Ġnien Dinja Waħda, a newly-opened garden at the prehistoric site of Għar Dalam, offers students an educational and entertaining experience beyond the classroom walls, Heritage Malta said on Friday. It said in a statement that Għar Dalam, which falls within its remit, is providing space on site for use by visitors of all ages, with particular emphasis on Year Six students who may participate in an educational programme designed specifically for them.  Heritage Malta is also covering these students’ transport costs from their respective schools to the site and back.  Hands on experience at Ġnien Dinja Waħda. Photo: Heritage Malta Ġnien Dinja Waħda follows in the footsteps of similar spaces that have been created in several educational institutions with the help of BirdLife, where students may feel at one with nature and learn in an applied, rather than abstract, way. The garden is planted with indigenous and endemic trees and shrubs, has a seating area, and also features a freshwater pond, thus giving children the opportunity to observe different land and water species in their natural habitat.  Ġnien Dinja Waħda is open to all who visit Għar Dalam, both individually and in...

If Gozo is to be connected to Malta by a permanent link, this should be part of an extended nationwide metro system, the Gozo Tourism Association said on Friday. The association referred to the government’s proposal of a three-line underground metro system with 25 stations around Malta and said it is surprised that this mass transportation system proposal does not extend its connectivity to Gozo.  It asked why the under-seabed tunnel between the two islands, which was still on the government’s agenda, is not being linked with the metro system being proposed. The government has said that Gozo's population must rise by a further 50,000 people for a metro line to the island to be financially feasible.  But the GTA argues that this reasoning does not hold water, as Gozo's population is inflated by domestic and foreign visitors.  It noted that in 2019 - the year before the COVID-19 pandemic - Gozo hosted 215,272 domestic visitors and 180,978 foreign visitors for at least one night, with a further 1.5 million foreign tourists visiting the island for the day.  NSO statistics also showed that, in 2020, the number of Gozitan residents who work in Malta reached 3,284 and in 2019, 1,654...

Germany's health ministry said on Friday the country was seeing a surge in coronavirus infections and warned that the situation was likely to worsen as winter approaches. "With the rising infection numbers we are seeing an escalation of the situation," health ministry spokesman Oliver Ewald told reporters in Berlin. The concern comes a day after Germany's Robert Koch health institute (RKI) said in its weekly report that seven-day coronavirus incidence rates had been rising since the end of September. The upwards trend "became visible in almost all age groups over the past week and it is to be expected that the increase in case numbers will pick up speed in the further course of autumn and winter," Ewald said. Germany recorded 19,572 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours on Friday, according to the RKI, up 70 percent on a week earlier. Friday's figure was the highest since early May, when far fewer Germans were vaccinated against COVID. The country's seven-day incidence rate jumped to 95.1 new infections per 100,000 people, also the highest level since May. The health ministry said the spike in cases had not yet led to an "increased dynamic" in COVID patients needing...

Motors Inc., distributors of Abarth, Alfa Romeo, CTYRYD, Fiat, Hyundai, Jeep, Fiat Professional, IVECO and KIA, are hosting an Open Week to celebrate their five-year anniversary. To commemorate this event, Motors INC are organising an open week at their showrooms between October 25-30. During this event, one can benefit from the new government grants as well as free vehicle health check. The Open Week will be held between Monday, October 25 and Thursday, October 28 from 9am till 6pm, and on Saturday, October 30 from 9am till 2pm, at Mdina Road, Qormi. Precautionary measures in line with the COVID-19 restrictions will be in place to ensure the safety of all visitors and employees. Visit Motors INC showroom during the Open Week at Mdina Road, Qormi or call on 2269 2000 for further information.

The recovery of the eurozone economy is losing steam, a closely watched survey said on Friday, with big supply chain problems at factories causing price hikes not seen in 20 years. “The ongoing pandemic means supply chain delays remain a major concern,” warned Chris Williamson, chief business economist at IHS Markit. This was “constraining production and driving prices ever higher both in the manufacturing and in the services sector,” he said. The purchasing managers’ index (PMI), which measures corporate confidence, demonstrated the slowdown clearly. IHS Markit said it slipped to 54.3 in October, after posting 56.2 points in September and a high 59 points in August. A figure above 50 indicates growth. IHS Markit said supply problems were especially felt in Germany, the EU’s export powerhouse that depends on the global economy to churn out high-value goods, such as cars and machinery. While the rate of growth was still there, IHS Markit said that the eurozone could falter in the near-term “as the pandemic continues to disrupt economies and push prices higher”. A new spike in COVID-19 cases in the autumn and winter could again disrupt the economy and cause problems for the...

