Malta

VALLETTA, Dec 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, under fire over his handling of the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, said he would step down after his replacement is chosen in January.

Muscat declined to make a link with Caruana Galizia’s 2017 murder, saying in a televised address that he was resigning “as this is what needs to be done.”

The announcement came after two weeks of mounting pressure and popular protests calling for Muscat to quit for his handling of the probe into Caruana Galizia’s car bomb killing.

VALETTA (Reuters) - Lawmakers from Malta’s ruling Labour Party met on Sunday to decide the future of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat amid a crisis sparked by the investigation into a murdered journalist.

Pressure grew both within and outside the party for him to quit after the probe into the 2017 car bomb killing of anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia led to charges on Saturday against a prominent businessman with alleged ties to ministers and senior officials.

VALLETTA (Reuters) - Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has told associates he plans to resign over the political and legal crisis stemming from the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Times of Malta reported on Friday.

Muscat’s spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the report. His Labour Party canceled an event scheduled for Sunday at which Muscat was set to speak.

Muscat’s chief of staff and two members of the cabinet have already stepped aside this week over the murder case, which threatens to bring down the island nation’s close-knit elite.

VALLETTA (Reuters) - Malta police arrested one of the country’s most prominent businessmen on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, two sources said.

Yorgen Fenech was detained after police intercepted his yacht off the Mediterranean island, sources with knowledge of the matter said.

His arrest came the day after the government said it would offer a pardon to a suspected middleman in the 2017 murder of Caruana Galizia if he provided legal binding evidence of who was behind the killing.

VALLETTA, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Over 100 migrants, including ringleaders of a riot, were arrested at a reception center in Malta on Monday.

The riot occurred at the Hal Far center late on Sunday night. It was sparked by a row over a drunk migrant being banned from entering the center.

"While a small group of immigrants incited a riot that spread to around 300 people, a considerable number of other migrants did not take part in any way," said Malta's Home Affairs Minister Michael Farrugia.

8 October 2019; AFP: A nucleus of four EU countries was trying Tuesday to coax more reluctant member states to take a share of rescued asylum-seekers, a day after another Mediterranean migrant boat tragedy.

Germany, France, Italy and Malta were seeking support from colleagues in an EU interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg for an agreement they worked out September 23 in Malta meant to serve as a six-month, stop-gap plan pending a long-delayed reform of the EU's asylum policy.

VALLETTA, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Germany, France, Italy and Malta have agreed on how to jointly handle migrants who arrive in the Mediterranean.

A migration meeting between the four EU members was held in Malta on Monday. The meeting was mediated by the Finnish presidency of the Council of the EU. European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos was also present for the migration mini-summit.

VALLETTA, Sept 24 (NNN-Xinhua) — Germany, France, Italy and Malta have agreed on how to jointly handle migrants who arrive in the Mediterranean.

A migration meeting between the four EU members was held in Malta on Monday. The meeting was mediated by the Finnish presidency of the Council of the EU. European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Dimitris Avramopoulos was also present for the migration mini-summit.

VALLETTA (Reuters) - The family of murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has protested over the composition of a board set up by the prime minister to conduct an independent public inquiry into whether the government could have prevented the killing.

Caruana Galizia, an anti-corruption journalist, was killed by a car bomb outside her home on Oct. 16, 2017.

Three men have been charged with the murder and are due to stand trial, but the police are continuing their investigations to establish who the real mastermind was, and the motive.

VALLETTA, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Armed Forces of Malta brought in 73 migrants who were rescued off a rubber dinghy in the Maltese search and rescue region on Monday afternoon.

The migrants were brought in on board the Armed Forces of Malta's patrol boat, P24, at around 4:00 p.m. to the army's naval base in Hay Wharf, Floriana.

This was the first group rescued after the Armed Forces coordinated and conducted two separate rescue operations in the country's search and rescue region. A second group is expected to arrive later on Monday.