Quantcast
Channel: Times Of Malta
Viewing all 77260 articles
Browse latest View live
↧

Three Maltese Matsec exams will result in confusion

May 5, 2018, 8:08 am
$
0
0

Updated at 6pm: Adds ministry statement The creation of three Matsec exams for Maltese will result in great confusion among schools and students, a number of entities committed to the development of the Maltese language said. They said in a statement that if the Education Ministry truly wanted to help more students pass their exams, it needed to strengthen the teaching of Maltese and invest in more resources, rather than splinter the current SEC course and wreak havoc. The ministry is proposing three Matsec exams for Maltese - ordinary, vocational and for foreigners. “The ministry must publicly spell out in what ways the exam in ‘vocational’ Maltese will be different from the current exam. Which are the skills that will no longer be acquired by the students taking this course? Which basic components of language learning will the ministry remove from the education of secondary students? Which ‘vocation’ (or occupation) will it cater for? For all possible ‘vocations’?” The entities noted that Maltese currently being taught in secondary years, which the ministry had dubbed as “only academic”, was the most basic level of Maltese in compulsory secondary education. READ: Alternative...
↧
Search

Watch: ‘I don’t know who owns 17 Black’

May 5, 2018, 11:22 pm
$
0
0

Konrad Mizzi being questioned at yesterday’s press conference. Grab from video by Mark Zammit Cordina

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi on Saturday avoided giving an answer to the question of who owns 17 Black, the Dubai based company which, according to leaked documents, was a “target client” for his secret Panama company. Dr Mizzi opened Hearnville Inc in Panama after Labour was elected to office in 2013. According to a leaked e-mail sent in December 2015 by his financial adviser Karl Cini of the audit firm Nexia BT, Hearnville was to receive €150,000 in “monthly transactions”. Meanwhile, 17 Black received payments of $1.6 million from two businessmen associated with the new Delimara power station, it has been revealed. Asked to identify the owner of 17 Black and what type of business he was planning to conduct with the company, a visibly irritated Dr Mizzi yesterday accused the Times of Malta of “being known for inventing stories”. Faced with evidently uncomfortable questions, he also accused Times of Malta's reporter of being rude, of hijacking a press conference and of having “the wrong attitude”. READ: Mizzi and Schembri remain silent on 17 Black  At one point, Dr Mizzi’s public relations man, Labour activist Alex Cutajar, tried to physically shield the minister while...
↧
↧

Pilatus moves to take back control

May 5, 2018, 10:01 pm
$
0
0

Pilatus Bank’s directors are taking legal action against the financial services watchdog in a bid to take back control of the bank, just a month after the authorities placed tough sanctions on it, The Sunday Times of Malta has learnt. The bank’s move has raised concerns within the Malta Financial Services Authority that money held by the bank could potentially be moved if the attempt is successful, according to a source at the MFSA. Other sources said it might have implications for an ongoing investigation of the bank’s servers being conducted by the MFSA and the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit. The regulator will fight back, the MFSA source said. Pilatus Bank has been at the centre of a political storm on the island, with a whistleblower claiming Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s wife Michelle held an account there which received graft from Azerbaijan’s ruling elite. The bank has also been tainted by FIAU reports, claiming evidence of money laundering by the Prime Minister’s chief of staff and flagging up serious compliance shortcomings in anti-money laundering procedures. More recently it was revealed the bank acted as a conduit for Azerbaijani millions making their way...
↧

Trust in Delia up, but Muscat remains well ahead - survey

May 6, 2018, 1:30 am
$
0
0

Trust in Adrian Delia has risen by seven percentage points since March while voters' faith in Joseph Muscat has declined by four, a Malta Today survey has found.  Despite the relative gains, the Opposition leader continues to trail the Prime Minister by 21 percentage points when voters are asked who they trust the most, with Dr Delia at 27.2 per cent and Dr Muscat at 48.6 per cent.   The survey, which was carried out between April 23 and 27, suggests that the Nationalist Party has made some inroads with the electorate since March, with 32.1 per cent saying they would vote PN - a six point increase from the previous survey.  Support for the PL declined by four percentage points to reach 45.8 per cent.  Malta's smaller political parties are still struggling to attract attention, with Partit Demokratiku not even registering on survey responses and Alternattiva Demokratika and the Maltese Patriots Movement managing just one per cent between them. 
↧

