The Louvre Museum in Paris is evacuating all visitors and staff and closing early Saturday because it received a written threat. It said the move was linked to the government's decision to put France on high alert after a fatal school stabbing by a suspected extremist.

The Louvre communication service said no one has been hurt and no incident has been reported. Paris police said verifications in the museum are underway. Police officers cordoned off the area as tourists and other visitors streamed out of the museum.

The French government raised the threat alert level and is deploying 7,000 troops to increase security after Friday's school attack. The government is also concerned about fallout in France from the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Louvre, home to masterpieces such as the Mona Lisa, welcomes between 30,000 and 40,000 visitors per day.

Just weeks after expressing serious concerns about the impact of the St John’s Cathedral Foundation museum extension works, UNESCO has issued a report voicing several concerns regarding Malta’s lack of respect for UNESCO guidelines regarding Valletta’s UNESCO World Heritage Site status, following its Riyadh convention three weeks ago.

These concerns stem from reports by concerned organisations, including Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) that has been campaigning about damaging developments both within Valletta and around its harbours, especially Manoel Island.  

In a statement Friday, the Ministry for National Heritage said that Valletta’s status as a UNESCO World Heritage site is not at risk. The Ministry also denied allegations that the Maltese government has failed to carry out the necessary work to preserve this prestigious title.

But in a statement Saturday, FAA said that UNESCO highlights projects that may have an impact on Valletta’s Outstanding Universal Value, by which UNESCO rates areas meriting the status of World Heritage Sites. UNESCO lists the extension of the Grand Hotel Excelsior, the construction of a new six-storey concrete façade at Marsamxett, (Mattia Preti House) and rooftop additions in Valletta as potential threats to Valletta’s World Heritage status.

On 12 July 2023, UNESCO passed on reports on two issues to the authorities, namely works for the new St John’s Co-Cathedral museum and the increased commercial development in Valletta’s strategic view corridors. In its conclusions, UNESCO advised the Maltese Galsovernment to urgently complete the property management plan which has been pending for years, as well as the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’ to address the issue of tall buildings in Valletta and its wider setting, and to conduct Heritage Impact Assessments for all future major restorations or new construction within Valletta. FAA maintains that the Views and Vistas Analysis should also include developments like the Gzira Lido and the Capitanerie, that obstruct the public’s views of Valletta’s bastions from the Ta’ Xbiex and Gzira promenade. Importantly, the UNESCO 2017 Advisory mission also recommended that Malta should to promote high quality new, sympathetic design in Valletta, rather than permitting façadism and pseudo-historicism.

UNESCO noted that in the proposed redevelopment of Manoel Island in the immediate vicinity of Valletta, the masterplan was approved before the completion of the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’ and suggested that the authorities should ensure that the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’ is finalised before the masterplan is approved, an issue that FAA raised repeatedly in its objections and appeals re Manoel Island

According to FAA, UNESCO noted that the Maltese authorities made no reference to height increases in projects within and in the vicinity of Valletta that could have an impact on its skyline and proposed that the authorities commission Impact Assessments for all projects that may have an impact on the OUV of Valletta, paying particular attention to the indirect and cumulative impacts of the many projects proposed in Valletta and its buffer zone. This relevant to the row of apartment blocks proposed to be built on Manoel Island, as well as to the Stivala Tower on Testaferrata Street.

UNESCO also emphasised that the draft of the Management Plan for Valletta, requested in 2009, needs to be completed, including management of the future buffer zone and the outcomes of the ‘Views and Vistas analysis’.

Given the unabated commercialization of Valletta, FAA questions the Government’s reply to UNESCO’S call to address mass tourism issues “to minimise negative impacts and ensure that benefits from the tourism industry accrue to the restoration, preservation and sustainability of Valletta”. Government claims: “Malta continues to promote itself as a year-round destination internationally, thus minimising the effects of seasonality and ensuring that stakeholders that are active in tourism outside of the core areas can sustain their activity on a year-round basis.” This is belied by the fact that while there has been significant investment in the restoration of Valletta, this is being undermined by the 30% increase in tourists in Valletta, and the incentivising of a rowdy nightclub culture in Valletta. Furthermore, much of MTA’s efforts to promote Malta internationally have focused on attracting hundreds of thousands of young people to attend rock concerts and rave parties, the epitome of mass tourism.

Considering the negative pressures that mass tourism can exert on an old city, UNESCO recommended that a tourism management plan be developed, forming part of Valletta’s overall management system.

In conclusion, UNESCO encouraged Malta to continue to improve the Heritage Impact Assessments process by paying attention to the indirect and cumulative impacts of the many projects under preparation, including for individual adaptive re-use of buildings and large-scale developments both within Valletta and its setting, such as the Evans Building and Manoel Island projects, based on a finalised ‘View and Vista’s analysis’ and Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context, and “to submit details of these projects with their accompanying impact assessments to the World Heritage Centre for review by the Advisory Bodies before any decisions are made that may be difficult to reverse.”

In its repeated emphasis on projects’ impact on Valletta’s Outstanding Universal Value, UNESCO is highlighting how Valletta’s heritage significance is being eroded, and making it clear that Valletta’s status as a World Heritage Site is being undermined. Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar calls for an immediate reversal of the ‘development at all costs approach’ of both the Planning Authority and recently, the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage. This also applies to the Ġgantija World Heritage Site which is being encroached by development all around. Our heritage is not only our past, it is also our future.  Are we to lose our UNESCO World Heritage Sit status through developers’ and politicians’ greed?

Prime Minister Robert Abela said Saturday Malta has taken positive steps forward in the treatment of patients with heart disease, but there needs to be continued support and investment not only in medical infrastructure, but also in the continuous training of health professionals to take care of patients who require medical interventions from the Department of Cardiology.”

Abela was addressing a conference organized by the Maltese Heart Society, which featured an array of health professional in attendance, including some internationally renowned surgeons.

Opening the conference, PM Abela mentioned the investments undertaken towards a number of innovations within the Department of Cardiology that have been financed for the common good through top level care for patients.

In this regard, he remarked how through investments in cardiology theatres, 3,400 patients received quality care. Additionally, he highlighted that last year, approximately 120 people underwent cardiological interventions in their heart valves without the need for more invasive intervention in the vital human organ. Other interventions at Mater Dei hospital meant that Maltese patients did not need to be sent abroad to receive treatment.

In this context, the Prime Minister defined health professionals as crucially important links in saving lives on a daily basis; he thus thanked them for their dedicated work. Abela continued to discuss their important role – paired with investments in more modern technology – to effectively address complex situations and contribute to the country’s mortality rate for people with heart disease reducing by 50%.

Abela said that these statistics should continue improving for the sake of Maltese health, therefore, he spoke in favour of the continuous training of professionals, including nurses and health workers working in the field. He also referenced the “historic” signed collective agreement that is guaranteeing better working conditions for these professionals.

“We will continue to invest in what provides quality of life and which people and communities enjoy, not least within the health sector that is so important for everyone”, PM Abela said.

He also discussed other strategic decisions within this field that contribute to better quality of life and general health, such as investment in favour of open spaces and educational campaigns against obesity that are being done through a holistic spirit and are all contributing to the prevention of heart disease, in his own words.

A worker was seriously injured on Saturday morning when he fell one storey while working in a hotel, the police said.

The accident happened in Dawret il-Qawra, St Paul’s Bay, at 9am.

The worker, a man aged 31 of Zebbug, suffered serious injuries.

Magistrate Victor Axiak is leading an inquiry.

Poland is holding an election Sunday that many view as its most important one since the 1989 vote that toppled communism. At stake are the health of the nation's democracy, its legal stance on LGBTQ+ rights and abortion, and the foreign alliances of a country on NATO's eastern flank that has been a crucial ally to Ukraine.

Political experts say the election will not be fully fair after eight years of governing by a conservative nationalist party that has eroded checks and balances to gain more control over state institutions, including the courts, public media and the electoral process itself.

Opponents of the ruling Law and Justice party fear it could be their last chance to preserve the constitutional system won at great cost through the struggle of many Poles, from former President Lech Walesa to the millions who supported his Solidarity movement.

The election “will decide the future of Poland as a country of liberal democracy, a system that has been a guarantor of Polish success for the last three decades," the editor of the Rzeczpospolita newspaper, Boguslaw Chrabota, wrote in a Friday editorial.

