Foreign affairs minister moves to deny fake news website report

Foreign affairs minister Carmelo Abela has issued a statement to deny a report on a fake news website, that falsely claimed that Saudi Arabia has ended all ties with Malta for sympathizing with Qatar in the ongoing Gulf crisis.

The report surfaced on Fox-News24.com, a fake news website that has recently also falsely reported the deaths of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and ex-My Chemical Romance guitarist Frank Iero.

It had also once falsely reported that the United States was removing Malta from the countries eligible for its Visa Waiver Program.

Apart from the fake Malta story, it had also published two identical articles claiming that Saudi Arabia has ended ties with Kuwait and Yemen because of their support for Qatar.

Despite the clear illegitimacy of the website, Malta’s new foreign affairs ministry decided to issue a statement to banish any doubts.

“The ministry categorically denies that Saudi Arabia has severed ties with Malta; in fact, these ties remain as strong as ever,” the ministry said. “It also strenuously denies that Minister Carmelo Abela has made the remarks reported b y fox-news24.com, or any remarks whatsoever on the situation concerning Saudi Arabia and Qatar."