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Associated Press World View: US Capitol Attack, Vaccine Production, Iraq’s Christians

Feb 24, 2021

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AP MORNING WIRE

Good morning. In today’s AP Morning Wire:

  • Capitol defenders cite missed ‘war’ intelligence for deadly siege.
  • US execs say big jump due on vaccine supply; Global vaccination push.
  • No charges against Rochester officers involved in Daniel Prude’s death.
  • Iraq’s struggling Christians hope for boost from papal visit. 
  • Tiger Woods faces hard recovery from serious injuries in car crash.
     

TAMER FAKAHANY
DEPUTY DIRECTOR – GLOBAL NEWS COORDINATION, LONDON

The Rundown

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AP PHOTO/ANDREW HARNIK

US Capitol defenders cite missed intelligence — that extremists could commit ‘war’ — for deadly Jan. 6 breach and siege

Officials in charge of U.S. Capitol security during last month’s deadly insurrection have testified to Congress, blaming missed intelligence that extremists could commit “war” in Washington for their failure to anticipate the violent mob.

The invaders stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, interrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory over Donald Trump. Then-president Trump had urged them to protest the certification at a rally just minutes earlier.

The officials, including the former chief of the Capitol Police, pointed fingers at other federal agencies — and each other — for their failure to defend the building as Trump supporters overwhelmed security barriers, broke windows and doors and sent lawmakers fleeing from the House and Senate chambers. Mary Clare Jalonick, Michael Balsamo and Lisa Mascaro report.

Five people died as a result of the riot, including a Capitol Police officer and a woman who was shot as she tried to enter the House chamber when lawmakers were still inside.

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned under pressure immediately after the attack, and the other officials said they had expected the protests to be like two pro-Trump events in late 2020 that were far less violent. Sund said he hadn’t seen an FBI report that warned of potential violence from extremists citing online posts about a “war.”

VIDEO: Ex-Capitol Police chief says he didn’t see ‘war’ report.

VIDEO: Capitol Police officer says Jan 6 ‘worst of the worst.’

VIDEO: Security officials disagree on Capitol riot help.

VIDEO: U.S. Capitol security examined after attack.

Takeaways from Congress’ first hearing on Capitol riot.

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AP PHOTO/JOHN LOCHER

US drug executives say big jump in vaccine supply is coming soon; Vaccinations surge around the world

COVID-19 vaccine makers told the U.S. Congress to expect a big jump in the delivery of doses over the coming month, and the companies insist they will be able to provide enough shots for most Americans to get inoculated by summer.

By the end of March, Pfizer and Moderna expect to have sent the U.S. government 220 million vaccine doses, up from the roughly 75 million shipped so far, Matthew Perrone and Lauran Neergaard report.

That’s not counting a third vaccine, from Johnson & Johnson, which is expected to get a green light from U.S. regulators soon.

State health officials say demand for inoculations still vastly outstrips the limited weekly shipments sent by the federal government.

Asia Vaccines: Many nations in the Asia-Pacific region are rolling out the first shots for COVID-19 this week. South Korea’s top health experts warned that vaccines will not bring the disease to a quick end and called for continued vigilance in social distancing and mask wearing. South Korea prepares to give its first shots on Friday. In Australia, two elderly people received higher-than-prescribed doses of the Pfizer vaccine. Thailand received the first 200,000 doses of China’s Sinovac vaccine, while in Malaysia, the prime minister got the first injection.

More from Around the  World:

  • Ukraine has received its first shipment of coronavirus vaccine, 500,000 doses of AstraZeneca from India. The delivery raises hopes in a nation where the pandemic has strained a struggling medical system.
  • Senegal launched its vaccination campaign in the capital, Dakar, where the health minister was the first to receive a jab of the Sinopharm vaccine. The West African nation received 200,000 doses of the vaccine from China.
  • The World Bank has threatened to suspend financing for vaccines in Lebanon over violations by members of parliament and others that it said were inoculated without registering in advance.
  • Britain will use its presidency of the Group of Seven economic powers to push for an internationally recognized system of vaccine passports that could allow world travel to resume.

One Good Thing: In 200 stories over this pandemic-ridden year, the AP has celebrated selfless people who have given of themselves in trying times. The stories have warmed hearts of readers around the world. But we’ve also heard from the people spotlighted in the series — launched last March as “One Good Thing” — who say their lives have been profoundly affected by the attention.

