A man was stabbed in a brawl in Cospicua early this morning, the police said.
The incident took place in San Gwann t'Ghuxa Street at 1am.
The man was bleeding when members of the Rapid Intervention Unit arrived on site, and he was taken to hospital.
The identity of the person is still to be established, the police said.
A biker was seriously injured yesterday evening after he lost control of the bike he was riding and crashed, the police said.
The 36-year-old Zejtun resident was riding a Ducati Monster when the accident happened in Selmun Road, Mellieha, at 10.30pm.
He was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
41st President of the United States presided over Operation Desert Storm that liberated Kuwait from neighbouring Iraq
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George H.W. Bush, a patrician New Englander whose presidency soared with the coalition victory over Iraq in Kuwait, but then plummeted in the throes of a weak economy that led voters to turn him out of office after a single term, has died. He was 94.
The World War II hero, who also presided during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the final months of the Cold War, which ended in Malta in early December 1989, died late Friday night at his Houston home, said family spokesman Jim McGrath. His wife of more than 70 years, Barbara Bush, died in April 2018.
The son of a senator and father of a president, Bush was the man with the golden resume who rose through the political ranks: from congressman to U.N. ambassador, Republican Party chairman to envoy to China, CIA director to two-term vice president under the hugely popular Ronald Reagan. The 1991 Gulf War stoked his popularity. But Bush would acknowledge that he had trouble articulating "the vision thing," and he was haunted by his decision to break a stern, solemn vow he made to voters: "Read my lips. No new taxes."
He lost his bid for re-election to Bill Clinton in a campaign in which businessman H. Ross Perot took almost 19 percent of the vote as an independent candidate. Still, he lived to see his son, George W., twice elected to the presidency — only the second father-and-son chief executives, following John Adams and John Quincy Adams.
The 43rd president issued a statement Friday following his father's death, saying the elder Bush "was a man of the highest character."
"The entire Bush family is deeply grateful for 41's life and love, for the compassion of those who have cared and prayed for Dad," the statement read.
After his 1992 defeat, George H.W. Bush complained that media-created "myths" gave voters a mistaken impression that he did not identify with the lives of ordinary Americans. He decided he lost because he "just wasn't a good enough communicator."
Once out of office, Bush was content to remain on the sidelines, except for an occasional speech or paid appearance and visits abroad. He backed Clinton on the North American Free Trade Agreement, which had its genesis during his own presidency. He visited the Middle East, where he was revered for his defense of Kuwait. And he returned to China, where he was welcomed as "an old friend" from his days as the U.S. ambassador there.
He later teamed with Clinton to raise tens of millions of dollars for victims of a 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and Hurricane Katrina, which swamped New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in 2005. During their wide-ranging travels, the political odd couple grew close.
"Who would have thought that I would be working with Bill Clinton, of all people?" Bush quipped in October 2005.
In his post-presidency, Bush's popularity rebounded with the growth of his reputation as a fundamentally decent and well-meaning leader who, although he was not a stirring orator or a dreamy visionary, was a steadfast humanitarian. Elected officials and celebrities of both parties publicly expressed their fondness.
After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, Bush quickly began building an international military coalition that included other Arab states. After liberating Kuwait, he rejected suggestions that the U.S. carry the offensive to Baghdad, choosing to end the hostilities a mere 100 hours after the start of the ground war.
"That wasn't our objective," he told The Associated Press in 2011 from his office just a few blocks from his Houston home. "The good thing about it is there was so much less loss of human life than had been predicted and indeed than we might have feared."
But the decisive military defeat did not lead to the regime's downfall, as many in the administration had hoped.
"I miscalculated," acknowledged Bush. His legacy was dogged for years by doubts about the decision not to remove Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi leader was eventually ousted in 2003, in the war led by Bush's son that was followed by a long, bloody insurgency.
George H.W. Bush entered the White House in 1989 with a reputation as a man of indecision and indeterminate views. One newsmagazine suggested he was a "wimp."
But his work-hard, play-hard approach to the presidency won broad public approval. He held more news conferences in most months than Reagan did in most years.
The Iraq crisis of 1990-91 brought out all the skills Bush had honed in a quarter-century of politics and public service.
After winning United Nations support and a green light from a reluctant Congress, Bush unleashed a punishing air war against Iraq and a five-day ground juggernaut that sent Iraqi forces reeling in disarray back to Baghdad. He basked in the biggest outpouring of patriotism and pride in America's military since World War II, and his approval ratings soared to nearly 90 percent.
The other battles he fought as president, including a war on drugs and a crusade to make American children the best educated in the world, were not so decisively won.
He rode into office pledging to make the United States a "kinder, gentler" nation and calling on Americans to volunteer their time for good causes — an effort he said would create "a thousand points of light."
It was Bush's violation of a different pledge, the no-new-taxes promise, that helped sink his bid for a second term. He abandoned the idea in his second year, cutting a deficit-reduction deal that angered many congressional Republicans and contributed to GOP losses in the 1990 midterm elections.
An avid outdoorsman who took Theodore Roosevelt as a model, Bush sought to safeguard the environment and signed the first improvements to the Clean Air Act in more than a decade. It was activism with a Republican cast, allowing polluters to buy others' clean-air credits and giving industry flexibility on how to meet tougher goals on smog.
He also signed the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act to ban workplace discrimination against people with disabilities and require improved access to public places and transportation.
Bush failed to rein in the deficit, which had tripled to $3 trillion under Reagan and galloped ahead by as much as $300 billion a year under Bush, who put his finger on it in his inauguration speech: "We have more will than wallet."
Seven years of economic growth ended in mid-1990, just as the Gulf crisis began to unfold. Bush insisted the recession would be "short and shallow," and lawmakers did not even try to pass a jobs bill or other relief measures.
Bush's true interests lay elsewhere, outside the realm of nettlesome domestic politics. "I love coping with the problems in foreign affairs," he told a child who asked what he liked best about being president.
He operated at times like a one-man State Department, on the phone at dawn with his peers — Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union, Francois Mitterrand of France, Germany's Helmut Kohl.
Communism began to crumble on his watch, with the Berlin Wall coming down, the Warsaw Pact disintegrating and the Soviet satellites falling out of orbit.
He seized leadership of the NATO alliance with a bold and ultimately successful proposal for deep troop and tank cuts in Europe. Huge crowds cheered him on a triumphal tour through Poland and Hungary.
Bush's invasion of Panama in December 1989 was a military precursor of the Gulf War: a quick operation with a resoundingly superior American force. But in Panama, the troops seized dictator Manuel Noriega and brought him back to the United States in chains to stand trial on drug-trafficking charges.
Months after the Gulf War, Washington became engrossed in a different sort of confrontation over one of Bush's nominees to the Supreme Court. Clarence Thomas, a little-known federal appeals court judge, was accused of sexual harassment by a former colleague named Anita Hill. His confirmation hearings exploded into a national spectacle, sparking an intense debate over race, gender and the modern workplace. Thomas was eventually confirmed.
In the closing days of the 1992 campaign, Bush fought the impression that he was distant and disconnected, and he seemed to struggle against the younger, more empathetic Clinton.
During a campaign visit to a grocers' convention, Bush reportedly expressed amazement when shown an electronic checkout scanner. Critics seized on the moment, saying it indicated that the president had become disconnected from voters.
Later at a town-hall style debate, he paused to look at his wristwatch — a seemingly innocent glance that became freighted with deeper meaning because it seemed to reinforce the idea of a bored, impatient incumbent.
In the same debate, Bush became confused by a woman's question about whether the deficit had affected him personally. Clinton, with apparent ease, left his seat, walked to the edge of the stage to address the woman and offered a sympathetic answer.
Bush said the pain of losing in 1992 was eased by the warm reception he received after leaving office.
"I lost in '92 because people still thought the economy was in the tank, that I was out of touch and I didn't understand that," he said in an AP interview shortly before the dedication of his presidential library in 1997. "The economy wasn't in the tank, and I wasn't out of touch, but I lost. I couldn't get through this hue and cry for 'change, change, change' and 'The economy is horrible, still in recession.'
