President Joe Biden on Wednesday revoked executive orders from his predecessor Donald Trump seeking to ban Chinese-owned mobile apps TikTok and WeChat over national security concerns, the White House said. A statement said that instead of banning the popular apps, the Biden administration would carry out a "criteria-based decision framework and rigorous, evidence-based analysis to address the risks" from internet applications controlled by foreign entities. Trump had claimed the Chinese-owned apps posed national security risks and had sought to force the sale of TikTok, one of the world's most popular social media apps, to US investors. The effort by the Trump administration prompted a series of legal challenges which delayed the efforts to ban or force the sale of the applications, which heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. There was no immediate comment from the two companies. University of Texas law professor Bobby Chesney, who follows national security issues, called the Biden order "a good middle path." "They affirmed the nature of the threat and the propriety of using sanctions to address it, and they have held the door open for reimposing some version of...

A 32-year-old motorcyclist was grievously injured on Wednesday in an accident in St Julian’s. The police said the accident happened in Triq Elija Zammit at 2.30pm. The victim, a 32-year-old Libyan who lives in Swieqi, was riding a Honda when he lost control and crashed into a shop window. He was given first aid by a medical team on site and then taken to Mater Dei Hospital by ambulance. The police are investigating.

Automobili Lamborghini in collaboration with the Lego Group has built a life-size replica of the Lamborghini Sián FKP 37, using over 400,000 Lego Technic elements. Following the launch of the 1:8 scale Lego Technic Lamborghini Sián FKP 37 last year, this life-size model replicates the limited-edition Italian super sportscar on a much grander scale. Using 154 different types of LEGO elements, including 20 moulded specifically for this project, the 2,200kg model embodies the unmistakeable design of the Lamborghini Sián down to the most minute details, perfectly mirroring the car’s dimensions to the millimetre. “Lamborghini is a dream for people around the world, and Lego products provide creative inspiration for millions,” said Stephan Winkelmann, president and CEO of Automobili Lamborghini. “We’re delighted to have collaborated on this unique edition of the Lamborghini Sián, that will catch the imagination of Lamborghini and Lego fans alike.” The collaboration between the two companies’ designers, engineers and technicians, took a team of 15 people 8,660 hours of development work and painstaking construction. The proportion-perfect chassis is identical to the real-life Sián at...

Swedish electric car  battery maker Northvolt said on Wednesday it has raised billions of dollars in fresh funding to expand a giant new factory under construction in the north of the country in order to meet massive demand from key customers and partners such as German carmaker Volkswagen. Northvolt said in a statement it raised $2.75 billion (€2.3bn) from existing shareholders, including Volkswagen, Goldman Sachs and a group of Swedish pension funds. The battery maker said the cash will be used to expand its first “gigafactory”, Northvolt Ett, “from the earlier plan of 40 GWh to 60 GWh of annual production capacity in order to meet the increased demand from key customers, including a $14-billion order from Volkswagen announced earlier this year.” The factory will commence production “later this year”.  Northvolt said it has now raised more than $6.5 billion in total equity and debt with the aim of building more than 150 gigawatt hours (GWh) of annual production capacity in Europe by 2030. That will include the construction of two more giant factories in Europe over the coming decade, one possibly in Germany. In addition, Northvolt said it has so far secured “in excess of $27...

Veteran Belgian polar explorer Dixie Dansercoer has died after falling into a crevasse during an expedition in Greenland, police there said Wednesday. Dansercoer, 58, is famous among his peers for exploits such as having walked and skied across Antarctica in 1997-98 with fellow Belgian Alain Hubert. The adventurer died in the Upernavik sector, in the west of the Arctic territory on Monday, a police spokesman confirmed to AFP. "Rescuers climbed 40 metres into the crevasse, but it was too deep for them to be able to find him," said Fabian Uth Nielsen, from Greenland's capital, Nuuk. "He's therefore presumed dead." The accident happened during an expedition from Narsarsuaq, on the southern tip of Iceland, to Qanaaq, formerly known as Thule in the west. Travelling with Canadian explorer Seb Audi, they were snow-kiting their way across the Arctic landscape, a journey of more than 2,000 kilometres. Paying tribute to him on Twitter, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo wrote: "We lose an adventurer who pushed back the limits and a defender of the climate."

