euro tuna racket traced to Maltese waters: A network of 79 individuals illegally exporting and selling bluefin tuna caught in Malta was busted in an operation involving enforcement agencies from a number of countries, the Times of Malta revealed. The international mission, Operation Tarantelo, was conducted by the Spanish Guardia Civil with the support of the French, Italian, Maltese and Portuguese authorities. The suspects were arrested on Tuesday in Spain, with police seizing more than 80,000 kilos of bluefin tuna.

What trended

Change in mentality

It’s goodbye wardens, hello community officers, with authorities hoping the rebranding exercise will wash away some of the antipathy that dreaded ‘w’ word engendered.

With that in mind, it may not have been the smartest idea for junior minister Silvio Parnis to explain that officers would be getting new uniforms because the old ones “did not command respect”. 

Readers did not let that sort of wafer-thin reasoning pass by without comment.

“L’abito non fa il monaco [It’s not the habit that makes the monk],” many argued.

“No need for rebranding and change of uniforms to salvage their reputation. Only a change in mentality and respect towards the general public is mostly needed,” said Paul.

Train these people properly

Marthese was clearly still smarting from a past slight.

“Wardens will command respect when they educate, rather than hide and pounce as soon as a driver parks with wheels slightly on a yellow line or other minor infringements,” she wrote.

Kriston had some words of advice for those in power. “Train these people properly, pay them well and punish those harshly who break policy – and punish the civilians harshly for abusing the wardens and police,” he suggested.

But Tes said things were already changing. “Only last week, I was accosted by a warden (as they were still known) as I parked my car,” she recalled.

“He greeted me with a “good morning” and proceeded to inform me that one of my brake lights was out. He told me to see to it and then drove off with a “good day, no ticket”.

‘Did Bolt have a screw loose?’

Valletta FC’s overtures to Usain Bolt may have ended with a “thanks, but no thanks” – but the mid-season transfer saga fired the imagination of local football fans. 

“You don’t know what you’re missing here,” Steve told the eight-time Olympic gold medallist. “Especially ħobż biż-żejt.”.

John suggested the multi-millionaire “probably saw rent prices and ran away”. Rather quickly, it goes without saying.

Fabio figured it was mission accomplished for the Lilywhites’ new Dubai overlords.

“Valletta’s objective reached: publicity and limelight around Europe and the world. I think this shows that the new investors really know what they are doing.”

Dennis, meanwhile, laughed all the speculation off with what was arguably the comment of the week.

“Did you think Bolt had a screw loose?” he chuckled.

What they said

“It appears that the Labour Party will stop at nothing to have me eliminated. These attacks only increase my resolve to continue my work with more energy than ever before.” 

David Casa reacting to a story in Malta Today which quoted an unnamed former aide of his who alleged the Nationalist MEP had struggled with a cocaine habit between 2009 and 2017. 

“Our society deserves better but, ultimately, society will have what it permits.”

Fr David Cilia, the Archbishop’s delegate, speaking during his homily at a Mass in Valletta on the first anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder.

“Some people adore goats, some people believe the earth is flat, some people even believe Elvis Presley is still alive. Simon Busuttil can believe whatever he wants but when the rest of the country hear these things, they laugh.” 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, addressing a political event in Gozo, where he reacted to Simon Busuttil’s declaration in Parliament that he still believed Dr Muscat owned the Panama company Egrant.

“Nowhere in the world – not even in the Russia of [Vladimir] Putin – would anyone dare to destroy a memorial for a slain journalist.”

Carles Torner, a representative of PEN International, a worldwide association of writers, addressing a crowd in Valletta who gathered to mark the first anniversary of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.

“My life changed overnight. I am not the Simon of before. I am now a better person.”

PC Simon Schembri, the traffic policeman who lost an arm when he was run over by a teenage driver in Luqa last May, speaking during the launch of a foundation bearing his name which aims to support members of disciplined forces.