George Herbert Walker Bush was born June 12, 1924, in Milton, Massachusetts, into the New England elite, a world of prep schools, mansions and servants seemingly untouched by the Great Depression.
His father, Prescott Bush, the son of an Ohio steel magnate, made his fortune as an investment banker and later served 10 years as a senator from Connecticut.
George H.W. Bush enlisted in the Navy on his 18th birthday in 1942, right out of prep school. He returned home to marry his 19-year-old sweetheart, Barbara Pierce, daughter of the publisher of McCall's magazine, in January 1945. They were the longest-married presidential couple in U.S. history. She died on April 17, 2018.
Lean and athletic at 6-foot-2, Bush became a war hero while still a teenager. One of the youngest pilots in the Navy, he flew 58 missions off the carrier USS San Jacinto.
He had to ditch one plane in the Pacific and was shot down on Sept. 2, 1944, while completing a bombing run against a Japanese radio tower. An American submarine rescued Bush. His two crewmates perished. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for bravery.
After the war, Bush took just 2½ years to graduate from Yale, then headed west in 1948 to the oil fields of West Texas. Bush and partners helped found Zapata Petroleum Corp. in 1953. Six years later, he moved to Houston and became active in the Republican Party.
In politics, he showed the same commitment he displayed in business, advancing his career through loyalty and subservience.
He was first elected to Congress in 1966 and served two terms. President Richard Nixon appointed him ambassador to the United Nations, and after the 1972 election, named him chairman of the Republican National Committee. Bush struggled to hold the party together as Watergate destroyed the Nixon presidency, then became ambassador to China and CIA chief in the Ford administration.
Bush made his first bid for president in 1980 and won the Iowa caucuses, but Reagan went on to win the nomination.
In the 1988 presidential race, Bush trailed the Democratic nominee, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, by as many as 17 points that summer. He did little to help himself by picking Dan Quayle, a lightly regarded junior senator from Indiana, as a running mate.
But Bush soon became an aggressor, stressing patriotic themes and flailing Dukakis as an out-of-touch liberal. He carried 40 states, becoming the first sitting vice president to be elected president since Martin Van Buren in 1836.
He took office with the humility that was his hallmark.
"Some see leadership as high drama, and the sound of trumpets calling, and sometimes it is that," he said at his inauguration. "But I see history as a book with many pages, and each day we fill a page with acts of hopefulness and meaning. The new breeze blows, a page turns, the story unfolds."
Bush approached old age with gusto, celebrating his 75th and 80th birthdays by skydiving over College Station, Texas, the home of his presidential library. He did it again on his 85th birthday in 2009, parachuting near his oceanfront home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He used his presidential library at Texas A&M University as a base for keeping active in civic life.
He became the patriarch of one of the nation's most prominent political families. In addition to George W. becoming president, another son, Jeb, was elected Florida governor in 1998 and made an unsuccessful run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.
The other Bush children are sons Neil and Marvin and daughter Dorothy Bush LeBlond. Another daughter, Robin, died of leukemia in 1953, a few weeks before her fourth birthday.
Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar (FAA) said today it welcomed the Court's decision to block the demolition of a two-storey house in St Mary Street, Sliema built in 1861.
This application to build a narrow, eight-storey hotel on the site of a 150-year house in St Mary's Street, had been refused by the Planning Authority following an FAA campaign to save the streetscape of one of Sliema's oldest streets. This narrow street is often gridlocked, and another hotel in this row of untouched old houses would have further impacted the quality of life of local residents.
The Planning Tribunal had however overturned the refusal and the development was set to happen. Still, a dogged Court appeal by FAA resulted in the application being finally quashed. The verdict of the Court of Appeal stating that the appeal is well-founded, is a very welcome judgement for a number of reasons: not only will the facade and height of the old house be spared, along with the residents' quality of life, but the various important points upheld by the court may now serve as a precedent to challenge other damaging projects.
St Mary Street is a rarity in that many of its historic buildings have been preserved thanks to the Urban Conservation Area (UCA) policy. However following developers' pressure, the street's UCA protection street was removed. Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar calls for increased protection of Malta's heritage areas, which reflect our national identity and attract tourism. FAA points to pending applications that threaten the unique Palazzo Giannin at Ghaxaq as well as two pending applications to build hotels well over the existing skyline in the Rabat Saqqajja area which would ruin this largely untouched, beautiful heritage zone.
PEN International Executive Director Carles Torner has published an Open Letter to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, expressing the renowned organisation's concerns over the recent promotion of V18 chairman Jason Micallef.
Culture Minister Owen Bonnici said on Thursday that Micallef will chair what will be knbown as the Valletta Cultural Agency once Valletta's European Capital of Culture comes to an end on 15 December.
Torner said PEN International was "profoundly disturbed" over "what appears to be a total lack of accountability from the Maltese authorities with regard to the extremely serious allegations made by PEN International and a wide range of leading international cultural actors" over Micallef's repeated disparaging remarks about assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
PEN International called on the Prime Minister "to reconsider this promotion which sends a strong signal that the Maltese authorities are failing to uphold their obligations to protect freedom of expression and European values".
The letter's full text follows:
"I write to you on behalf of PEN International to express our profound dismay at the promotion of Jason Micallef, Chair of Valletta 2018 to Chair the Valletta Cultural Agency.
"During our meeting with you on 15 October 2018, PEN International raised our profound concerns about the vilification campaigns by authorities, including by members of the Office of the Prime Minister and the chair of Valletta 2018, against assassinated journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia. We received assurances from you that the allegations would be seriously considered. However, rather than censuring Jason Micallef, we have now learned that the Maltese authorities have promoted him to oversee a key cultural agency. We are profoundly disturbed by what appears to be a total lack of accountability from the Maltese authorities with regard to the extremely serious allegations made by PEN International and a wide range of leading international cultural actors. We call on you to reconsider this promotion which sends a strong signal that the Maltese authorities are failing to uphold their obligations to protect freedom of expression and European values."
Background
"As you are aware, on 16 April 2018, the 6 month anniversary of the assassination of investigative journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, PEN International and our membership, led by Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Neil Gaiman and Elif Shafak wrote an open letter to the European Commission to protest the actions of Jason Micallef and to call for his resignation. Since the assassination, Micallef had repeatedly and publicly attacked and ridiculed Daphne Caruana Galizia on social media, ordered the removal of banners calling for justice for her death and called for her temporary memorial to be cleared. We stressed that this is far from appropriate behaviour for an official designated to represent the European Capital of Culture, and in fact serves to further the interests of those trying to prevent an effective and impartial investigation into Caruana Galizia's death.
"European Commission First Vice-President, Frans Timmermans, in his response to PEN's letter stated that anyone representing a European Capital of Culture must 'express him or herself in a manner that reflects the common values on which the EU is based', such as 'democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law'. He went on to say, 'any statements made in this context that go against this spirit are highly regrettable and should, in the Commission's view be avoided.'
"Following PEN's open letter, 72 Members of the European Parliament, and over 100 local artists followed suit in calling for the resignation of Jason Micallef. Leeuwarden, the twin European Capital of Culture, severed all ties with Valletta 2018. The chairman of the jury that selected Valletta as Malta's European Capital of Culture, Manfred Gaulhofer, criticised both Micallef and Artistic Director Mario Philip Azzopardi, saying that their behaviour is "absolutely incompatible with their function as representatives of Valletta as the European Capital of Culture 2018."
"During our meeting with you on 15 October 2018, PEN International once again raised our profound concerns about the vilification campaigns by authorities, including by members of the Office of the Prime Minister and the chair of Valletta 2018, against Caruana Galizia, both before and after her death. You stated, Prime Minister, on the record, that you had held previous serious conversations with Jason Micallef about his statements relating to Daphne Caruana Galizia, with which you stated you did not agree. You went on to say that you understood PEN's protest and the outcry generated by Micallef's behavior, that you would study the situation and that you would consider calling for his resignation as Chair of Valletta 2018.
