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Autism headband inventor paraded fake PhD

March 24, 2019, 11:20 pm
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Adrian Attard Trevisan donning the Mente headband

A Maltese man who in 2012 gave hope to parents with autistic children, by claiming a “neurofeedback” headband he invented could help autistic youngsters, misled the public by touting false credentials as a PhD in neuroscience, The Sunday Times of Malta can reveal. Inventor Adrian Attard Trevisan spent three years between 2012 and 2015 parading himself as having a doctorate degree in neuroscience from University College London (UCL) when he was marketing the headband, known as Mente. According to the inventor, the €1,400 Mente device uses a “neurofeedback system” that analyses brainwaves and plays back custom sounds that have calming effects on autistic children. He only obtained an actual PhD, in human physiology, from Milan University in 2015. Along the way, he received flattering coverage from the media, a product launch by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s wife as well as an endorsement by the Prime Minister himself. Dr Attard Trevisan set up a company called AAT Research through which the device was marketed and sold. A former employee at AAT Research who spoke to The Sunday Times of Malta said it was always clear that the young inventor was out of his depth. “This guy got a...
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Graffitti warns of 'more forceful direct action' if fuel station delays continue

March 25, 2019, 3:33 am
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Moviment Graffitti has warned the Planning Authority that it will be carrying out “bigger and more forceful” direct action if the long-promised fuel station policy revision is not published immediately.“We have tried everything – e-mails, articles, protests, press conferences - to make the PA revise a policy which the authorities themselves acknowledge as harmful, to no avail,” Moviment Graffitti said in a statement. “This leaves us with no other option but to resort to further direct actions.”The group said it was “beyond ridiculous” that a revision of the “extremely damaging” policy had still not been issued nearly 15 months after the review was announced.The 2015 policy allows fuel stations to ‘relocate’ from urban cores to up to 3,000 square metres of land outside development zones.Numerous such developments have been approved since despite consistent warnings from the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) over the take-up of agricultural land.ERA’s proposals for the revision were passed on in April last year, and included a complete ban on all new and relocated fuel stations on ODZ sites, but there has been no word since on when the final document will be...
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European Parliament sets its sights on Malta, Slovakia in rule of law debate

March 25, 2019, 7:23 am
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The European Parliament will this evening hold a debate about the rule of law in Malta and Slovakia, with a resolution expected to call for the publication of the Egrant inquiry report, the holding of a public inquiry into journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination and a halt to Malta’s passport sales scheme. A cross-party group of MEPs on the civil liberties committee adopted the draft resolution in February, expressing serious concerns over the fight against corruption and organised crime, the impartiality of law enforcement and judicial independence in Malta and Slovakia. Since the draft resolution was adopted, authorities in Slovakia charged entrepreneur Marian Kocner, who has business links in Malta, with masterminding the murder of Slovakian journalist Jan Kuciak. Mr Kuciak had been investigating the Slovakian millionaire’s business affairs prior to his murder. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told journalists last week that charges would only be brought against more people allegedly involved in Ms Caruana Galizia’s assassination once enough evidence was secured to ensure a successful prosecution. Three men were arrested and charged two months after she was killed in an...
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Construction worker dies at St Julian's site

March 25, 2019, 8:15 am
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A man died at a construction site in St Julian’s on Monday afternoon, the police have confirmed. The victim, an Italian who lived in St Julian’s, was approximately 40 years old. He fell from an undisclosed height at the site on Triq Francis Zammit. Paramedics pronounced him dead at the scene.  Magistrate Rachel Montebello is leading an inquiry into the workplace death. 
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Nurse and aide left patient alone to choke to death, court rules