Supporters of the ruling party, however, are afraid that if Law and Justice is voted out, the opposition would take the country in a more liberal direction, including with new laws legalizing abortion and civil unions for same-sex partners.

Women in Poland currently have the right to abortions only in cases of rape or incest, or if there is a threat to their life or health.

“I’m afraid that I’ll wake up after the elections and there will be such a change that, for example, abortion will be promoted (and) LGBT," said civil servant Bozena Zych, 57, after leaving a Catholic church located in a hipster area of Warsaw filled with gay-friendly establishments.

Zych said she went to the Church of the Holiest Savior with a friend to pray for Law and Justice to win a third-straight term. Churches, even Poland's holiest Jasna Gora shrine in Czestochowa, have held prayers in recent weeks for candidates who support Christian values.

Citizens who want a more liberal Poland also mobilized with two massive marches this year. Some interviewed in recent days by The Associated Press became very emotional or fought back tears as they described what they regard as corruption, democratic backsliding, propaganda and bitter divisions in Polish society since Law and Justice came to power in 2015.

“What has happened in Poland is a nightmare,” said Maryla Kowalewska, 75. “Let's hope there is a total change in this country.”

Recent polls show Law and Justice has more support than any other single party, but not enough to reach the majority in Parliament it would need to govern alone. It could be forced to seek support from a far-right party, Confederation, that is hostile to Ukraine.

The polls show that three opposition groups — Civic Coalition, Third Way and New Left — could together get a majority of seats in Parliament. The largest is the centrist Civic Coalition led by Donald Tusk, a former Polish prime minister and former European Union president.

Tusk has vowed to restore the rule of law and to rebuild ties with the EU that became severely strained under Law and Justice. The EU is withholding billions of euros in COVID-19 pandemic recovery funds from Warsaw, citing rule of law violations.

Small shifts for or against the smaller parties could significantly impact what coalitions will be possible after election day.

“So we have this situation of two sides who think that these are very high-stakes elections, two sides very determined and energetic. The emotions are very high, but the playing field is not even,” said Jacek Kucharczyk, the president of the Institute of Public Affairs, a Warsaw-based think tank.

The main reason for the imbalance is Law and Justice’s control of taxpayer-funded state media, which it uses to constantly bash opponents, Kucharczyk argued. But other factors could play a role in the election's outcome, including the party’s political control over the electoral administration and the chamber of the Supreme Court that will validate the election.

There is also a high level of state ownership in the Polish economy, and the ruling party has built up a system of patronage, handing out thousands of jobs and contracts to its loyalists.

Wojciech Przybylski, editor-in-chief of Visegrad Insight, a policy journal focused on Central Europe, said the practice threatens the ability of the middle class to advance socially “without special connections to politics.”

That could in turn could threaten the foundations of the "economic miracle” Poland has experienced in the post-communist era, he said. The country is now the EU's sixth-largest economy.

Law and Justice's nationalist policies also have harmed Poland's relations with key allies. While Poland has been a staunch ally of neighboring Ukraine since Russia invaded and a transit hub for Western weapons, relations chilled over the Ukrainian grain that entered Poland's market.

With tensions rising, and as the Confederation party's numbers grew, Poland's prime minister said his country was no longer sending weapons to Kyiv.

“They quarreled with everyone, with the EU, with NATO, with everyone,” said Ludmila, a 68-year-old who opposes Law and Justice. She wouldn't give her last name, saying that the country was moving in an authoritarian direction and she didn't feel safe doing so. “This is unacceptable, it cannot continue like this."

“Poland will be as lonely as in 1939,” the year World War II broke out, she added.

France will mobilize up to 7,000 soldiers to increase security around the country after a teacher was fatally stabbed and three other people wounded in a school attack by a former student suspected of Islamic radicalization, the president’s office said Saturday.

Some children and personnel returned to the Gambetta-Carnot school in the northern city of Arras as it reopened Saturday morning, after a schoolday attack Friday that rattled France in a context of global tensions over the Israel-Hamas war.

Counterterrorism authorities are investigating the stabbing, and the suspected assailant and several others are in custody, prosecutors said. The suspect is a Chechen who had attended the school and had been under recent surveillance by intelligence services for radicalization.

The government heightened the national threat alert, and President Emmanuel Macron ordered up to 7,000 soldiers deployed by Monday night and until further notice to bolster security and vigilance around France, his office said. The “Attack Emergency” threat posture allows the government to temporarily mobilize the military to protect public places among other measures.

At the school Saturday morning, police stood guard as adults and children trickled in. Classes were canceled, but the school reopened for those who wanted to come together or seek support. One mother said she came with her 17-year-old daughter in a show of defiance against extremism, and to overcome the fear of returning to a site where children were locked down for hours after the stabbing.

The attacker's exact motive remains unclear, and he is reportedly refusing to speak to investigators.

For many in France, the attack echoed the killing of another teacher, Samuel Paty, almost exactly three years ago near his Paris area school. He was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen later killed by police.

The suspect in this week's attack had been under surveillance since the summer on suspicion of Islamic radicalization, French intelligence services told the Associated Press. He was detained Thursday for questioning based on the monitoring of his phone calls in recent days, but investigators found no sign that he was preparing an attack, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

French intelligence suggested a link between the war in the Middle East and the suspect’s decision to attack, the minister said. He said authorities have detained 12 people near schools or places of worship since the Hamas attack on Israel, some of whom were armed and were preparing to act. France has heightened security at hundreds of Jewish sites around the country this week.

The prosecutor said the alleged assailant was a former student there and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic during the attack. Prosecutors are considering charges of terrorism-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.

The dead educator was Dominique Bernard, a French language teacher at the Gambetta-Carnot school, which enrols students ages 11-18. Another teacher and a security guard were in critical condition with wounds from the stabbing, police said. The counterterrorism prosecutor said a cleaning worker was also injured.

Announcing that the school would reopen Saturday, Macron urged the people of France to “stay united.”

“The choice has been made not to give in to terror,” he said. “We must not let anything divide us, and we must remember that schools and the transmission of knowledge are at the heart of this fight against ignorance.”

The Freeport’s shore-to-ship project – which is a project designed to ensure that this commercial port keeps working in its best possible manner – will contribute to better look after the environment while reducing inconvenience for people within its vicinity, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said.

Digging works for gullies have begun and pipes that will provide cable passages to supply the ships’ electrical currents are already being placed.

This project is estimated to cost around €12 million, will be financed through European funding, and is expected to be completed by 2025. The two terminals as well as the South Quays of both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 will be designed in a way for ships to be able to connect to the local electrical grid after switching off their engines and docking.

This means that while cleaner air should be ensured, there should also be less inconvenience for nearby residents through the lessened noise pollution.

“This is another promised Government project that will have various benefits,” Minister Schembri said. The Minister said that these benefits shall primarily be environmental since ships’ emissions are predicted to drastically lessen around the surrounding areas of Birzebbugia Bay. The Lands Minister also referenced the elimination of noise pollution from docked ships that are being worked on at the Freeport.

Minister Schembri also discussed the squaring off project at the Freeport. Through an investment close to €104 million that shall expand the Freeport for the first time in 20 years to provide an additional 30,000m² worth of land, an added guarantee should be placed on providing solid facilities to new ships working with LNG. Furthermore, the Freeport can host these ships further away from the nearby residential zone.

Additional works for this squaring off include extending the north pier located in Terminal 2 by 176 metres and the western pier by 195 metres, as well as the removed possibility of to place cranes on West Quay Terminal 1 – the pier nearest to residents. David Magro – the CEO of the Malta Freeport Corporation – said that the OPS project has begun and is already moving at a good rhythm.

Through an initiative led by SportMalta, thousands of children from Maltese and Gozitan schools united together for various activities with their teachers for National Sports Day.

Apart from this day dedicated to sporty activities, this special day also served as a promotional means to highlight the importance of physical activity for children in schools to develop a strong and healthy lifestyle.

The Minister for Education and Sport, Clifton Grima, said that “Through SportMalta, we are conducting various initiatives to try and push our children to participate in sport and physical activity from a young age throughout the entire year”. Speaking at the San Ġwann Primary School which he visited to see these sporty activities taking place, Minister Grima also discussed his wish for Maltese society as a whole to grow more aware about the importance of physical activity in maintaining a healthy lifestyle – especially through the participation of sport.

