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City Gate a sea of red as PL supporters gather for May 1 rally

May 1, 2018, 6:34 am
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A sea of red has enveloped the entrance to Malta's capital city Valletta, as Labour Party supporters gather for their annual May 1 mass meeting.  PL supporters began making their way to Valletta early in the afternoon, with the party keen to put on a show of force for its first Workers' Day rally since its 2017 general election victory.  Prime Minister Joseph Muscat further stoked fervour among party faithful when he said two weeks ago that the best response to criticism would be to "gather as a united country on May 1". The event began outside Castille Square, with party supporters gradually making their way past parliament to Tritons Square for the event which will last into the evening.    Dr Muscat will address the crowd at approximately 5.30pm.  A webcam of Tritons Square provided by a private, Italy-based firm went offline earlier on Tuesday. 
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Power tool mishap leaves Mosta man with serious facial injuries

April 30, 2018, 5:17 am
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An elderly man from Mosta suffered serious injuries to his face on Monday in a power tool mishap involving a chaser.  Police said that the 72-year-old was hurt while using the tool inside a garage on Triq Tumas Dingli in his hometown.  An ambulance rushed him to Mater Dei Hospital, where he is being treated. Police say they are investigating further.  
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Man who tried to avenge his brother's murder has 20-year sentence confirmed

April 30, 2018, 5:43 am
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A man who had sought to revenge his brother’s murder by shooting the killer's own brother has had his 20-year prison term confirmed on appeal. Ronnie Azzopardi, 46 and of Cospicua, had been convicted over the attempted murder of then 19-year-old Jonathan Spiteri in a shooting incident one night back in January 2003. Mr Spiteri is the brother of Melchior Spiteri, a serial criminal who in 2003 was found guilty of killing Mr Azzopardi's brother Jason.  The victim had been driving his Toyota Corolla through St Anthony Street, Marsascala at around midnight when his aggressor, riding a scrambler, had leveled up to him and, taking aim, fired five shots in his direction. Ducking to avoid the attack, the victim had crashed his car into a wall and feigned death until the aggressor drove off, leaving him with a gunshot wound to the shoulder which luckily did not prove fatal. Speaking to the police, the victim had indicated Ronnie Azzopardi as the culprit, insisting that, in spite of the enveloping darkness and the helmet-covered face of the motorcyclist, he could identify the alleged aggressor’s bike. The machine, bearing a blue sticker and a red-covered headlamp, had a distinctive noise,...
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Watch: Malta risks 'socio-cultural ruin' through flood of foreign workers - Delia

May 1, 2018, 4:15 am
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Dr Delia speaking last weekend. Photo: PN

  Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has warned of “socio-cultural ruin” if the influx of foreign workers is not carefully managed as part of a long-term economic plan. Addressing a business breakfast organised by the PN to mark Workers’ Day, Dr Delia highlighted figures showing that expatriate employees would account for half of the private sector within five years. Together with wider changes in the country’s demographics, he said, this meant that Malta’s social fabric and sense of identity risked being changed beyond recognition.“We must plan ahead to ensure that we do not draw more and more workers to Malta while losing our children overseas because they no longer recognise their country,” he said. Dr Delia questioned whether economic growth was translating into concrete benefits for workers and their families, warning of a “culture of consumption” diminishing workers’ dignity and quality of life. He also called for an educational shift to ensure children were taught how to think, rather than being overloaded with unnecessary information and pressures. Foreign workers outnumber private sector - MEA Also addressing the conference, Malta Employers Association director...
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Foreign IVF specialists offered tax breaks to move to Malta

April 30, 2018, 10:14 pm
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Embryologists and other assisted reproductive technology professionals will be eligible for a special 15 per cent tax rate. Photo: Shutterstock