A collection of new stamps in honour of Prince Philip’s links to Malta will be released on what would have been his 100th birthday tomorrow – June 10. Maltapost’s three designs show Britain’s Duke of Edinburgh, who died two months ago, during different stages of his relationship with the island. The first two stamps feature the duke and his wife, the then Princess Elizabeth, at Villa Guardamangia, where he lived for two years between 1949 and 1951 while serving as a Royal Navy officer. On the third, he is depicted at the Independence Day celebrations, where, in September 1964, he handed over the formal independence documents to Malta’s prime minister George Borg Olivier. “To mark what would have been his 100th birthday, we are issuing three stamps with a denomination of 30c, €1 and €2,” Maltapost head of philately Mary Grace Simpson said. “We picked three photos that highlight his links with Malta”. Simpson said the number of stamps printed depend on the needs of the postal market. In this case, they were issuing 250,000 stamps of 30c and 25,000 stamps of €1 and €2. She said that while Maltapost usually issue between 10 and 12 different stamps a year, the Prince Philip stamp...

European football’s governing body UEFA has suspended legal action against Real Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona over their role in attempting to launch a breakaway European Super League. “The UEFA appeal Body has decided to stay the proceedings until further notice,” UEFA said Wednesday without specifying their reasons. Real, Juventus and Barcelona held out when nine of the 12 original clubs backtracked and struck a deal with UEFA last month. The six English sides involved reached a financial settlement with the Premier League earlier Wednesday worth a combined £22 million ($31 million). Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta  

Drug dealers took their business online to meet the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic, an EU report said Wednesday, adapting quickly to restrictions imposed across Europe to beat the virus. "We are witnessing a dynamic and adaptive drug market, resilient to COVID-19 restrictions," said Alexis Goosdeel, director of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction. The pandemic accelerated the "uberisation" of the market, said Goosdeel. Ads could be placed online allowing people to order using encrypted messaging apps for home delivery. "To ensure we are well-prepared to meet the future consequences of this hyper-availability, we need urgently to recognise that not only is a wider variety of people now personally experiencing drug problems, but drug problems are impacting on our communities in a wider variety of ways," he added. Users also now had access to a wider range of drugs than before, increasingly pure and increasingly potent, the EMCDDA's annual report warned. And while the effective shutdown of Europe's nightlife provoked by the various lockdowns hit consumption of party drugs such as ecstasy, other drugs took their place. There had been a surge in...

Strengthening customer care and addressing challenges faced by those trying to access service must improve, Identity Malta said as it launched its new three-year strategy.  With the aim of renewal, simplification of processes, efficiency and less bureaucracy, the agency which handles passport, ID and residency services has published its first three-year strategy since its founding eight years ago, with 35 points of action it aims to achieve.  ID Malta’s digital platform will be widened while another office will be opened in the north. The agency will also be considering the possibility of making some services available through councils.  Throughout the next three years, the agency said, it would be undertaking its 35 points of actions with the aim of: * strengthening corporate identity; * giving high-quality service; * improving performance based on a culture of results; * strengthening good governance; * improving identity management and technological infrastructure; * investing in its workforce; * improving media relations; and * taking environmental measures.  “This strategy is consolidating all we have achieved till now and will be strengthening the functions that are not...

The government has diverted €8 million from the Social Development Fund to Hospice Malta for the completion of the NGO's palliative care complex project.  The first of its kind in Malta, the St Michael Hospice Complex will offer day therapy and an outpatients clinic, as well as 16 rooms to house patients who can no longer live at home but have not yet required hospital care. This will help them transition into full-time care while they remain surrounded by their loved ones.  The Santa Venera building was signed over to Hospice by the Church in 2019.  “Everyone knows the toll end of life care can have on people at the most difficult period in their lives, this project will seek to strengthen Hospice’s invaluable work in the field,” Prime Minister Robert Abela said.  “While our healthcare is robust, this project will change the face of palliative care as we know it.”  The Social Development Fund, which is funded through Malta’s passport buying scheme, was crucial in implementing this project, among other good causes the scheme has funded throughout its existence, he added.  Parliamentary Secretary for Citizenship Alex Muscat said that itswas the NSDF’s vision to contribute to...