Yorgen Fenech’s defence team is insisting on full disclosure of evidence in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder case, saying that without that there “will be no trial”. In a gruelling three-hour court hearing, Fenech’s lawyers accused prosecutors of wanting to sew up the case and have Fenech “convicted at all costs”. Prosecutors rebutted by saying an inquiry into the murder was ongoing and that all the evidence would be produced at the trial. A judge reassured Fenech’s defence team that all evidence would be made available to them, and indicated that the trial would be a long one. “This will not be a trial that will be over in two weeks,” judge Edwina Grima told the court, adding that jurors would be told that only what they heard in court was relevant. Fenech is pleading not guilty to complicity in Caruana Galizia’s 2017 assassination. He was indicted for that crime earlier this year, setting the stage for an eventual trial. But the accused’s defence team has said that there is still evidence that needs to be included in the case – evidence they insist could exonerate their client. That evidence includes data from a phone that belonged to former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri...

Borussia Dortmund’s star striker Erling Haaland will be sidelined for “several weeks” with a hip flexor injury, coach Marco Rose said Friday. The 21-year-old Norwegian played the entire match as Dortmund went down 4-0 to Ajax in the Champions league on Wednesday. “Time to focus on my injury. I will be back stronger,” tweeted Haaland alongside a photo of himself clapping the public. Haaland’s absence is a blow for Dortmund, currently second in the Bundesliga, one point off leaders Bayern Munich. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Bo Burnham foreshadows his emotional intimacy found in Inside through the eyes of a 14-year-old girl. Realistic and raw, there is an internal battle both on and off screen as teenage life is validated on a personal level that is hard to find elsewhere. In his directorial debut, Bo Burnham captures lightning in a bottle (a feat he would accomplish again in his quarantine special Inside). Delving into the depths of teenage drama is neither a new concept nor a particularly thrilling one: when I think back on myself as a pubescent boy, I can’t help but think how annoying I must have been. As petty as my problems may seem in hindsight, the coming-of-age narrative and its various routes from innocence to adulthood are intrinsically human. There is an intimate relatability to Eighth Grade that may have been attempted elsewhere yet has never been so grounded. Unwillingly shy, Kayla (Elsie Fisher) is in her final week of eighth grade (or year nine/form three). Fulfilling the stereotype of a quiet teen, Kayla has an immediate lack of friends, contradicting her viewless motivational vlogs where she speaks about the keys to confidence. At home, her relationship with her single father Mark...

UK retail sales volumes dropped for a fifth month in a row during September, official data showed on Friday, as the country suffers supply constraints and high prices. Sales volumes dropped 0.2 per cent last month from August, the Office for National Statistics said in a statement to register the longest retreat on record. “Household goods were the main driver of... (September’s) decline, with a fall of nearly 10 per cent,” noted Darren Morgan, ONS director of economic statistics. “Despite the lifting of (lockdown) restrictions, in-store retail sales remain subdued, with many consumers still opting to shop online,” he added. Although sales of petrol surged in late September as drivers rushed to fill up their tanks, a UK fuel shortage crisis likely meant consumers visited stores only for necessities, analysts said. “Whether the products aren’t available, the price tag is too high, or shoppers have simply finished fettling with their home decor, non-food sales pulled down September’s figures,” noted Danni Hewson, financial analyst at AJ Bell. “Furniture stores have been warning for months that big ticket, big size items have been caught up in the shipping crisis and that seems to...

The Malta Football Association announced that the Challenge League match between Pembroke Athleta and Marsaxlokk has been postponed due to a number of COVID-19 cases. Pembroke and Athleta were due to face each other at the Tedesco Stadium on Saturday, with the match kicking off at 3pm. However, the MFA was forced to postpone the match as Pembroke Athleta discovered that they had a number of COVID-19 cases. “The Malta FA would like to inform that the match between Pembroke Athleta SC and Marsaxlokk FC from the BOV Challenge League Group A scheduled to be played on Sunday 24th October 2021 at 15:00hrs at the Victor Tedesco Stadium has been postponed to a later date by the MFA Competitions Department,” the Malta Football Association said in a statement. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Former Planning Authority chief Johann Buttigieg has claimed he discussed going into business with property magnate Yorgen Fenech because his contract with the planning regulator was about to expire. Buttigieg's close links to Fenech are already being investigated by the permanent commission against corruption, following a complaint filed by environmental activist Arnold Cassola. The former PA chairman this week told the UK Times he expressed a willingness to go into business with Fenech in chats between the pair, because his term at the planning regulator was about to expire and he thought the Tumas magnate might employ him. “To tell you the truth, if at the time he would have offered me a job, I would [have gone to] work for him,” he said of the March 2019 chats. Buttigieg’s claim however jars with assurances he gave Fenech in those same chats a month prior, where he told the businessman he would be staying on at the PA. The discussion came about after Fenech asked him for help on a project. At the time, speculation was rife about Buttigieg's future following a falling out he had with powerful developer Joseph Portelli.  Fenech told the PA chief if he was not going to be...