IVF experts are being enticed to work in Malta with the introduction of new tax incentives as Parliament debates controversial changes to the law regulating the technology. Under a legal notice passed last week, embryologists and other assisted reproductive technology professionals will be made eligible for the Highly Qualified Persons scheme, which offers a special 15 per cent tax rate for professional expatriates filling high-level posts in key economic sectors. The scheme, introduced in 2011 to attract foreign workers to Malta, has until now been open to employees within the financial, gaming and aviation sectors. It will now be extended to embryologists – clinical scientists in fertility treatment and reproductive research – as well as responsible persons and lead project managers working with companies in the assisted reproductive technology sector. The scheme will be regulated by the government’s Chief Medical Officer. A spokeswoman for the Finance Ministry, which published the legal notice, directed questions on the reasoning behind the changes to the Health Ministry, whose spokeswoman said the legal notice was intended to introduce a resident embryologist at Mater Dei...
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Minister Fearne’s daughter put on the GHRC wage bill

May 1, 2018, 8:37 am
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The eldest daughter of Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne has been given a direct appointment to provide architectural services to the government’s Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation (GHRC), the Times of Malta is informed. Dawn Fearne, 26, who graduated as an architect and civil engineer from the University of Malta three years ago, will be paid €20,000 a year following a direct order approved last September. It is not known what kind of projects Ms Fearne is working on. Asked to state how Ms Fearne was identified for the position and what her specific assignment is, the GHRC chairman, Labour MP Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, said only that Mr Fearne’s daughter was engaged “to render architectural and civil engineering works to GHRC”. Although according to the Government Gazette, Ms Fearne was given a contract for services through a direct order, the Labour MP insisted she had been engaged “after replying to a public call which was advertised on all local newspapers”. Sources close to the GHRC told Times of Malta that Ms Fearne was awarded the contract only a few weeks before she started working as a self-employed architect. Until October 2017, Ms Fearne was working at Model – a...
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IVF petition fiasco: closing date inexplicably changed

April 30, 2018, 9:31 am
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Days after the number of signatures on a parliamentary petition opposing embryo freezing mysteriously decreased, the Gift of Life Foundation raised the alarm when the deadline allowing signatures was suddenly brought forward.  The petition, which was filed on April 3 by Emanuela Cachia, calls on MPs to ensure the Embryo Protection Act is not amended and says plans to allow embryos to be frozen would violate the right to life.  The closing date for the petition, which has been signed by more than 8,400 people, was initially set for June 5, but on Sunday it was brought forward to May 30. Gift of Life cried foul and questioned whether the reduction of the time period was in line with the guidelines set by Parliament. After Times of Malta contacted the House of Representatives, the date was changed back to June 5. The Clerk told Times of Malta that IT personnel corrected the date and were looking into the matter. On Monday, the lobby group was left “speechless” when more than 8,000 signatures were slashed to some 7,790. This followed complaints by “hundreds” who were finding it difficult to sign the petition. But the Speaker’s Office said it was the result of a “loophole” allowing...
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PD prepared to push for referendum on Embryo Protection Bill, PD MP tells parliament

April 30, 2018, 9:32 pm
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The Democratic Party would seek to hold a referendum on the legalisation of embryo freezing if the government steamrolled the amendments into law, PD MP Godfrey Farrugia warned MPs on Monday night. In a rowdy plenary session which ultimately saw Dr Farrugia expelled by the Speaker, the PD MP accused the Prime Minister of foisting a haphazard bill on MPs with the aim of “stoking a partisan fire” and “dividing and ruling”. Dr Farrugia, a former Labour MP and whip, told parliament that he had quit his position as PL whip in part becaue of the party’s lack of respect for life. He argued that the Bill conflated universal rights, such as the right to life and other fundamental rights belonging to the unborn, with the civil rights bestowed upon citizens through legislation. There was no need to be in favour of the killing of embryos to be progressive, he said. In line with the precedent set down in other EU member-states, and in line with the European Charter of Human Rights’s ruling that the embryo was part of the mother, he said, introducing the proposed amendments would eventually result in the introduction of abortion. Opposition MP Edwin Vassallo also expressed his opposition to...
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'Malta, your politics come before your humanity' - Nas Daily