SportMalta conducts numerous initiatives tied to promoting sport and physical activity; the #BeActive campaign and the European Week of Sport are two examples of such initiatives that have been conducted over the last month. The Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation is investing in open spaces in schools through a continuous rehabilitation project for sports grounds. This comes with the principal aim to improve sports-related infrastructure in government schools to improve recreation for children as well as to enhance their level of sports/physical education.

Works have been undertaken in the Imrieħel Secondary School and in the Kirkop Primary School to add artificial turf into their respective grounds. These works also fall part of a national policy that is addressing the high obesity rates that currently exist amongst Maltese children with the scope of fostering a physical and sporty lifestyle across the Maltese islands to counter these statistics.

Over the last two years, various projects have been completed in schools with a total investment of around €1 million. Two major projects in this regard have come from the Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools (FTS) through which a sports complex worth €4.6 million was recently inaugurated in the Santa Luċija Secondary School just a few days ago. This €4.6 million investment while a separate €14.3 million investment has also recently been undertaken to develop a new football ground in the Naxxar educational complex.

On the sixth anniversary of the gruesome murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, we now are now seeing how what she discovered would be the beginning of a seemingly endless series of scandals.  From her murder until today, impunity has reared its ugly head more and more, while institutionalized clientelism and nepotism has become the way of government.  Almost every week we hear of cases of people, who without any shame at all, get which they don't deserve. Merit seems to have become just a pipe dream for most.

ADPD-The Green Party speakers addressed these issues when they addressed a news conference near the Great Siege monument in Valletta, which is also serving as a memorial for Daphne Caruana Galizia.

ADPD-The Green Party Deputy Secretary General, Mario Mallia, said that serious accusations about people who took social assistance for disability without deserving it, shows how even the pain of being sick or disabled, has become an instrument of power and nepotism. We saw the small fry being taken to court and being asked to return what they stole. This is a step in the right direction but the state has to show its mettle with the big fish too. There is also a need for political responsibility to be shouldered, resignations are in order.

Mallia also said the Prime Minister's statements after the driving license scandal was made public by The Times of Malta, are of great concern to honest citizens who wish to see good governance and fairness.  It is shameful that the Prime Minister dismisses such a scandal, passing it off as ‘customer care’.

 "We are citizens in a country where everyone is supposed to be the same before the law and everyone should be given the same opportunities.  But Abela institutionalized and gave his blessing to a culture of friends of friends, making it an essential part of his leadership.  He never showed any contrition or ever offered the nation an apology. On the contrary, he kept coming to the defence and apologizing for those who have been pigging out with his blessing.

His position is very much out of synch with the statement he made last Sunday at the General Conference of the Labour Party, that what he does is motivated by socialist principles.  What kind of socialism is this that promotes a system that serves the insider rather than serving citizens with a sense of justice?  The Prime Minister seems to have not yet understood that his duty as Prime Minister is towards everyone and not just towards party hacks. Instead of going on the defensive and considering criticism as an ‘attack’, his job is to fix the flaws of an outdated, dishonest and unfair system.  This would be the smartest way to honour Daphne's memory".

ADPD-The Green Party’s Chairperson Sandra Gauci in her intervention argued that what Daphne Caruana Galizia revealed seems to have been a Pandora's box from which a chain of scandals continue to emerge at a rapid rate, further eroding trust in the institutions.  This regularity seems to be  making people indifferent and give up on politicians and those who represent them in parliament.

 "We ended up in a country with first class and second class citizens where money is the measure between the two.  Meritocracy is dead, buried and forgotten and people have lost faith that one day we will see a spark of justice where everyone is considered the same and given the same opportunities," she said.

 "People of goodwill need to roll up their sleeves and unite to take back their country and get it back on its feet by restoring dignity to the Police force with a leadership that speaks truth to power and truly believes in fairness with everyone.

There is a critical need to put capable people, rather than friends of friends in key positions.  Mediocre leadership is leading to chaos with citizens being robbed twice over with their taxes being used either for the wrong purposes or to fund appointments granted on anything but merit.

 Let's not allow Daphne's death to be in vain," concluded Gauci.

On the eve of the match against Italy in Bari national team coach Michele Marcolini said that the main aim of the national team will be to earn promotion in next year’s UEFA Nations League.

Marcolini spoke to the media at Stadio San Nicola and said that he is aware that Malta is still in search of the first point in this very tough group, but he stressed that Malta’s aim will be promotion in the next edition of the Nations League.

Malta will be without the suspended Steve Borg and the injured Teddy Teuma and Jody Jones, and Marcolini said that these absences are a hard blow for Malta.

However he said that he never tries to find excuses and he is more than pleased with the work being done by his players.

He said that Malta obtained good results in the friendly matches against Luxembourg and Gibraltar and always gave a good account of themselves in the qualifiers.

He said that against Macedonia in Skopje Malta finished on the attack in search of a draw, against Italy we could have taken an early lead at Ta’ Qali, and against Ukraine we only went down with a disputed penalty in the final phase of the match.

Speaking about tomorrow’s match, Marcolini said that this will be a special match for him, facing his nation at Bari, the city in which he played for four seasons, scoring his first goal in Serie A. He said that it will surely be emotional for him in front of a packed stadium, but he said that this will motivate his players more.

Asked by the Italian media how he felt to first face Mancini at Ta’ Qali and then Spalletti in Bari, Marcolini said that he surely did not expect this, like the rest of all present.

However Marcolini stressed that Italy chose a great coach who created something great last season with Napoli.

Asked on the betting scandal that hit players of the Italian national team, mainly Zaniolo and Tonali, Marcolini said that this surely impacted negatively on the group, but he said that the Italians are well known to give their best in difficult situations.

Speaking in yesterday’s press briefing was also defender Enrico Pepe, who like Marcolini is Italian but is now a Malta national team player.

Pepe said that it will be a highly emotional match for him, but he said that he is proud to wear the Malta red jersey.

He said that the Maltese people accepted him well and he feels at home in Malta and always tries to give his best for the national team.

A recently announced reform which has got many people talking is a draft bill which will allow 16- and 17-year-olds to become mayors and deputy mayors at local council level.

Announced on Wednesday, the reform basically means that anyone elected with the most votes, coming from the party with the majority of votes can be elected as mayor or deputy mayor, irrespective of age. Until now, 16- and 17-year-olds could contest but could not be appointed mayors even if they are the candidates who obtain the highest number of votes.

“I have no doubt that history is going to look back at this as a step towards the completion of democracy for this country,” Local Government Minister Owen Bonnici said when announcing the reform.

But the reform itself has not been greeted particularly well: many have questioned whether a person of that age has the maturity in order to take up the role of mayor, while others argued that a 16- or 17-year-old should be experiencing other things at that age rather than dedicating themselves to the world of politics.

The matter is certainly not black or white: there are 16- and 17-year-olds who are likely more mature than some adults 10 or 20 years their senior, and ultimately it is up to the voter to decide whether they want to put their faith in someone of that age.

If enough voters judge that the best person to represent them is a person of that age, then who are we to begrudge their choice?  That is democracy after all.

On an intrinsically sociological level, a suggestion by Steve Zammit Lupi – who serves as an independent councillor in Zebbug – that 16- and 17-year-olds should be enjoying themselves and involving themselves in the community through other means such as band clubs and NGOs, while also studying to reach their ambitions, and travelling around the world and experiencing different cultures and people certainly comes across as good advice.

On a purely legal level, there are a couple of questions to ask about this reform.  The draft reform includes provisions which would allow a mayor who is a minor to sign legal documents, such as contracts and cheques, on the local council's behalf.  But still there are questions to be asked on whether local banks – now more and more renowned for their due diligence procedures – would allow something like this to happen.

A pertinent, more general point, which Zammit Lupi pointed out was that from his conversations with young councillors who were elected at the last elections in 2019, he realised that these councillors are frustrated at the lack of resources and space to work, meaning that they give up and see serving in a local council as not worth the while.

Reforms like this can certainly be boasted about as being trailblazing in Europe for involvement of youths in politics, but reforms which strengthen local councils and make them proper tools for change on a community level would be far more useful to the country as a whole.