A Mattia Preti painting that hangs in Żurrieq’s Parish Church is to be restored, with restoration works slated for completion by the third quarter of 2022.  Restoration of Preti’s Saints Roque, Blaise, Dominic and Nicholas of Tolentino interceding for the plague stricken will be financed by the Malta Airport Foundation – an NGO set up under the aegis of Malta International Airport but run by an independent board of administrators.  The 1676 work depicts the four saints mentioned in its name, as well as other figures, across almost four metres in height and two metres in width. It is one of seven works of art by the Baroque artist to adorn the Parish Church of Saint Catherine of Alexandria in Żurrieq.  Restorers will remove discoloured varnish and layers of overpaint, including excessive highlights, to better reveal the original work.  The painting has been dismantled from its frame to allow for its rear, or verso, to be treated, to provide sufficient stability to the canvas support.  All steps of the restoration proċess will be documented, to give future researchers as much text and visual information as possible.  Painting conservator Anthony Spagnol, who is leading the...

South Korean battery maker Samsung SDI will jointly produce electric vehicle batteries in the US with global carmaker Stellantis, the South Korean firm said on Friday – its partner’s second such deal in a week. The two companies will set up a “joint production body” in the United States to produce “EV battery cells and modules”, Samsung SDI said, with production starting in 2025 and the output supplied to Stellantis’s car factories in Canada, Mexico and the US. With the deal, Stellantis has “secured production capacity” to realise its goal to have electric vehicles make up 40 per cent of its US sales by 2030, according to the Samsung SDI statement. Stellantis, which includes the US brands Jeep, Chrysler and Ram, also owns the European carmakers Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Opel and Alfa Romeo, among others. It was formed in a merger between France’s Peugeot and the US-Italian company Fiat Chrysler earlier this year, and some 2.2 million Stellantis brand cars were sold in North America in 2019. Samsung SDI already has EV battery plants in China, Hungary and South Korea and is part of the sprawling Samsung group, whose flagship subsidiary Samsung Electronics is one of the world’s...

‘Big John’, 66-million-years old and the largest triceratops skeleton ever unearthed at eight metres long, was sold at auction to a US collector on Thursday for a gargantuan 6.6 million euros.  The final price reached at the Drouot auction house in Paris – €5.5 million before fees – was well above the expected €1.2 to €1.5million sale price.  Big John's skeleton is 60 per cent complete and was unearthed in South Dakota in the United States in 2014 and put together by specialists in Italy.  He will now return to the United States and the private collection of the unnamed buyer, whom the auction house said had fallen "in love" with Big John after coming to view him.  The buyer beat 10 other bidders, with three, in particular, driving up the price in the final minutes. "It's a remarkable price," said auctioneer Alexandre Giquello. "I wasn't expecting this," added palaeontologist Iacopo Briano who oversaw the sale.  Big John lived during the Upper Cretaceous period, the final era of dinosaurs, and died in a floodplain, buried in mud that kept him well preserved. A horn injury near his cranium suggests he got into at least one nasty fight.  Sue, a 67-million-year-old Tyrannosaurus...

Floriana FC announced that they are planning to appeal against the Malta FA ruling that condemned the club to a suspended three-point deduction and a €3,000 fine after a Floriana fan aimed racist abuse at Sta Lucia goalkeeper Julani Archibald in a Premier League match last August. On the other hand, the Malta FA announced that fan has now been identified by the police and is expected to face charges in court. “The Malta FA is informed that the perpetrator, in this case, has been identified. Police charges have been issued against him and the person will appear in court in the coming days,” the local governing body of football said.  “The Malta FA strongly condemns any discriminatory or racist behaviour and will continue to lead the fight against racism and discrimination in the game of football.” Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

