Popular online shopping experience WeAreNotAShop.com is celebrating a successful first six months, raising €15,943 for charity from the sale against donations of over 800 items so far. Blending altruism with a passion for unique design, the quirky online site offers a carefully curated collection of hard-to-find new, vintage and an­tique items. Every cent received for the site’s large selection of items, including art­works, gifts, jewellery, homeware items and so much more, is donated directly to the Save The Valletta Skyline Appeal (SVS) and St John Malta. WeAreNotAShop.com is only online, and since its launch at the end of last year – at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic – the site has raised impressive sums for both charities, with €9,566 going to SVS and €6,377 to St John Malta. “The idea for WeAreNotA­Shop.com began a few years ago,” Stephanie Laing, who crea­ted the concept, said. “We had hosted a two-day fundraising event selling beautiful, brand new goods, which had been donated, and it was surprisingly successful. We organised a Christmas pop-up shop in the same year, which led to further donations of items, and the belief grew that this had the potential to become...

Hibernians coach Stefano Sanderra has sent a rallying cry to his players ahead of the UEFA Conference League first leg tie against San Marino champions Folgore on Tuesday night (kick-off: 9pm). The Paolites, following their elimination from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Flora Tallinn, have now dropped to UEFA’s newly-formed competition alongside Malta’s other two survivors Birkirkara and Gżira United, and will bid to try and reach the third qualifying round of the tournament. No doubt, Folgore is surely an opponent that is well within the reach of the Maltese club and coach Stefano Sanderra said that he hopes his players will show their real selves against the San Marino champions. “This is a real opportunity for us to show who are Hibernians FC,” Sanderra told the Times of Malta. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Cupra is a company on a roll. Since it split apart from parent firm Seat, it has created the Formentor – its first ground-up model – and soon it’ll be bringing the Born to market as its first fully electric model. But it still likes to tinker with Seat’s model from time to time. There’s the Cupra Ateca, of course, and now this – the Cupra Leon. It’s based on Seat’s latest Leon model, but Cupra has ensured it includes a wide variety of changes for its own version. Let’s find out what it’s like.  As this is a Cupra model based entirely on a Seat car, the exterior look isn’t as dramatic as on the Formentor. That said, you’ve still got a variety of Cupra’s own touches and – particularly on our estate model – they add up to create a car which does stand out against the regular Leon. Want to read more? Visit timesmotors.com 

Marsovin Winery released the 2020 vintage of its ‘Artist Edition’ wine range, 1919. The wines are branded as 1919 as it is the year when the founder of Marsovin, Chevalier Anthony Cassar, established his roots in the wine business.Marsovin has a long-standing reputation as a winery that firmly supports the Maltese art scene. The concept of 1919 is to combine the culture of wine with art, through the means of a wine which represents the marriage and long history between Marsovin and the local arts. Every year a Maltese artist is commissioned to create three paintings, which are used as the main feature on the labels of the 1919 white, rosé and red wines.  This is the 17th vintage which the winery has released, having featured paintings of renowned Maltese artists by: Debbie Caruana Dingli, Kenneth Zammit Tabona, Andrew Diacono, Gabriel Caruana, James Vella Clark, Andrew Micallef, Celia Borg Cardona, Denise Borg Milo, Selina Scerri, Mark Mallia, Catherine Cavallo, Rupert Cefai, Richard Saliba, Victoria Tonna and Mark England. The 2020 vintage labels feature paintings from Andrew Borg, who after visiting the Marsovin Estates, took inspiration from the landscapes and colours at...

The front pages of Times of Malta from 25 and 10 years ago.  Become a Times of Malta premium member to gain full access to our archive dating back to January 1930.

Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister,  was not prepared to lock down the country to save people in their 80s, his former adviser Dominic Cummings has told the BBC. Cummings said Johnson resisted the reimposition of COVID-19 restrictions because “the people who are dying are essentially all over 80.” He sent WhatsApp messages to aides in mid-October saying “I must say I have been slightly rocked by some of the data on COVID fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get COVID and live longer. Hardly anyone under 60 goes into hospital (4 per cent) and of those virtually all survive. “And I no longer buy all this NHS overwhelmed stuff. Folks I think we may need to recalibrate.” “There are max 3 m in this country aged over 80” and says “it shows we don’t go for nationwide lockdown.” The lockdown was eventually imposed a month later.  Cummings said his former boss repeatedly ignored the advice of scientific and medical advisers.  He said the prime minister clearly put his own political interests ahead of people's lives. He said he even had to stop Johnson going to see the Queen in person at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic,...