March 25, 2019, 7:04 am
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A nurse and a nursing aide who left a frail patient to chew on chicken without supervision have been found guilty of causing his death in 2012. Nurse David Sant and nursing aide Carol Bonnici were working at Karin Grech Hospital in March 2012 when the 64-year-old dementia patient was found lying face-down on a bathroom floor, dead. He had gone missing from his ward and was found to have choked.  The two hospital workers were found guilty of involuntary homicide on Monday and fined €7,000 and €4,000 respectively. Chief nurse Maria Bondin, who also faced charges, was cleared of all wrongdoing by magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech. The court found that the two workers had, despite their good intentions, failed in their duties. The court heard how the victim, who had suffered a stroke, had been given chicken to eat on the day of his death. Chicken was considered suitable food for him, provided that it was properly mashed and that the patient was supervised as he ate. Following the patient's death, new rules for what constituted 'soft food' were introduced. A note stuck to the patient’s bed read “Position for Feeding: seated/propped up” and “Supervise during feeding. His wife...
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Firebrand socialist slams Muscat in lively European Parliament rule of law debate

March 25, 2019, 12:14 pm
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Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes told the European Parliament on Monday that it was unacceptable how Prime Minister Joseph Muscat “continues to protect [Daphne] Caruana Galizia’s murderers”. In a lively debate about a resolution on the rule of law in Malta and Slovakia, the firebrand socialist MEP slammed the Maltese authorities for failing to arrest the people behind the journalist’s murder. Ms Caruana Galizia was killed by a car bomb in October 2017. Two months after the murder, 10 people were rounded up and three of them were charged with setting off the car bomb. The other seven were released without charge. Read: 3 to 5 other potential suspects in Caruana Galizia murder probe but... Prime Minister Muscat told journalists last week that charges would only be brought against more people allegedly involved in Ms Caruana Galizia’s assassination once enough evidence was secured to ensure a successful prosecution. The resolution about Malta urges the European Commission to enter a dialogue with the government in the context of the rule of law framework, a three-stage process whereby Brussels issues an assessment, makes recommendations and monitors the member state’s...
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Bid to boost killifish numbers at Il-Magħluq marshland

March 26, 2019, 12:49 am
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Some 500 endemic killifish bużaqq will be reintroduced to Il-Magħluq marshland in Marsascala to bolster the endangered population as authorities begin works to improve the unique habitats at the site.  Il-Magħluq, a protected Natura 2000 site, is one of only two saline marshlands in the south of Malta and currently the only habitat of the Maltese killifish sub-species.  Read: Il-Magħluq dredging set to go ahead The killifish, the only local fish that lives in brackish water, has been declining in numbers at Il-Magħluq due to litter, predators and poor water quality, leading environment agency Ambjent Malta to begin efforts to improve circulation by dredging silt and other material from the site. Nature Trust director Vincent Attard, whose organisation collaborates on the management of the site, explained that the killifish population at Il-Magħluq had disappeared in the 1990s due to pollution, and was reintroduced from Il-Ballut in Marsaxlokk. However, the Marsaxlokk population died out shortly afterwards, while the one at Il-Magħluq had dwindled once more.  Mr Attard said a breeding programme, which had started with just five pairs, had now produced some 500 fish, which would...
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Majority of university students oppose abortion, study indicates

March 25, 2019, 9:30 am
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Updated at 5.40pm  The majority of students are against the legalisation of abortion, according to a university-wide survey.  A total of 58.4 per cent of the 733 university students who participated in the University Students' Council's survey believe that abortion should not be legalised, with 41.6 per cent in favour.  A fifth of all respondents do not even think it should be legalised when the mother’s life is in danger. Opinion is split equally when it comes to cases of life-threatening illness on the child. A quarter strongly disagree with abortion in such cases, while another quarter agree. Another 16.2 per cent and 16.6 per cent disagree and agree respectively. Cases of rape also split opinion: one third strongly disagree and one third strongly agree with abortion in such cases. 15.8 per cent disagree and 11.5 per cent agree. Read: Abortion taboo broken on Facebook At the moment, only Malta and Andorra prohibit abortion under any circumstance, with Nils Muižnieks, former Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, noting that the island’s ban on abortion contradicted the norms of international human rights law. The ban denied women a range of fundamental human...
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Watch: Ministers disagree on ODZ fuel stations, but conclusion imminent