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AP PHOTO/TED SHAFFREY

No charges against Rochester officers involved in Daniel Prude’s death; Memorials, lawsuit mark anniversary of Ahmaud Arbery’s shooting death

Police officers who put a hood over the head of Daniel Prude, a mentally distraught Black man, then pressed his naked, handcuffed body against the pavement until he stopped breathing will not face criminal charges after a grand jury declined to indict them.

The 41-year-old’s death last March sparked nightly protests in Rochester, New York, after the video was released nearly six months later.

The video shows Prude handcuffed and naked with a spit hood over his head as an officer pushes his face against the ground. The video of Prude’s fatal encounter with officers was initially withheld by police in part because of concerns it would inflame street demonstrations occurring nationwide over George Floyd’s death.

Lawyers for the seven officers suspended over Prude’s death have said they were strictly following training. The county medical examiner, however, listed the death as a homicide. Michael Hill and Carolyn Thompson report.

Ahmaud Arbery’s death in Georgia: Family and friends of Ahmaud Arbery marked the anniversary of his slaying in Georgia. Arbery’s father led about 100 people last night in a memorial procession to the spot where armed white men chased and shot the 25-year-old Black man on a residential street outside the city of Brunswick on Feb. 23, 2020. Arbery’s mother visited his grave before a church vigil. Hours earlier, she filed a civil lawsuit accusing the men charged in her son’s death and local authorities who first responded to the shooting of violating his civil rights.

President Biden tweeted about Arbery’s death, saying Americans must commit themselves to making the nation safer for people of color. As the three men await trial on murder charges, their lawyers still insist they committed no crimes. Russ Bynum and Angie Wang report.

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Iraq: Papal Visit

Iraq’s struggling Christians hope for a boost from Pope Francis’ visit

“You’re not alone. There’s someone who is thinking of you, who is with you.”

That is the central message of Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq in early March, his first foreign trip since the pandemic and the first ever by a pope to the country, according to the undersecretary of the Vatican’s development office.

Iraq’s Christians are hoping that the historic visit by the pontiff will help boost their community’s existential struggle to survive, Mariam Fam reports.

The country’s Christian population has been dwindling ever since the turmoil that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and occupation. And it was dealt a near-fatal blow in 2014, when Islamic State group militants overran northern Iraq, site of Iraq’s historical Christian heartland.

It was a brutal and murderous rampage — and between that and the long war to drive the extremists out, the area was pulverized. Entire towns of Christians fled IS, most taking refuge in Iraq’s Kurdish autonomous zone in the north and some fleeing abroad.

The Vatican and the pope have often insisted on the need to preserve Iraq’s ancient Christian communities and to create the secure economic and social conditions for those who have left to return.

The Vatican for years has helped coordinate Catholic NGOs providing help in Iraq and other countries, including in education, health care and reconstruction. The aid is non-denominational _ Muslims are helped as well as Christians — and the overall hope is that the area’s delicate interfaith balance can be strengthened.

The pope’s March 5-8 visit will also have a strong interfaith component.

Other Top Stories

Golf superstar Tiger Woods was seriously injured when his SUV crashed into a median and rolled over several times on a steep road in suburban Los Angeles. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s chief medical offer said Woods shattered tibia and fibula bones on his right leg in multiple locations, with additional injuries in the ankle and foot. A statement on his Twitter account says he was awake, responsive and recovering. Authorities had to extricate Woods through the front windshield. They say he’s fortunate to be alive. Authorities say there wasn’t evidence Woods was impaired. The crash happened on a sweeping, downhill stretch of road.

Authorities in Ecuador say 62 people have died in riots at prisons in three cities as a result of fights between rival gangs and an escape attempt. Prisons Director Edmundo Moncayo said 800 police officers were trying to regain control of the facilities. He said two groups were trying to cement “criminal leadership within the detention centers” and that the clashes were precipitated by a police search for weapons on Monday. Moncayo said 33 died at the prison in Cuenca in southern Ecuador, 21 in the Pacific coast city of Guayaquil and eight in the central city of Latacunga.

