Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1502123
TRUTH IS OF NO COLOUR WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT SUNDAY • 25 JUNE 2023 • ISSUE 1234 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY Get your copy of Architecture & Design magazine Out with MaltaToday Nurses' agreement must be paired with one for ECG techs, union now says PAGE 8 Sandra Gauci's bid to re-invent the Greens is fraught with difficulties PAGES 14 & 15 Obstacle race So close ... Prosecuting satire maltatoday George Vella's no to abortion Bill forced government's hand €1.95 No hiding in the shadows for drug dealers in Paceville MATTHEW FARRUGIA THE heart of Malta's entertainment capital, St George's Street in Paceville, is synonymous with nightclubs, strip clubs and revellers. But it is now also home to a new kind of niche product, that has been corralled by a small organisation of drug dealers during weekdays targeting foreign partygoers: laughing gas. As a MaltaToday investigation shows, with a journalist standing in as an in- terested buyer, the street that spans the distance starting from the Burger King establishment is now a small bazaar for drugs – dealers approach punters with drugs, but now firmly in the main- stream, also nitrous oxide (N2O). PAGE 4 SEE FEATURE ON PAGES 12 & 13 SEE PAGES 2 & 3 • EDITORIAL MT2 Watch the interview on maltatoday.com.mt KURT SANSONE GOVERNMENT had no choice but to amend its own abortion Bill to avoid the embarrassment of having George Vella resign from president, MaltaToday can reveal. Sources close to the president said Vella made it amply clear to the government that he would not sign the Bill if it insisted on the origi- nal wording. Prime Minister Robert Abela did not want the prospect of a presiden- tial resignation, which would have been the first since Malta be- came a republic, on his watch. "It would have been politically embarrassing and caused somewhat of a constitutional crisis, something the Prime Minister was not too keen on," the sources said. The President's insistence led to a revi- sion in the wording of the proposed law, which will now be presented at commit- tee stage in parliament. The revised Bill 28 still allows doctors to terminate a pregnancy if the wom- an's life or health is in danger but qual- ifies the meaning of "grave jeopardy" with reference to health as a circum- stance that "can lead to death". The new changes also introduce the concept of a three-member medi- cal team that will be de- ciding on termination of pregnancies and makes it clear that a viable foe- tus has to be birthed. The changes appear to have garnered broad consensus with sever- al pro-life NGOs and Archbishop Charles Scicluna welcoming them. However, pro- choice groups were left disappointed at the more restrictive drafting to what they had already considered as the bare minimum. They killed his brother, admitted it to police but then walked free. Danny Rosso tells Matthew Vella this is not justice. President George Vella SEAN BUHAGIAR on the current 'threat' to freedom of expression INTERVIEW MT2 PAGES 8 & 9 & ARCHITECTURE DESIGN ISSUE NO. 09 | JUNE 2023 Untitled-2 4 Untitled-2 4 20/06/2023 17:48 20/06/2023 17:48