Various local council mayors have said – even to The Malta Independent on Sunday in interviews – that they do not have enough resources to be able to bring about anything meaningful.

That is where the focus should be.

A man of Chechen origin who was under surveillance by French security services over suspected Islamic radicalization stabbed a teacher to death at his former high school and wounded three other people Friday in northern France, authorities said.

France raised its threat alert to its highest level, and the attack was being investigated by anti-terrorism prosecutors amid soaring global tensions over the war between Israel and Hamas. It also happened almost three years after another teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded by a radicalized Chechen near a Paris area school.

The suspected attacker had been under surveillance since the summer on suspicion of Islamic radicalization, French intelligence services told The Associated Press. He was detained Thursday for questioning based on the monitoring of his phone calls in recent days, but investigators found no sign that he was preparing an attack, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

’’There was a race against the clock. But there was no threat, no weapon, no indication. We did our our job seriously,″ Darmanin said on TF1 television. French intelligence suggested a link between the war in the Middle East and the suspect’s decision to attack, the minister said.

The suspect, identified by prosecutors as Mohamed M., was reportedly refusing to speak to investigators. Several others also were in custody Friday, national counterterrorism prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said. Police said the suspect’s younger brother was among those held for questioning.

President Emmanuel Macron said France had been “hit once again by the barbarity of Islamist terrorism.”

“Nearly three years to the day after the assassination of Samuel Paty, terrorism has hit a school again and in a context that we’re all aware of,” Macron said at the site of the attack in Arras, a city 115 miles (185 kilometers) north of Paris.

A colleague and a fellow teacher identified the dead educator as Dominique Bernard, a French language teacher at the Gambetta-Carnot school, which enrolls students ages 11-18. The victim “stepped in and probably saved many lives” but two of the wounded — another teacher and a security guard — were fighting for theirs, according to Macron.

Authorities said the third person wounded worked as a cleaner at the school. The prosecutor said the alleged assailant was a former student there and repeatedly shouted “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great” in Arabic during the attack.

Police officer Sliman Hamzi was one of the first on the scene. Hamzi said he was alerted by another officer, rushed to the school and saw a male victim lying on the ground outside the school and the attacker being taken away. He said the victim had his throat slit.

“I’m extremely shocked by what I saw," the officer said. "It was a horrible thing to see this poor man who was killed on the job by a lunatic.”

The National Police force identified the suspect in the attack as a Russian national of Chechen origin who was born in 2003. The French intelligence services told the AP he had been closely watched since the summer with tails and telephone surveillance and was stopped as recently as Thursday for a police check that found no wrongdoing.

Friday’s attack had echoes of Paty’s slaying on Oct 16, 2020 — also a Friday — by an 18-year-old who had become radicalized. Like the suspect in Friday’s stabbings, the earlier attacker had a Chechen background; police shot and killed him.

Martin Doussau, a philosophy teacher at Gambetta-Carnot, said the assailant was armed with two knives and appeared to be hunting specifically for a history teacher. Paty taught history and geography.

“I was chased by the attacker, who ... asked me if I teach history,’” said Doussau, who recounted how he barricaded himself behind a door until police used a stun gun to subdue the attacker. “When he turned around and asked me if I am a history teacher, I immediately thought of Samuel Paty."

The school went into lockdown, and some children were held inside classrooms for hours while distraught parents gathered outside.

“My husband was in tears. There were a lot of people crying, a lot in a state of panic,'' said Céline Bourgeois, whose 15-year-old son, Louis, was inside.

Prosecutors said they were considering charges of terror-related murder and attempted murder against the suspect.

Macron visited the school, stopping for a moment before the blanket-covered body of the teacher, which was in the parking lot in front of the school, then met with students.

He said police thwarted an “attempted attack” in another region of France after the teacher’s fatal stabbing. He did not provide details, but the Interior Ministry said he was referring to a man armed with a knife arrested coming out of a prayer hall in the Yvelines region west of Paris. The man’s motives weren’t immediately clear, police said.

School attacks are rare in France, and the government asked authorities to heighten vigilance at all schools across the country.

The government also increased its threat alert to its highest level Friday, allowing for larger police and military deployments to protect the country. Darmanin said there was no specific threat that prompted the move, but cited calls by extremists to attack amid the Mideast war.

He said authorities have detained 12 people near schools or places of worship since the Hamas attack on Israel last Saturday, some of whom were armed and were preparing to attack. France has heightened security at hundreds of Jewish sites around the country this week.

The suspect's telephone conversations in recent days gave no indication of an impending attack, leading intelligence officers to conclude that the assailant decided suddenly on Friday to act, intelligence services told the AP.

The suspect's father was expelled from France in 2018 for radicalism, the interior minister said.

An older brother is serving a 5-year prison term for terror offences. He was convicted this year of involvement in a plot for an armed attack around the presidential Elysee Palace in Paris that was thwarted by the intelligence services. Other members of the radical Islamist group were also jailed for up to 15 years. He was the group’s only Chechen.

The older brother also was a former pupil at the high school targeted Friday, according to legal records from his trial earlier this year on terror-related charges. Investigation records show that during a school class in 2016 about freedom of expression, the older brother defended a terror attack in 2015 that killed 12 cartoonists at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo.

Friday's attack came amid heightened tensions around the world over Hamas' attack on southern Israel and Israel's blistering military response, which have killed hundreds of civilians on both sides.

Darmanin on Thursday ordered local authorities to ban all pro-Palestinian demonstrations amid a rise in antisemitic acts.

France is estimated to have the world’s third-largest Jewish population after Israel and the U.S., as well as the largest Muslim population in Western Europe.

A moment of silence was held at the opening of a France-Netherlands soccer match Friday night to honor victims of the Israel-Hamas fighting and the slain teacher.

Macron said the school in Arras would reopen as soon as Saturday morning, and he urged the people of France to “stay united.”

“The choice has been made not to give in to terror," he said. “We must not let anything divide us, and we must remember that schools and the transmission of knowledge are at the heart of this fight against ignorance.”

September marked the start of the new precipitation year. However, with just 29.6 mm of rain measured, the month was much drier than the norm (59.2 mm).

September’s wettest day came six days into the month amid a week of unstable weather and produced 11.2 mm of rainfall. On the same day, the Meteorological Office also recorded the month’s strongest wind gust, which blew from the north-northeast at 34 knots. Having maintained an average wind speed of 8 knots, September was windier than expected at this time of year.

Following the instability of September’s first days, fairer weather returned to the delight of those who had not had enough of summer sunshine and high temperatures. The temperature peaked on the nineteenth day at 34°C, exceeding the norm for the maximum temperature by 5.4°C. However, at 25.0°C, September’s mean air temperature was only slightly higher than the norm of 24.9°C.

On the other hand, the sea surface temperature averaged 26.9°C and was 5.7°C higher than the norm.

While September days saw an average of 8.6 hours of daily sunshine, the brightest day clocked as many as 11.7 hours of sunshine and the bleakest, which fell at the beginning of the month, was completely sunless. By the end of September, the Meteorological Office measured 258 hours of sunshine, making the month slightly sunnier than the norm. 

EXPECTED WEATHER

A high-pressure area located over the central Mediterranean is expected to bring about more sunshine and higher-than-average temperatures in the coming days.

Stable weather together with southerly winds, which are expected to blow from Monday, are set to create the perfect conditions for the temperature to rise from a maximum of 27°C on Saturday to 30°C by mid-week.

However, a change in weather, brought about by the cooler northwesterly winds, can be expected at the end of the coming week.

Israel’s military ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians living in Gaza City to evacuate ahead of a feared Israel ground offensive. The directive came Friday on the heels of what the United Nations said was a warning it received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza. Palestinians and some Egyptian officials fear that Israel ultimately hopes to push Gaza’s people out through the southern border with Egypt.

Here's what's happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war:

EGYPTIAN, GERMAN DIPLOMATS MEET TO DISCUSS DETERIORATING SITUATION IN GAZA

CAIRO — Chief diplomats of Egypt and Germany held talks Saturday on the deteriorating “humanitarian and security” situation in Gaza amid ongoing war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups, an Egyptian official said.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock in Cairo for talks that focused on the conflict.

Both officials understand “the necessity of immediate cessation of escalation,” said Ahmed Abu Zaid, spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry.