"We profoundly object to the decision to promote Jason Micallef to lead a permanent leading cultural agency in Malta. This decision appears completely at odds with the concerns you expressed during our meeting with you in October this year. We remind you of Malta's obligations as a European Member State to uphold European values of democracy, freedom of speech and the rule of law and urge to reconsider this appointment."
In the event that the government of Malta does not agree to institute a public inquiry into the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the family's lawyers have recommended the institution of proceedings in the Maltese courts to force the Prime Minister's hand.
The British civil liberties specialist solicitors, Bhatt Murphy of London, has also recommended that the case should also go to the European Court of Human Rights if that fails.
The advice comes following an exchange of correspondence with Malta's Attorney General over the family's request for a public inquiry.
The firm wrote to the Attorney General on Friday: "It is our Opinion that Malta is acting unlawfully in not instituting a Public Inquiry into the circumstances of Ms Caruana Galizia's assassination.
"If it persists in this illegality, we advise that court proceedings are issued in Malta to compel the Prime Minister's compliance with Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights and if necessary thereafter in the European Court of Human Rights."
Moreover, the firm threw cold water on the assertion by the Prime Minister that such an inquiry would overlap with criminal investigations: "Any degree of overlapping evidence can easily be managed by the Chair after its initiation. This is a matter for an independent Chair to manage, nit the very State which falls to be investigated for its potential failures.
"It would be unlawful for Malta to prevent the Chair from undertaking his/her vital role by seeking to block or throw into the long grass the initiation of a public inquiry, on the purported basis that they are protecting the integrity of any criminal proceedings. The Chair can ensure that no prejudice is caused by the Public Inquiry to any parallel criminal proceedings."
Bhatt Murphy lists out four main concerns over developments concerning the case in November as concerns adherence to Article 2: "First, the family were not informed of any breakthroughs or developments in the investigation; learning only of these claims via media reports of the Minister's (Michael Farrugia on Italian television) and of those unnamed 'top investigators' (who are reportedly close to cracking the case once and for all ads reported in one section of the media).
"Second, of the investigation has made progress in this respect it is obviously concerning that such a development would be leaked to the media.
"Third, if the Minister is privy to sensitive information concerning the investigation this raises concerns given that there may be matters to be investigated concerning members of the same cabinet.
"Fourth, understandable questions have been raised regarding the timing of 'sudden news that the police are close to cracking the case' being made public."
The central question
According to the firm, "A central question remains to be answered by the Public Inquiry; whether the Maltese authorities knew or ought to have known of, or indeed posed, a real and immediate risk to Daphne caruana Galizia's life.
"An Article 2 compliant investigation is required to explore that question. It is clearly important not to prejudge the answer, which requires a full, fearless and independent investigation.
"This is precisely why an Article 2 compliant Public Inquiry into whether Ms Caruana Galzia's life could have been saved is so urgently required.
"The stark fact that not a single politician or government official has been interviewed regarding Ms Caruana Galizia's assassination over a year later by either the police of the magistrate underlines the urgent need for the initiation of a Public Inquiry so that its Chair cam ensure that any and all relevant evidence regarding any state complicity or neglect is preserved.
"It is likely that the Inquiry will consider systemic issues regarding the identification, assessment and resolution of risks posed to Ms Caruana Galizia's life, as distinct from issues of criminal responsibility. It is anticipated that some witnesses may overlap between the Public Inquiry and any criminal trial; however, this can easily be addressed by the Chair when deciding how best to sequence the various phases of the inquiry."
When it comes to the prospective Inquiry itself, and how it should relate to the criminal investigation, the firm states, "The recent judgement of the Constitutional Court [in which Assistant Police Commissioner Silvio Valletta - the husband of a minister of cabinet was removed from the investigation] underlines the importance of a Public Inquiry being allowed to preserve evidence relevant to its Terms of Reference, free of police or other state interference. The police or other state agencies must not be allowed to investigate themselves.
"The purpose and Terms of Reference will be distinct from and wider than any criminal trial."
The head of the Zejtun secondary school called in the police after a fake fire arm was found on the school grounds
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The family of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has warned it will open a court case to force government to set up a public inquiry into the murder if their call continues to be ignored
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The Opposition leader maintains pressure on the Auditor General's Electrogas report, calling out Energy Minister Joe Mizzi's silence and accusing the Prime Minister of having his hands tied
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Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has admitted that the Maltese and Gozitan people are being robbed.
Delia said that Muscat, 'with his back against the wall, admitted that the people are not being robbed of the amount the PN calculated through the Electrogas contract, that is €200 million a year, but robbed of €200 million every two years."
The National Audit Office recently concluded its investigation of matters relating to the contracts awarded to ElectroGas Malta Ltd by Enemalta Corporation. It found that energy purchased through the interconnector was cheaper, and that the departure of Gasol plc was in breach of the contractual obligations in force at the time.
The NAO said: "Immediately apparent is the difference in rates, with Delimara 4 costing, on average, €50.64/MWh more than the interconnector when excluding capital costs for the latter. In addition, the NAO identified scope for improvement in terms of when Enemalta decides to effect purchases through the interconnector and to what extent." The report also found other issues with the whole process, including a lack of due diligence during the Request for Proposals stage.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Delia said, with his hands tied behind his back, had to admit that the Maltese people are being robbed. He also said that the Prime Minister's calculations are wrong.
He said that Minister Konrad Mizzi has gone back into hiding. He also said that instead of sending the current energy Minister, Joe Mizzi, to speak to the media about the issue, he sent PL MP Robert Abela and Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg.
Delia highlighted points within the NAO report, saying that some candidates for the project were treated one-way, while others weren't.
Delia highlighted Konrad Mizzi's statements right after the NAO report, when he called it an example of best practice. Delia said that government through that statement is giving a guarantee that the people will continue to be robbed on other contracts. "We were robbed on the Vitals Global Healthcare contract. We were robbed on the American University of Malta contract."
"If the Prime Minister admits that we were robbed €100 million on this contract, that Robert Abela said all was done correctly, and that Minister Konrad Mizzi called it an example of best practice, then we will again be robbed on future contracts."
Delia highlighted that the Team Leader at one of the stages of the Request for Proposals stage was Nexia BT's Managing Director, "the same firm who helped Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri acquire their Panama companies." He also highlighted the 17 Black link, where the said company was listed as a target client of the two Panama companies. 17 Black was found to belong to Yorgen Fenech, a shareholder in Electrogas.
Delia said they need to see how "Mizzi and the others will return what they took from the people."
With €100 million a year, government could have helped the 7,000 people on the verge of poverty, on those needing social housing, and those who are in need of medication who do not receive it freely currently from government.
A man who stole a woman's handbag, escaped from police custody and had cannabis in his possession has had his one year's prison term changed to a suspended sentence after the appeals court took into consideration the fact he was a first-time offender.
Ali Ibrahim Wadi Wadi had 2015 been found guilty by the Magistrates' Court of having, in June of the previous year, stolen a handbag containing various objects, escaped from police custody, refused to give or gave a false version of his particulars to a public official, and of having been in possession of cannabis.
He had been sentenced to a year's imprisonment and fined €1,000.
In his appeal, the man subsequently filed a case before the Court of Appeal, asking it to confirm the guilty verdict for the escape and cannabis possession, but to revoke the verdict for the other two accusations related to theft and the giving of his particulars.
The appellant also asked the court to, in the case that it confirms his guilty verdict, change his sentence to one which is fairer and just for his case.
In the arguments he brought forward, Wadi raised doubts about the credibility of the witness in the case – who was the same person who suffered the theft – on the basis that she had not immediately reported to the police that her handbag was stolen, but had only done so when she had noticed the appellant at her workplace; a night club.
The appellant also pointed out that there were discrepancies in the witness' story on the theft had taken place – which she said was in the common area of her apartment building – as well as a lack of credibility on her having correctly identified the man as the person who stolen from her.
He said the witness was a lap dancer in the night club, and so she could have easily confused the man with another person of Libyan origin, since many different men would have frequented the club the night the theft happened.
