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Wall collapses in Gzira, two escape injury

May 3, 2018, 12:22 am
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A wall bordering a building site collapsed in Fleet Street, Gzira, early on Thursday, and a woman reported she was lucky not to have been hurt or killed.  'Luckily, myself and another girl just escaped being killed....The contractor just came out and said sorry," the woman said on Facebook.  "What is this island coming to?"
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Nothing strange about PM's unchanged €75,000 bank account balance, OPM says

May 4, 2018, 8:01 am
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Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has maintained the exact same bank balance for four years running by managing his income “like any other family”, a government spokesman said. The OPM spokesman was replying to questions by the Times of Malta following the tabling of the declarations of assets by Members of Parliament, including that of Dr Muscat. Every year, MPs are obliged to submit a declaration of their assets as at the end of the previous year. They must hand this in by the end of April. For the fourth year running, the Prime Minister listed in his declaration that he held €75,000 in bank deposits. Asked how Dr Muscat managed year after year to live off a €50,000 annual pay without eating into any of his savings, and whether he had any other sources of income to supplement this, the OPM spokesman said that the Prime Minister had no other income. He added that Dr Muscat “manages within this like any other family”. Pressed to say how the Prime Minister managed to maintain the steady bank balance for four years in a row while also paying for his two children to attend a private school and also going on private holidays, the spokesman reiterated simply that “during his time as Prime...
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A roof for Valletta' roofless theatre?

May 5, 2018, 1:29 am
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The government is looking into the possibility of installing a roof over Valletta’s open Royal Opera House theatre to lessen the inconvenience to residents in the vicinity. Sources close to the government said discussions were under way and one of the options being looked at is the possibility of installing a retractable roof. The possibility of the addition was first mentioned last year in the run-up to the election, when Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had said that the current design posed limitations on artists, was being underutilised and was proving to be an inconvenience to people living nearby. The theatre raised controversy when it was being designed by Renzo Piano as part of the regeneration of Freedom Square and the new Parliament building. Sources said there are several difficulties to install a roof that would blend in with the aesthetics of the building as well as serve as a sound barrier to break the noise. In 2010, when the plans were still being discussed with the architects, 128 artists from across the cultural scene wrote to the prime minister telling him they oppose his decision to have a roofless theatre on the former opera house site. Meanwhile, aside from...
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New contemporary arts museum gets green light

May 3, 2018, 8:24 am
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The new national contemporary arts museum will be built at the currently inaccessible San Salvatore rampart close to the Garden of Rest in Floriana. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The new national contemporary arts museum, a Valletta 2018 flagship project scheduled for completion in 2021, has finally been given planning permission. The Malta International Contemporary Arts Space (MICAS), which will be built at the currently inaccessible San Salvatore rampart close to the Garden of Rest in Floriana, was announced three years ago. It was originally meant to open this year as part of the European Capital of Culture programme. The project was pushed back, however, and a planning application for the new gallery, submitted in 2015, was approved by the Planning Authority on Wednesday. The impending work will involve the construction of a lightweight structure within the Ritirata bastion to enclose the existing area and create an exhibition space, administration offices and a catering facility. The PA case officer recommended the project, noting that it would open up of part of the bastions for public enjoyment, while the work itself respected the context of its surroundings. The Design Advisory Committee commended the plans as “innovative and modern” and the overall project as “a good case of reutilisation of a long-abandoned part of the fortifications that are...
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Caruana Galizia murder: We will not stop fighting for truth and justice - EP President

May 3, 2018, 9:22 am
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European Parliament President Antonio Tajani and MEP Roberta Metsola reiterated they would not stop fighting for justice and truth in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. They were speaking during an emotional meeting with Ms Caruana Galizia's parents at the unveiling of a sculpture donated to President Tajani by Maltese artist Kevin Scerri. The donation was made in the European Parliament on International Press Freedom Day. The sculpture was handed over to the European Parliament President in a symbolic ceremony in the presence of Ms Caruana Galizia’s parents, Michael and Rose Vella, and members of her family on International Press Freedom Day. T Commemorating the life and work of Ms Caruana Galizia, it will be displayed in the press room of the European Parliament in Brussels. President Tajani said: "It is an honour for me to receive this artwork representing the struggle for truth by Daphne Caruana Galizia on International Press Freedom Day.  Her struggle is our struggle. An attack on a journalist is an attack against our fundamental freedoms. We will not stop until justice is done with Daphne, with her family and with her work. I have said it when I was in...
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New appointments announced in the cultural heritage sector

May 3, 2018, 11:31 am
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Joseph Buttigieg has been appointed chairman of the Committee while his place as chairman of Heritage Malta has been taken over by Anton Refalo. Dr Buttigieg will be replacing on the Committee of Guarantee Timothy Gambin, who will be assisting Heritage Malta on maritime cultural heritage. The government thanked Dr Buttigieg for his work as chairman of Heritage Malta and Prof Gambin for promoting the committee. It wished Dr Buttigieg, Prof. Gambin, and Dr Refalo well in their new positions.
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Woman appeals for help to find Maltese relatives

May 4, 2018, 9:00 am
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Emanuel Galea (right), is seen here with his brothers Paul and Joseph Emanuel (centre).