May 2, 2018, 3:12 am
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Vlogger Nas Daily has made a bitter comment about partisanship in Malta, expressing his disappointment that his love-at-first-sight slogan about the island had been exploited by political activists. Read: Vlogger upset by politicising of his #OhMyMalta slogan Vlogger Nas Daily had came up with his #OhMyMalta slogan soon after he arrived on the island, but last week images of similar T-shirts were plastered across Facebook, with pro-Labour ones using it to show that Malta is going through its best period, and anti-Labour ones using the slogan to highlight corruption. "I hate this," Nas Daily had told the Times of Malta at the time. "They shouldn’t be copying my designs and shouldn’t be politicising this.” He had already commented on the partisanship in Malta during a Times Talk interview. He has now followed that up with a bitter Facebook post, which is only visible in Malta, saying: "I have no idea what each party stands for, but I have a strong desire not to be associated with either. "The sad truth is that in Malta your politics come before your humanity. So in the interest of keeping "Oh My Malta" clean, I don't want to involve it in politics. In reality, "Oh My Malta" is not...
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Watch: After 200 years of silence, new life for sheet music

May 1, 2018, 3:12 am
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A rare music manuscript has been discovered at the notarial archives and will next week be brought to life after 200 years of hiding inside the cover of a notarial document. Researchers and volunteers at the Notarial Archives in Valletta often come across curious documents, such as a 1756 leaflet advertising human fat as a cure for earaches or tumours, and a fragment of a map drawn just a few years after the discovery of South America. This time around, archive employee Isabelle Camilleri came across sheets of music neatly stored inside the parchment cover of a register copy of Salvatore de Caro’s documents. The recycled sheets were used by the binder to reinforce the cover of the document holding 1813 to 1817 deeds. Ms Camilleri said that during the re-archiving of documents that are being cleaned and restored, she records every interesting feature that catches her eye – such as notes in the margins and decorative drop capitals at the beginning of chapters. She meticulously studies the covers protecting each document, because in order to cut costs, binders sometimes recycled material such as maps, choral book leaves or ornamental paper. For composer and musician Alex Vella...
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Tribunal to end Townsquare saga with decision this week

May 1, 2018, 11:05 am
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An artist’s impression of the Townsquare project.

The Townsquare saga is set to conclude this week as the planning review tribunal announces its decision regarding the appeals against building the controversial 38-storey tower in Sliema. The €100 million Gasan project was narrowly approved by the Planning Authority in September 2016 and is the subject of separate appeals by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), the Sliema local council and Din L-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien Għal Ambjent Aħjar and other eNGOs. The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal is expected to make its decision on Thursday. Developers plan on building 159 residential units, 750 parking spots, various retail outlets and leisure facilities around an open space accessible to the public on the 12,000 square metre site. Opponents of the project have argued that the project will have an excessive visual impact, create traffic and congestion in Qui-Si-Sana and negatively impact the nearby residents’ quality of life. ERA chairman Victor Axiak, who was absent due to illness when the PA board approved the project by a single vote margin, described the environment impact assessment as a “sham”. Excavation works on Townsquare kicked off late last year, prompting...
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Brexiteer with Maltese passport 'suspected' of being Russian agent

May 1, 2018, 11:32 pm
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A billionaire behind a pro-Brexit think tank who has obtained a Maltese passport, has been accused in the House of Commons of being a suspected Russian agent with links to money-laundering. Christopher Chandler was said to be an “object of interest” to the French, who suspected him of “working for the Russian intelligence services” The Times of London reported. The accusation was made using parliamentary privilege by Bob Seely, a Conservative MP and member of the foreign affairs select committee. Mr Seely cited security files that he said were authenticated by French, UK and US sources. Mr Seely called for an investigation.  Another MP Liam Byrne (Labour), said there was a need for an investigation into money-laundering claims and the sale of passport in Malta.  Mr Chandler, a New Zealand-born tycoon provides financial support to the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank with strong links to cabinet ministers, MPs, economists and campaigners who support a hard Brexit.  The Financial Times had reported in January that Mr Chandler had obtained a Maltese passport.  In March, Times of Malta reported how Mr Chandler had a Pilatus Bank account but was distancing himself from...
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FIAU gets call for assistance...from Azerbaijan

