Abortion to be legal in Malta if woman’s health is in serious risk

Nov 17 2022

Health Minister Chris Fearne revealed on Wednesday that legislative amendments will be tabled in parliament next week to allow doctors to terminate pregnancies which pose serious health risks for a woman’s health or life.

The Deputy Prime Minister described the reform as a ‘pro-life’ position and it follows the recent incident wherein an American tourist was refused the termination of a non-viable pregnancy.

Fearne said that the State Advocate had analysed the Maltese legal regime to identify legal loopholes which need addressing following the aforementioned case.

The Andrea Prudente case cast Malta into an International spotlight once again when it comes to the topic of abortion due to its blanket ban on the practice.

The legal amendment will see a new clause presented in the law which will establish that no offence would have been committed if the death of the foetus was the result of medical intervention carried out when the mother’s life or health were at risk.

With Fearne saying that the reform is to safeguard women’s health, the announcement was welcomed by pro-choice activists. Seeing it as a necessary first step, activists said that the reform does not go far enough and will continue to push for further reform.

#MaltaDaily

Safe emergency landing for Air Malta flight bound for Vienna

Nov 17 2022

Malta International Airport can confirm that the Air Malta KM 514 flight which was bound for Vienna had to return to Malta due to technical difficulties.

Airport communications revealed that the flight landed safely at 0807hrs local time, and Malta International Airport’s Rescue and Fire Fighting Team was dispatched to the site immediately.

Passengers safely disembarked the aircraft shortly after the landing. An investigation is currently underway to uncover the difficulties.

Other airport operations have not been affected by this emergency landing. The airport thanked the airport team and all stakeholders for their timely response to this morning’s incident.

#MaltaDaily

Italian driver guilty for crash that killed 5 including Maltese woman

Nov 16 2022

An Italian tourist who was extradited to Scotland was jailed after being convicted of causing the deaths of five people, including his oldest son in a car crash.

Alfredo Ciociola was driving a Fiat minibus when he crashed into a Nissan SUV on wrong side of the road at the Drummuir junction near Keith in Morayshire.

His son Lorenzo, four-years-old, died in the crash, along with a rear passenger in his vehicle, the Maltese 63-year-old Frances Saliba. Her husband, Francesco Patane was seriously injured along with Ciociola’s wife Concetta.

Concetta was in the back with her children. Younger son Frederico, aged 3, survived with minor injuries.

The driver of the other car, Morag Smith, 44, was severely injured. Her three passengers Edward Reid, 63, Evelyn Collie, 69, and Audrey Appleby, 70, died following the crash.

Ciociola, 50, an officer with the Italian Coast guard, who was also injured, had denied causing the deaths by driving dangerously on the A96 on July 26 in 2018.

A jury convicted him of the lesser offence of causing the deaths by careless driving and deleted allegations that he had fallen asleep and repeatedly braked from the charge.

Ciociola was extradited from Italy after failing to attend an earlier court appearance in Scotland. The naval officer will be sentenced at a later date, and was remanded in custody. Ciociola had denied that he had fallen asleep or repeatedly driven onto the wrong side of the A96.

Morag Smith, who was driving the other car, said Ciociola had never taken responsibility for his actions.

“I know he didn’t set out that day to kill anyone but he made such huge mistakes,” she said in a statement. “I believe he deserves jail time – but even if he is, no length of time behind bars will compare to what we have suffered.”

#MaltaDaily

95% of Maltese homes have an internet connection

Nov 16 2022

The Malta Communications Authority carried out a study pertaining to the preferences of household consumers when purchasing internet services.

The research, which involved around 800 net respondents, informed the authority on the availability of internet in Maltese households and types of contracts; the average monthly expenditure on internet services; the level of satisfaction’ the quality of the operator’s response to faults amongst other things.

The report found how almost all households (95%) have an active internet connection. 4 in 5 respondents with internet have an ultra-fast connection, supporting download speed of 100 Mbps or more.

Meanwhile, the leading factor influencing end-user choice for is download speed, with 34% respondents ranking it as such.

Price and upload speed ranked second and third respectively, for 27% and 16% of participants. 36% of households with people under 18 years of age, say that these members spend 3 to 5 hours online daily, with 1 in 3 of under 18 year olds using it for entertainment purposes.

44% reported that the speed measured was equal to that advertised, whereas 38% found speed slightly lower than that promised.

86% of surveyed households are aware of their monthly expenditure on the fixed internet service, with 2 out of 5 of this cohort reporting spending more than €50 per month.

74% of internet users are largely satisfied with the quality of service, with 3 out of 5 respondents have experienced faults and disconnections with their fixed internet service in the last 12 months. 62% of those reporting faults say that these were handled well by their service provider.

#MaltaDaily

Read the full study here.