UK aircraft engine maker Rolls-Royce launched plans on Tuesday to build small low-cost nuclear reactors, backed with private and public cash, to help reduce the country’s carbon emissions. Rolls-Royce has created a new Small Modular Reactor (SMR) division after clinching a cash injection of £405 million (€473m), it said in a statement. SMR reactors are far cheaper to build than large-scale nuclear plants because the vast majority of manufacturing and assembly is done in a factory, before transporting to the site. “Today’s announcement is another step towards the delivery of the government’s net zero strategy,” Rolls added. The British government, which is currently hosting the UN climate change summit in Glasgow, aims to reach net zero carbon by 2050 with the help of nuclear. The London-listed engineering giant hopes that the new business could create up to 40,000 jobs by 2050. Rolls-Royce, BNF Resources and Exelon Generation will together invest £195 million over three years alongside a £210-million state grant, the group added in a statement. “The SMR programme is one of the ways that Rolls-Royce is meeting the need to ensure the UK continues to develop innovative ways to...

Financial crimes investigators who seized electronic equipment from the home of a former senior official at Pilatus Bank in April still have to establish if the data is relevant to money laundering proceedings pending in court. Analysis of the data which is still to be extracted from a number of devices turned out to be a bone of contention between the parties when proceedings against Claude-Ann Sant Fournier continued in court on Tuesday. The former money laundering reporting officer stands accused of aiding and abetting money laundering activities both in her personal capacity and also in her former official capacity at the now-shuttered bank. Two Apple computer towers, a MacBook Air, a Samsung tablet, a Samsung phone, an Apple iPhone, a Nokia phone, a USB and plug were seized from Sant Fournier’s family home during a search on April 5. Yet seven months down the line, prosecuting Inspector Claire Borg said she could not tell what data they contained, requesting instead the appointment of a court expert to download and analyze such data. But that request promptly sparked a series of questions and objections by the defence. Those devices were seized at the time when the...

Online casinos have gained a lot of ground over their brick-and-mortar counterpart – online gaming has the upper hand in that it is more vibrant, offers more choice and bonuses, and can be enjoyed on the go or from the comfort of a home sofa.  That said, online casinos don’t replicate the glamorous feel that a real casino has.  But that was then – the now is that players can enjoy the glitz and colour of live casinos – or as they are known in Finnish, live kasinot – online. Without having to put on an evening suit or dress. Without having to drive or get a taxi. And with all the thrills that a live casino can offer.  Thanks to the internet and advanced technology – such as live streaming and, in some cases, even virtual reality – many online casinos now offer live casinos where players have a variety of table games which they can join in real time and with a real dealer. This translates into a high level of authenticity, as if players were at a land-based casino. Moreover, in reputable live casinos, dealers are fully-trained professionals – which means that they will conduct a game property and professionally.  And to add to player engagement, a lot of online live casinos also...

The police insisted on Tuesday that officers who on Saturday escorted a man to hospital, where he turned aggressive, had been following procedure. Times of Malta, quoting the MUMN nurses' union, reported on Monday that a nurse suffered a concussion and blurred vision after being assaulted by a patient in police custody who was left unattended at the Mater Dei Hospital emergency department over the weekend. The nurse was one of three assaulted on Saturday. In a statement on Tuesday, the police said that on Saturday, officers from Paola station and the Rapid Intervention Unit were called to assist care workers and a medical team in a Paola home after a patient who suffers from a medical condition became aggressive. After being brought under control, the man was taken to Mater Dei Hospital by ambulance escorted by the police. Since this was a call for assistance, and the man was never under arrest, the officers followed established procedure by assisting the ambulance team until they got to hospital. The man was then handed over to hospital staff and the police officers returned to their district and their duties, the police said. It turned out that the man, while at hospital,...

Former prime ministers must continue to uphold their responsibilities and ethical obligations, Robert Abela said in his first reaction to revelations over payments made to his precedessor Joseph Muscat. Questioned about the €60,000 Muscat received from a Swiss company linked to Steward Healthcare, Abela declined to go into specifics, citing an ongoing magisterial inquiry by magistrate Gabriella Vella. "Naturally, she will investigate that point and she'll reach her own conclusions," he said, adding that the government would "respect the conclusions that the magistrate reaches". Robert Abela reacts to revelations over Joseph Muscat's consultancy fees. Video: Chris Sant Fournier When pressed about the flow of money between Steward Healthcare, the Swiss company Accutor AG and the former prime minister, Abela said: "All I can says it that former prime ministers must continue to uphold their responsibilities and ethical obligations." The inquiry into the hospitals deal, which saw the Muscat government hand over the running of three public hospitals to Vitals Global Healthcare (VGH), a company with no track record in health, was triggered by rule of law NGO Repubblika in 2019. Money...

A total of 35 new COVID-19 cases were reported on Tuesday as the number of virus patients seeking treatment in hospital rose to 13, the highest in just over two weeks. Four patients are in intensive care. Another 10 patients recovered on Tuesday with the number of active cases reaching 406. A total of 892,243 vaccination jabs have been administered, including 62,037 booster jabs.

Objections to planning applications have been hidden from public view on the  Planning Authority’s website, Moviment Graffitti said on Tuesday.  In a statement, the NGO said this meant that the number and nature of objections made against planning applications was not known, irrespective of the size or location of a proposed development.   Graffitti observed that the PA had said in an internal circular that applicants and their architects should be the only ones able to view the public's objections.   “This shameful decision is the result of the filth that there is within the authority, which is now trying to hide more basic information from a system which is already geared to work against the citizens,” the group said.  Hiding the public's objections was intended to protect the public image of property speculators and developers, as well as politicians and the PA itself, Graffitti said. This was because the public had been filing record numbers of objections to development applications in recent months.   Hiding the objections was the only route left to “those who want to do everything underhand,” the NGO added. "The bias towards developers is now getting even more...