The court had to differentiate between what the witness was convinced about, and what were the facts, he argued.
The appellant went on to say that his version of events was not given credibility by the first court, nor was the fact that he had no track record when it came to theft.
The first court had argued that, had the appellant been innocent, he would not have escaped police custody, but, in his appeal, the man argued that the court hadn't considered that he had ran away because he was carrying an illegal substance, cannabis.
Not being able to understand English nor Maltese, when arrested, the appellant had thought it was in connection to drugs, but had he known it was about theft, he would not have escaped, he argued.
The appellant also said that it had not been proven that he had given a false name or refused to give information, and, additionally argued that, given his status as a first-time offender, his sentence could have been more equitable.
Having considered the man's arguments, the Court of Appeal saw that the witness had been consistent regarding the identity of the man who had stolen her handbag, and had also given reasons for her certainty that he was the culprit.
It said it was a "frivolous argument" that she could have confused him with someone else because she met man many in the course of her work.
When he stole from here, she was also able to see his face clearly, the court said, adding that the identification was solid in nature.
Her work as a lap dancer did not diminish her credibility as a witness, it highlighted.
The fact that she didn't report the theft immediately didn't mean she wasn't acting in good faith, in view of the fact that she feared what the appellant might do to her, after he had followed her to the common area of her apartment block.
The court also waived any doubt about the date the crime too place, saying the witness had told the police without hesitation that it had happened on 20 June.
Regarding the appellant's credibility, the appeals court said the man had been inconsistent and evasive with the police.
His clean criminal record, moreover, could not be considered when it came to his responsibility for the crime or his credibility.
The court however, upheld the appellant's argument regarding the accusation of not having given his particulars, finding that when he was demanded this information, he was under arrest, and therefore had the right to remain silent.
It thus freed him of this accusation.
Finally, when it came to the man's argument that his sentencing was not fair, the court decided that – while the punishment imposed by the first court was within the legal parameters – it would be taking into consideration the man's clean criminal record and therefore applying to full effect the section of the criminal code relating to suspended sentences of imprisonment.
It went on to confirm the man's guilty verdict relating to theft, escaping from custody and possession of cannabis, but changed his sentence to one of 12 months in prison suspended for four years.
Lawyers Arthur Azzopardi and Rene Darmanin appeared for the appellant.
Judge Edwina Grima presided.
A man who stole a woman's handbag, escaped from police custody, and had cannabis in his possession has had his one year prison term changed to a suspended sentence
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The court was told that the Great Siege Monument was chosen as a site for the memorial because it was opposite the law courts, not because of what the monument itself symbolised
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The setting up of a spontaneous memorial to slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia at the foot of the Great Siege Monument in Valletta was connected to the monument's location opposite the court building.
This emerged from today's hearing of the case filed by blogger Manuel Delia against Justice Minister Owen Bonnici and cleansing department director-general Ramon Deguara.
The case is being heard by Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon and concerns the removal of banners, flowers and candles from the foot of the Great Siege monument in Valletta, which has become a rallying place since Caruana Galizia's murder.
Notary and civil society activist Robert Aquilina, taking the witness stand, told the court that after the murder, he and others decided to group together and start organising protests, which are still being held on a monthly basis.
"The aim of the protests is to raise a level of consciousness amongst the Maltese people on what we consider to be a crisis," he told the court, "…We have seen delinquency taking over in Malta. This is very serious to us."
He said the protest in front of the Great Siege Monument started spontaneously, but it also had some thinking behind it, in that it was located in front of the law courts, and was in a public place.
"But if the monument were somewhere else, we would still have protested in front of the law courts," he said.
He later went on to clarify that the symbolisation of the monument also did not conflict with the message of the protestors.
But if the monument were about something which was incompatible with the protesters' message, they would not have created the memorial before it.
Asked by Justice Zammit McKeon when the activists planned their memorial protest to end, Aquilina said no specific date had been determined.
"Our protest will stop once what we are protesting about happens– that justice is done in connection with the Caruana Galizia murder, and secondly that the very serious allegations made by the journalist about government officials are investigated."
Maria Grazia Cassar, Din l-Art Helwa president, was next to give testimony. She told the court that her organisation was responsible for identifying monuments in need of restoration and engaging people to carry out the work.
She said that in 2010 they had been charged with coordinating the restoration of the Great Siege Monument. Amongst the work done at the time was a cleansing of the monument, the removal of biological growth and the application of anti-corrosion coating.
Asked by the judge whether any restoration work had taken place after 2010, Cassar said she wasn't aware of any.
She said that, after flowers and candles started being placed on the monument, she had commented that these objects would, in Din l-Art Helwa's opinion, not cause any damage to the monument itself.
"This is because the flowers were placed on the monument's base not on the structure itself. Flowers are often placed on monuments."
"Would it make a difference if the flowers are only placed on certain occasions, or if they are a permanent fixture, in terms of causing any damage?" the judge asked.
"No, I don't think so, because the objects are being placed on its plinth," Cassar replied.
Lawyer Chris Cilia, appearing for the cleansing department, asked in Din l-Art Helwa, had, in the course of the NGOs bi-weekly committee meetings, ever discussed taking up an official position regarding the memorial, with Cassar saying she wasn't sure about this.
"I discussed it on the phone with my colleagues. I probably mentioned it in the meetings, but I have to check."
Pressed on whether the NGO felt the need to discuss the monument, she said she couldn't remember if the matter was talked about during the meetings.
The case was adjourned to 14 January.
Manuel Delia affidavit
The court today also received an affidavit submitted by Delia – who wasn't present in court – where he detailed the sequence of events related to the makeshift memorial to Caruana Galizia, starting from when flowers and photos where first placed in front of the Great Siege monument in Valletta by the murdered journalist's sons the day after she was killed in a car bomb explosion.
He recounted the number of times when the memorial was removed, including describing having written to the Police Commissioner informing him of an incident where government workers had removed a banner and other objects from the memorial.
In the affidavit, Delia went on to say that the memorial had been created spontaneously during a "severely painful and emotional time", immediately after the assassination.
Delia said that many people saw in the site a way for them to protest without being at risk of any consequences. "These are people who are afraid to speak up in public or to be seen attending protests."
The mourning aspect of the memorial forms only a small element of the protest he said. The protest is necessary for civil reasons: the need for justice to take place, the need for journalists to be allowed to do their jobs freely, and the need for the institutions to act when such journalists uncover corruption.
"These demands need to be made in a space open to the public," he emphasised.
He highlighted that the Great Siege Monument itself wasn't of particular relevance to the protest, despite the discussions which had taken place about the link between what it symbolises, and the protestors' demands that the rule of law be upheld.
Delia, however, confirmed what Aquilina said in his testimony, underlining that the location of the monument and its centrality was of relevance.
"The fact that is it in front of the law court is fundamental," he said.
The blogger also drew parallels between the memorial in Valletta and the one set up on the bridge close to the Kremlin in Moscow, demanding justice for the 2015 killing of Russian anti-government politician Boris Nemtsov. "Here, too, the government tried to remove the memorial – 192 times, I'm informed."
Delia said that there wasn't the desire for the protest to be permanent and that those involved were impatient that their requests be satisfied as soon as possible, so that they could continue with their lives.
"But they will not let others, especially those who are the subjects of the protest, to decide when it should end," the affidavit added.
The Malta Developers Association (MDA) has reached agreement today with Transport Malta to allow contractors' vehicles to be used in secondary roads. MDA has been in discussion with TM for several weeks in which it has outlined the challenges being faced by many contractors and workers.
It was agreed that vehicles like lifters, concrete mixers and light cranes, trucks transporting building bricks and other 'wide' vehicles will be allowed to be used before 9.30 a.m. in most secondary roads without obstructing traffic.
Transport Malta next week will be issuing a memo to all local councils outlining this agreement.
"MDA is very grateful that the Chairman of Transport Malta together with his team took note of the difficulties caused to these contractors and we are very satisfied with the outcome and agreement reached," MDA President Sandro Chetcuti concluded.
