PN Head of Delegation David Casa will be responsible for one of the most important EU initiatives in the area of employment and social affairs during this legislature – the Work-Life Balance Directive. This was announced during an EPP Group meeting at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.  “The objective of ...

A pair of Bulgarian pickpockets today were given a two-month jail term each, after a police inspector said in court that the current spate of such thefts was harming the public's peace of mind.Mariana Petrova and Nadezhda Ivanova, aged 23 and 36, were charged before Magistrate Francesco Depasquale.Inspector Mark Mercieca ...

After eight years of experience, working as an architect, Annemarie decided to pursue her growing interest in museum and exhibition design, as well as the design of visitor experiences. She recently took a course called MA Narrative Environments based at Central Saint Martins, London and graduated this year. "I was intrigued ...

Club owner, businessman and hotelier Hugo Chetcuti agrees with the regularisation of prostitution, but believes that a number of safeguards should be put in place to ensure that those going into this line of work realise the decision they are making.Over the past few weeks, this newsroom has interviewed a ...

Peter Micallef has won the casual election for the parliamentary seat vacated by PN MP Jean Pierre Debono's after receiving 1719 votes.The winning candidate is required to reach 50% + 1 of Debono's votes in the last general election,  which is 1653 votes.Micallef is expected to immediately hand over the seat ...

 The National Audit Office, in a report on the 15-year-old Public-Private-Partnership between government and environmental landscapes consortium limited (ELC) due to the unfavourable terms for the former, and contractual breaches.“The MELP Monitoring Unit, Government’s monitoring arm within this Contract, is understaffed and cannot cope with the administrative and operational burdens associated ...

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this afternoon told journalists that the decision on whether to sack PBS CEO John Bundy rests with PBS alone. Muscat was speaking after a visit to HSBC bank in Zabbar. Last week The Malta Independent reported that the PBS board was threatening to resign if Bundy ...

Terrorism. A white male opened fire into a festival crowd, killing at least 50 on Sunday. Somehow, this horrible incident was not classified as terrorism by the mainstream media. Instead, the Las Vegas massacre, which is being considered as one of the worst shootings in the US in recent history, ...

MPs from both sides of the political divide were in agreement this evening as Parliament debated amendments to the Competition Act, required due to an EU Directive.The Directive is regarding the procedures which govern action for damages under national law for infringements in EU competition law.Due to the rare sight ...

The Malta Developers Association has warned that while some regulation of the rental sector was necessary, it did not believe that a return to rent control would help the economy “since this will stunt the growth of the rental market”. MDA said it was aware that the government was being lobbied to regulate ...

A total of 288,033 tourists visited Malta in August, an increase of 12.2 per cent compared to the corresponding month in 2016.The National Statistics Office said 259,392 foreigners visited on holiday and 7,839 on business. Tourists from the EU member states went up by 11.5 per cent to 245,390 when compared ...

GreenPak Cooperative Society has said that while it is in favour of increased plastic bottle recycling, and Deposit Return Systems (DRS) are one possible direction to evaluate, such systems have been shown to be ineffective in certain societal and economic contexts.Based on current data, GreenPak told The Malta Independent on ...

You were elected MUT President last June. What vision do you have for the union over the coming years?We will always look towards strengthening the profession, but as it stands we are focusing on some internal MUT reforms. Currently, the union has two roles; a trade union and a professional ...

Across the EU, only one-sixth of all households are composed of three people or more. Those with more than four are rare, those with five account for fewer than 4.5 per cent and those with six or more for less than two per cent.In the UK, over half of all ...

In what Finance Minister Edward Scicluna called a "moral obligation" from the government, it was today announced that €11 million from the upcoming budget will be given to sections of public workers who in the past did not receive money owed to them.Addressing a press coverage at the Finance ministry ...

On World Habitat Day, the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Malta, expressed grave concern at the predicament of the ever-increasing number of individuals and families in Malta, who are unable to access decent and affordable housing. The rapid increase in rent prices over the past two years ...

Nature Trust – FEE Malta is urging the government to allocate more funds towards environmental conservation and protection.Finance Minister Edward Scicluna will present next year’s budget on Monday.The eNGO noted that, now that Malta has achieved a surplus in its budget, it is about time that one of the pillars ...

Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri felt the need to “go back to basics” during this morning’s address where he spoke of the importance of safeguarding the rule of law, commenting that without proper law enforcement this cannot take place. Addressing the opening of the Forensic Year, Camilleri said: “If the persons who ...

This is the first time since Malta joined the EU that the first year after an election did not lead Malta to the Excessive Deficit Procedure, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said today.Speaking at the Msida Labour Party Club, Dr Muscat reminded listeners that in 2003, 2008 and in 2013 the ...

The last decade has been characterised by a focus on fiscal rectitude as many EU countries struggled to control their public spending. On the other hand, Malta has been successful in reducing its fiscal deficit by promoting economic growth, and this has often exceeded the EU average. As the government prepares ...