‘You’re being cheated on electricity’

May 6, 2018, 12:44 am
$
0
0

Updated 1.50pm - Added ARMS statement Consumers are being cheated out of lower tariffs on water and electricity due to the way the unit cost is calculated, according to the Consumers’ Association, which wants to see a change in regulations. The association, an independent voluntary organisation that represents consumer interests, has long received complaints about the unfair way utility bills are worked out, said association president Benny Borg Bonello. “When we raised complaints about the way that ARMS (Automated Revenue Management Services) calculates the cost of units, we were told it is done according to law. If this is the case, we are calling for a change in the law,” he told The Sunday Times of Malta. READ: Bring us your electricity bills, Delia tells voters The Sunday Times of Malta sought his comments after complaints about the tariff system recently resurfaced on social media. ARMS uses a staggered system to bill residents. The first 2,000 units of electricity, for example, are charged at one rate and further units at higher rates. According to current legislation, residential premises are subjected to tariffs based on the cumulative consumption per year, “which may...
↧
↧

Building walls won't stop Malta from changing, Muscat tells Delia

May 6, 2018, 2:59 am
$
0
0

Joseph Muscat has again criticised the Opposition leader for his scaremongering about foreign workers, insisting that challenges are not overcome by “building walls and closing doors”.On Tuesday, Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia warned of “socio-cultural ruin” if the influx of foreign workers was not carefully managed as part of a long-term economic plan. Addressing party supporters in Dingli on Sunday morning, the Prime Minister said that both foreigners and the Maltese changed Malta.“Our country has been changing, is changing, and will continue to change. We are not scared of change, we don’t instil fear through change and spread the belief that if we remove foreigners from Malta there will be no change and we will live happily ever after. “We recognise the challenge, but we will not overcome it by building walls and closing doors. We will overcome it by building bridges and issue regulations.”That is why the government was planning on introducing peace of mind within the rental market, where the challenge remained unpredictability, he said. “The economy is growing and people are willing to buy and rent, while foreigners want to come here to live and work. “In the past,...
↧

Bring us your electricity bills, Delia tells voters

May 6, 2018, 4:32 am
$
0
0

Updated 2pm - Added ARMS statement Nationalist party leader Adrian Delia on Sunday accused the government of deceiving people by billing them more often for their energy consumption, to make their energy tariffs appear lower. Addressing the opening of the PN’s general council, Dr Delia invited people to bring their energy bills to the party's Pieta headquarters for examination. He said the billing system was potentially costing people hundreds of euros. The Sunday Times of Malta has reported concerns by the Consumers’ Association that people were being “cheated” out of lower tariffs on water and electricity and Partit Demokratiku has also expressed concern about the way in which ARMS Ltd. is billing households. Expert analysis of leaked energy contracts for the new power station have also shown how Malta paid almost double the market rate for gas last year. Dr Delia vowed that the PN would speak for all those who were paying over the odds for electricity. In a statement, billing company ARMS insisted that the way it calculated bills had "remained unchanged since the current system was established in 2009" and that consumption bands and billing periods had not been altered.  The...
↧

Life with the Nas Daily crew

May 6, 2018, 4:01 am
$
0
0

With the Nas Daily team and the mayor of San Lawrenz, Nas (right) enjoys a boat ride on the Gozitan coast.

It is a cloudy morning in Malta and Nuseir Yassin – known to his fans as Nas – is worried about the weather for filming on Gozo. We meet in his executive suite in a top five-star hotel, whose corporate sales manager tells me she is happy to provide the suite free of charge in exchange for a single mention on Instagram.  Such is the power of social media influencers like Nas. Born to a Palestinian family in Nazareth, Israel, he eventually moved to New York, where he worked as a software engineer earning $120,000 a year, until one day he decided to quit and follow his passion, because he “needed a 52-year holiday”. With $20,000 in savings, he began to travel the world and focused all his energy on his Facebook page Nas Daily, where he delivers a one-minute inspirational video each and every day. Some criticise his sensational and commercial style, but the fact remains that his videos are validated by six million people. Obviously, Nas is doing something right. Some of his followers share their personal, inspiring stories through an online group that boasts 100,000 members. When he met Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg earlier this year, his episode page was upgraded to the...
↧
Search

Burgled couple vindicated as Chief Justice jails thieves

May 6, 2018, 8:06 am
$
0
0

Leif Ahlstrom outside the Gozo law courts: “We have managed to overturn the injustice of the first court.”