March 25, 2019, 11:05 pm
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Environment Minister José Herrera has admitted to a lack of agreement with Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg over the prospect of fuel stations continuing to be built outside development zones.  Dr Herrera, however, insisted the two ministers were “98% of the way” to reaching a conclusion on the long-promised review of the Fuel Stations Policy, which he said would be completed imminently.  The controversial 2015 policy allows fuel stations to ‘relocate’ from urban cores to up to 3,000 square metres of ODZ land. A revision announced in January 2018, intended to reduce the burden on agricultural land, has not yet been completed.  Proposals issued last April by the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), within Dr Herrera’s remit, included a complete ban on all new and relocated fuel stations on ODZ sites, but Dr Borg suggested last month that the ban may be applied only to new facilities.  Asked whether he was satisfied with this prospect, Dr Herrera said: “We are not in complete agreement. [Dr Borg] has his priorities and I have mine, but I believe we can reach a consensus. Ideally, we would not touch a square inch of countryside, but in truth you have to be more...
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Malta faces ‘tax haven’ vote in EP today

March 25, 2019, 10:51 pm
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The European Parliament will today vote on a Tax3 committee resolution, which, among other things, calls for a freeze on golden visa schemes. Malta and several other European Union countries faced a backlash in the European Parliament (EP) on Monday after they were labelled by various MEPs as being tax havens.  During a debate about an EP Tax3 committee identifying seven EU countries as having tax haven characteristics, Maltese MEPs fended off calls for common tax rules. On the Malta front, the Tax3 resolution also calls for a joint investigation team to address serious doubts about the independence of any ongoing investigations on 17 Black, with the support of Europol and Eurojust. In the debate, Labour MEP Alfred Sant slammed “tax populism”. Dr Sant lamented what he termed as a “bias” against smaller member states in the EP financial crimes’ committee report. He said the report took a one-size-fits-all approach and disregarded the fact that tax flexibility was the only remaining competitive tool for small EU countries. Nationalist MEP David Casa also countered the onslaught by MEPs demanding tax harmonisation. Mr Casa said several proposals coming from the left would limit a...
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Malta’s hourly pay rate below the average in EU

March 25, 2019, 9:32 am
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Despite experiencing robust economic growth in recent years, workers in Malta are still getting paid way below the European average, according to the latest data published by the EU’s statistics office. It transpires that, in 2016, the average hourly payment rate across all member states was €23 but in Malta it stood at nearly half of the amount ‒ €13 per hour. Known as the average rate of compensation, the data shows the highest-paid employees are in Luxembourg and in the Brussels city region with an hourly rate of €44. On the other hand, workers in three regions in Bulgaria and the north-eastern region of Romania get less than a tenth of this amount, with €4 an hour.  In fact, both Eastern European countries ranked last, preceded by Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Croatia. Apart from Luxembourg, which tops the list, the highest-paid employees are in Denmark, followed by Belgium and the Netherlands. Malta is ranked in 16th place in the list, just ahead of Greece, Portugal and Estonia and immediately behind Spain, Slovenia and Cyprus. From this analysis, which was carried out by region, it transpired that hourly compensation was often the highest in cities, with the...
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Transit passenger pays a hefty price for undeclared cash

