George Degiorgio confesses to murdering Daphne Caruana Galizia

Jul 5 2022

“If I knew, I would have gone for 10 million. Not 150,000.”

In an exclusive interview from jail with Reuters, George Degiorgio admitted to the crime of detonating a car bomb that killed prominent Maltese Journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

He went on to say that if he had known more about Galizia, he would have asked for more money to carry out the hit. “If I knew, I would have gone for 10 million. Not 150,000,” he said, referring to the sum in euros that he said he was paid for killing the journalist.

“For me it was just business. Yeah. Business as usual!” he told a Reuters reporter. He later added, “Of course I feel sorry.”

The admission comes after several attempts by his lawyers since 2021 to secure a pardon in return for testimony about his role in the murder as well as other crimes involving prominent figures on the island.

Maltese authorities charged Degiorgio and two other men – his brother Alfred and an associate, Vince Muscat – with murdering Caruana Galizia in October 2017.

He also indicated he would provide testimony to implicate others in the murder and in a previous unrealised plot to kill the journalist. His motive, he said, was to seek a sentence reduction for himself and Alfred and to ensure that “we’re not going down alone!”

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Local pole fitness athletes win 1st and 2nd in international competition

Jul 5 2022

Two local pole fitness competitors, Cherise Bugeja and Anouska Naudi, managed to place first and second respectively in a prestigious competition in Zurich last weekend.

The two athletes attended the competition with Pole Sport Organisation (PSO), which is the world’s largest pole dance and fitness competition series.

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A post shared by Anouska Naudi (@anouskanaudi)

The two managed to bag the top prizes out of five competitors from different countries, all whilst representing Malta. Through their achievement, the athletes hope to raise more awareness about pole fitness as it is still not very well known in Malta.

The athletes shared their journeys to victory via social media, showing the hard work and determination that goes into achieving such a milestone. They now hope to continue competing as well as to inspire others to take up the skill.

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€118K in direct order to set up school transport tracking system

Jul 5 2022

The education ministry has just awarded a €118,800 direct order to a private company to set up a tracking system for school transport.

This measure was first promised to parents four years ago in 2018 by the then education minister Evarist Bartolo.

According to a notice published in the Government Gazette, the education ministry awarded the contract to Handson Systems Ltd to provide a ‘three-year monthly support and maintenance for fobs tracking solution for school transport system.’

A fob is hand-held electronic device that can be attached to keychains. The company was also awarded another direct contract worth €132,500 to provide ‘additional equipment to install on 250 new vehicles under the free state school transport.’

Government procurement cannot, according to regulations, exceed €10,000 by direct order unless in exceptional circumstances or last resorts.

When the free school transport scheme was launched in 2019, Bartolo had explained that every vehicle would be equipped with an electronic reader to notify parents through an app whenever their children exit the vehicle.

The system has yet to come into effect, with parents having mixed reactions to the system. Back in 2021, a 3-year-old girl was locked in a garage for hours after she was forgotten in a school minivan and thus resurfacing the issue.

A spokesperson for Education Minister Clifton Grima told Malta Daily that the process followed all public procurement regulations.

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Birkirkara and Santa Venera residents without power for over eight hours

Jul 5 2022

Residents in Birkirkara and Santa Venera were left out of electricity for around 8 hours starting Monday evening after several faults in an underground cable developed.

Enemalta revealed on Facebook that a fault developed on an 11kV underground cable on Monday. Supply was restored when supply was switched to an alternative source but the alternative cable also developed a fault moments later.

Enemalta reported that excavation works were carried out through the night so that ‘our technical team may carry out the necessary repairs to resolve this issue.’

Meanwhile, another team worked on connecting substations to generators, in order to restore electricity as soon as possible. Posting two hours ago, Enemalta revealed that ‘supply has been restored via-generators. These customers should expect a short yet necessary outage until they are re-connected to the grid.’

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