A Swedish couple residing in Gozo whose apartment in Għajnsielem was burgled in 2013 are feeling vindicated after the Chief Justice overturned the decision by Magistrate Joe Mifsud not to send the two thieves to prison. In a judgment a few days ago, outgoing Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri sentenced Anthony Fenech, of Victoria, and Rodney Joe Farrugia, of Għajnsielem, to an effective prison term for stealing from the home of Leif Ahlstrom and his wife, Ann-Marie Spaak. Chief Justice Camilleri said he found it “strange” that the Magistrates’ Court had discarded statements given to the police by the two accused, in which they admitted their complicity, and that no reason had been given by the first court. He ruled there was enough evidence of their complicity in the theft. Magistrate Mifsud had ordered community work for the pair after finding them guilty of handling stolen goods. But Chief Justice Camilleri accepted the appeal submitted by the Attorney General and sent the two robbers to prison. Speaking to The Sunday Times of Malta, Mr Ahlstrom said he felt relieved that after so much time had passed from the unwelcome intrusion into his home, justice had been done. READ:...
↧
↧

€120m to be made off public land… and that’s just the start

May 6, 2018, 9:15 am
$
0
0

The planned massive City Centre project will tower above Pembroke and Paceville.

The Seabank Group is planning to rake in tens of millions of euros from the controversial public land deal signed with the Labour government last year for the price of just €15 million. According to an economic impact assessment of the St George's Bay project, conducted by audit firm KPMG, the sale of apartments in the 37-storey residential tower alone should bring in at least €123 million for the group over the first three years of the project. This is over and above the multimillion-euro turnover and profits which the group is expected to generate from the five-star Hard Rock Hotel, a casino, shopping malls and lido facilities incorporated in the massive project, dubbed City Centre. According to the KPMG study, the development of the project will take at least three years, and some 1,000 employees will be needed, half of them deployed directly on site on a 24-hour basis. The study says that during certain phases of the project, which will include a massive excavation of the area, some 900 workers are expected to be deployed on site. The study confirms earlier reports by The Sunday Times of Malta that the owners of db San Gorg Property Ltd – an offshoot of the db Group owned by...
↧

Consumers receiving more expensive electricity bills - PD

May 5, 2018, 11:16 am
$
0
0

The arbitrary manner by which Arms Ltd was altering billing periods means certain families are being charged the highest tariffs in peak months, with their quota of cheaper rates left unutilised in other months, Partit Demokratiku said on Saturday. The party said it had received numerous complaints about this matter and welcomed calls for an investigation. PD noted that, according to Eurostat, the average residential tariffs did not decrease by 25 per cent as Enemalta had previously projected, but only by 15.6 per cent. Eurostart figures also indicated Malta the highest average cost of electricity for households in Europe. This suggested that the current tariffs were providing Enemalta with greater revenues and greater return than allowed by the regulator and ran contrary to the tariffs approved by the Malta Resources Authority in 2014. These had stated that the tariffs were to be applied on a cumulative consumption per annum basis. PD said Enemalta had also been quoted stating that the Enemalta Act allowed it to bill at a pro-rata basis. But it was one thing to use this clause to ensure bills were issued in a timely manner, and another when it was used to impose billing periods...
↧

Three youths hurt in Qormi crash

May 6, 2018, 9:45 pm
$
0
0

Three youths were hospitalised in the early hours of Monday morning after they were hurt in a car crash in Qormi.  The three were seated in a Volkswagen Polo driven by a 20-year-old Attard man which was involved in a collision with a 54-year-old Żurrieq man behind the wheel of a Toyota Vitz on Triq l-Istabel at around 11.45pm, police said.  While both drivers were not hurt, the three passengers in the Polo were taken to Mater Dei Hospital.  A 25-year-old man from St Paul's Bay and a 20-year-old Sliema woman were both grievously injured in the crash, while an 18-year-old woman from St Paul's bay was slightly injured.  Police say their investigations are ongoing. 
↧

Leaked emails suggest OHSA' friendly figure' was helping Electrogas

May 6, 2018, 9:40 pm
$
0
0

The Delimara power station.