The tumultuous journey of a family from Malta to Tunis to Marseille that started a century ago is the subject of an exhibition currently on at Spazju Kreattiv, in Valletta. It is told through the eyes of a fourth-generation member of the family via photos, mementos, original documents and audiovisual means. “The exhibition is based on a true story, my family’s story, from my father’s side,” French artist Katel Delia says.  “My grandfather was born in Żejtun. His complex journey of migration started when he was six years old, when his parents decided to move to Tunisia with their children in the hope of finding a better life. This was one century ago. There, they found themselves in some difficulties and asked for repatriation to Malta.  However, a year later, my bużnanna (great-grandmother) went back to Tunisia with her children while her husband stayed in Malta,” she relates. They opened a shop there and all seemed well until trouble started brewing a few years after Tunisia acquired independence.  “The political situation was hostile to foreigners. My family was pushed to leave Tunisia. In 1961, my grandfather decided to return to Malta with his four children, my father included.

Gozitan educators and students, who commute back and forth between Gozo and Malta on a daily basis, may now benefit from a new monetary incentive when using the fast ferry services. Students, who are studying at the Junior College, the University of Malta and MCAST, and all educators residing in Gozo but who work in Malta are eligible to benefit from a yearly monetary incentive, that tallies to €250. This EDU Fast Ferry incentive will be reimbursed, while the eligible applicants will continue to benefit from all the other incentives for which they are entitled to as Gozitans. The reimbursement, covering a substantial part of the fare, will be paid every three months, in arrears, and is paid independently of the fast ferry service operator. Eligible individuals who would like to benefit from this scheme may apply online by filling the application form available on the Ministry for Education website. The closing date to apply is November 3. The holders of the EDU Fast Ferry Card do not need to present proof of purchase for them to get the reimbursement, since the verification will be done electronically through the information technology both fast ferry operators have in place.

Telecommunications providers will confirm whether calls for an ambulance were made from the mobile phone of an injured migrant worker left dumped on the side of the road, a court heard on Friday. Police have requested access to call logs made from the phone of Jaiteh Lamin, who was found injured on the side of Selmun Road, Mellieħa last month. Lamin was allegedly dumped there by his boss, contractor Glen Farrugia, after he fell two storeys from a construction site, fracturing his spine. He claims Farrugia did not want to take him to hospital and told him to say he had been hit by a car.  Farrugia stands charged with grievous bodily harm and trying to cover up the traces of a crime by removing Lamin from the scene of his construction site fall as well as 18 other charges. He is pleading not guilty and is out on bail. Inspector George Frendo told a court that representatives of a telephony service provider would be brought in to testify in the case.    Defence: contractor ‘tried to help’ migrant During Inspector Frendo’s cross-examination, defence lawyer Franco Debono implied that his client had tried to make a call from the injured migrant’s mobile phone.  The inspector would not...

Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers are claiming that two mobile phones seized from Keith Schembri last year during money laundering investigations, could reveal data linked to the former chief of staff’s other phone that allegedly went ‘missing’ at the time of Fenech’s arrest. The issue was central to a hearing on Friday in separate proceedings filed by Fenech to have lead investigator superintendent Keith Arnaud removed from the murder case.  Fenech’s team is arguing that Arnaud should be removed due to his alleged close ties with Schembri, who served as the former prime minister’s chief of staff.  A court was due to rule on that request in November. But months after it scheduled that decision, Fenech’s lawyers filed a fresh application, claiming that police possessed “essential” data from Schembri’s phone that backed Fenech’s claims about Arnaud. The police commissioner subsequently rebutted the claim as a “fishing expedition” by Fenech’s lawyers and said that the device was still subject to an ongoing magisterial inquiry.  But the court, presided over by Mr Justice Lawrence Mintoff, put off judgment until the matter was thrashed out and all data relevant to the subject matter of the...

After two months of improvement, the coronavirus pandemic took a turn for the worse this week around the world, fuelled by deteriorating situations in Europe and the United States. Here is the global state of play based on an AFP database. On the march again The number of new daily cases increased slightly by two per cent globally to 410,654, according to an AFP tally. There were however wide disparities between regions. The pandemic had been slowing down since late August but has gained new ground, especially in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, whose vaccination drive is less advanced than the rest of the continent.  Cases have also soared in the United Kingdom which has lifted almost all its health restrictions. However, the confirmed cases only reflect a fraction of the actual number of infections, with varying counting practices and levels of testing in different countries. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine as doses are prepared at a Covid-19 vaccination centre at Little Venice Sports Centre in London on October 22, 2021. Photo: AFP Europe worrying This week the situation deteriorated sharply in Europe, with a 16 per cent...