Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/995828
WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT WEDNESDAY EDITION €1.00 Newspaper post EDITORIAL • PAGE 9 WEDNESDAY • 20 JUNE 2018 • ISSUE 592 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY NEWS Three new magistrates, judges to be sworn in NEWS Good news for Maltese YouTubers PAGE 5 PAGE 3 JAMES DEBONO IN a third change to plans in a week government has announced that only 15 Aleppo pine trees will be uproot- ed in the stretch of road between the Our Lady of Victories Chapel and the Saqqajja roundabout – down from 76 as proposed on Saturday. Following the public uproar at the proposed uprooting of a large number of mature Aleppo pine trees, a govern- ment spokesperson told MaltaToday yesterday afternoon that only 15 of these trees will be uprooted. Official plans submitted by Trans- port Malta on Saturday, and accessible on the Planning Authority's website, showed 76 Aleppo pine trees ear- marked for uprooting on the stretch of road between the Pit Stop roundabout and the Saqqajja junction. The whole project, as proposed till Saturday, would have resulted in the uproot- ing of approximately 135 Aleppo pine trees along the whole stretch between Mriehel and the Saqqajja junction. But the government spokesperson described earlier plans as preliminary. MASSIMO COSTA THE government's pro- posed changes to the Em- bryo Protection Act have been voted into law, as MPs voted for the amend- ments after the IVF Bill's Third reading, with 34 votes in favour and 27 against. The Opposition leader re-confirmed, before the vote was taken, that he was granting his MPs a free vote. Government Min- isters Carmelo Abela and Helena Dalli, and govern- ment MP Edward Zam- mit Lewis were absent, as were Nationalist MPs Toni Bezzina and Clyde Puli. Upon leaving parliament, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he was satis- fied that the government had delivered yet another of the Labour Party's elec- toral commitments. "We have done away with discriminating against gay couples and older women," he said. "We continue to take the decisions neces- sary to implement our manifesto." He thanked deputy prime minister Chris Fearne, who spearheaded the amendments, and all those – on both sides of the divide – who con- tributed to the debate surrounding the amend- ments. IVF amendments voted into law PGS 6 & 7 PAGE 6 ONLY 15 TREES TO BE UPROOTED ON RABAT ROAD