World-renowned writer Scottish writer Irvine Welsh is the international guest of the 2021 Malta Book Festival. Welsh has been an influence on contemporary literature and an icon of the 1990s and is known as the author of dark, gritty, seedy no-nonsense ‘say it like it is’ Scottish culture novels.  Irvine shot to fame with Trainspotting, published in 1993. The novel had been rejected for the Booker Prize shortlist for offending the sensibilities of two female judges, but despite the unease from the critical establishment, Welsh’s novel received as many good reviews as ones swathed in disgust and outrage - establishing a tradition that continues to this day. In 1995 Welsh gave up his day job, and his fame was further accelerated when the novel was adapted into a film in 1996 by director Danny Boyle. Following Trainspotting, he continued to write and publish prolifically, remaining a controversial figure whose novels, stage and screen plays, novellas and short stories have proved difficult for literary critics to assimilate. Trainspotting has now sold almost 1 million copies in the UK alone and is a worldwide phenomenon. Welsh’s novels include Marabou Stork Nightmares (1995), Filth...

SportMalta and the Maltese Olympic Committee are looking at the possibility of helping promising athletes from various sporting disciplines to turn professional in a bid to maximise their potential ahead of the 2023 Games of the Small States of Europe and beyond. Mark Cutajar, SportMalta chief executive officer, told the Times of Malta that discussions are already underway with the Maltese Olympic Committee to identify a list of athletes that will be given the opportunity to switch to professional status and focus solely on maximising their talent in a bid to compete at higher levels. Cutajar was speaking during a ceremony held at SportMalta offices in Cottonera were the ten local federations who will be representing the country at the 2023 GSSE in Malta signed a contract that will see them benefit from a €5 million purse that was made available by the National Development Social Fund for the technical preparation of athletes ahead of the biennial Games. The ten federations that received funds for their athletes’ technical preparations were Athletics Malta, the Aquatic Sports Association of Malta, the Malta Basketball Association, Malta Judo Federation, Malta Rugby Football...

Spazju Kreattiv is hosting the first of a series of oral history sessions on the development and evolution of the electronic music scene in Malta. The project Elektronika was launched last February with the aim of developing a historiography of electronic music in Malta. This summer, the project is entering a new stage with oral history sessions. The first session, called: ‘Session 1: Evolution (focus on the DJ era)’, will consist of an interview with four of Malta’s pioneering deejays in the electronic music scene: Coco, David Dee, Brian James and Owen Jay. The session will be followed by a one-hour DJ set from ‘Tres Moody’, a project consisting of David Dee, Brian James and Owen Jay. Elektronika is managed by Electronic Music Malta together with the M3P Foundation and is supported by Arts Council Malta. The event is taking place at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta on Thursday at 6.30pm. For more information, visit www.kreattivita.org.

The environment watchdog, two local councils, NGOs and scores of residents have objected to a proposal to turn a site previously earmarked for a 26-floor hotel into a nine-storey block of offices, shops and residences, situated at the edge of the protected valley of Wied Għomor, in St Julian’s. The objectors say the site, though within the development zone, is designated as a public open space in the local plan and ought to remain so. The site sits just outside the Regional Road tunnels. Landowner Carmelo Borg has submitted a ‘development control’ application to change the zoning of the site and allow mixed-use development. He is proposing four floors of parking spaces at basement level and offices, shops and a residential development on top. One level would include sports and community facilities. The land has belonged to Borg family for generations and part of it was expropriated in the 1960s for the construction of the Regional Road. Last year, Borg entered into a promise-of-sale agreement with TUM Invest Limited, which had planned to build the multi-storey hotel. The plans fell through after a barrage of objections and the company had a change of heart. The 3,000 square...