No woman, including MPs, should accept attacks on her dignity, Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar says, justifying two libel cases she filed on Friday
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The Malta Developers Association (MDA) has reached agreement today with Transport Malta, to allow contractors' vehicles to be used in secondary roads.
MDA has been in discussion with TM for several weeks in which it has outlined the challenges being faced by many contractors and workers.
It was agreed that vehicles like lifters, concrete mixers and light cranes, trucks transporting building bricks and other 'wide' vehicles will be allowed to be used before 9.30 a.m. in most secondary roads without obstructing traffic.
Transport Malta next week will be issuing a memo to all Local Councils outlining this agreement.
"MDA is very grateful that the Chairman of Transport Malta together with his team took note of the difficulties caused to these contractors and we are very satisfied with the outcome and agreement reached," MDA President Sandro Chetcuti concluded.
A new pilot boat, Juliet 1, was inaugurated yesterday by transport minister Ian Borg.
Speaking at the event, Borg said the government will continue strengthening the industry in view of the success being achieved by this sector.
He said that the number of vessels registered under the Act about Merchant Ships, including yachts and fishing boats, had by the end of September reached a figure of more than 8,300 ships, which amount to more than 77 million gross tonnes. This means a growth of 2.5% over December 2017.
When it comes to the registration of superyachts, Malta is also registering very positive results, with almost 800 yachts longer than 24 metres registered under the Malta flag by the end of September, an increase of 9.4% over December of last year. In fact, Malta is nowadays the largest register in Europe and sixth in the world.
The Minister explained that both during 2017 as well as during the first half of 2018, Malta also saw an increase in the number of passengers, cargo and vessels which used or were given some form of service in one of our ports.
With regard to cruise liners, the number of passengers visiting the Maltese islands in 2017 reached a record number of over 790,000, which means more than 100,000 passengers over the previous year, with the number of cruise liners entering Malta in the same year increasing by 9% over the previous year.
"At this point, one continues to understand the importance of everyone involved in our ports, among them these dedicated pilots which form part of the cooperative Malta Maritime Pilots which is celebrating 15 years since being set up," said the Minister.
He stressed the importance of the work done by these pilots, as their guidance, dedication, and experience lead to the possibility of ships or vessels of over 500 gross tonnes and even superyachts which request the service, entering and maneuvering in our ports.
This cooperative has given more than 88,000 pilotage services over the last decade and registered an increase of 27% in services from 2012 to 2017. Borg also said that we must appreciate the dangers that come with this work and expressed his gratefulness towards these pilots.
He also reminded those present of the investment being made by the same cooperative in the boats it purchases, such as the one inaugurated Friday, as well as the €3.5 million investment in a training centre.
Chief Pilot Jesmond Mifsud spoke about the investment undertaken by the Malta Maritime Pilots. He explained that the 15-metre Juliet 1 cost €900,000. It is the eight pilot boat.
Malta's EU Presidency negotiator Robert Micallef has submitted a nomination to contest the election of the European Parliament on behalf of the Labour Party.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was among a number of PL members who encouraged Robert Micallef to contest the election that will be held in May 2019, a press statement read.
"Robert Micallef's nomination to the Labour Party's national executive committee was formally seconded by former Prime Minister and current MEP Alfred Sant, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion Carmelo Abela and the Prime Minister's Special Delegate Joe Debono Grech," the statement read.
"Micallef has extensive working experience in Brussels having worked with EU institutions for over sixteen years. He was employed as an economist with the European Commission and was an adviserto the Group of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament. For a number of years, Robert Micallef was also National Editor for Eurobarometer surveys published by the European Commission."
"During the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, he chaired a number of key European working committees primarily in the area of finance and development and represented the Council in high-level meetings. He led the Council's preparations for the creation of the European External Investment Plan that will mobilize € 44 billion of investments in Africa and the EU's neighbourhood and led political and technical negotiations with the European Parliament on behalf of the Council. The European External Investment Plan was one of the main deliverables of the Maltese EU Presidency"
"Micallef studied politics and economics at Oxford University and European law at the European College in Parma where he was tutored by Professor Mario Monti. He also obtained a Master in Business Administration with a specialization in Technology from Grenoble School of Management in France and a Master in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the oldest graduate school in the US, set up jointly by the universities of Harvard and Tufts."
"For a number of years, he taught political studies and European studies at the University of Malta. Before he began his European career, Micallef was co-founder of the Labour Youth Forum and served as President of the National Youth Council. He was later appointed European Secretary of the International Union of Socialist Youth. Together with Federica Mogherini, now the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Micallef was elected to the leadership board of the European Youth Forum in Brussels. He was also Chairman of the Board of Judges for the Mini European Assembly and served as President of the Ghaqda tal-Malti."
Micallef was a candidate for the Labour Party in the European Parliament elections held in 2004. Micallef is married to Larisa Micallef and they have a Brussels born daughter named Elizabetta.
This year, MCAST celebrates the graduation of 779 students who successfully completed their degrees or diplomas.
The ceremonies are taking place at MCAST Main Campus in Paola on Monday 3, Tuesday 4, Wednesday 5, and Friday 7 December. During the eight ceremonies, 419 students will be conferred with degrees while another 324 will be receiving their Higher National Diploma or other MQF Level 5 certificates. A total of 36 students will also be graduating at a postgraduate level.
Frederick Schembri President MCAST Board of Governors, Joachim James Calleja, MCAST Principal and CEO, Ronald Curmi, MCAST Registrar, Ing Alex Rizzo, Head of University College together with other MCAST officials, will be presenting the certificates to the MCAST graduates.
MCAST staff will join graduates for the Graduation Mass which this year is being held for the first time at the St John's Co-Cathedral Valletta, this evening, Friday 30 November, at 7 p.m.
Graduates, lecturers, Institute Administration and Top Management will assemble at Parliament Square at 6.15pm where they shall proceed in procession to St John's Co-Cathedral. Mass will be presided by Auxiliary Bishop Monsignor Joseph Galea-Curmi.
Three Melita Bullion Coins were launched Friday by the Central Bank of Malta, in collaboration with Lombard Bank.
The coins, which are legal tender in Malta, will be issued in three different weights and denominations – the largest has a face value of €100 and weighs one troy ounce (31.10g), the half-ounce coin (15.55g) will have a face value of €50 and the quarter-ounce coin (7.77g) will have a face value of €25.
The figure featured on the reverse part of the coin is Melita, whilst the emblem of Malta is displayed on the opposite side.
They are struck in 0.999 gold (24 carats) by PAMP S.A. Mint in Switzerland and rank among the purest official bullion coins available worldwide.
The figure of Melita featured on the coins is inspired by that created by the artist Edward Caruana Dingli for a set of postage stamps which were issued shortly after Malta attained self-government in 1921.
Melita is an allegorical female figure, representing Malta, shown wearing a classical helmet and armour and holding a rudder – an allusion to the fact that in 1921, with the new self-government constitution, Malta was perceived as taking control of her destiny.
The coins are certified and housed individually in a sealed card. Each coin will have a unique profile that can be verified using PAMP's innovative VERSICAN bullion security system. Scanning using a smartphone app will authenticate the coin.
Coins may be purchased from the Malta Coin Centre (MCC) e-shop on www.maltacoincentre.com
The launch was addressed by Jesmond Gatt, Chief Officer Banking and Issues at the Central Bank of Malta, and Lombard Bank Chief Executive Officer Joseph Said.
Photos: Luke Zerafa
Today marks the conclusion of the second phase of the Marsa Junction Project, Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg said during an early morning visit to the Marsa project.
He described it as "a project with great importance for our country and a project will which transform the way we look at our country's infrastructure. We are also initiating preparations for the third phase, which will include the building of the flyovers."
"This project, which comes with an investment €70 million will improve essential infrastructure that sees around 8,000 vehicles an hour every day. In total, the second phase of this project included 3 kilometres of new or rebuilt lanes, 6 kilometres of trenches for water, electricity and telecommunication services, 1.2 kilometres of walk-through service culverts for high voltage cables, 1.7 kilometres of rain water catchment system pipes and 400 metres of cycle lanes which will increase during the third phase."