As arrests of dissidents continue during anti-coup protests across Myanmar, experts are concerned that a new generation of political prisoners will begin to fill the country’s prisons. According to activist groups in Myanmar, 696 people have been arrested in relation to the coup. During previous junta rule that began in 1962 and lasted for decades, political prisoners were common, with thousands jailed. When Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy took power during a period of democratic reform, many political prisoners were freed. But many were also jailed for political activity during the party’s time in power.

The huge parachute used by NASA’s Perseverance rover to land on Mars contained a secret message. Systems engineer Ian Clark used a binary code to spell out “Dare Mighty Things” in the orange and white strips of the 70-foot parachute. He also included the GPS coordinates for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Clark said only about six people knew about the encoded message before Thursday’s landing. Clark says the fabric pattern was mainly for engineers to know how the parachute was oriented during descent. He said it didn’t take long for space fans to figure it out.

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Mexican President Claims His Country Handling COVID Better than US

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday that his country is doing better than the United States in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, even though Mexico’s per capita death rate is probably higher and the country has vaccinated less than 1% of its population.

López Obrador said Tuesday that comparing countries is in “bad taste,” but went on to say “the most powerful nation on earth, our neighbor, did worse than us.”

The Mexican government’s “estimated” death toll from COVID-19 is now about 201,000. The United States death toll is around 500,000, but its population is 2.6 times larger.

Moreover, estimates of excess deaths in Mexico since the start of the pandemic suggest the COVID-19 toll is now well above 220,000. Mexico has administered about 1.7 million vaccine doses, while the U.S. has given 64 million shots.

López Obrador blamed rich countries for “hoarding” vaccines, calling that “totally unfair,” and said “the U.N. has to intervene.”

López Obrador has demanded the United States vaccinate the millions of Mexicans living in the U.S. with or without legal documents; Mexico says its consulates in the United States have even been registered as vaccination centers.

But a photo circulated on social media showed a sign posted last week outside one Mexico City vaccination center stating “No Foreigners Will be Vaccinated.”

Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez said that was a mistake, and promised everyone over 60, foreigners and Mexicans alike, would have access to vaccines.

“That was a photo of one center, and that message was corrected,” Ramírez said.

But Dr. Ruy López Ridaura, the country’s director of disease prevention and control, said the exclusion of foreigners apparently occurred at other sites in the opening weeks of the vaccination effort.

“There may have been some confusion at some operating sites,” López Ridaura said. “It was a communication problem. … The orders are totally clear now, foreigners will also receive their vaccinations.”

López Obrador invited Argentine President Alberto Fernández onstage at his daily morning press conference Tuesday, and the Argentine leader proposed that vaccine companies be forced to cede intellectual property rights and allow anyone to manufacture their shots.

“The idea is to propose at the G20 the need to declare COVID-19 vaccines as ‘global goods,’ so that they cede their intellectual property rights and all countries can freely produce them,” Fernández said.

Mexico is trying to beef up its supply of Pfizer vaccines with Russian and Chinese shots, and late Monday the country received its first shipment of 200,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccines.

Mexico has had over 2 million test-confirmed coronavirus cases, but the low level of testing means the real number is probably several times that amount.

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UN Registers Steep Rise in Colombian Activist Murders

By MANUEL RUEDA

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Slayings of human rights leaders and mass killings of civilians are increasing at a worrying pace in Colombia, according to a United Nations report published on Tuesday.

The annual U.N. report on the human rights situation in Colombia found that violence is “intensifying” in some rural areas where state presence is weak and armed groups are fighting for territorial control following the 2016 demobilization of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group.

According to the U.N. report, at least 133 human rights defenders were murdered in Colombia in 2020, a 23% increase from 2019.

The United Nations also registered 76 massacres across the country last year, which are defined as events in which three or more civilians are executed at once. The number of massacres registered was “almost double” the number in 2019 and was the highest number since 2016, said Juliette de Rivero, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights representative in Colombia.

The report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday by U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

The findings were published as Colombia’s government struggles to diminish violence in rural areas that were once controlled by the FARC and where illegal activities like cocaine trafficking, timber smuggling and wildcat mining still exist.

These areas are now fought over by armed groups that include the National Liberation Army, the Gulf Clan and former FARC rebels who refused to join the 2016 peace deal with Colombia’s government.