March 24, 2019, 6:34 am
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A Yemeni man paid a hefty price for not declaring €14,000 he was carrying while transiting through Malta International Airport, as he ended up losing half of this sum to the Maltese authorities. Mohammed Abdullah Ahmed Al-Wahaishi, 55, was arrested on Friday evening at Malta International Airport prior to boarding a Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul on his way to Saudi Arabia, where he resides. Police inspector Keith Vella told the court that the cash, which was found by customs officials in the defendant’s bag, comprised different denominations, though the bulk was in the form of 50,000 Saudi riyals (€11,800).  Facing duty Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, the man pleaded guilty and apologised, insisting that this was a genuine mistake. Lawyer Mario Mifsud, who appeared on his behalf told the court that the man was not aware that cash control restriction in Malta were tighter than in Saudi Arabia. The court fined the man €3,431, in line with the law which says that the penalty must be equivalent to a quarter of the overall sum. The defendant also lost another €4,000, which customs officials had confiscated at the airport. This sum is equivalent to the excess over the €10,000...
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Raw sewage dumped close to campsite in Armier

March 25, 2019, 1:15 pm
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An investigation into claims that sewage from the Malta Campsite facility in Armier was being discharged into adjacent garigue land drew a blank as it could not be established who was responsible. A few months ago, the same facility made headlines after it was slapped with an enforcement notice over a long list of planning breaches that are being contesting. The probe over illegal dumping of raw sewage was launched in the wake of photographs received by the Times of Malta from an anonymous source. The images were forwarded to the Environment and Resources Authority last Wednesday. The photographs photos featured murky liquid waste from a cesspit being dumped into the open by means of a hose jutting out from a manhole. The anonymous source who supplied the images claimed such an operation was not a one-off occurrence but something that had already happened before.  Contacted by Times of Malta, Malta Campsite administrator Vince Vella denied any wrongdoing saying the photos had been sent with the sole intention of tarnishing the facilities’ reputation. An ERA spokeswoman confirmed that an investigation had been launched. An onsite inspection was only carried out on Friday...
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Two-year-old hurt in Gozo car crash transferred to Mater Dei

March 26, 2019, 2:19 am
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A two-year-old boy has been transferred to Mater Dei from the Gozo Hospital after injuries sustained in an accident took a turn for the worse.  The accident occurred on Monday at Triq ix-Xlendi, Munxar, at 2.45pm. The boy was in a Hyundai Accent that was being driven by a 47-year-old woman from Munxar. The woman lost control of the car and crashed into an electricity pole. An ambulance took both to hospital, where the woman was certified to be uninjured and the boy to be suffering from slight injuries. But his condition later took a turn for the worse and he was transferred to Mater Dei Hospital by helicopter. An inquiry is being held. The police are investigating.
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Simon Busuttil libel victories confirmed on appeal

March 26, 2019, 5:57 am
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Former Opposition leader Simon Busuttil’s right to defend his personal reputation has been vindicated by way of three judgments confirming €5,000 in damages won in three libel suits filed against the Labour Party media. A total of five suits had originally been instituted against it-Torċa, l-Orizzont as well as the PL TV station over a series of publications alleging that Dr Busuttil had attempted to obtain “damning evidence” from the Gaffarena family to use against former PN Minister John Dalli.The allegations said Dr Busuttil had met Joseph and his son Marco Gaffarena before the 2013 general election at the PN headquarters and demanded Daewoo papers in return for the granting of a petrol station permit, which the Gaffarena family had long been struggling to obtain. The story first made its appearance on it-Torċa on August 2, 2015 with later related articles published on l-Orizzont and PL One News and One TV, alleging that Dr Busuttil, then PN Vice President, had allegedly attempted to bribe them in a bid to get at Mr Dalli.Josef Caruana, then editor of l-Orizzont, had allegedly based his story on information supplied by an anonymous source which was subsequently confirmed by...
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Majority vote for seasonal clock change to go in 2021