A 64-year-old woman is looking for Maltese people who might be related to her late father Emanuel Galea, who left Sliema for the UK decades ago. Tony Ford, a friend of Vittoria Anne Galea (now Bowring), told the Times of Malta that it would mean a lot for the woman to find out about her roots and get in touch with living relatives. Known as Ruby, Ms Bowring was born in 1954 in Hammersmith, England, to Patricia. She now lives in Nottingham. Her father, son of Vittoria, was from Sliema. He left the UK when Ms Bowring was very young and she has no recollections of him, while her mother did not tell her anything about him. However, Ms Bowring has two photos of her father, which were taken in Malta. Mr Ford said that she knows her father has passed away but she is hoping that he has surviving relatives who could tell her about him.  Asked for any information about her father, Mr Ford said that Mr Galea was born in Malta in 1930 and spent a few years in England. Ms Bowring has younger siblings called Joseph Emanuel (1956) and Teresa (1959). Her father left in the early 1960s for the US. He returned to Malta for the last few years of his life where he passed away in 2004. Readers who...
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Jellyfish apocalypse takes over Maltese waters

May 5, 2018, 3:07 am
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The shores of Marsascala turned a sea of mauve on Saturday as swarms of jellyfish took over the area. A similar 'invasion' was also witnessed by a reader in Gżira. Alan Deidun, who coordinates the Spot the Jellyfish citizen science campaign, said the persistent easterly winds experienced by the Maltese islands in the past few weeks brought the bloom close to shore along vast swathes of the eastern coastline - from St Thomas Bay all the way up to Sliema. The bloom, he said, consisted of just one species - the mauve stinger Pelagia noctiluca - which, in Maltese waters, normally bloomed in late May, early June. Prof. Deidun said this year's bloom had been anticipated by a few weeks, possibly due to the onset of an anomalously dry and warm January, known to trigger the annual spawning/reproduction of the species, which normally happens in late winter. Prof. Deidun said the species has become a mainstay of Mediterranean and east Atlantic waters since the early 1980s, when its first large blooms started to appear. The bloom, reported as part of the Spot the Jellyfish campaign, is expected to last no more than a few weeks. The campaign is run by the International Ocean Institute and...
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PA to appeal tribunal decisions

May 4, 2018, 10:16 am
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The Planning Authority will be appealing at the Court of Appeal four decisions taken on Thursday by the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal (EPRT). The four cases concern the enforcement notices issued by the authority against the owners of the former Mistra Village Holiday Complex in Xemxija and the former Jerma Palace Hotel, the refusal of planning permissions for the development of a tourist village at Ħondoq ir-Rummien and the development of warehouses on ODZ land in Kirkop. The authority said in a statement on Friday that, in 2016, it had issued enforcement notices on the sites of the former Mistra Village Holiday Complex in Xemxija and the former Jerma Palace Hotel in Marsascala. It had noted that these two large sites, in prominent locations, had been left abandoned and in disarray for years resulting. Through the enforcement notices, it had requested the land owners to address the injury to amenity that was resulting from the abandoned state of the structures on site. In 2016, the Planning Board had unanimously voted against granting an outline development permit for the construction of a destination port comprising of a hotel, a yacht marina and a tourist...
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Malta goes from EU's best to worst CO2 emissions performer

May 4, 2018, 6:26 am
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Malta's carbon dioxide emissions rose by an estimated 12.8 per cent in 2017, Eurostat figures revealed on Friday - the largest increase across all of the European Union.  The 12.8 per cent estimated increase was higher than the 11.3 per cent estimated increase in CO2 emissions in Estonia or 8.3 per cent in Bulgaria, and several magnitudes greater than the EU-wide average increase of 1.8 per cent.  Despite the large estimated increase, Malta's small size meant its share of the EU's carbon dioxide emissions remained a relatively negligible 0.05 per cent. Malta's poor performance on the EU's CO2 emissions charts represents a dramatic reversal from last year's results, when Malta's estimated emissions fell by an EU-topping 26.9 per cent.  That result was in large part due to the closure of the Marsa power station.  Estonia's 2017 emissions results also stood in stark contrast to its previous year's showing: while in 2016 the Baltic state registered the EU's second-highest decrease in emissions, one year later it has placed second on the oppposite end of the table, with the EU's second-highest increase.  The Eurostat figures suggest the EU is struggling to reach its targets to cut...
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Malta inching closer to being stripped of EU voting rights - MEP

May 5, 2018, 2:28 am
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Romanian MEP Monica Macovei has called for Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s resignation following new revelations by the Daphne Project.

Malta is moving towards having Article 7 triggered against it, which would suspend its voting rights in the EU, MEP Monica Macovei has warned. “We don’t want Malta out of the EU, just for it to respect the rules and include a real separation of powers and efficient law enforcement,” the Romanian MEP said. Article 7 of the Treaty on the European Union is a procedure in the treaties of the European Union to suspend certain rights for a member state. Triggering the article is seen as one of the harshest courses of action by the EU against a country. Malta also needed to strengthen its fight against money laundering, corruption and tax evasion, Ms Macovei said, adding that equality before the law between politicians and ordinary citizens must be “real and seen by all”. The MEP has insisted that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat should resign in the wake of revelations by the Daphne Project. The project is a collaboration by more than 18 international media organisations dedicated to continuing the work of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. Watch: MEPs pass resolution on rule of law in Malta with large majority She expressed frustration that “nothing happened” in the six months...
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Health Ministry terminates staff member's work contract following bribery allegations

May 4, 2018, 12:22 pm
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The Health Ministry has terminated, with immediate effect, the contract of work of one of its staff members following allegations and information that this person could have been bribed. The ministry said the police have been requested to investigate the allegations. No further information was given.
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Konrad Mizzi's father interviewing Air Malta employees

May 4, 2018, 11:31 pm
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Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi’s father has been tasked with a government process to interview and select Air Malta employees wishing to find alternative employment within the public sector, the Times of Malta is informed. Lawrence Mizzi, who has been appointed by the government as chairman of Resources Support and Services Limited (RSSL) – is personally interviewing Air Malta employees and telling them of vacancies in government departments. When contacted, Mr Mizzi, 66, a former Air Malta employee, admitted that he was involved in the process as chairman of the State company, but insisted the fact that he was the father of the minister responsible for Air Malta may not necessarily pose a conflict of interest. “It is true that I am interviewing Air Malta employees to find them alternative jobs with the government. However, no one told me that I might have a conflict of interest,” he said. When the Times of Malta pointed out that the fact that no one had complained did not mean that his position did not pose a clear conflict of interest, Mr Mizzi insisted that he didn’t agree this was the case. On his part, a spokesman for Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi did not reply to questions...
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Former Foreign Ministry employee charged with falsifying documents

May 5, 2018, 3:36 am
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A former Foreign Affairs Ministry employee was on Saturday charged with falsifying Pakistani identity documents to get Maltese citizenship. Inspector Anne Marie Xuereb and Inspector Omar Zammit charged Aziz Ahmad, 34, of Sliema with forgery and using falsified documents. Mr Ahmad claims to have been born in Malta and raised in Pakistan. He told the court he was a full-time employee of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, however, the prosecution insisted he had not worked there since 2013. They added that he had no financial means to support himself. A not guilty plea was entered and defence lawyer Joseph Pace requested bail, but Inspector Xuereb objected arguing that the prosecution had doubts about his personal details. The police said they were still awaiting confirmation from overseas as to his identity. The address he gave was his cousin's and he had not been in Malta for over three years. Meanwhile, Dr Pace said there were “reams of documents" that explained how this came to be. He said his client had been coming and going to Malta for the past three years. His family were prepared to sign a personal guarantee for his continued compliance with court instructions, added...
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Person of trust at Health Ministry charged with taking bribe

May 5, 2018, 3:46 am
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Updated at 3pm: adds Transport Malta statement A person of trust at the Health Ministry was on Saturday charged with taking a €600 bribe to move a patient in the hospital. John Baptist Bilocca, 62, of Gudja plead not guilty to the charges, as he sat crying in the dock. Prosecuting officer Yvonne Farrugia told magistrate Doreen Clark that that the police had been called in to investigate following a request by the Health Ministry. The court also heard how investigators had call logs and SMSes to prove their case. The health ministry said on Friday that the person had been suspended. Mr Bilocca also works as a field officer at Transport Malta. The authority said in the afternoon that the accused will be suspended with immediate effect in line with the collective agreement. Defense lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell argued that his client suffered from depression and should be granted bail. He also argued that compared to other corruption cases in recent history, these allegations were relatively small. Magistrate Clark granted bail but ordered the accused not to approach the witnesses or go to the localities where they lived, any old people's homes, and Mater Dei Hospital.  
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Daphne Caruana Galizia awarded 2018 Mario Francese journalism prize

May 4, 2018, 10:25 am
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Daphne Caruana Galizia has been awarded the 2018 Mario Francese prize for investigative journalism. In its 21st year, this is the first time the honour has been awarded to a non-Italian. The citation says the honour is “for Daphne Caruana Galizia who, searching for truth in a complex reality and determined to expose the connections between crime, political power and economic interests which stifle freedom, paid with her life defending citizens’ rights which are threatened by forces aimed at suffocating democracy and civic coexistence”. Ms Caruana Galizia was killed in a car bomb on October 16. The prize was presented during an event, “Freedom of the press under attack”, held at the Vittorio Emanuele Lyceum in Palermo, which included awards for several professional and student journalists. “Our family faced years of silence when my father died,” Palermo Journalists’ Association President Giulio Francese said following the award presentation. “In Daphne Caruana Galizia’s case, the Daphne Project, an international consortium of journalists, has decided to continue her work. We journalists need to communicate our work among ourselves, and to young people and the rest of civil...
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Trees near Gozo Hospital uprooted

May 5, 2018, 2:33 am
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More than 15 trees were uprooted from in front of the Gozo Hospital on Saturday. The trees, in Triq Għajn Qatet, near the old entrance of the hospital, were uprooted by government employees in the morning. Barts Medical School is being constructed in the area.
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IVF Bill amendments draw concern from 100 academics

May 4, 2018, 10:32 pm
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A group of 100 academics from different University departments have banded together to express concern about proposed amendments to the IVF laws. In a document entitled ‘Matters of Concern’ published on Saturday (see pdf link below), the group of academics lament that the proposed amendments “gravely weaken the protection of the human embryo at its most vulnerable stage”. On embryo freezing, the academics argue that while the proposed changes are based on the assumption that increasing the odds would also increase the chances of success. “This is potentially true. However, this does come at a psychological, legal and moral cost – namely the production of excess embryos and the need for ‘embryo orphanages’ and ‘embryo donations’. “It also involves selecting some for implantation and others for freezing, giving the former a chance to develop and placing the latter in a ‘frozen limbo’,” the academics note. They also point out that under the current legislation, the IVF service in Malta has been performing “fairly well” when compared to other European countries. The group, which includes former rector Juanito Camilleri and Judge Giovanni Bonello, also argues that the disposal of...
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Mater Dei staff forced to use cloth towels as paper tissues run out

May 5, 2018, 6:38 am
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Staff at Mater Dei Hospital have been forced to use cloth towels instead of paper tissues after these ran out recently, sparking hygiene concerns. Sources who spoke to the Times of Malta this week said that the hospital seemed to have run out of paper towels, forcing medical staff to use cloth towels if they needed to wipe their hands. According to the sources, the same problem was also reported some time ago, with paper towels being unavailable for about three weeks. “We have resorted to using cloth towels or toilet paper but it should not be this way,” one source said, adding that staff were concerned that as a result, hygiene standards at the hospital were not always up to par. Contacted about the shortage, a Health Ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the Central Procurement and Supplies Unit had a delay in one of its consignments “due to the bad weather”. “The situation was recouped in a couple of days. During those days redistribution of stock took place to cover all wards and other disposable towels were made available where needed,” the spokeswoman said. On whether there was any spare stock, the ministry spokeswoman said that there was such a stock and in fact this was...
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Expats rate Malta as a ‘sunny escape’

May 5, 2018, 12:30 am
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At least nine in 10 expats were satisfied with the weather. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Nine out of every 10 expats in Malta believe the island is one of the countries with the best weather, according to new data. Malta made it with the top countries for a “sunny escape” in a survey that last year revealed the island as one of the countries that offer pura vida (pure life). Initial data released through the Expat Insider survey showed 2016’s best-performing countries – Taiwan, Malta and Ecuador – replaced by Bahrain, Costa Rica and Mexico in 2017. Malta placed seventh. New rankings released on Friday placed Malta with the top 10 destinations with the best weather. Expats living in these “sunny escape” countries moved there for different reasons: in the majority of cases, the search for a better quality of life was named as the top reason, while others moved for love, for their partner’s job or education, or because they were sent abroad by their employer. However, there is one thing that all 10 have in common: at least three-quarters considered the climate and weather to be a potential benefit prior to moving. After moving, at least nine in 10 were satisfied with the weather. Over all, Greece moved up four places to claim this year’s top spot, as the best expat...
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