This phase included the rebuilding of Triq il-Gvern Lokali and Triq Ġużé Gatt as well as the widening and rebuilding of Triq Aldo Moro so that it now has ten lanes; a phase which was concluded last night when Infrastructure Malta applied the final layer of asphalt to the northbound Aldo Moro carriageway.
Minister Borg explained how during the work done overnight, around 30 workers used six pavers worked alongside each other to surface the entire carriageway, with around 800 tonnes of asphalt manufactured in three different plants during the same night. Apart from the several layers of hard materials in the foundations beneath the surface, layers of specific material - geotextile and geogrid - were also placed to prolong the lifetime of the road by limiting damages caused by rainwater infiltrating below street level.
Borg said that infrastructural work is no longer limited to the building and surfacing of lanes used by vehicles, and explained how this phase in fact also included the development of pedestrian passages, cycle lanes, safe bus lay-bys and landscaped areas.
"It was a wisely planned phase which led to the saving of time as well as to the limitation of inconveniences, when one considers the great work done where we also had overnight works taking place. I therefore take this opportunity to remind everyone that the roads are empty at night and it is necessary to continue forming a culture where certain works are done at night, even in other sectors," stressed the Minister. He explained how the upcoming days will see the completion of the last few items such as the placing signs and road markings on the new lanes.
Borg looked ahead to the third phase. He explained that Infrastructure Malta has already started infrastructural preparations so that in the coming weeks, work on this phase can begin. It will include the construction of the seven flyover structures instead of the traffic lights junction near the Addolorata Cemetery.
He said that these preparations include a number of temporary lanes in the place of the old factories between Triq Aldo Moro and Triq il-Labour. "Work on these temporary lanes is taking place at a fast pace so that in the coming weeks, these can replace existing lanes in the direction heading towards Paola, where work on the third phase needs to take place. Workers will begin constructing the foundations of the first flyover, which will go from Triq Aldo Moro to Triq Garibaldi."
He also welcomed the contractor who came from Turkey to work on this important phase, as well as his employees, and looked ahead to collaboration towards another productive and efficient phase.
Infrastructure Malta CEO Fredrick Azzopardi gave a technical explanation on the building of the flyovers and the other aspects of the third phase, while he said that the Agency will continue planning and working hard so that this project can continue being implemented in the best way possible.
"The Marsa Junction Projects includes the building of new roads, a system of seven flyovers on different levels, passageways and lanes for walking and cycling, park and ride facilities, landscaped areas and other infrastructure to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of the busiest junction in Malta's road system. The project will drastically reduce travelling times and air pollution caused by traffic congestion by removing the present traffic light system near the Addolorata Cemetery, to be replaced by 12 kilometres of new lanes that lead directly to each of the different directions that connect to one another in this area," a statement read
The Marsa Junction Project is co-financed by the Connecting Europe Facility of the European Union.
Government has announced that there will be 26 new services offered by the public services department, which will be available through mobile apps, responsive websites and more
The 26 services regard intellectual property, business incentives, ARMS, healthcare, education, farmers, voluntary organisations, social services, tax calculations, court and others.
During the official launch of the mservices Principle Permanent Secretary Mario Cutajar said that presently, mservices are used by 90,000 clients every month.
PL MP Rosianne Cutajar has filed two libel cases over personal and defamatory comments by "people close to the PN, particularly the Simon Busuttil faction," the Labour Party said in a statement.
The remarks were passed on the social media, with the MP being called a prostitute.
Cutajar said this was the first time in the eight years she has been in politics that she has had to resort to court action.
Cutajar said she decided to file for libel because there were some who had even tried to justify these insults. She said that, while she believes in freedom of expression, we have to send a message in favour of more dignified discourse. Cutajar said she also felt that, as s duty towards her constituents she could not accept this kind of language at a time when the country is discussing violence and harassment.
The Labour MP said similar comments that had been directed at PN officials had been met with immediate condemnation from the media and other organizations, which was good. But it seemed that this kind of behaviour was more acceptable when it was levelled against members of the Labour Party.
"With this court action I want to send out the message that no women, including those in politics, should ever accept this kind of discourse, which constitutes an attack on their integrity," Cutajar said.
A woman, who has a history of drug abuse, pleaded guilty to a series of thefts from clothes shops
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A woman with a long history of drug abuse has been sentenced to five months in prison after she pleaded guilty to having stolen from a number of clothes shops.
Michelle Wilson, 46, from Zabbar, was accused of having, between September and November 2018, stolen clothes and other objects from Pull and Bear and Bershka outlets.
She was also charged with theft from the New Look and Kiabi shops in November 2018, with having intended to go on to sell the clothes, and with having committed the crimes while under probation.
The woman, who has children ranging in age from and 18 to 26, and who is also a grandmother pleaded guilty to the charged brought against her.
The court, considering the early admission of guilt, decided to, in the circumstances, condemn the accused to a five-month prison term, and recommended that she be kept at the prison's forensic section in order to receive treatment for her drug addiction.
It also placed her under a three-year probation order.
After delivering the sentence, the court had strong and heartfelt words of advice to the woman. "You need to do something about your habit – if not for yourself, for your children," it said.
"Do your grandchildren need a grandma with these problems? You have to make a big effort. You've already ruined half your life. Change, if not for yourself, for your children and grandchildren."
The court said it could see that the woman hadn't had an easy life. "I can see it in your face".
"All I can do is to tell you to try to change your ways. If I don't tell you this, who will? Do you want your grandchildren to see you in prison?" it asked.
Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace presided.
Inspectors Priscilla Caruana Lee and Jeffrey Scicluna prosecuted.
Lawyer Yanika Vidal was legal aid for the accused.
Anti-corruption campaigners say their relationship with Adrian Delia is exactly the same as the one they have with the Prime Minister: Non-existent
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The Occupy Justice movement has lashed out at Opposition Leader, saying that the group's relationship with Adrian Delia is "non-existent."
On Thursday, speaking on TVM's Xtra, Delia said he had a "good relationship" with the group, saying that their criticism did not prevent him from communicating with the people involved.
"Both men have, in the eyes of all the women of #occupyjustice, failed to uphold justice and good governance, and both sit back, at times even taking 'smiley' selfies together, all this while Malta is rotting in corruption," the activists said.
"#occupyjustice was born on the day that the Opposition Leader chose to carry on with the Budget discussions in parliament, instead of walking out in defiance when the government refused to debate the motion on the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The least any citizen of Malta would have expected of a strong Opposition would have, in fact, been to walk out, and only return when the motion was to be debated. It was at that point that we realised that neither the government nor the Opposition were going to defend us, the women and men in the street - for them it was simply a case of business as usual."
"For this reason, as a group of activists led by women, we are united by one factor. We have had enough of a political system that allows politicians and those in authority to act with impunity.
Case in point, as citizens of Malta, if we failed, repeatedly, to show up at a court hearing, we would be found in contempt of court and duly punished, but it seems that those in realms of power are treated differently.
They are accountable to us and they should start behaving in a manner that would honour our Constitution, not make a mockery out of it. They are meant to serve us. We want to live in a fair and equitable society where our institutions function properly without favour."
The group said that, contrary to government "spin", it has no leader, no PR person, and none of its members are involved in partisan politics.
"We all have families and we all work. We are well aware of the risks we are taking. In an attempt to intimidate us, members of #occupyjustice have been identified, isolated and attempts at humiliating us have been made. All this to silence us. Yet we soldier on because we believe that if we sat home in silence, our society will keep on decaying until it is too late to save it. This is our nation, this is our home and we are the people. We deserve better, we expect better, we demand better."
While Malta has made positive strides in treating HIV patients, government embarks on efforts to encourage more people to test for the virus • World AIDS Day marked on 1 December
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A woman, who was yesterday charged with attacking a neighbour with a hammer, was back in court, after she did not abide by her bail conditions
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A woman, who was yesterday charged with attacking a neighbour with a hammer, was back in court today, after she did not abide by her bail conditions.