In the last of a three-part article, Joe Zammit Ciantar reminisces about Xlendi during his childhood days, shares his nostalgic feelings for the hamlet as he once knew it and his concern about how it has developed over the years. A night swim My father’s parents, who were born and lived in Xewkija, were Mikiel Zammit and Francesca née Ciantar. All I know about nannu Mikiel’s family is that he had a brother, Salvu, who married a French woman and settled in Lyon, France, in the 1950s. On the other hand, nanna was the only one among her brothers Fr Pawl, Ġanni, Ġużepp and Salvu, and her only sister, Marjanna, who was married. Her sister and brothers – who owned Il-Magna tal-Għaġin, one of the few pastry-making factories on the island – lived and died single. None ever owned a car. They used to travel on a horse-driven cart. Both horse and cart were kept in a remissa, a large garage in between the houses and the old traditional pastry-making factory building they owned in Racecourse Street, Xewkija. One day, my family went to Xlendi where we stayed longer than usual, at least until very late in the evening. At one point, two of the Ciantar brothers and sister, and nanna Ċikka,...

Cupra is a company on a roll. Since it split apart from parent firm Seat, it has created the Formentor – its first ground-up model – and soon it’ll be bringing the Born to market as its first fully electric model. But it still likes to tinker with Seat’s model from time to time. There’s the Cupra Ateca, of course, and now this – the Cupra Leon. It’s based on Seat’s latest Leon model, but Cupra has ensured it includes a wide variety of changes for its own version. Let’s find out what it’s like.  As this is a Cupra model based entirely on a Seat car, the exterior look isn’t as dramatic as on the Formentor. That said, you’ve still got a variety of Cupra’s own touches and – particularly on our estate model – they add up to create a car which does stand out against the regular Leon. Want to read more? Visit timesmotors.com 

Melvin Theuma, the middleman involved in journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder, is to testify in the failed HSBC heist case. Theuma allegedly told investigators that he had relevant information about certain serious crimes, including the attempted bank robbery in 2010.  He gave the information under the terms of the presidential pardon he was granted in connection with the murder. In May, Minister Carmelo Abela, a former HSBC bank manager, confirmed that the police had called him in for questioning over allegations that he was involved in the crime.  Former Economy Minister Chris Cardona has also been linked to the case by two men accused of murdering Caruana Galizia.  Both deny the allegations. Vince Muscat (il-Koħħu), who has also confessed to being a hitman in the Caurana Galizia car bombing, is waiting trial along with Darren Debono (it-Topo) over their alleged involvement in the heist. Magistrate Monica Vella will be presiding over the case. Muscat is represented by lawyer Marc Sant while Debono is assisted by lawyer Edward Gatt. Refresh your page for the latest developments. LIVE BLOG Heard about HSBC on the news 10.52am  Theuma is asked why he was called to get the...

Malta hopes to get off the grey list of untrustworthy financial jurisdictions within 18 months, according to the lead expert tasked with getting back on the white list.  Alfred Camilleri, the permanent secretary at the Finance Ministry on Tuesday told a conference that Malta had a “very ambitious” plan to get off the Financial Action Task Force grey list.  He said that he and his team are working on an action plan which is almost in its final draft and had hit the ground running in its efforts to turn the ship around. “We are very well advanced,” he said.  Camilleri is the chairman of the National Coordination Committee on Combatting Money Laundering, which is responsible for getting Malta back onto the whitelist.   His comments were echoed by Kenneth Farrugia who heads the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit and is also a senior member of the committee.   He said there had been jurisdictions that managed to get off the grey list in 18 months.  “I think we should follow suit and we should try our best to get off the list as soon as possible,” he said.  The two were speaking during the first day of a two-day financial services conference organised by Finance Malta.    Their...

New Warner Bros. release Space Jam: A New Legacy rocketed to the top of the North American box office over the weekend, taking in $31.7 million in the best showing of a family film since COVID first hammered the industry. The live action/animated movie – a sequel nearly 25 years after the original Space Jam with Michael Jordan – has NBA superstar LeBron James teaming up with Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters in a high-stakes basketball game against a rogue artificial-intelligence entity threatening his son.  The film’s strong performance, which came despite middling-to-terrible reviews – the New York Post called it an “abomination” – propelled it past last weekend’s leader, Disney superhero film Black Widow. That Marvel Studios production, starring Scarlett Johansson, took in $25.8 million in the Friday-through-Sunday period, down sharply from its $80.4 million opening, according to industry watcher Exhibitor Relations. In third place was Sony’s psychological thriller Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, at $8.8 million. Taylor Russell and Logan Miller, reprising their roles in 2019’s Escape Room, face a series of deadly traps and puzzles set by the evil...