The United Nations urged Colombia’s government to increase its presence in these areas to protect civilians and bring down violence.

One way to do that, De Rivero said in a press conference, is by “putting the (2016) peace deal at the center of the government’s response.”

The peace deal includes land titling projects and programs aimed at helping coca growers to substitute their illegal crops for legal crops. It also created a commission aimed at finding solutions to dismantling armed groups.

President Ivan Duque has been a critic of some aspects of the peace deal, including a transitional justice system that he accuses of being too lenient with former rebel commanders. Critics of his government have said that it has been slow at implementing some aspects of the peace deal, including the coca substitution projects.

The United Nations said that Colombia’s government has made progress towards stopping violence against activists by setting up a monitoring system that provides early warnings on threats against human rights defenders. De Rivero also praised a recent initiative by the attorney general’s office to decrease impunity for crimes by taking itinerant judges to remote rural areas.

Nevertheless, the report calls on Colombia to “intensify” efforts to implement the peace deal.

“The growth in assassinations is worrying,” De Rivero said. “The Colombian state has the capacity to adjust its policies to prevent violence.”

The post UN Registers Steep Rise in Colombian Activist Murders appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

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Ecuador: Prison Riots in 3 Cities Leave 62 Dead

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) — Sixty-two inmates have died in riots at prisons in three cities in Ecuador as a result of fights between rival gangs and an escape attempt, authorities said Tuesday.

Prisons Director Edmundo Moncayo said in a news conference that 800 police offices have been helping to regain control of the facilities. Hundreds of officers from tactical units had been deployed since the clashes broke out late Monday.

Moncayo said that two groups were trying to gain “criminal leadership within the detention centers” and that the clashes were precipitated by a search for weapons carried out Monday by police officers.

Photographs and videos on social media show alleged inmates decapitated and dismembered amid pools of blood.

Deadly prison riots have happened relatively frequently in recent years in Ecuador, whose prisons were designed for some 27,000 inmates but house about 38,000.

President Lenín Moreno tweeted that he has ordered the Ministry of Defense “to exercise strict control of weapons, ammunition and explosives in the outer perimeters of prisons” as a result of this week’s riots.

Moncayo said 33 died at the prison in Cuenca in southern Ecuador, 21 in the Pacific coast city of Guayaquil and eight in the central city of Latacunga.

Moncayo said that close to 70% of the country’s prison population lives in the centers where the unrest occurred.

Minister of Government Patricio Pazmiño sent a tweet blaming “the concerted action of criminal organizations to generate violence in the country’s prisons,” but added, “We are managing actions to regain control.”

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Mexico: President Under Fire for Costly Projects

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador applauds during a ceremony marking the 108th anniversary of the Marcha de la Lealtad or March of Loyalty, at Chapultepec Castle in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021.

 

Mexico City- President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador lashed out Monday at audits of some of his pet infrastructure projects by the country’s equivalent of the congressional office of management and budget.

The office said López Obrador had underestimated by billions of dollars the cost of canceling his predecessor’s project to build a new Mexico City airport on a former lakebed.

The auditing office said the cost of canceling construction contracts and paying off bonds backing the project could reach $14.5 billion, compared to López Obrador’s estimate of $4.5 billion.

López Obrador said Monday the audit was “exaggerated.”

“Their data are wrong, I have other facts,” López Obrador said.

Instead of continuing the partly built airport at the east-side suburb of Texcoco, on which at least $2 billion was spent, the president decided to refurbish and expand a military airfield at the Santa Lucia Airbase further north of the capital.

Though the new project is projected to cost $4.1 billion, López Obrador had claimed it represented a cost-saving even considering losses from canceling the Texcoco airport.

López Obrador claims the canceled airport could have cost as much as $15 billion when finished, and would have been subject to flooding and sinking because of the water-logged soil.

Opposition congresswoman Verónica Juárez Piña of the leftist Democratic Revolution Party said “Instead of attacking the ASF (auditing office), he should clear up the irregularities, waste and lack of transparency in the use of government money in practically all areas of his administration, especially for his mega-projects.”

The president has ordered ambitious building projects like a new Gulf coast refinery and a $6.8 billion project to construct a train line that would run some 950 miles (about 1,500 kilometers) in a rough loop around the Yucatan peninsula, connecting beach resorts with Maya ruin sites.