May 1, 2018, 10:05 pm
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The FIAU report further highlighted how the use of cash deposits to attempt to launder money was on the rise. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Azerbaijan’s anti-money-laundering investigators were among those who asked the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit for assistance and information last year, according to the unit’s annual report.  Azerbaijan has been at the centre of reports of money laundering and kickbacks involving high-ranking government officials in Malta and members of the state’s ruling elite. Times of Malta had reported how a network of more than 50 companies and trusts secretly owned by Azerbaijan’s ruling elite used accounts at Pilatus Bank in Ta’ Xbiex to move millions of euros around Europe. Sources have told the international collaborative initiative, the Daphne Project, that by 2016 more than 60 accounts, holding the majority of the bank’s €250 million deposits, were opened for the benefit of the children of senior political figures in Azerbaijan. The FIAU’s 2017 report provides a list of countries that made requests for information to the intelligence unit as part of ongoing investigations. It does not say what the request from Azerbaijan’s authorities was about and only adds that the FIAU responded to the request. No such requests for information were made from Malta to Azerbaijan in 2017. A...
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PD scrambles to apologise after calling Labour MP a 'village escort'

May 2, 2018, 1:10 am
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Updated 11.45am - Added PD comment Partit Demokratiku was forced to scramble and apologise on Wednesday morning after a member of the party's social media team compared Labour MP Julia Farrugia Portelli to a "village escort".  Malta's third political party drew the unsavoury parallel on Facebook when sharing a video posted by its MP Godfrey Farrugia, with PD adding the comment "when village escorts become MP's [sic] you know the country is in the pits".  The comment, which has since been deleted, quickly prompted outrage from politicians on either side of the aisle, with PD leader Anthony Buttigieg subsequently stepping in and apologising to Ms Farrugia Portelli personally (see below).   Dr Buttigieg told Times of Malta the comment was posted by "an individual in the party" who had since been admonished. He did not say who the individual was, but made it clear it was not one of the party's two MPs.   The party later said it had asked its secretary general - MP Godfrey Farrugia - to lead an inquiry into the incident and to revert with recommendations within 10 days.     PD leader apologises PD leader Anthony Buttigieg told Times of Malta that he had written a personal apology...
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Surge in ‘right to be forgotten’ requests to law courts website

May 2, 2018, 2:31 am
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Dozens of new requests have been sent to the courts’ administration asking for the removal of sentences. Photo: Shutterstock

The courts’ administration has seen a surge of requests for deletion of judgments from a public online database. Court officials said that since Times of Malta had reported that Justice Minister Owen Bonnici had given the green light to start deleting judgments from the online server, a surge of requests had been sent to the courts’ administration asking for  removal. A spokesman for the courts said that in the last three weeks, around 25 new requests had been received, more than the total received over the past three years. The new procedure – discovered only by coincidence last month when Times of Malta was looking for a court sentence involving a prospective lawyer – allows aggrieved citizens to ask the courts administration to delete a judgment from the online server. The Justice Minister admitted he had instructed the courts’ Director-General to start considering such requests, citing new data protection rules and provisions of ‘the right to be forgotten’. The introduction of this new right was never made public. According to Dr Bonnici, there were no set criteria on which the right was to be determined by the court authorities. He said “it was at the Director General’s...
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Tribunal set to decide on Ħondoq yacht-marina, hotel development

May 2, 2018, 3:16 am
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An appeals tribunal is due to reach its final decision on the long-running proposal for a hotel and marina in the idyllic bay.

The fate of Ħondoq ir-Rummien in Gozo could be decided on Thursday, when an appeals tribunal reaches its final decision on the long-running proposal of a hotel and marina in the bay. The 104,000 square metre mega-development by Gozo Prestige Hotels was unanimously rejected by the Planning Authority board in June 2016, at the end of a 14-year battle by residents and environmental groups who fiercely oppose the project. The developers appealed the refusal, however, arguing that their right to a fair hearing had been denied, as they were given only 15 days to prepare for the PA hearing, leaving them with insufficient time to bring forward the experts who had authored studies in support of the application. They are also calling for the project to be sent back to assessment in order for new plans – replacing the proposed marina with a lagoon and significantly reducing the built-up area – to be considered. The PA has refused to consider the new plans, as they constitute a “material change” to the proposal and therefore require a fresh application. The Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT) is exp-ected to announce its decision on Thursday. The proposed development seeks to...
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Jason Micallef says criticism was “blown out of proportion”

