Daphne will have died in vain if PL get large majority Bernard Grech says

Mar 22 2022

Speaking to Times of Malta’s Mark Laurence Zammit, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said that if Labour is re-elected with a huge majority, Daphne Caruana Galizia will have died in vain.

Asked if he thinks he’ll win the election, Grech said that he doesn’t really think about it but he instead wants to see the country win.

Grech went on to say that apart from the late journalist having been killed in vain, the re-election of Abela’s Labour Party would mean that the work of journalists would have been futile.

‘If you’re fed up, you can’t just stay there and complain. You must vote to narrow the majority or elect PN to government. He went on to explain how he does not plan on stepping down and is instead focusing on narrowing the gap.

Grech had previously explained how he plans to stay with Malta ‘after Saturday’. The only survey which matters is the general election said Grech, also echoing something Prime Minister Robert Abela had stated during his political rallies.

Grech told Laurence Zammit that the party came a long way, saying that the election result will show just how much the party has improved after he took over as leader. Abela has also repeatedly stated that the election starts at 0-0.

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Victor Calvagna would have turned 64 today as tributes pour in

Mar 22 2022

Today, 22nd March 2022, would have marked the late Puttinu founder Victor Calvagna’s 64th birthday.

The birthday of the late doctor was commemorated by Puttinu Cares, through which Calvagna had worked tirelessly to help children sick with cancer and their families.

Calvagna was hit by a car in Qawra in December of 2021. He had been deemed brain dead and passed away a few days later. His funeral brought together numerous people as well as people bringing up memories of all that he had done to help.

Puttinu Cares also stated that it has been a year since Ramiro Mallia, a former Puttinu patient who passed away due to a gas leakage from a heater, died.

The NGO revealed that the two are dearly missed and are spoken about every single day. ‘How can such a wound ever heal’ they asked. ‘How can we ever forget all the good you have done?’

‘Take care of us from from above. We love you too much’ the post ended. Happy birthday Dr Calvagna and Rest in Peace Ramiro. Thank you both for everything.

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Russia has banned Instagram and Facebook calling them ‘extremist’

Mar 21 2022

A Russian court ruled on Monday that Facebook and Instagram be banned as extremist. This forms part of the efforts by Moscow to put pressure on social media during the invasion of Ukraine.

Russian authorities accused US tech giant Meta – which parents Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp – as being tolerant of Russophobia ever since troops were sent to Ukraine on February 24th.

Facebook and Twitter have thus been inaccessible in Russia since early March, with Instagram blocked in the country a week ago. However, Meta’s WhatsApp messenger service was not prohibited because it is not used to post public statements.

Meta has yet to comment on the move. On Monday, Russia’s FSB security service accused the giant of working against the interests of Moscow.

‘We ask the court to ban Meta’s activities and oblige it to implement this ruling immediately’ said FSB representative Igor Kovalevsky. This follows an announcement by Meta on March 10th that the platforms would allow statements such as ‘death to Russian invaders’ but not credible threats against civilians.

However, in what seemed to be damage control, Meta global affairs president Nick Clegg said that these rules would only apply to people posting from inside Ukraine.

Experts said on Monday it remained unclear whether it was illegal for ordinary Russians to post on Facebook or Instagram. Net Freedoms Project said Russians could use Meta’s social media carefully but actions such as purchasing Facebook or Instagram advertising could be prosecuted for financing an extremist organisation.

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Uncollected votes at all time high in 12th District and Gozo

Mar 21 2022

The 12th district had the largest amount of uncollected or undelivered voting documents on Sunday when the distribution at the local level ended.

MaltaToday revealed that 12% of eligible voters in the 12th District had not received nor collected their document yet. The district, which includes the large locality of St Paul’s Bay, still has the lowest voter turnout historically.

3,398 voting documents from 28,243 remain uncollected. The district was followed by the 13th District, Gozo, with the amount of uncollected voting documents set at 11%. There were 3,310 voting documents that remain uncollected from 30,902.

The 10th and 9th districts came third and fourth respectively with 9% and 7% of documents uncollected. The districts are usually PN-leaning.

As for the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th districts, all majorly Labour, had the lowest shares of uncollected documents. It averaged between 3% and 4%. The 1st and 3rd districts had the higher shares at 6%.

The 6th District had only 848 voting documents uncollected, followed by the 5th district, where 909 were undelivered. In the 8th and 11th districts, 5% of voting documents remain uncollected. Overall, as of Sunday, 21,510 voting documents across Malta remained uncollected. This equates to 6% of eligible voters, reaching up to 355,024.

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