Critics say that few of those projects had appropriate feasibility or environmental impacts studies, and they could become white elephants.

The audit report presented over the weekend also contained harsh criticism of the Maya train project, which is being overseen by the government Fonatur tourism agency and will be run by the army once it is completed in several years.

The audit found that Fonatur “did not demonstrate that it had an operating project or a financial model that would identify the financing plan” for the train.

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Canadian Parliament Votes Unanimously To Recognize China’s Muslim Genocide

Trudeau and cabinet abstain from vote

Jack Beyrer – February 23, 2021 1:05 PM

A resolution in Canada’s parliament to declare China’s human-rights abuses against Uighur Muslims a genocide passed unanimously on Monday.

The 266-0 vote opens the door to further policy action from the Canadian government. Though the resolution received resounding support in parliament, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and most of his cabinet declined to attend the vote. One cabinet member, foreign affairs minister Marc Garneau, abstained on behalf of the government.

Trudeau previously objected to the use of the term “genocide” to describe the mass incarceration and coercive population control ongoing in western China, saying the issue warrants further study.

Both conservative and liberal members of parliament, however, emphasized the need for decisive action to call out China’s human-rights abuses. Canada’s four major political parties all called for sanctions on Chinese Communist Party officials and urged that the 2022 Winter Olympics be moved from Beijing.

Rep. Michael Waltz (R., Fla.) applauded the Canadian parliament’s action but blasted Trudeau for his silence on China. 

“While I’m heartened to see our friends in Canada vote to declare genocide is occurring in Xinjiang and open the door for moving the Olympics, it’s absolutely shameful Prime Minister Trudeau and his cabinet abstained from voting,” Waltz told the Washington Free Beacon. “Trudeau and his government can’t turn a blind eye to what’s taking place in western China and I hope Canada will ultimately participate in boycotting the winter games in Beijing.” 

Waltz was among the first members of Congress to support a boycott of the Olympics over China’s crackdown on human rights and political freedoms, which he announced last week. House Homeland Security Committee ranking member Rep. John Katko (R., N.Y.) joined Waltz’s effort on Monday with his own letter to the Biden administration, demanding swift action to demonstrate that China’s behavior will not stand.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said this month that President Joe Biden currently has no plans to consider a boycott of the 2022 Olympics. Psaki referred reporters to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which said it opposes boycotts because they have proved counterproductive in “effectively addressing global issues.”

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Melissa Caddick used Commonwealth Bank letterheads on fake documents

The ongoing investigation into missing businesswoman Melissa Caddick's financial records has uncovered more allegedly fraudulent documents and falsified transactions.

Ms Caddick disappeared from her home in Dover Heights, in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs on November 12 last year and has not been seen or heard from since.

She is suspected of allegedly stealing "tens of millions" of dollars from potentially hundreds of investment clients.

READ MORE: 'It's time to come home': NSW Police issue plea to Melissa Caddick

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) raided her home as part of an ASIC investigation just days before she disappeared.

In December last year Bruce Gleeson and Daniel Soire Jones Partners were appointed by the Federal Court of Australia as provisional liquidators of her wealth management company, Maliver Pty Ltd.

Mr Gleeson, Principal at the firm said since then "we have been forensically reconstructing the financial affairs of Melissa Caddick" and her company.

"This has involved reviewing thousands of documents, interviewing and corresponding with various individuals including family members, a former employer, former employees and notably many investor creditors," he said today.

READ MORE: 'No trace' of missing Sydney woman Melissa Caddick

Further investigations have found neither Ms Caddick nor her business held a current AFS licence, required under Australian law to provide financial services.

Instead of investing funds from investors, Ms Caddick allegedly transferred money from the business into her personal accounts.

The businesswoman also created false documents using a Commonwealth Bank or CommSec letterhead – documents which the bank has confirmed used fake reference or account numbers.

The review also found Ms Caddick's self-managed super fund was full of fake portfolio statements, contract notes and bank statements so as to inflate the value of assets.

Money was transferred between her company and personal bank accounts, making liquidating her company and redistributing assets to people who are owed money more complex.

"…a majority of assets which Maliver Pty Ltd has an interest in are held in the name of Ms Caddick," Mr Gleeson said.

