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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Limit number of visitors to Comino proposes BirdLife ahead of election

Mar 21 2022

BirdLife Malta published 10 electoral requests ahead of the 26th of March election, one of which states that the government should introduce a limit on the number of visitors to Comino.

The NGO said that in order to reduce pressure on the island between Malta and Gozo, the number of visitors should be limited. ‘It is high time that this issue is tackled and solutions found in order to eliminate the degradation in certain parts of the island.’

The proposal was accompanied by other calls, including a call to have ODZ land treated s such and that no person or entity should be allowed to develop on such sites.

BirdLife Malta also highlighted a difference between ‘environment’ and ‘nature’. The NGO said that it is crucial to understand that while taking care of pavements, urban open spaces and sustainable development is necessary, it has nothing to do with nature.

The NGO said that natural habitats’ biodiversity need stronger conservation and protection. ‘We demand that bird protection is not removed from the rest of biodiversity, which is within the remit of the Environment Ministry and the Environment and Resources Authority.’

Apart from this, the NGO proposed an end of bird trapping, a stop to spring hunting, an establishment of no hunting zones, more green spaces set at schools as well as NGOs in Malta being given the possible opportunities to be involved in consultation and decision making when it comes to environment and nature related issues.

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36-year-old man hospitalised after car incident

Mar 21 2022

A 36-year-old man was hospitalised Monday morning after getting hit by a car in Triq is-Sur, Fgura.

Preliminary investigations showed that the man was hit by an Opel Insignia driven by a 36-year-old woman from Fgura at around 9:15am. The victim’s nationality is still to be identified.

The woman also hit a parked Toyota Aygo which was situated nearby. The man was administered first aid on the site of the accident before being taken to Mater Dei where he was certified for his injuries.

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