Edward Debono, the academic and doctor who developed global fame for his thinking methods, died on Wednesday. He was 88. Debono, who held faculty appointments at Oxford, Cambridge and Harvard universities and served as professor at many others, was an authority on creative thinking with an interest in the mind and its method of organising information. A term he originated, lateral thinking, now forms part of the Oxford English Dictionary. Born in 1933 and educated at St Edward’s College, Debono graduated as a doctor from the University of Malta before studying physiology and psychology at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and a Phd at Cambridge. Debono’s more than 85 books were translated into 46 languages, and his Six Thinking Hats method was taught across continents.   “Edward de Bono lived an extraordinary life, inspiring, encouraging and enabling us to be better and more creative thinkers,” a post on his website that announced his death read. “He wrote in his book The Mechanism of Mind “A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen.” May the memory of Edward live on and inspire many future generations.” Debono’s funeral will be held in Malta,...

As part of the activities marking the feast of St Anthony of Padua, on Tuesday Fr Guardian of the Conventual Minors, Marcello Ghirlando, celebrated Mass for children at the Franciscan church in Għajnsielem. Singers Loredana and Albert-Lauren Agius animated the Mass. Children and their parents were given a memento on the occasion. The feast of St Anthony will be celebrated on Sunday. Fr Provincial Anthony Chircop will lead a concelebrated Mass at 8.30am, while Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma will celebrate Pontifical Mass at 6.30pm. After Mass, Mgr Teuma will inaugurate the newly-refurbished St Anthony Centre. Anthony of Padua, or Anthony of Lisbon, was a Portuguese friar of the Franciscan Order. He was born and raised by a wealthy family in Lisbon and died in Padua, Italy. Noted by his contemporaries for his powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most quickly canonised saints in Church history. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church on January 16, 1946. He is also the patron saint of lost things.

Children who attend Mass with their families at St Peter and St Paul Basilica every Sunday morning this week met at the parish centre where they painted pieces of paper in different colours and afterwards, with the help of assistants, mounted them together to form a large picture of the Nadur basilica. The aim of the project was that as children filled each stone space with different coloured papers, they were made to realise that we all have different coloured characters and intentions, but we are one community. The children also realised how many beautiful things can be done when they work together. The picture will be presented to the church during Mass for children at one of the novena days in preparation for the feast of St Peter and St Paul celebrated on June 29.

Stop repeating untruths I wonder how the present chairman of the Planning Authority would, in a written economics examination, respond to the classical old question of ‘what comes first, supply or demand’. Now that the country’s overdevelopment saga has reached the stage where we actually have a Planning Authority chairman who simply does not understand that planning is not just about ensuring that developers continue to be provided with permits to continue operating as hitherto (May 26), we really have reached a stage of no return in this vital area of the country’s economy. Umpteen is the number of studies of the Maltese economy which have been written showing that it is a big figment of our collective imagination that Malta cannot live with a downsized building and construction component, particularly, for example, with regard to its alleged contribution to national Gross Value Added (only 0.1 per cent in 2020, Table 3.3 of the CBM’s annual report for 2020). Time and again, sectors have been cited (like defence, textiles, etc.) as examples of economic activities which were here and now no longer are and no Maltese workers dying of hunger. But now we risk damaging forever what...

The Charlie from Bejaia to Taranto, the Mona Lisa from Piraeus to Valencia, the CMA CGM Jean Mermoz from Rotterdam to Singapore, the Contship Sun from Koper to Bejaia, the Contship Cub from Trapani to Bejaia (all CMA CGM Malta Agency Ltd) and the MV Eurocargo Malta from Catania to Catania (Sullivan Maritime Ltd) today. The Contship Ivy from Gioia Tauro to Koper, the MSC Tamara from Genoa to Montreal, the MSC Eleni from Montreal to Gioia Tauro (all John Ripard and Son Ltd), the Atlantic Silver from Misurata to Thessaloniki, the Charlotta from Tunis to Livorno (both CMA CGM Malta Agency Ltd), the MOL Emissary from Le Havre to Alexandria (O.F Gollcher & Sons Ltd) and the  MV Caroline Russ from Genoa to Genoa (Gollcher Co. Ltd) tomorrow. The CMA CGM Iguacu from Genoa to Beirut, the CMA CGM Concorde from Singapore to Le Havre, the Lantau Arrow from Al Khoms to Tunis, the CMA CGM La Traviata from Algeciras to Livorno (all CMA CGM Malta Agency Ltd) and the MV Eco Livorno  from Catania to Catania (Sullivan Maritime Ltd) on Saturday. The Atlantic North from Tripoli to Catania, the Kreta S from Naples to Tripoli, the Rhodos from Algeciras to Livorno, the Containerships Stellar from...