The Occupational Health & Safety Authority (OHSA) is investigating claims that a “friendly figure” from within was warning Electrogas of safety spot-checks during the construction of the new power plant, the Times of Malta has learnt. The leaked e-mails show how the OHSA identified safety shortcomings in 2015 during the construction of the power station.  The authority warned that unless the shortcomings were rectified, it would have no other alternative but to stop the construction works until safety onsite was improved. In one e-mail, Tumas Group CEO and Electrogas director Yorgen Fenech told former Electrogas commercial director Catherine Halpin that an unidentified minister had spoken to the OHSA to “calm the situation”. Mr Fenech also passed on the details of someone he described a “friendly figure” within the OHSA. He said the official would even carry out an unofficial site visit for Electrogas.  “Basically, a site visit before the official OHSA site visit. Will be helpful and a good person for you to know,” Mr Fenech wrote in the e-mail. In a follow-up e-mail, Ms Halpin queried if there was a planned OHSA site visit. She said she would be phoning up the OHSA official in...
↧
↧

Young men rescued following late-night fall down St Julian's shaft

May 6, 2018, 11:50 pm
$
0
0

Two young men who fell two floors between buildings in St Julian's were rescued by Civil Protection personnel late on Sunday night.  The delicate rescue operation involved CPD personnel from Ħal Far, USAR, Kordin and Floriana fire station, with one officer and eight firefighters labouring for two hours to rescue the two.  Both young men had fallen down a narrow shaft between buildings in New Street off Patrick Bryton street, the CPD said in a Facebook post. They were both taken to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment.  The CPD thanked the police force and Mater Dei accident and emergency staff for their help. 
↧

Konrad Mizzi denies that his wife stayed at a hotel when visiting Malta

May 7, 2018, 6:29 am
$
0
0

Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi told a lawyer in court on Monday that it was 'a lie' that his wife stayed at a hotel when she visited Malta. Dr Mizzi was testifying in libel proceedings he had instituted against Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had alleged in a 2014 blog post  that he was having an extramarital affair with his communications aide Lindsey Gambin and that was the reason why "his wife left for China". The Mizzi couple and Ms Gambin had subsequently filed separate libel suits against Ms Caruana Galizia claiming that the story was unfounded and untrue, intended solely to tarnish their reputation. Dr Mizzi said that his wife Sai Mizzi had often travelled to Malta over the past two years together with the their children so that the family could spend time together  Sometimes he too would travel to enjoy holidays with the family. As for accommodation arrangements during his wife’s stays on the island, Dr Mizzi said his wife shared his home while the children stayed with the couple and sometimes with their grandparents .“What have you to say if I tell you that Ms Mizzi resides at a hotel when in Malta, whereas the children are always left in the care of their grandparents?”...
↧
Search

Former GWU section secretary has her unfair dismissal claim thrown out

May 7, 2018, 5:04 am
$
0
0

A former General Workers’ Union’s section secretary who was sacked from her job in 2006 has failed to prove her claim of illegal dismissal before an industrial tribunal. Josephine Attard Sultana was relieved of her duties by the union’s national council following the approval of a motion moved by the central administration. The motion and subsequent dismissal came just days after Ms Attard Sultana had successfully filed court action to stop the holding of an extraordinary general meeting of the public service workers’ section. Ms Attard Sultana filed the case before the industrial tribunal claiming she had been sacked illegally. The union, on its part, argued that Ms Attard Sultana’s behaviour went against the union’s well-being and interests. It said that what she had done was clearly “insubordination”. Ms Attard Sultana, who had been active within the GWU since 1982, had gone full-throttle against the union administration when she went to court to get a judge to stop an extraordinary general meeting of her section. The meeting, which would have decided on whether she would keep her job or not, was called by the GWU administration following a petition. But the Industrial...
↧

When Jews, Christians, Muslims came together at Vittoriosa

May 7, 2018, 3:02 am
$
0
0

Maritime historian Joan Abela. Photo: Clifton Fenech/DOI

There was a time when Jews, Christians and Muslims put aside their religious differences and came together at the Vittoriosa harbour for the common good of Malta’s economy. According to new research by maritime historian Joan Abela, these 16th century sworn enemies were absolved of their religious defence duties to trade goods. “Theoretically, the Knights were the sworn enemy of Muslims and their subjects were not supposed to engage in trading with the Ottomans. In practice, however, the story was quite different,” Dr Abela told this newspaper ahead of the launch of a book to be published after four years of research. Hospitaller Malta and the Mediterranean Economy in the Sixteenth Century is mostly based around the Vittoriosa harbour, which was back then the new city of the Hospitaller Order. In view of Malta’s lack of resources and as an obvious move to attract new settlement on the island that would help improve economic activity and stability, in October 1530, the Order petitioned Pope Clement VII to grant newly-established traders the necessary permit to trade with Muslims. WATCH: After 200 years, new life for hidden sheet music  The Pope allowed the locals to deal in...
↧
↧

Knife fight in Qawra leaves one man hospitalised

May 6, 2018, 11:42 pm
$
0
0

A 26-year-old British man was grievously hurt on Monday morning when he was stabbed in the course of an argument that turned violent in Qawra. Police said they were called to Triq il-Kavetta at around 7am following reports of an argument there. In a statement, they said the 26-year-old man had gotten into a fight with a 22-year-old St Paul's Bay man who fled the scene.  The injured man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital for treatment.  Magistrate Marse-Ann Farrugia is leading an inquiry into the case, which is being investigated by police. 
↧

Police inspector wins libel damages - unfounded information supplied by former wife

May 7, 2018, 5:54 am
$
0
0

A police inspector has been awarded €2,000 in libel damages by a court which upheld his claim that an article published in the MaltaToday midweek paper had been based on unfounded information supplied by his former wife. Elton Taliana had filed the libel suit some five years ago in a reaction to a front page article in August 2013, titled ‘Inspector in wrongful prosecution was investigated over 2007 arson.’ The unidentified writer of the article claimed that Inspector Taliana was at the heart of “internal scrutiny by the police force” over allegations that he could possibly have contacted Daryl Luke Borg before the latter was called to testify in a police inquiry concerning his mistaken arraignment over his suspected involvement in a Birkirkara holdup. The article had claimed that Inspector Taliana had mistakenly prosecuted Mr Borg “together with three other police inspectors” and had further linked Mr Taliana with the arson attack on MaltaToday editor Saviour Balzan’s home in 2007. Furthermore, the article alleged that Inspector Taliana had, on previous occasions, been investigated “over his alleged association with criminals.” In the course of the libel proceedings, legal...
↧

New Chief Justice gets down to business in inaugural sitting

May 7, 2018, 1:15 am
$
0
0

Updated 10.55am Malta’s new Chief Justice used his inaugural sitting on Monday to send out a message that he was determined to tackle the ever-increasing workload before the superior court of appeal. Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi started off his inaugural speech by pointing out that, contrary to the norm, his first sitting was not to be a merely symbolic one but was to proceed with the hearing of a scheduled list of cases as any normal sitting would involve. The message being sent out was that “since there is so much work to be done, we cannot waste time,” declared the Chief Justice, lending a new significance to the symbolic scenario normally associated with the inaugural ceremony. Chief Justice Azzopardi attributed the ever-growing load of cases before the superior court of appeal to various factors, including the increasing number of judgments delivered by the First Hall, Civil Court as well as the fact that constitutional cases were on the rise. The number of fast-track cases, ending up before the court of appeal, had also grown, the Chief Justice pointed out, adding that family cases needed to be handled without delay due to their nature. Other cases involving massive...
↧
Viewing all 77260 articles
Browse latest View live
Search