Charlene Gatt, 33, was accused on Thursday of grievously injuring her female neighbour, threatening her and breaching the peace. She had been further charged with taking up arms against the neighbour and breaching probation.
The court had released her on bail, with one of the conditions having been that she did not go to her St Paul's Bay residence and that she stay in an apartment in Rahal Gdid, with a curfew having been imposed between 7pm to 8am.
Gatt, however, was back in the dock on Friday – charged with breaching the bail conditions – after the police spotted her in the vicinity of her St Paul's Bay home this morning.
The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against her.
The defence requested bail, but the prosecution opposed this on the basis of the serious nature of charges levelled against the accused yesterday, and the fact she had not obeyed the court's bail requirements.
The court denied bail, and the woman was remanded in custody.
She also lost the €10,000 personal guarantee she gave yesterday.
The court went on to recommend to the prison director to ensure the woman receives all the treatment she requires for her problems.
Magistrate Yana Micallef Stafrace presided.
Inspector Spiridione Zammit prosecuted.
Lawyer Yanika Vidal was legal aid for the accused.
At a MEUSAC core meeting in Valletta this morning, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that following a worst case scenario post-Brexit, Malta would want to become the most British-friendly nation within the European Union
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Prime Minister plays down Forum's qualms over 'unacceptable' Public Administration Act as mere misunderstanding
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The comparisons that the National Audit Office drew between the new gas-fired power station and the interconnector were as a result of a "misinterpretation", Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Friday.
Asked about the shortcomings pointed out by the NAO in its report on the new Delimara power station, the Prime Minister explained that this misinterpretation is based on a number of factors, not least the fact that the NAO did not take into consideration the capital expenditure required to construct the interconnector, like it did in the case of the power station.
Muscat also pointed out that the electricity rate for the interconnector was wrongly taken as a constant figure throughout the day, even though the cost would fluctuate according to the time of day.
He said that it also does not take into consideration the fact that the power station was in an open cycle period, comparing it to using choke to start an old petrol car – "you're using more petrol, but you need to so to warm up the engine".
He noted that after taking all these aspects into consideration, the power station as more advantageous than the interconnector.
This news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the latest version.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is finally on her way to Argentina for the Group of 20 summit after a technical problem with her plane forced her to change plans and stay overnight in Bonn.
Merkel's office says she and a small delegation, including the finance minister, took a different government plane to Madrid on Friday morning, and then boarded a commercial flight to Buenos Aires.
Merkel was en route Thursday night on an air force plane, but turned around over the Netherlands after the captain reported a technical problem.
The plane was diverted to the Cologne/Bonn airport and landed without incident.
The problem is being investigated but the air force says it appears to have been an electrical issue that could have affected the radio system and a fuel system.
After releasing her '2018 Plastic Horror Stories' video on her own initiative, Clare Agius has had tremendous feedback from individuals, private and public entities and NGO's asking her to be an ambassador on this front and pursue with her message. She has therefore committed to embark on a series of videos that send a strong message and raise consciousness and will be collaborating with likeminded people and entities whose interest lie in saving our oceans, its species and subsequently ourselves. 'The time to act is now'!
One of the very passionate and truly living with this raised conscious on the environment is Jo Caruana and as both women met unexpectedly a few days after the release of the video, they got thinking! Could we do more to reduce plastic now that it's nearly Christmas! And the answer is yes!
With just a few simple changes to our Christmas routine, we have found ways to HUGELY reduce the amount of waste – including plastic waste – that we will create this Christmas. And you can too!
Here's how to have a plastic free Christmas!
Hosting Events
We all love hosting events at Christmas… and attending them too. But can you imagine how much plastic waste is used when we choose disposable options for parties? Like disposable plastic cups, plastic cutlery, plastic plates and plastic straws?
Yes, some of them can be recycled but we should always try to REDUCE first. So, if you're hosting a party at home this year use REUSABLE cutlery, plates and straws. If you don't have enough for the size of your event, ask a friend or family member to lend them to you – or even ask your guests to bring their own! Imagine… just from one party for eight people, you could stop over 100 pieces of single use plastic from entering the system.
Oh, and real china looks much nicer for Christmas too… doncha think? *smile*
Wrapping Presents
This time last year, I had no idea that MOST wrapping paper isn't recyclable! It's actually covered in a plastic coating to make it shiny… which means it can't be recycled, and it won't dissolve over time like normal paper either. The result? More plastic waste going to waste!
This year, I am going to be choosing wrapping paper that IS recyclable – like brown paper. It's cheap to buy and fun to decorate, and I am even using string instead of sticky tape, because that isn't recyclable either. My kids and I are going to get creative designing our own, unique wrapping paper… and on Christmas morning I'll be making sure that all the paper we unwrap is carefully put into the recycling bin. *shows beautifully wrapped brown paper present to the camera* - who knew brown paper could look this beautiful? And no plastic waste!
Anti Plastic Presents
So many of the Christmas presents we buy are already wrapped in plastic. Protective layers… plastic wrapping… it's hard to get around this! So this year I won't just be buying the first item to catch my eye – I'll be thinking about the presents I buy and choosing items that ARENT covered in plastic. This could be things made of wood, china, glass or cloth… and I am even looking for locally-sourced items from local craftspeople, which makes them even more environmentally friendly. I've spotted some gorgeous toys made from wood that I think I'll be buying this year… they're cute and sustainable.
As for last year's plastic presents and toys? Instead of throwing them away, I am taking them to a charity shop or donating them to charity. This means that the plastic in them will live on and be enjoyed for years to come (after all, it isn't degradable!). They will get used again, and won't create more plastic waste in our landfills.
Decorate Naturally
I love doing up my house and making it feel Christmassy… but the other day I realised HOW MUCH stuff I buy just for Christmas… and most of it has plastic in it! Did you know tinsel is plastic? Baubles are plastic? Almost everything is plastic!
So, this year we're going down a much more natural route. My kids and I are going to take a walk in Buskett to collect all sorts of natural things – like pine cones, and leaves, and twigs. We'll then paint them together and use them to make our house feel just as Christmassy as it would normally. Doesn't this look cute? *shows an example* It's plastic free!
Say No To Plastic
The Christmas season is all about indulgence and everywhere you go people are going to offer you plastic! Mulled wine in a plastic cup… a sample of cheese on a plastic plate… it's everywhere! This Christmas – I am saying no. If something is being given to me in single-use plastic… I will not be accepting it. Thank you, but no thank you. Instead, I will be carrying a reusable bottle with me, so I won't miss out on the fun… and I won't be making more plastic waste.
Oh, and this also applies to plastic bags. I realised I don't need aplastic bag for each type of fruit I buy at the grocer… and I don't need single use pots for dips, cheese, and meat. I now take plastic bags with me and reuse them, and I take reusable containers (the same ones I use for my kids' lunchbox) to buy anything I need at the deli counter. It's great – no waste! I think I saved at least 10 plastic bags and 4 plastic containers today… on just one trip to the shop! So that's less plastic ending up in our sea, on our streets and in our future.
The truth? I realised I have the power to say no. I don't NEED plastic – none of us do, and we can stop this cycle by standing up to plastic in small ways EVERYDAY. Not only do I WANT TObut it's my responsibility… so my kids can not only enjoy THIS Christmas on our beautiful island, but many, many Christmases into the future.
In the period January-October 2018, Government's Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €24.1 million, the NSO said today.
Between January and October 2018, recurrent revenue rose by €213.9 million and amounted to €3,496.0 million. This represented a 6.5 per cent increase from the €3,282.1 million reported in revenue during the corresponding 10 months of 2017.
The increase was primarily the result of higher Income Tax (€103.6 million). Further increases were also registered under Value Added Tax (€71.6 million), Social Security (€68.1 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€42.8 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€10.9 million), Dividends on Investment (€1.6 million) and Rents (€0.4 million). Conversely, drops in revenue were mainly recorded in Grants (€48.0 million), Fees of Office (€19.3 million), Central Bank of Malta (€14.0 million) and Reimbursements (€3.8 million). Total expenditure by the end of October 2018 stood at €3,520.0 million, reflecting an increase of €242.3 million or 7.4 per cent from 2017.