UNICEF CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE AND HUMANITARIAN ACCESS INTO GAZA

BEIRUT — The U.N. children’s agency is calling for an immediate cease-fire and humanitarian access into the Gaza Strip, saying hundreds of thousands of children and their families have started fleeing northern Gaza.

UNICEF said children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of hostilities and cuts to all supply routes.

“The situation is catastrophic, with unrelenting bombing and a massive increase in the displacement of children and families. There are no safe places,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

UNICEF said its staff have continued to respond to the critical needs of children across the Gaza Strip, but access is becoming increasingly difficult and dangerous.

The agency said UNICEF staff will stay in southern Gaza to continue to provide support for children in need.

HOSPITAL PATIENTS SPENT PART OF THE NIGHT ON THE STREET IN GAZA, MEDICAL AID GROUP SAYS

CAIRO — Patients and medical staff of Al Awda Hospital in Gaza spent part of their night on the street “with bombs landing in close proximity,” following Israel’s orders to evacuate the facility, the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.

Scott Hamilton, a spokesman for the aid group, which is known as MSF, said some of the medical staff and all patients have been moved to another location.

“But the situation remains extremely complicated and chaotic,” he told The Associated Press. “We call on Israel once again to cease the indiscriminate bloodshed, withdraw their ultimatum.”

RAFAH CROSSING TO OPEN TO ALLOW FOREIGNERS TO EXIT, EGYPTIAN OFFICIALS SAY

CAIRO — Egyptian officials said the southern Rafah crossing would open later Saturday to allow foreigners to exit.

UNRWA SAYS DRINKING WATER FOR GAZA IS A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

BEIRUT — The head of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced over the past 12 hours in the Gaza Strip.

Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, warned that the Gaza Strip is running out of clean water and fuel is urgently needed in order to have safe drinking water.

Lazzarini said in statement that more than 2 million people are at risk as water runs out adding that “it has become a matter of life and death.”

Lazzarini said Gaza’s water plant and public water networks have stopped working and people are now forced to use dirty water from wells, increasing risks of waterborne diseases.

“Nearly 1 million people have been displaced in one week alone,” he said adding that at the U.N. base in the southern Gaza Strip — where UNRWA has moved its operations — drinking water is also running out.

He called for lifting the blockade that Israel imposed on Gaza adding that if drinking water is not available, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children, the elderly and women.

EGYPTIAN AND TURKISH LEADERS CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE AND DELIVERY OF AID

CAIRO — President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt on Saturday discussed the war between Israel and Palestinian militant groups in Gaza with Turkey’s chief diplomat.

A statement from the Egyptian presidency said el-Sissi and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan agreed that the ongoing escalation threatens the region’s “stability and security, which requires intensive international efforts to immediately cease violence.”

The statement said el-Sissi and Fidan expressed concerns about Israel’s “collective punishment” of the Palestinians in Gaza and called for the delivery of humanitarian aid to the besieged strip.

US NEGOTIATING FOR THE TEMPORARY REOPENING OF BORDER CROSSING

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — A senior State Department official traveling with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday the U.S. has been trying to negotiate with the Israelis, Egyptians and Qataris on opening the Rafah border crossing to allow foreigners to leave Gaza.

The official said the plan was to open the crossing from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday. But the official said it isn’t clear if Hamas will allow convoys to get there unimpeded.

He said U.S. officials have been reaching out to Americans known to be in Gaza to let them know.

He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the negotiations.

— Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report from Riyadh.

ISRAEL SAYS IT HIT MILITANTS TRYING TO CROSS FROM LEBANON

JERUSALEM — The Israeli army said Saturday that it had struck militants trying to infiltrate Israel from Lebanon.

The Israel Defence Forces released infrared footage on Friday showing what they say are the strikes on militants attempting to cross the Israel border from Lebanon. It was not clear which group the alleged militants belonged to. On Friday, Hezbollah said its fighters fired several rockets at four Israeli positions along the border and the Israeli army said it had attacked Hezbollah targets with drone strikes.

“The Lebanese government bears responsibility for every attack launched from Lebanon towards our sovereignty. Anyone who tries to cross the border into our lands will be killed,” the Israeli military’s Arabic spokesperson, Avichay Adraee, said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

An Israeli shell landed in a gathering of international journalists covering clashes on the border in south Lebanon on Friday, killing Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah and injuring six other journalists.

Israeli military spokesperson Lt. Col. Richard Hecht told The Associated Press Saturday, “We are aware of the incident with the Reuters journalist and we are looking into it.”

He did not confirm that the journalists had been hit by Israeli shells, but called the incident “tragic,” adding, “We’re very sorry for his death.”

JAPAN SENDS EVACUATION PLANES TO STAND BY IN DJIBOUTI

TOKYO — Japan on Saturday dispatched three defense planes to a military base in Djibouti in East Africa to have them on standby in case of the need to airlift Japanese nationals from Israel and Gaza.

The Self-Defense Force’s Joint Staff said a KC-767 transport and refueling plane left the Komaki Air Base in central Japan on Saturday, while two C-2 transport aircraft left Miho Air Base in western Japan.

Japan maintains a base in Djibouti as part of an anti-piracy mission. The three planes are expected to arrive as early as Sunday to be on stand by in case a plan to evacuate Japanese nationals by a charter flight from Tel Aviv to Dubai becomes difficult due to safety reasons.

The government is reportedly considering options to evacuate Japanese nationals by land if necessary.

EGYPT ERECTS BLAST WALLS AT THE CLOSED RAFAH CROSSING

CAIRO — Egyptian authorities have erected “temporary” blast walls on Egypt’s side of the Rafah crossing point with Gaza, two Egyptian officials said.

The crossing point has been closed since earlier this week after Israeli airstrikes hit close to its Palestinian side.

The officials said the blast walls were erected as part of “precautionary measures” Egypt has taken in recent days over growing concerns about a mass exodus of Palestinians.

One of the officials said the walls will be removed once a deal is reached with Israel to spare the crossing from its airstrikes.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Palestinians were fleeing in a mass exodus after Israel’s military told people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.

— Associated Press writer Ashraf Sweilam contributed.

IRANIAN MINISTER MEETS WITH HEZBOLLAH, PROMISES BACKING

BEIRUT — Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian says militant groups in the region are “fully ready” to respond to any move by Israel.

The minister spoke in Beirut at the end of a tour that took him to Syria, Iraq and Lebanon, where Iran enjoys wide influence and where tens of thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed.

Amirabdollahian told reporters in Beirut Saturday that he met Hezbollah’s leadership, adding that “the resistance (Hezbollah) is in excellent condition and in full readiness to respond to criminal acts by the Zionist entity.”

He added that “the resistance will decide if the war will expand or new fronts are to be open.”

During his visit to Beirut, Amirabdollahian met Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and they discussed the war.

“We will do all we can to stop the Zionist crimes in Gaza," Amirabdollahian said.

SUPPLIES FOR GAZA ARRIVED IN EGYPT AWAITING REOPENING OF RAFAH CROSSING, WHO SAYS

CAIRO — A plane carrying medical supplies for Gaza from the United Nations health agency landed Saturday in el-Arish airport in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, awaiting the reopening of the Rafah crossing point. That’s according to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization.

“We’re ready to deploy the supplies as soon as humanitarian access through the crossing is established,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Egypt has designed el-Arish airport to receive supplies from aid agencies and foreign governments to deliver them to Gaza. Rafah was forced to close earlier in the week after Israeli airstrikes hit close its gate on the Palestinian side.

Adhanom also pleaded for Israel to reconsider its decision to evacuate 1.1 million people to the southern part of Gaza, saying, “It will be a human tragedy.”

US AIR FORCE DEPLOYS FIGHTER AIRCRAFT TO MIDDLE EAST

JERUSALEM — The United States Air Force said overnight that it had deployed F-15E fighter aircraft in the Middle East to support its operations backing Israel after Hamas’ unprecedented attack Oct.7.

Already, there’s more attack and support aircraft in the region over tensions with Iran as it enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels.

ORGANIZATION OF ISLAMIC COOPERATION SLAMS ISRAEL'S TREATMENT OF PALESTINIANS

JERUSALEM — The 57-nation Organization of Islamic Cooperation issued a blistering statement Saturday expressing what it describes as “its absolute rejection and condemnation of Israel, the occupying power’s calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people.” The OIC broadly reflects the thinking of Saudi Arabia’s rulers.