Nearly all the protected birds in a state-sponsored tracking programme died within days of their release, according to the international suppliers of the monitoring equipment. However, the hunters’ federation, FKNK, which ran the project, yesterday vehemently denied the claim. In March, the FKNK was given a €14,000 public cash grant to release and monitor turtle doves bred in captivity. It is part of a programme that has seen 1,450 birds being released in recent years. FKNK is trying to collect data on the protected species to support their bid to hunt turtle doves despite their status as protected birds across the European Union. Under the agreement with the Foundation for Responsible Gaming, solar-powered GPS transmitters were attached to six of the birds that were among the latest group to be released, between May and the first week of June. A spokesman for Interrex, the EU suppliers of the tracking devices, said that, just a few days after they were fitted with equipment and released into the wild, five of the six birds showed no signs of life.  Furthermore, it appeared that after the birds died, the hunters’ federation retrieved one tracker and attached it to another...

Obituary ATTARD TERRIBILE. On June 9, JOHN, suddenly at Mater Dei Hospital, passed away peacefully comforted by the rites of Holy Church. He leaves to mourn his irreparable loss his beloved wife Dolores, his children Oliver, Lorna and her husband Elliot, and Irene, his brothers, sisters and their families, other relatives and friends. The funeral will take place tomorrow, Friday, June 11, at San ġwann parish church. Mass praesente cadavere will be celebrated at 8.30am followed by interment at Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery. No flowers by request but donations on his behalf to id-Dar tal-Providenza, Siġġiewi, would be appreciated. Lord, grant him eternal rest. In Memoriam FORMOSA. In loving memory of AGNES née Hersey, today, the first anniversary of her passing on to eternal life. Deeply missed and remembered with much love by her children Rachel and John, Iain and Romilda, Diane and Malcolm and her grandchildren, George and Amna, Lara, Kurt, Jack, Matteo and Francesco, and her sister Antionette. May the Lord grant her eternal rest. GLANVILLE – MARY. In loving memory of a dear mother on the 17th anniversary of her passing away. Always in our thoughts and prayers. Her daughter...

Politicians, activists and columnists are from Mars but presidents, as we know, are from Venus. By their verbs and predicates shall ye know them. Politicians attack, argue and propose; activists criticise, protest and oppose; columnists opine and speculate. But, in our system, presidents aver, declare and proclaim; they may do little else. Politicians, activists and columnists query, interrogate and scoff. They suggest, champion and lobby. But presidents – even when they personally are certain, enthusiastic or sceptical – may only wonder aloud (as, say, George Vella did at Friday’s State of the Nation conference, when he wondered if the environment could be given legal standing). Otherwise, they risk trespassing into the controversialist world of Mars. Politicians aspire to be thought of as having personality and sometimes succeed; columnists live in eternal hope, slipping in casual hints about their savoir-vivre the way starlets show some leg. But presidents are not personalities; they are personages. It does not matter how colourful they really are behind closed doors. They may plant hot kisses on their spouse’s lips, sing in the shower and teach their grandchildren the Twist.

Joe Biden triumphantly announced that "the United States is back!" as he kicked off his first overseas tour as US president, urging global collaboration and consensus to rebuild after Covid and reset diplomatic ties after the divisive isolation of the Trump era. His multilateral charm offensive began even before he touched down in England for a packed week that takes in a G7 leaders' meeting, summits with NATO and the European Union, and talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. On the way, Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One that the president would kick things off with news of a major vaccine-sharing initiative. Sullivan would not give full details, but US media reports said the Biden administration is set to buy 500 million doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for international distribution. Doses will be aimed at developing countries, he added, calling the US-led initiative "the right thing to do". "It's what Americans do in times of need. We were the arsenal of democracy in World War II. We're going to be the arsenal of vaccines," Sullivan added. The Group of Seven will make a further joint declaration on "a...

Novak Djokovic set up a 58th meeting with Rafael Nadal on Wednesday when he reached his 40th Grand Slam semi-final at the French Open despite being held up by 5,000 fans needing to be evacuated to conform with a Covid-19 curfew. World number one Djokovic defeated Italy’s Matteo Berrettini 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5 to book his place in the last four in Paris for the 11th time. Earlier, Nadal, the 13-time champion, beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 to make the semi-finals for the 14th time. With Djokovic’s match extending beyond the national 11pm curfew, play was halted for around 20 minutes at 3-2 in the fourth set so that 5,000 fans could be funnelled out of Court Philippe Chatrier. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta