Vessel, headed from Egypt to Malta, had requested entry to Tunisian waters on Friday evening due to bad weather. A ship carrying 750 tonnes of diesel from Egypt to Malta has sunk in the Gulf of Gabes off Tunisia’s southeast coast. “The ship sank this morning in Tunisian territorial waters. …
Read More »Malta sees no new COVID cases for first time in 11 months
Malta registered no new COVID-19 cases for the first time in 11 months on Monday, but the Mediterranean island’s health minister urged people to remain careful to prevent any resurgence. “Today is the first day with zero cases since last summer,” minister Chris Fearne wrote on Twitter. “It is essential …
Read More »Rescue migrants stranded on chartered Maltese pleasure boats
More than 400 migrants are living aboard pleasure cruise vessels bobbing in the sea off Malta, many of them for weeks now. But for them, it’s no pleasure, only uncertainty over their fate and they aren’t cruising anywhere. Rescued from human traffickers’ unseaworthy boats in several operations in the central …
Read More »European country arrested More than half of its traffic police for fraud
More than half of Malta’s traffic police force was arrested on Tuesday for suspected overtime fraud, forcing officers to draw up emergency plans to ensure they have enough police to put on the streets, officials said. Police said some 30 members of the unit, which numbers about 50, were being …
Read More »Lawmaker, Son of Ex-President, to Be Malta’s Next Premier
A first-term lawmaker whose father was Malta’s president has been chosen to be the country’s prime minister. The count on Sunday showed Robert Abela received nearly 58% of votes cast by members of the governing Labour Party eligible to choose the new leader. Abela, 42, will replace Joseph Muscat, who …
Read More »Richard Gere visits migrants stuck at sea in the Mediterranean.
Actor Richard Gere is visiting rescued migrants on board a humanitarian ship that has been stuck in the Mediterranean Sea for over a week. The Hollywood star took food and supplies by boat Friday to 121 people aboard the Open Arms, a rescue ship floating in international waters near the …
Read More »Mediterranean will be ‘sea of blood’ without rescue boats, UN warns.
The risk of migrants and refugees becoming shipwrecked in the Mediterranean and dying at sea is the highest it has ever been due to a lack of NGO rescue ships and the conflict in Libya hastening departures at an alarming rate, the UN has warned. “If we do not intervene …
Read More »