A Premier League footballer has been arrested on suspicion of child sex offences, British police said on Tuesday. The player, who has not be named, was arrested on Friday and interviewed by officers before being released on bail. In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said: “Officers arrested a man on Friday July 16, 2021 on suspicion of child sex offences. He is on police bail pending further inquiries.” The footballer has been suspended by his club while the investigation continues.

British airline EasyJet said Tuesday that it will operate 60 percent of its pre-pandemic flights in the key summer season, thanks to easing travel restrictions, solid demand and speedy vaccinations. The carrier revealed it will ramp up capacity in its fourth quarter, or July through September, after operating at 17 percent of its 2019 level in the three months to June. "In order to capitalise on the opening-up of travel in continental Europe and the easing of restrictions for the fully vaccinated in the UK, EasyJet continues to pivot capacity towards popular routes where we see rising customer demand," EasyJet said. "EasyJet will emerge from the pandemic transformed," added the group, which is based in Luton north of London. Global aviation was ravaged by the deadly Covid pandemic, which sparked a collapse in demand and grounded flights worldwide, resulting in massive losses across the sector. However, the industry has been boosted by the lifting of many international travel restrictions in recent months, despite the emergence of the fast-spreading Delta variant. EasyJet added on Tuesday that its losses narrowed in its third quarter. Pre-tax losses fell by 8.2 percent to £318.3...

Malta saw a  €5.4 million increase in spending on research and development in 2019, the National Statistics Office said on Tuesday. The business sector contributed 62.0 per cent to total R&D, whereas the higher education and government sectors contributed 37.0 and 1.0 per cent respectively. The R&D expenditure was primarily dedicated to basic research, which accounted for 51.3 per cent of total R&D in 2019, followed by Applied Research (34.4 per cent) and Experimental Development (14.3 per cent). In 2019, both the business and the higher education sectors reported an increase in R&D expenditure compared to 2018. The higher R&D expenditure was mainly triggered by higher outlays by the higher education sector on recurrent expenditure of €1.8 million, while capital expenditure for these sectors increased by €2.8 million and €1.1 million, respectively. On the other hand, the government sector experienced a drop of €0.1 million from 2018. Labour costs represented 62.3 per cent of total R&D expenditure, followed by other recurrent expenditure (25.3 per cent) and capital expenditure (12.3 per cent). In 2019, the highest R&D expenditure was recorded in engineering and technology, which...

Asian equities extended losses on Tuesday following another rough day for global markets as the fast-spreading COVID Delta variant fuels concerns over the expected economic recovery. Investors have been rattled in recent weeks by data showing the highly transmissible virus surging across the world, forcing some governments to reimpose containment measures. Even countries with elevated vaccination rates have seen a big increase in new cases, though observers point out that hospitalisations and deaths are being kept down thanks to the jabs. The selling has also been blamed on other factors, including lingering worries about possible central bank policy tightening as the economy recovers, profit-taking with markets sitting around record or multi-year highs, and investors jockeying as the corporate earnings season begins. Bubbling geopolitical tensions were also an influence after the United States accused Beijing of carrying out a massive hack of Microsoft and charged four Chinese nationals, while rallying allies in a rare joint condemnation of “malicious” cyber activity. China has denied the claims as “totally groundless and irresponsible”, and “fabricated” by Washington. “What...

London’s beloved Royal Albert Hall concert venue on Monday celebrated its 150th birthday with a special anniversary show, as it aims to preserve its diverse artistic offerings. The imposing historic building had a full house for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, inviting 5,000 spectators to attend unmasked. Inaugurated in 1871, the Royal Albert Hall has hosted the biggest names in classical, pop and rock music, including Wagner, Antonin Dvorak, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Lady Gaga, as well as sumo wrestling competitions and ATP tennis tournaments. “We pride ourselves on the diversity of genres we have. I would be disappointed if we were just a classical music venue, or just a rock and pop venue,” chief executive Craig Hassall said. “If it’s boxing, it’ll be the best boxing in the world. The finest orchestras on the planet perform here. We’ll always go for the best in every genre,” he said. The concert hall has also provided the backdrop to films such as Alfred Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and historic events like Charles de Gaulle’s speech to London-based French compatriots resisting Nazi Germany during World War II. Inspired by...