"There are also assets which are held directly in Ms Caddick's name. Importantly, at this stage, our appointment as receivers to Ms Caddick's property does not authorise us to sell her assets."

Mr Gleeson said there would be a number of difficulties in returning the value of assets to investors who were ripped off by Ms Caddick's operation.

"Currently, our primary role as Receivers has been to investigate and file our report and also secure the assets of Ms Caddick," Mr Gleeson added.

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"There are many complex legal issues in determining ownership of assets and just as importantly how best to proceed to enable the expeditious realisation of assets in both administrations and maximise the return to creditors, particularly the Investor Creditors who have been significantly emotionally and financially impacted."

He described the situation as "unusual" and urged anyone aware of any assets, or believed to be owed money to come forward.

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Man Gets 15 Years for Killing Prominent Maltese Reporter

Juliette Garside

One of three men accused of planting and detonating the car bomb that killed the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in 2017 has pleaded guilty to the crime and been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Vincent Muscat is the first person to be convicted of the killing, which has embroiled Malta’s ruling Labour party in political scandal and led to the resignation of its prime minister in late 2019.

In a day of dramatic developments, police made three new arrests, apprehending the brothers Adrian and Robert Agius, and their associate Jamie Vella, on suspicion of having supplied the bomb used to murder Caruana Galizia.

News of the arrests emerged just after Muscat’s lawyer announced in court that his client was ready to change his plea to guilty.

Muscat, who is believed by police to have acted as a hitman in a contract to kill the journalist, is reported to have negotiated a more lenient sentence in exchange for supplying state prosecutors with information on others involved. He has also been granted a presidential pardon to help shed light on an entirely separate case – the 2015 murder of a lawyer, Carmel Chircop.

Malta’s prime minister, Robert Abela, and his cabinet are understood to have approved the request for Muscat’s pardon on Monday. Chircop died aged 51, killed by gunmen on his way to work. The case has never been solved.

In a statement to the court, a lawyer for Caruana Galizia’s family hailed Muscat’s conviction, saying “this step will begin to lead to full justice”.

The journalist is survived by her widower and three sons. Their lawyer, Jason Azzopardi, said: “A person who has admitted his involvement in the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia has denied her her right to life and has denied her her right to enjoy her family, including her grandchildren who were born after she was killed.

“The macabre murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia was intentional and should have been prevented.”

Muscat has admitted to all six charges in the Caruana Galizia case: wilful homicide, causing an explosion which led to the death of a person, illegal possession of explosives, conspiracy to carry out a crime, promotion of a group intending to carry out criminal acts and participation in such a group. He could be released as early as 2027, with reductions to his sentence for time already served and good behaviour.

Evidence that he provided in hours of police recordings is expected to assist in prosecuting others. Arrested in December 2017, Muscat was charged alongside the brothers George and Alfred Degriorgio, who are still denying any involvement.

A third man, Melvin Theuma, has secured a presidential pardon. He claims to have acted as a middleman, hiring and paying the Degiorgio brothers to carry out the killing on behalf of the Maltese property and energy tycoon Yorgen Fenech.

The businessman, who was one of many targets of Caruana Galizia’s investigations, is currently in custody, charged with masterminding the crime. He denies involvement in the murder.

The guilty plea was entered just after 1.30pm on Tuesday, with Muscat standing in the dock in a heavily guarded courtroom, while the Degiorgio brothers looked on from the benches behind him. Judge Edwina Grima sentenced him to 15 years in prison shortly afterwards, and he was ordered to pay €42,930 (£37,000) in costs to the court.

The Agius brothers, and Vella, were arrested along with 10 others during police raids in December 2017. However, no charges were brought and they were released without charge. Last October, newspapers in Malta reported that a member of Muscat’s family had been offered hush money by Robert Agius and Vella in exchange for his silence. The approach was corroborated on behalf of his client by Muscat’s lawyer Marc Sant, who said the money had been refused.

Just before her death, Caruana Galizia had received a leak consisting of hundreds of thousands of emails and documents from a company partly owned by Fenech, which had secured a lucrative government contract to build a power station.

Police told a hearing in the case against Fenech last August that they believed the journalist was killed for what she was preparing to reveal about the power station, operated by a company called Electrogas.

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