Recurrent expenditure totalled €3,018.9 million, €159.9 million higher than the corresponding amount reported by the end of October 2017. The main contributor to this increase was a €54.6 million rise reported under Programmes and Initiatives. Furthermore, rises in outlay were also registered by Personal Emoluments, Contributions to Government Entities (both €49.5 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€6.3 million).
The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefits (€27.2 million), state contribution (€23.3 million which also features as revenue), tax relief measures (€11.2 million), Malta Freeport interest payments (€9.5 million), health concession agreements (€8.9 million), feed in tariff (€5.7 million) and solid waste management strategy (€4.9 million). The rise in expenditure was slightly offset by reduced outlays reported under EU presidency 2017 (€25.5 million), electoral commission activities (€5.6 million) and medicines and surgical materials (€4.9 million).
The interest component of the public debt servicing costs amounted to €175.0 million, a €6.7 million drop from the €181.7 million reported in 2017. Government's capital expenditure registered an increase of €89.1 million from the same period last year, and was recorded at €326.1 million. This was mainly the result of higher outlay on EU structural funds 2014-2020 (€24.4 million), road construction and improvements (€23.9 million), EU cohesion funds 2014-2020 (€16.7 million), EU internal security fund - borders and visa (€8.7 million), EU European agricultural fund for rural development 2014-2020 (€6.7 million), investment incentives (€5.0 million) and national identity management systems (€3.1 million).
The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a defi cit of €24.1 million being reported in the Government's Consolidated Fund by the end of October 2018, compared to a surplus of €4.3 million in the same period in 2017. The main catalysts in the diff erence were increased outlays in both recurrent and capital expenditure.
By the end of October 2018, Central Government Debt stood at €5,211.8 million, a €394.1 million decrease from the corresponding month last year. This was the result of lower Malta Government Stocks and Foreign Loans that decreased by €635.6 million and €10.4 million respectively. Higher holdings by government funds in Malta Government Stocks also resulted in a decrease in debt of €3.3 million. On the other hand, Treasury Bills added €155.6 million, the 62+ Malta Government Savings Bond added €93.1 million, and Euro coins issued in the name of the Treasury increased by g€6.5 million.
Malta is prepared for a no-deal Brexit scenario, European Affairs Minister Helena Dalli told The Malta Independent this week.
After almost two years of negotiations and turmoil, the Brexit situation has arrived at a crucial stage wherein the deal for Britain's divorce from the EU now facing the House of Commons.
However, British PM Theresa May has a fight on her hands to get the deal approved with figures from her own amongst the vehement opposition, with a vote of no confidence in her leadership being instituted by prominent MP Jacob Rees-Mogg and supported by over 20 MPs.
Other parties have also displayed their displeasure at the deal, and the DUP - who are in coalition government with the Tories - have pledged that they will vote against the deal as well.
As a result of this political turmoil, many political analysts have agreed a no-deal Brexit is a very real possibility that has to be given due consideration.
Addressing a business breakfast in Malta, Chief Economist at the Institute of International and Economic Affairs Dan O'Brien in fact said that whilst there was - in his mind - a 15% chance of Brexit not happening at all; the overwhelming possibility was that the outcome would be a no-deal scenario.
Asked by this newsroom how a no-deal Brexit would affect Malta, Dalli said that the affect would have to be looked at on a sector by sector basis, with elements such as human rights and businesses being but two of the sectors that would obviously be affected by the divorce.
Dalli said that "nobody wants a no-deal situation" to happen, but that Malta is prepared and that in recent days she had given a presentation on Malta's preparedness for a no-deal Brexit to the committee of European foreign affairs, and that they were keeping abreast with the situation as it was developing.
The minister said that the first priority had always been to secure measures for Maltese citizens living in Great Britain and for British citizens living in Malta. She said that discussions on future with the United Kingdom where at an "important and delicate phase", and noted that even for the business sector such discussions are important due to the strong economic relationship between the two countries.
She concluded that in each sector there is already a framework agreement that will provide the basis on how to move forward in the case of whatever scenario pans out when the House of Commons votes on Theresa May's Brexit deal with the EU.
Some things, as they say, you just can't make up.
Like when a country's auditor general publishes a 600-page report slamming a government minister's dealings seven ways to Sunday over what very well could be proven to have been the biggest heist ever to have been perpetrated against the state, should the 17 Black revelations be auctioned upon.
Or like when the auditor explains it all in sordid, finite detail leaving just the dots in the middle to be joined, but that same minister stands there brazen-faced as ever saying that that report confirms he implemented 'best practice' – minus a few administrative hiccups.
Or when the minister then goes on to misrepresent a European Commissioner, claiming Commissioner said that the project in question, and all that went with it, had been endorsed by the Commissioner as an example of 'best practice' and a 'blueprint' for the EU's energy projects – replete with Facebook posts with the Commissioner plastered all over them.
And this when, in actual fact, the good Commissioner had been referring to the ways in which the project mixed different types of energy.
We do not like to paraphrase the words of the opposition leader, but he hit the nail squarely on the head when he said the minister must be living in some kind of parallel universe. Either that or he really believes that the vast majority of the Maltese population dwells in such a parallel universe where the normal laws of reason and logic do not apply and where the people will believe whatever he spoon-feeds them.
That is certainly not the case.
Mizzi's problem here is that when the country's auditor general releases the findings of the ilk he released on Wednesday, he simply cannot resort to his usual fallback position of labelling it fake news. We in the independent media have grown accustomed to that utterly false nomenclature, but the auditor general is a constitutionally appointed position.
And his findings are all there, in the public domain on the National Audit Office's website. There is a press release with the main findings, the abridged version of the report for the short read, and the full whammy 600-page report for anyone who cares, or dares, to read it.
We will not go into the nitty-gritty details here. We do elsewhere in today's issue.
Yes, someone really needs to at least have a quiet word with Minister Konrad Mizzi or, better still, perhaps his colleagues should organise an orchestrated group intervention at the next Cabinet meeting and, like a rebellious teen who has continually been caught with his hand in the cookie jar since toddlerhood, be given a stern talking to in the hope he may mend his ways.
Mizzi has, after all, since his toddlerhood in government, which started back in 2013, appeared to have rarely had his hand out of the cookie jar.
At this stage it is difficult to determine whether it is more insulting that the minister has been caught with those hands in the cookie jar time and time again and yet no action is taken against him, that he is allowed to persist in these actions, or whether he can so plainly attempt to mislead the people and practically challenge them to take his word for it against that of the auditor general.
And we have not even gone into all those nasty details revealed in the Panama Papers about his planned financial machinations, just the auditor general's report, which has showed so many holes in the entire power station commissioning process that it puts the best of sieves to shame.
The next thing we know, Mizzi will be calling the auditor general a purveyor of fake news. One wonders what the esteemed gentleman thought as he watched Mizzi's repeat performances on Tuesday evening in the wake of his so damning report.
The country deserves a lot better than this, much better.
The Marsa junction project now enters the more complicated stage when work on the construction of seven flyovers is expected to start
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Luke Caruana, contesting for the Mellieha local council election on behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika, today filed an objection against the Panorama Hotel application for 3 additional floors in Mellieħa (PA/10178/18).
AD Mellieħa Local Council candidate Luke Caruana said: "If approved, the project will give developers an unprecedented excuse to increase extra floors in the surrounding area which is very close to the local parish square. The area is already intensively developed. The streets in the vicinity cannot take any more traffic. It is also unacceptable since the Hotel is surrounded by a residential area and it will obstruct views and access to direct daylight. Mellieħa Residents will stand to lose from this proposed development since it will completely ruin the village skyline."
The case of the Panorama Hotel in Mellieħa is emblematic of the problems brought about by government policies which favour the few over the interests of the quality of life of the many, AD said in a statement.
Labour MEP calls for caution from Brussels against any overreach after securing Brexit on its own terms
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