More justice for the worker – new whistleblower Act amendments

Nov 12 2021

The Ministry for Justice and Governance has announced new amendments to the Whistleblower Act, the law concerning protection to facilitators and those reporting workplace abuse.

The law was first introduced back in 2013 with the aim of protecting persons and workers who report workplace abuses and other unethical behaviour.

The Ministry stated that the government is showing how determined it is to protect the worker and that which is just. ‘It is useless to speak in favour of the principles of good governance but then do nothing about them’ stated the Ministry.

These announced amendments will bring the law in line with the European Directive so that, as a EU member state, Malta achieves common standards in terms of human well being.

The first amendment proposed will look at how the breaking of laws on the workplace are reported. A specific official will thus be elected and this Whistleblower reporting officer will have the duty of reporting misdemeanour through confidentiality.

The employee who will be carrying out the report will be protected as their identity will remain anonymous. The facilitator will also be protected.

The second amendment will introduce important definitions which are not included in the 2013 Act.

This will include the clarification of terms such as ‘workplace detriment’, ‘employee’ and the ‘keeping of records.’

Minister Edward Zammit Lewis stated that it is through such laws that legal practice is ensured and no illegal or abusive actions are hidden.’

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€52,500 in undeclared cash and magic mushrooms seized in massive Customs busts

Nov 12 2021

Customs seized upwards of €52,500 in undeclared cash, 30,800 contraband cigarettes, and several packages of drugs.

Two passengers boarding the ferry to Sicily were stopped after canine Charlie indicated that an Italian passenger had undeclared cash.

The passenger stated that he had around €5,000 to €7,000 in cash, but investigations revealed a total of €11,760.

A second passenger was also stopped. A Syrian man travelling by ferry said he was carrying less than €10,000. In fact, however, he was carrying up to €10,990.

Two other passengers were stopped at the Malta International Airport, with a Ghanaian man carrying €19,091 on the person and a Burmese national carrying €270 and $12,475.

30,825 cigarettes were seized from an Msida shop, a private residence and garages in Zejtun. The Zejtun garage alone yielded 13,800 Business Royals Red, all found without an excise stamp.

Customs officials at the UPS Bond seized two parcels after canine Stan made a positive indication. The packages contained 2.65kg of cannabis between them. Another package addressed to a St Julian’s residence had suspected cannabis seeds.

Another two small plastic bags contained more suspected seeds and magic mushrooms. Some of the the drugs were hidden in what appeared to be a doll skirt attached to a playing card.

#MaltaDaily

Lydia Abela meets US Vice President Kamala Harris at Paris Peace Forum

Nov 12 2021

Lydia Abela, wife of Prime Minister Robert Abela met and shared her experience with US Vice-President Kamala Harris.

Lydia Abela posted a stunning image to social media, captioning it with some reflective observations. ‘The inequalities which still exist around the world need addressing’ she started her post.

‘This is not through a sense of charity but because we have an obligation towards every person to work together in order to guarantee a good quality of living for all. This was an important message which emerged during the Paris Peace Forum’ she revealed.

She went on to state how, alongside her husband, she attended the event organised at the Élysée Palace thanks to an invitation by President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigette.

‘US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ presence was significant. From large to small countries, we all have a role to play in favour of peace.’

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Photo Source: Lydia Abela FB

Youtube to hide dislike counts to protect content creators from harassment

Nov 12 2021

YouTube will be making a massive change to it’s platform as it tries to protect its content creators from harassment.

The giant video-streamer will be hiding dislike counts on videos, with the service rolling out a new feature on Wednesday which keeps counts private and only viewable to the person who uploaded the content.

The dislike button will still remain available however, so views can still tune their personal recommendations. The change was in turn prompted by an experiment conducted by YouTube earlier this year.

The experiment tested whether changes to the dislike button could help protect content creators from harassment and ‘dislike attacks’ (wherein viewers purposefully dislike a video to drive up the count).

YouTube stated that smaller creators and those just getting started were constantly being attacked by such behaviour and this measure would help their progression as creators.

For a little bit of trivia, the most disliked video in the world is YouTube’s very own ‘Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind’ at 19.67 million followed by the Baby Shark Dance video at 14.45 million.

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