The Jeddah, a Saudi Arabia-based organization, also called for humanitarian corridors to be opened into Gaza, which is under an Israeli siege blocking food, water and medicine.

Analysts say U.S.-led negotiations to have the kingdom diplomatically recognize Israel have likely stalled after Hamas’ unprecedented Oct. 7 incursion in Israel and Israel’s devastating military campaign that followed, which have left more than 3,200 dead.

BEIJING — The European Union’s foreign policy chief said Saturday that the Israeli military needs to give more time for 1 million people to evacuate northern Gaza ahead of any military action.

Josep Borrell, speaking to news media during a visit to China, welcomed the warning to evacuate but said the tight time frame could create a humanitarian crisis given the lack of shelters and transportation.

Palestinians were fleeing in a mass exodus after Israel’s military told people to evacuate to the southern part of the besieged territory ahead of an expected ground invasion.

Palestinians scrambled to flee northern Gaza on Saturday after the Israeli military ordered nearly half the population to evacuate south and carried out limited ground forays ahead of an expected land offensive a week after Hamas' bloody, wide-ranging attack into Israel.

Israel renewed calls on social media and in leaflets dropped from the air for some 1 million Gaza residents to move south, while Hamas urged people to stay in their homes. The U.N. and aid groups have said such a rapid exodus would cause untold human suffering, with hospital patients and others unable to relocate.

Families in cars, trucks and donkey carts packed with possessions crowded a main road heading away from Gaza City as Israeli airstrikes continued to hammer the small, besieged territory, where supplies of food, fuel and drinking water were running low because of a complete Israeli siege. Egyptian officials said the southern Rafah crossing would open later Saturday for the first time in days to allow foreigners out.

Israel said Palestinians could travel along two main routes without being harmed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time. It that "hundreds of thousands" of Palestinians had already headed south. But some live up to 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, and many roads were demolished by airstrikes and fuel was running short.

Thousands of people crammed into a U.N.-run school-turned-shelter in Deir al-Balah, a farming town south of the evacuation zone. Many slept outside on the ground without mattresses, or in chairs pulled from classrooms.

“I came here with my children. We slept on the ground. We don’t have a mattress, or clothes,” Howeida al-Zaaneen, 63, who is from the northern town of Beit Hanoun, said. “I want to go back to my home, even if it is destroyed.”

The military said its troops conducted temporary raids into Gaza to battle militants and hunted for traces of some 150 people — including men, women and children — who were abducted during Hamas’ shocking Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel.

The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that over 2,200 people have been killed in the territory, including 724 children and 458 women. The Hamas assault killed more than 1,300 Israelis, most of them civilians, and roughly 1,500 Hamas militants were killed during the fighting, the Israeli government said.

Fearing a mass exodus of Palestinians, Egyptian authorities erected “temporary” blast walls on Egypt’s side of the heavily-guarded Rafah crossing, which has been closed for days because of Israeli airstrikes, two Egyptian officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

ISRAELI RAIDS INTO GAZA

Raids into Gaza on Friday were the first indication that Israeli troops had entered the territory since the military began its round-the-clock bombardment in retaliation for the Hamas massacre. Palestinian militants have fired thousands of rockets into Israel since the fighting erupted.

The military said the ground troops left after conducting the raids.

Israel has called up some 360,000 reserves and massed troops and tanks along the border with Gaza, but no decision has been announced on whether to launch a ground offensive. An assault into densely populated Gaza would likely bring even higher casualties on both sides in brutal house-to-house fighting.

“We will destroy Hamas,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Friday night.

Hamas said Israel’s airstrikes killed 13 hostages, including foreigners. It did not provide their nationalities. The military denied the claim. Hamas and other Palestinian militants hope to trade the hostages for thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

In Israel, residents stunned by the Hamas rampage faced the fright of continual rocket fire out of Gaza. The Israeli public is overwhelmingly in favor of a military offensive, and TV news broadcasts focus heavily on the aftermath of the Hamas attack and make scarce mention of the unfolding crisis in Gaza.

In the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry says 53 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including 16 on Friday. The U.N. says attacks by Israeli settlers have surged there since the Hamas assault.

A MASS EVACUATION

The U.N. said the Israeli military's call for civilians to move south affects 1.1 million people. If carried out, the territory’s entire population would have to cram into the southern half of the 40-kilometer (25-mile) Gaza Strip. And Israel is still carrying out strikes across the territory, including in the south.

Egyptian officials said an agreement was reached to allow foreigners in Gaza to exit the territory by way of Rafah later Saturday. One official said both Israel and Palestinian militant groups had agreed to facilitate the departures and that talks were still underway about getting aid into Gaza through the same crossing. The officials were not authorized to brief journalists and so spoke on condition of anonymity.

Palestinian families in Gaza faced agonizing dilemmas in deciding whether to leave or stay. Israeli strikes have leveled entire city blocks. A siege declared earlier in the week sealed off food, water and medical supplies, and the territory was under a near-total power blackout.

An Israeli military spokesperson, Jonathan Conricus, said the evacuation was aimed at keeping civilians safe and preventing Hamas from using them as human shields. He urged people in the targeted areas to leave immediately and to return “only when we tell them that it is safe to do so.”

“The Palestinian civilians in Gaza are not our enemies. We don’t assess them as such, and we don’t target them as such,” Conricus said. “We are trying to do the right thing.”

The U.S. and Israel's other allies have pledged ironclad support for the war on Hamas. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, however, said Saturday that the Israeli military needed to give people more time to get out of northern Gaza.

Josep Borrell welcomed the evacuation order but said, "You cannot move such a volume of people in (a) short period of time,” noting a lack of shelters and transportation.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said it was impossible to safely transport the wounded from hospitals that were already dealing with high numbers of dead and injured.

Patients and personnel from the Al Awda Hospital in Gaza's far north spent part of their night in the street “with bombs landing in close proximity,” the medical aid group Doctors Without Borders said.

Scott Hamiliton, a spokesperson for the aid group also known as MSF, told The Associated Press that some of the medical staff and all patients were moved to another location, "but the situation remains extremely complicated and chaotic.”

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees said many people were relying on dirty water from wells as desalination plants shut down for lack of fuel.

“Fuel is the only way for people to have safe drinking water,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general said. “If not, people will start dying of severe dehydration, among them young children.”

WHERE TO GO?

Hamas’ media office said airstrikes hit cars in three locations as they headed south from Gaza City, killing 70 people. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.

Two witnesses reported a strike on fleeing cars near Deir el-Balah. Fayza Hamoudi said she and her family were driving from their home in the north when the strike on the road hit some distance ahead and two vehicles burst into flames. A witness from another car on the road gave a similar account.

“Why should we trust that they’re trying to keep us safe?” Hamoudi said, her voice choking. “They are sick.”

Many feared they would be unable to return or would be gradually displaced to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.

More than half of the Palestinians in Gaza are descendants of refugees from the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation, when hundreds of thousands fled or were expelled from what is now Israel. For many, the evacuation order dredged up fears of a second expulsion.

Israeli airstrikes since the Hamas attack already forced at least 423,000 people — nearly 1 in 5 Gaza residents — from their homes as of Thursday, according to the United Nations.

“Where is the sense of security in Gaza? Is this what Hamas is offering us?” said one resident, Tarek Mraish, standing by an avenue as vehicles flowed by.

DBRS Ratings GmbH (DBRS Morningstar) confirmed the Republic of Malta’s (Malta) Long-Term Foreign and Local Currency – Issuer Ratings at A (high). At the same time, DBRS Morningstar confirmed Malta’s Short-Term Foreign and Local Currency – Issuer Ratings at R-1 (middle). The trend on all ratings is Stable.

