108 MEPs welcome amendments to Malta’s criminal code

Nov 30 2022

108 Members of the European Parliament, including Labour MEP Cyrus Engerer, issued a statement and letter in support of the Maltese government’s bill to protect doctors and mothers from criminal action when termination of pregnancy occurs when the life or health of the mother is threatened.

The letter was circulated by Engerer and was signed by 55 members of various European national parliament’s. Engerer asked for 105 signatures but amassed a much larger amount in just 10 hours.

The signatories were not just from the European Parliament but also 14 different national parliaments in member states as well as Britain’s House of Lords.

Most of them from the socialist group and the Greens, Engerer said that he could not stand idle when he saw the letter penned this weekend by three conservative UK parliamentarians and House of Lords members who encouraged Malta’s parliament to reject the amendments.

These had expressed extreme concern about the bill, prompting Engerer to ask his friends in the EP to support the Maltese government’s decision.

#MaltaDaily

The Malta Tourism Authority with a new regional office in Poland

Nov 30 2022

The Malta Tourism Authority (MTA) has opened a regional office in Warsaw, Poland whereby it will serve as a hub to cater for the strong demand of the Polish market as well as a point of reference for Eastern Europe and the Baltic region.

The regional office will be managed by the Director for Poland, Eastern Europe, and the Baltic region Mr John Mary Attard. Over the years, the Polish market has established itself as an important market for tourism to the Maltese Islands, with a steady increase of tourists being recorded every year.

In fact, it is forecasted that by the end of this year, the amount of tourists who will have chosen to visit Malta will be close to 135,000 tourists. This means an increase of almost 30% on the number of Polish tourists who visited Malta in 2019. This information was announced during the official opening of the same office by the Minister for Tourism Clayton Bartolo in the presence of the Chief Executive of MTA Carlo Micallef and the Chairman of MTA Gavin Gulia.

Minister Clayton Bartolo outlined that the opening of this office is a clear commitment of how committed Malta is to invest in the tourism sector. “Tourism remains the main driver of the Maltese economy. The opening of this office confirms how determined the Government is to see that the tourism sector not only recovers but is strengthened and sustainable for the years to come,” said Minister Bartolo.

Chairman Gavin Gulia stated that following the consistent growth in the amount of tourists from Poland and also from Eastern Europe and the Baltic region, a decision was taken to open the seventh MTA regional office in the heart of the Polish capital city.

“This office will serve as a central hub for this whole region whereby we will continue to work to strengthen the visibility of VisitMalta whilst also working on other elements that include connectivity and partnerships with a number of local tour operators,” concluded Gavin Gulia.

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Jason Azzopardi claims Prudente was brought to Malta to push abortion controversy

Nov 30 2022

Taking to Facebook, former Nationalist Party MP Jason Azzopardi claimed that Andrea Prudente, the woman who was refused an abortion in Malta and placed Malta in International news once again, was brought purposefully to create the controversy regarding abortion.

The former MP said that ‘one has to be truly rubbish to conspire with third parties outside Malta to bring a pregnant woman to the island to create the controversy around terminating pregnancies.’

‘This is not a hypothesis and this is not a theory. This is an objective facial truth’ he said on the spot. ‘Those against abortion in Malta must understand: it is useless being pure like doves but not wise like snakes. Open your eyes.’

The post was met with both support but also heavy criticism. Moviment Graffiti’s Andre Callus said that in the span of just a few days, Malta saw an absurd conspiracy theory being pushed by a prominent lawyer and politician.

This, said Callus, was done against a woman who was in hospital fighting for her life. ‘Let no one say that we don’t have a serious sexism and misogyny problem in Malta.’

Other women’s rights activists accused Azzopardi of conspiracist and straw-manning activists. Andrea Dibben accused Azzopardi of outright lying. ‘Thank God Andrea is in America and is not seeing how they are depicting her’ she said, urging him to reveal who the people he described as ‘rubbish’ are, so that court proceedings could be launched.

#MaltaDaily

Ye to pay Kim Kardashian $200,000 per month in child support

Nov 30 2022

Rapper Kanye West has been ordered to pay Kim Kardashian $200,000 per month in child support after a divorce settlement was finally reached.

The controversial artist and reality TV star will share joint custody of their four children, following a divorce filed by Kardashian in 2021.

The two spent 8 years together, and are parents to North, Saint, Chicago and Psalm. Issues around the division of property and custody were resolved in court documents filed on Tuesday.

The two parties should consult with each other on major decisions about their children’s welfare, with expenses for the kids’ security, school and college to be shared.

The reason behind Kanye’s $200,000 monthly fee is because the children will spend the majority of their time with Kardashian. Kardashian had said that she very much wanted the marriage over as it would help Kanye accept that the relationship ended.

This comes after Ye’s recent controversial statements on social media, which saw major brands, including Adidas and Balenciaga, cutting ties with him.

Apart from previously fighting against the divorce, Ye had also announced his intention to run for US President in 2024. He had already done so in 2020, gaining only 70,000 votes.

#MaltaDaily