May 3, 2018, 2:39 am
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Valletta 18 chairman Jason Micallef said criticism against him was “blown out of proportion”. Over 70 MEPs, and hundreds of local and international artists called for the Valletta 2018 chairman’s removal after his comments on slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Read: Jason Micallef slammed as 'outrageous' by international writers He said he was surprised by the reaction of the artists, noting that some were working with V18 and on the V18 payroll. Read: More than 100 local artists call for Jason Micallef to quit Valletta 2018 “There were people who called me an idiot; I still gave them work. That’s how democracy works, not with a bunch of letters,” he said. He said that at the end of the day, people were interested in the 400 events in Valletta and not in all the controversy surrounding him. “I was always someone who said what they thought,” he said, stressing that he was against censorship. He said he was sorry seeing people calling Malta a Mafia state, adding that when he was at St Patrick’s Day, he wanted to show that Maltese people were happy when he said “there are happy people everywhere you look. The situation is desperate”. Read: Civil Society Network calls for...
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PA chairman’s ‘reservations’ over Villa Ignatius judgment

May 3, 2018, 1:05 am
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The historic Villa St Ignatius in Balluta, St Julian’s. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Planning Authority executive chairman Johann Buttigieg has “reservations” over a court judgment that could land the authority’s head of enforcement, a developer and an architect behind bars. Judge Anna Felice has ruled that the demolition of a large part of the historic Villa St Ignatius in Balluta, St Julian’s, violated a court order, and called upon the Registrar of the Courts to initiate contempt of court proceedings against the PA’s enforcement chief, developer Paul Gauci and his architect, Stephen Vancell. If found guilty, they could face a hefty fine and/or imprisonment. Mr Buttigieg himself will not face contempt of court proceedings, but the court found that his actions throughout the affair had been “unacceptable”. Asked for his reaction, Mr Buttigieg said he would not comment on the court proceedings, as they were still ongoing. He did, however, feel that “certain comments were premature”. The villa, in Scicluna Street, is part of a larger property which once housed a Jesuit college. Workers demolished part of the villa over the course of nearly a week last November and December, just days after NGO Din L-Art Ħelwa applied for the building to be scheduled. The PA took...
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'I was always hoping that the libel cases would be withdrawn' - Peter Caruana Galizia says

May 3, 2018, 3:52 am
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Peter Caruana Galizia, widower of murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, on Thursday criticised government officials who have continued libel cases instituted against his wife. “Isn’t it enough that she died? Now you want the money too?” Peter Caruana Galizia asked when he was once again asked to take the witness stand to declare his position in respect of allegedly defamatory writings by his wife. “I’m always hoping and expecting these libel suits to be withdrawn. In the circumstances of the case, I was sincerely expecting the Prime Minister and other Cabinet Ministers to withdraw their cases against my wife,” he said. He was testifying in an exceptionally crowded courtroom in the presence of, among others, Minister Konrad Mizzi and Chief of Staff Keith Schembri. Among the listed cases were two libel suits filed by Dr Mizzi last year against the late journalist who had claimed in her Running Commentary that large sums of money had been transferred into his Panama company, Hearnville Inc. In a blog post, Ms Caruana Galizia had claimed that a company owned by one of the two daughters of Azerbaijan ruler Ilham Aliyev, last year transferred very large sums of money, described...
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Murder of Caruana Galizia 'most significant human rights issues' - US report

May 3, 2018, 2:10 am
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The US State Department said Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder was one of the most significant human rights issues in Malta last year. Photo: Jonathan Borg

The assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and alleged corruption at senior government levels were among the “most significant human rights issues” on the island last year, according to the US State Department. The department this month published its country reports on Human Rights Practices for 2017. Issued by the department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, the report says that Ms Caruana Galizia had exposed major government corruption. It also cites how the Caruana Galizia family declined to invite President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and other political leaders to the funeral. The report’s section on corruption and the lack of transparency in government is dedicated to the revelations and allegations brought forward by Ms Caruana Galizia, mostly in relation to the Panama Papers. It also oulines how then Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was involved by providing documents related to two separate alleged corruption cases to an inquiring magistrate. The report insisted there were no reports that the government or its agents had committed arbitrary or unlawful killings. On October 27, the court acquitted three detention service officials charged with the...
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