KEY CREDIT RATING CONSIDERATIONS
The Stable trend reflects DBRS Morningstar's view that the risks to Malta’s credit ratings remain balanced. Malta’s post-pandemic recovery has been strong, outpacing most other European peers, and helped by the government’s support measures and a robust rebound in foreign tourism. The authorities’ decision to freeze retail electricity and fuel prices at pre-Russian invasion levels and the limited pass-through from monetary policy tightening to the local economy have alleviated the adverse economic effects of the invasion. Malta’s growth prospects remain solid despite the near-term slowdown caused by weak external conditions and elevated inflation. On the other hand, Malta’s price-mitigating fiscal measures are expected to slow the pace of fiscal consolidation. The fiscal deficit is expected to remain among the highest in the European Union (EU) during 2022 and 2023, in spite of strong revenue growth and the phase-out of coronavirus support. DBRS Morningstar considers that Malta’s still moderate public debt levels and positive growth dynamics partly mitigate risks stemming from the fiscal outlook. Nevertheless, DBRS Morningstar notes that the government has so far not articulated a clear exit strategy for the untargeted energy subsidies, and a higher-for-longer global energy prices scenario could complicate the fiscal consolidation path.

Malta’s A (high) rating is supported by its euro area membership, moderate level of public debt, solid external position, and Maltese households’ strong financial position. On the other hand, Malta is a small and open economy, and therefore exposed to external demand or confidence shocks. DBRS Morningstar considers that the authorities’ continued commitment to enhance its Anti-Money Laundering/Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) will remain important to protect its reputation and attractiveness to foreign investment after the country’s rapid removal from Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) list of jurisdictions under enhanced monitoring in June 2022. Malta’s public finances are generally sound, but medium- to long-term challenges could stem from its contingent liabilities, changes in international taxation that affect the attractiveness of its tax system to foreign companies, or increases in age-related spending.

“Malta’s growth prospects remain solid” says international credit agency DBRS Morningstar while reaffirming our A (high) rating and rightly concluding that this administration will deliver policy continuity and more institutional reforms. - RA

— Robert Abela (@RobertAbela_MT) October 14, 2023

CREDIT RATING DRIVERS
DBRS Morningstar could upgrade Malta’s ratings if one or a combination of the following occurs: (1) a material improvement in the public debt trajectory driven by a prudent fiscal approach and strong economic performance; or (2) further evidence of increased economic and fiscal resiliency to external shocks. DBRS Morningstar could downgrade Malta’s ratings if one or a combination of the following occurs: (1) a significant deterioration in the public debt trajectory, potentially driven by a prolonged period of fiscal underperformance or weak economic growth; or (2) a reversal of improvements in Malta’s financial crimes and institutional quality reforms.

CREDIT RATING RATIONALE
Malta’s Economic Performance Remains Strong But Growth Is Slowing Amid a Challenging External Environment and High Inflation

After a pandemic-induced GDP contraction of 8.1% in 2020, Malta recorded one of the quickest recoveries in the EU. GDP expanded by 12.3% in 2021 and 6.9% in 2022. The recovery was driven both by domestic demand, which benefitted from the government’s support and the strength of the private sector, as well as a stronger-than-anticipated rebound in foreign tourism last year. The labour market remains tight, with an unemployment rate at 2.5% and employment growth at 4.9% YOY in Q2 2023. Indeed, job growth has been remarkable over the last three years, supported by foreign workers and higher participation rates, especially among female workers. The government decision to freeze energy and fuel prices at pre-invasion levels has shielded Maltese households and firms from the spike in energy prices. Still, the harmonised index of consumer price inflation reached 6.1% in 2022 due to strongly rising import prices and more demand-driven services inflation. Inflation is expected to remain elevated this year and only decline gradually over the next couple of years. It is noteworthy that monetary policy tightening pass-through to domestic lending rates has been limited, especially compared to other euro area member states, contributing to strong domestic demand and lending growth.

The Central Bank of Malta projects GDP growth to decelerate to 3.7% in 2023 and 3.6% in both 2024 and 2025. While growth is expected to significantly outperform most European peers, subdued international developments and the lagged transmission of tight monetary policy are expected to weigh on growth dynamics. On the other hand, recovering purchasing power amid slowing inflation and the inflow of European funds should remain supportive of Malta’s growth outlook. Malta’s structural labour shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks are important limiting factors at this stage. The main downside risks to Malta’s healthy growth prospects are linked to a further weakening of the external backdrop, especially if accompanied by tighter financial conditions.

Support Measures to Deal With the Pandemic and Energy Shocks Have Led to a Deterioration in Malta’s Fiscal Position

Malta’s fiscal performance has deteriorated significantly in recent years. To a large extent, this has been due to the support measures to shield households and firms from the pandemic and the energy/cost-of-living shocks. The fiscal balance shifted from an average surplus of 1.7% of GDP during 2016–19 to an average deficit of 7.6% of GDP during 2020–22. The fiscal deficit is gradually declining but is still among the highest in the EU. The fiscal deficit narrowed to 5.7% of GDP in 2022 from 7.7% in 2021, as the partial removal of COVID-19 support and strong revenue growth more than offset the fiscal cost of energy subsides (2.5% of GDP) and Air Malta’s restructuring efforts (0.9% of GDP). In its latest Pre-Budget Consultation Document 2024, the government projects a deficit of 5.0% of GDP in 2023 and targets a deficit of 4.5% in 2024. The gradual improvement mainly reflects the expectation of lower energy subsidies, in light of the decline of energy prices, and the complete phase out of COVID-19 support. The government estimates that the net budgetary impact of the energy-price measures will be 1.7% of GDP in 2023 and 1.5% of GDP in 2024. This is down from 2.5% of GDP in 2022. The reduction in energy subsidies is expected to be partially offset by higher expenditures, mostly reflecting the effect of inflation on public wages, social security benefits, and intermediate consumption.

The government plans to bring the fiscal deficit below 3.0% of GDP by 2027, one year later than expected in the Update of Stability Programme 2023–26. This plan implies an annual structural adjustment of 0.6 percentage points for the next three years. The main risk to the fiscal outlook is linked to the evolution of the energy subsidies. Additional support measures related to Air Malta’s restructuring to accrue this year appear to be sufficiently provisioned for. Over the medium to long term, revenues from Malta’s citizenship by investment scheme and corporate taxation could come under pressure and require the country to introduce compensatory measures to fill the gap. These factors account for DBRS Morningstar’s negative qualitative adjustment of the Fiscal Management and Policy building block. Finally, while Malta has already extended the working age and contribution periods in its pension system, additional measures might be necessary to contain the long-term costs of age-related spending on these systems.

Malta’s Debt Ratio Deteriorated but Still Leaves Significant Space to Absorb Shocks

The pandemic halted a period of steep reductions in Malta’s public debt-to-GDP ratio. From 2011 to 2019, government debt-to-GDP declined from 70.0% to 40.1%. The support measures to deal with the pandemic and the energy shock resulted in a significant increase in the debt ratio. In 2022, the ratio stood at 52.3%. Nevertheless, DBRS Morningstar notes that the debt ratio is lower than previously anticipated, due to higher real growth and inflation, and remains well below the Maastricht benchmark of 60.0% of GDP and the EU average debt burden of 84.0% of GDP. Malta´s moderate levels of public debt provide valuable space to support the economy if under stress. The government forecasts the debt ratio to gradually increase to 54.5% of GDP in 2024 as the projected primary deficits offset the debt-decreasing impact of the interest-growth differential. The recently announced capital injection to Air Malta could add over 1 percentage points extra to the debt ratio during 2024–25, mostly concentrated in 2024. DBRS Morningstar considers that strengthening the primary balance position will be key to stabilize or decrease the debt ratio in a context of higher interest rates and slower growth. Similar to other euro area economies, Malta’s funding costs for newly issued debt have increased due to higher monetary policy rates and high inflation. Still, the interest burden is expected to remain contained at around 1.3-1.4% of GDP over the next couple years.

Financial System Remains Sound and a Rapid Exit from the Grey List Reduces Reputational Damage

Maltese domestic banks’ strong capital position and ample liquidity levels on aggregate limit financial stability risks. Malta’s policy measures and strong post-pandemic economic recovery have helped mitigate the impact from successive shocks on asset quality. Core banks’ nonperforming loans as a share of total loans continued to improve and remained at a historical low of 2.7% in Q1 2023. The latest stress test performed by Central Bank of Malta (CBM) suggests the domestic banking sector exhibits adequate buffers to absorb substantial losses or liquidity stresses. Still, further inflationary pressures and higher interest rates amid a slowing economy could lead to some deterioration in asset quality going forward. Malta’s healthy labour market and household savings mitigate these risks.

