September 12, 2022
THE MINISTRY FOR ENVIRONMENT, ENERGY AND ENTERPRISE National policy and regulations for the electric vehicle public charging infrastructure launched
Malta’s first national policy and regulations for publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure have been launched during a joint press conference by the Ministry for the Environment, Energy and Enterprise and the Regulator for Energy and Water Services (REWS). The aim is to provide a holistic framework for the operation of publicly accessible electric vehicle charging infrastructure, opening up the market to private operators who wish to invest in this emerging sector. A potential investor would require an authorisation issued by the regulator. This does not affect the operation of charging points installed for own personal use or for the
THE OFFICE OF THE SPEAKER Speaker Farrugia leaves Malta to lead a parliamentary delegation in Istanbul, Turkey
Speaker of the House of Representatives Anġlu Farrugia left Malta to lead a Maltese Parliamentary delegation upon an invitation by the Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye (GNAT), Prof. Dr Mustafa Sentop. The Speaker-led delegation is composed of Government Whip Andy Ellul and MP Ivan Bartolo. Source: Office of the Prime Minister
Bezos Rocket Fails During Liftoff, Only Experiments Aboard
Jeff Bezos’ rocket company suffered its first launch failure Monday. No one was aboard, only science experiments. The Blue Origin rocket veered off course over West Texas about a minute after liftoff. The capsule’s launch abort system immediately kicked in, lifting the craft off the top. Several minutes later, the capsule parachuted onto the remote desert floor. Blue Origin’s launch commentary went silent when the capsule catapulted off the rocket, later announcing: “It appears we’ve experienced an anomaly with today’s flight. This wasn’t planned.” The mishap occurred as the rocket was traveling nearly 700 mph (1,126 kph) at an altitude
EU Regulator Backs Pfizer’s Omicron-Adapted Vaccine Booster
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday recommended a COVID-19 booster designed to combat the currently circulating Omicron BA.4/5 subvariants, days after endorsing a pair of boosters tailored to target the older BA.1 Omicron variant. The latest recommendation is for a so-called bivalent vaccine developed by Pfizer PFE.N and BioNTech 22UAy.DE, which targets BA.4/5 as well as the strain of the virus that originally emerged in China in December 2019 targeted by earlier COVID vaccines. The EMA recommendation is to authorize the retooled booster shots for people aged 12 and above who have received at least primary vaccination against COVID.