News in Brief (2022-03-29)

Malta's PM sworn in after landslide election win

VALLETTA, Mar 28: Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela was sworn in Monday following a landslide victory in weekend elections that delivered his Labour party a third term in government. Labour won 55.11 per cent of the vote, final results showed-a bigger win than in 2017 or 2013 despite low turnout and the legacy of scandal over the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. It was the first electoral test for Abela, a 44-year-old lawyer, since he took the helm of the tiny Mediterranean island nation in January 2020 following a Labour party vote. — AFP

Jordan’s king lands in West Bank on rare trip to meet Abbas

RAMALLAH, Mar 28: Jordan's King Abdullah II landed in Ramallah on Monday to meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, in his first trip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank since 2017, Abbas's office said. Abdullah's visit comes as foreign ministers from four Arab states joined an unprecedented meeting hosted in Israel, a gathering Israel hailed as "historic", following a series of normalisation agreements last year, which angered the Palestinians. — AFP

Will Smith hits Chris Rock after joke about his wife, Jada

CALIFORNIA, Mar 28: In an apparently unscripted moment that stunned viewers and audience members alike, Will Smith strode onstage and hit Chris Rock in the face after the comedian made a joke about the actor's wife while presenting the best documentary award at the Oscars. Rock joked that Smith's wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, was in "GI Jane 2," seemingly a reference to her short-cropped hair. Pinkett Smith has said she has alopecia, a condition that leads to hair loss. — Reuters