Unlike most of its peers in the euro area, the pass-through of higher key ECB interest rates to lending rates has been limited in Malta thus far and credit growth remains strong, although lending rates to firms have started to pick up. The continuously strong credit growth in mortgage lending is increasing the concentration in the banks’ loan portfolio to the property market. DBRS Morningstar views Malta's macroprudential framework, including its borrower-based measures and the recent introduction of a sectoral systemic risk buffer, as positive, as they should help limit credit to vulnerable borrowers and prevent further accumulation of cyclical and concentration risks, especially linked to the residential property market.

Malta’s significant progress and political commitment to maintaining high standards for AML/CFT in recent years have permitted the country to exit from FATF’s grey list after one year in June 2022. DBRS Morningstar views a continuation of these efforts and commitments as key to limit the reputational impact on banking activities in Malta. Malta’s role as a small financial hub has resulted in the development of a large banking system relative to its domestic economy, including international banks, and domestic noncore banks have few or no linkages to the domestic economy. DBRS Morningstar made a negative qualitative adjustment to the Monetary Policy and Financial Stability building block to reflect its view on Malta’s relative positioning compared with other larger and more sophisticated financial systems in this building block.

The Current Account Position Deteriorated but Overall External Position Remains Sound

Malta’s external accounts are sound. Malta’s current account surplus averaged 4.8% of GDP between 2014 and 2019, with net exports of services (including travel, financial, professional, and gaming) more than offsetting the large deficit in goods and sizable primary income net outflows. The current account surplus narrowed in 2020 and 2021 before shifting to a 3.0% of GDP deficit in 2022. While the travel services balance has recovered strongly since the pandemic slump, one-off investments in the aviation sector both in 2021 and 2022 and swelling energy prices in 2022 have been a drag on the goods balance. DBRS Morningstar notes that large cross-border trade and income flows related to special purpose entities and multinationals, in addition to sizable statistical revisions, could complicate the assessment of current account flows. The CBM expects the current account to swing back to a surplus this year due to base effects related to investment, strong tourism, and lower energy prices, and to stay in the positive territory for 2024 and 2025. From a stock perspective, Malta’s net international investment asset position stood at 76.4% of GDP as of Q2 2023. Gross external indebtedness was high at 1010.3% of GDP as of Q2 2023, but DBRS Morningstar considers the risks to the domestic economy to be limited because this level mainly reflects Malta’s role as an international financial centre and the presence of stable flows of intercompany lending.

Malta Benefits from a Stable Policy Environment but There Is Scope to Strengthen Governance

Malta benefits from a strong national and overarching European policy framework, which has underpinned the country’s economic and public finance improvement since joining the EU. The Worldwide Governance Indicators for Malta are relatively strong and broadly in line with EU averages but compares weakly in terms of Control of Corruption. Malta has made significant progress in improving its governance and institutional framework in recent years, including implementing reforms to the justice system. However, DBRS Morningstar considers there is room for further convergence toward other sovereigns with very strong assessments on the Political Environment building block, including more tangible evidence of enhanced efficiency, and effectiveness in the country’s judiciary and control of corruption. DBRS Morningstar expects Prime Minister Robert Abela (Labour Party) to pursue broad policy continuity and remain committed to improving the country’s institutional and governance framework during the current legislature.

Kylian Mbappé and Cristiano Ronaldo both scored twice to help France and Portugal secure a spot at next year's European Championship with a perfect record in qualifying, with Belgium also clinching a berth in Germany on Friday.

The three European powerhouses all needed a win to qualify for the tournament and their star strikers made sure they got them.

Mbappé's two goals — including a long-range strike for the second — helped secure a 2-1 win over the Netherlands in Amsterdam for a perfect sixth win in Group B.

Mbappé opened the scoring in just the seventh minute when he beat Lutsharel Geertruida to a cross from the right by Jonathan Clauss to volley past Brighton goalkeeper Bert Verbruggen, who was making his debut for the Netherlands.

It was Mbappé’s 41st international goal, drawing him level with France great Michel Platini.

Mbappé doubled the lead in the 53rd minute when he exchanged passes with Adrien Rabiot on the edge of the Netherlands’ penalty area before curling a shot over Verbruggen.

Feyenoord midfielder Quilindschy Hartman, in his first full international appearance, made it 2-1 with 10 minutes to go. It was the first goal France has conceded in the campaign.

Greece moved up to the second place with 12 points after Giakoumakis and Giorgos Masouras scored a goal a piece to beat Ireland 2-0 in Dublin.

The Netherlands remains on nine in third with a game in hand.

The top two teams in each group directly qualify.

Ronaldo's double improved his record tally of international goals to 125 in 202 appearances and led Portugal to a 3-2 win over Slovakia.

Ronaldo converted from the penalty spot in the 29th minute, sending Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dúbravka the wrong way to double the lead to 2-0.

Forward Gonçalo Ramos had given the hosts the lead with a header 11 minutes earlier.

After David Hancko pulled one back for Slovakia in the second half, Ronaldo restored a two-goal advantage off a low cross from Bruno Fernandes that found him at the far post.

He jumped high in his trademark celebration in front of the roaring fans in Porto after his seventh goal in six qualifying games.

Stanislav Lobotka scored the second for Slovakia in the 80th.

With three games to go, Portugal has 100% record after seven straight wins with a 27-2 goal difference, the best-ever performance in a European qualifying campaign. Slovakia was the first team to score against Portugal.

"The objective has been achieved, the first half was extraordinary and in the second we could have scored more goals," Fernandes said. "Being in the European finals is the fulfilment of another dream.”

Slovakia remains on 13 points in second with Luxembourg trailing by two in third after holding Iceland to a 1-1 draw in Reykjavik.

Bosnia won 2-0 at pointless Lichtenstein and is fourth on nine with Iceland another two back.

More than a dozen Serie A players could be implicated in the latest scandal to hit Italian soccer.

Juventus midfielder Nicolò Fagioli and Premier League players Sandro Tonali and Nicolò Zaniolo already have been questioned as part of an investigation by prosecutors in Turin into betting online via unauthorized websites.

Italian media reported Friday that at least another dozen players could be involved, including a teammate of Fagioli at Juventus.

Tonali and Zaniolo were questioned by police at Italy’s training camp ahead of upcoming European Championship qualifying matches. They subsequently left the national team’s headquarters.

All three of the players have had their phones and tablets confiscated. They could face lengthy bans.

Zaniolo, who is on loan at Aston Villa from Galatasaray, has returned to England and reportedly said he played blackjack on a website that he was unaware was illegal but that he has never bet on soccer matches.

Tonali went to Milan to consult with his legal team. The forward joined Newcastle from AC Milan in the offseason.

Roma forward Stephan El Shaarawy was called up to the Italy squad on Friday, two-and-a-half years after he last played for the national team. Italy hosts Malta on Saturday and then visits England three days later.

Italian soccer has been mired in scandal before.

In 2006, the year Italy won its fourth World Cup, the “Calciopoli” refereeing scandal saw Juventus stripped of two Serie A titles and relegated to the second division as punishment.

Shortly before the start of Euro 2012, police carried out dawn raids at the national team's Coverciano training center as part of a wide-ranging betting scandal known as Calcioscommesse.

Italy defender Domenico Criscito was dropped from the squad for the tournament. Antonio Conte, who was Juventus coach at the time, was charged but later acquitted.

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola today visited Israel Friday, the day when Israel’s military ordered hundreds of thousands of civilians living in Gaza City to evacuate ahead of a feared Israel ground offensive.

The directive came on the heels of what the United Nations said was a warning they received from Israel to evacuate 1.1 million people living in northern Gaza within 24 hours.

In a post on social media, Metsola said that she went to Re'im, “where Hamas turned a festival of music into a carnage of murder. The horror is unspeakable,” she wrote.

“I met first responders, many of whom are still here. Terrorists opened fire on revellers, killing, torturing and abducting. We remember those lost and honour their memory,” she said.

The latest Israel-Hamas war has claimed at least 2,800 lives on both sides since Hamas launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Oct. 7.

In Re'im, where Hamas turned a festival of music into a carnage of murder. The horror is unspeakable.

I met first responders, many of whom are still here.

Terrorists opened fire on revellers, killing, torturing and abducting.

We remember those lost and honour their memory. pic.twitter.com/RAz27LI9mA

— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) October 13, 2023