March 26, 2019, 5:04 am
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The European Parliament is forcing member states to take action to abolish the seasonal time change. A large majority on Tuesday voted in favour of the Transport and Tourism’s proposal to abolish the seasonal clock change in 2021. It is up to member states to choose between summer or standard time. Those choosing summer time should do the switch on the last Sunday in March 2021. Countries that prefer to keep the standard time may do so from the last Sunday in October 2021. “We have done our work, now it is up to the member states to find a common approach to this issue as quickly as possible. Citizens are telling us that they are tired of changing time twice a year, they no longer want to confuse their biorhythms. We have to take this very seriously - especially the warnings from doctors about health hazards caused by the bi-annual time change,” Czech MEP Pavel Svoboda, responsible for the issue on behalf of the EPP Group, said. “It is widely known that the introduction of the time change years ago did not lead to the expected benefits, such as energy savings. On the contrary, there are indications that it has been detrimental to human health. The EPP Group therefore urges the...
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Malta has characteristics of a tax haven, European Parliament says

March 26, 2019, 5:33 am
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The European Parliament on Tuesday voted in favour of a resolution labelling Malta as having the characteristics of a tax haven. A report by the EP’s Tax3 committee named and shamed seven countries, including Malta, as having levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) that could only be explained to a limited extent by real economic activities taking place within these countries. The Tax3 report on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance received majority support from the EP, with 505 MEPs voting in favour and 63 against. Malta has long been criticised for allowing foreign-owned companies to shift their profits to the island to benefit from lower taxes. The report highlights how the high share of FDI in Malta, Luxembourg, Cyprus, the Netherlands and Ireland in particular is usually attributable to special purpose entities. Tuesday’s vote calls on the European Commission to carry out “fitness checks” of relevant laws and policy initiatives aimed at addressing the use of letterbox companies in the context of tax fraud, tax evasion, aggressive tax planning and money laundering. The vote agrees with calls by the European Commission to introduce a common corporate tax base...
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Parliament could grow by up to 12 seats to get more women in parliament

March 26, 2019, 7:52 am
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Parliament will grow by as much as 12 seats under proposals aimed at increasing female participation in politics. A public consultation document on the “under-represented sex” was launched on Tuesday, and puts forward a number of proposed changes aimed at promoting gender equality.  Malta has a problem with women in politics Addressing a press conference to launch the consultation, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the reform would define who we wanted to be as a country. He compared the proposed reform to when voting rights were extended to all men, to when women who knew how to read and write were eventually given the right to vote, and when that right was later extended to all women.   The reform was not a quota, he said, adding that no one would be forced to vacate their seat to make way for anyone else. Muscat supports gender quotas "These extra seats will not take the place of anyone elected by the people. What's more, they will all be elected by the people," he said, adding that the whole country would benefit from equal gender representation.   Thinking behind the reform Prof. Carmen Sammut, who chairs the technical committee behind the reform, explained that the...
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Malta makes one arrest in international operation to trace funds from international crime

March 26, 2019, 9:12 am
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A foreign man was arrested in Malta on Tuesday in “Operation Webmaster” an operation carried out simultaneously in 14 countries focused on funds derived from organised crime. The operation was coordinated by Eurojust and Europol. The Malta police said the arrest in Malta was carried out on the strength of a European Arrest Warrant and involved the police Intelligence Unit, the Economic Crimes Unit, the Vice Squad, the International Relations Unit and the Special Intervention Unit. Further searches are underway. No details were given about the arrested man other than that he will be taken to court in the coming days. One News reported however that the arrested man is a 44-year-old Finn who was arrested for alleged money laundering. He is suspected to head a gang responsible for crimes in different parts of Europe. The arrest was made in Swieqi. 
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Motorcyclist grievously injured as he skids to avoid bent traffic lights

March 26, 2019, 4:45 am
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A 50-year-old motorcyclist was grievously injured in a traffic accident in Luqa on Tuesday. The accident happened in Triq l-Avjazzjoni at 9.45am. The police said a 27-year-old man from Attard was driving a Fordson van when he crashed into the traffic lights. To try to avoid the pole, the motorcyclist lost control of his Honda CB600. He was taken to Mater Dei Hospital by ambulance. The police are investigating.
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