Over 95% of shipments for Malta’s domestic market had fake goods

Oct 8 2021

Almost all shipments arriving in Malta’s domestic market and investigated by the Customs Department were found to have been carrying counterfeit products.

In a statement published by Malta’s Customs Department, it was revealed that 65 out of 68 containers were found to be carrying fake products such as clothes, watches, sunglasses and more. The counterfeit goods amounted to a total market value of €359,840, with the department flagging 12 cases of fake transhipment containers.

A total twelve out of 20 containers in transhipment were found carrying fake products amounting to a total of €58.6 million, which included shoes and electronics, amongst others.

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Contractor granted bail after dumping injured migrant worker in Mellieha

Oct 8 2021

Contractor Glen Farrugia, who has been accused of dumping a severely injured migrant worker on the side of the road in Mellieha, has been granted bail and released from custody.

31-year-old Farrugia is a building contractor and director of J&G Farrugia contractors and had garnered national attention and been remanded in custody after migrant worker Lamin Jaiteh fell two storeys on a construction site and was dumped on the side of the road in Mellieha rather than being taken to hospital.

Farrugia was charged with causing grievous injuries to Jaiteh along with charges of breaching occupational health and safety, labour market laws and failing to pay the worker appropriately for working on a public holiday, unused vacation leave, overtime, statutory bonus, tax and national insurance. Farrugia was ordered a €10,000 deposit for release and a personal guarantee of €30,000 along with observation of a curfew and must sign a bail book three times a week.

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Malta ranks first globally in COVID-19 recovery index

Malta ranks first globally in COVID-19 recover index

Oct 8 2021

Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Chris Fearne took to social media this morning to share some positive news with regards to Malta and the COVID-19 pandemic, sharing a chart which addresses the global COVID-19 recovery index.

The index was created by the world’s largest financial newspaper Nikkei and highlights countries’ recovery status in light of the recent pandemic, with Malta ranking in first place. The factors taken into consideration are vaccination and infection rates along with social mobility, with Malta scoring a positive 73.0 having high vaccination, low infections and high social interactions.

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A post shared by Chris Fearne (@chrisfearne)

Malta takes over from previous first China who has went from first to ninth due to lack of progress in the social mobility field, while Malta has seen significant progress in recent weeks. Chile and Bahrain follow with scores of 72.0 each and UAE in 4th with a score of 71.0 while the Philippines have dropped to last place in the recovery index.

Until yesterday, 834,543 vaccine doses were administered, of which 20,048 were booster shots.

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Metro must connect Malta and Gozo, says PN candidate Alex Borg

Oct 8 2021

With a lot of discussion surrounding the installation of a metro system in Malta and a potential election coming up, many candidates from all sides of the political spectrum have stated their opinion. On Thursday, PN candidate Alex Borg gave his two cents on the metro, suggesting that the system should connect Malta and Gozo and consider Malta’s industrial zones.

Borg went on to highlight that based on recent surveys conducted by the National Statistics Office, one in every five Gozitans who works full-time, crosses over to Malta every single day to work. The new candidate that both workers and students should be able to utilise the metro to get to University, MCAST and work and be able to return to their Gozitan homes without having to be separated from their families for a whole week.

A point regarding Malta’s traffic issue was also raised, with Borg accentuating his enthusiasm towards the fact that a Labour Government is adopting proposals made by the Nationalist Party a few years ago, similar to what happened with the windfarms a pipeline, according to the PN candidate.

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