Rio Ferdinand has called for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to hand over the Manchester United manager’s “baton” after a string of damaging results left the club well off the pace in the Premier League. The Norwegian boss is under intense pressure after a 5-0 home thumping by Liverpool and a one-sided 2-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City on Saturday. Ferdinand has been one of many ex-United players to voice support for his former team-mate, who led the club to a second-place finish in the league last season. The ex-England defender said fans started the season full of hope after the high-profile signings of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane before results nosedived. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Five players from Germany’s national football squad are in quarantine after one of them tested positive for coronavirus, the German federation (DFB) said Tuesday. The infected player is fully vaccinated and currently asymptomatic, said the DFB, without naming him. But Bild daily has identified the player as Niklas Suele of Bayern Munich. Four other players were meanwhile asked to isolate because they are close contacts of the infected individual, even though they have tested negative, the DFB said. “This news, coming so close before the closing World Cup qualifiers, is bitter for the coaching team as well as for Die Mannschaft,” said DFB director Oliver Bierhoff. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

France urged Tuesday a "rapid solution" to a fishing dispute with Britain that has threatened to degenerate into a full-blown trade war, after new talks aimed at breaking weeks of deadlock. "France remains open to dialogue, but a rapid solution must be found for our fishermen, in line with the implementation of our agreements," France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune wrote on Twitter after telephone talks with Britain's Brexit minister, David Frost. The conversation came after a crunch face-to-face meeting between the two men in Paris on Thursday on a dispute that has severely exacerbated tensions between the Channel neighbours in the wake of Britain's exit from the European Union. Beaune's tweeted comment indicates that no breakthrough was found in the latest talks although dialogue is likely to continue. France had threatened to ban British boats from unloading their catches at French ports and to subject all British imports to inspections. President Emmanuel Macron said France would hold off imposing the measures to give dialogue a chance but French officials have insisted the all options remain on the table should dialogue fail. Under a deal agreed by Britain and the EU late...

Just over a third of the works on the new Kirkop tunnels and Airport Intersection Project have been completed, Infrastructure Malta said on Tuesday. Transport Minister Ian Borg visited the site on Tuesday morning and said the first new lanes will be opened in the second quarter of next year. The new lanes will be on the flyover taking traffic towards the Kirkop tunnels. He said the project will offer easier and safer connections to Luqa, Gudja, Birżebbuġa, Kirkop, Imqabba, Qrendi, Żurrieq and Safi. Access to Malta International Airport and Malta Freeport will be improved. He said the works will not impact archaeological remains at Ħal-Resqun and the site will remain open for archaeologists as it was before the project began. Archaeologists approved by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage are following and supervising all excavation works. An impression of how the project will look like on completion. The project was announced in 2019 and works were taken in hand this year. Two tunnels are being built beneath the Gudja roundabout near the airport to link the south and northbound carriageways of Triq L-Avjazzjoni and Triq Ħal Far, allowing road users travelling to and from the...

Films from all over Europe will be screened during a European film festival being held at Spazju Kreattiv this week. This will be the first event organised by the EUNIC Malta cluster, which was set up in July. EUNIC (European Union National Institutes for Culture) is a European network of organisations engaging in cultural relations. Currently, the EUNIC Malta cluster comprises the Embassy of Austria for Malta (EUNIC Malta cluster co-president), the Italian Cultural Institute (EUNIC Malta cluster co-president), the British Council in Malta (EUNIC Malta cluster vice president), Arts Council Malta (EUNIC Malta cluster vice president), the Embassy of Spain in Malta, the Alliance Française de Malte – Méditerranée, the Embassy of Poland in Malta, the Embassy of Hungary and the French Embassy in Malta. Acasa, My Home The festival kicks off today at 7.30pm with the Romanian documentary Acasa, My Home by Radu Ciorniciuc. Shown in the World Cinema Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival, the 2020 film provides access to Europe’s biggest urban delta, the Văcăreşti Nature Park in Bucharest, as seen through the eyes of a Gypsy family living in a shack in the middle of the...

I always feel that the business world can learn from big sports. Nowadays, many football clubs are run like big business and this means that they require an organisational structure similar to many corporate set-ups. In both instances, organisational alignment (as defined below) is key. For those who know me, they are very much aware that I am a big fan of Juventus but I also have a soft spot for Newcastle United (NUFC). The reason dates back to the 1990s, when I read my undergraduate degree at Newcastle University and NUFC had King Kev (Kevin Keegan) as their manager. The relevance to business is that NUFC has recently been taken over by a rich consortium led by the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund, literally catapulting the club overnight from one of the poorest to literally the richest in the football world. With this turn of fortunes, the Georgie fans understandably started to dream big. Money literally is not an issue but money alone isn’t enough! I am here referring to the club verbally agreeing to appoint Unai Emery as their new coach and first he said ‘yes’ but then ‘no’. Everybody was shocked! How could Emery refuse to become the coach of the richest football club in...

The Maltese Olympic Committee will be electing a new Executive Board during the Annual General Meeting at its headquarters in Tal-Qroqq on Tuesday. Delegates from the 52 affiliated federations will convene on Tuesday evening to form the Executive Board for the next four years. President Julian Pace Bonello and general secretary Joe Cassar will be facing a poll to retain their posts for another term in office. In fact, Pace Bonello is being contested by Dr Kirill Micallef Stafrace while Cassar is facing the challenge of Kevin Azzopardi. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

Vandals poured oil and gasoline on the parvis of the Romanian Orthodox church of St Roque's in Valletta overnight on Sunday, and police are now trying to establish who was behind the act. Fr George-Alexandru Popescu, president of the Romanian Orthodox community in Malta, said a neighbour called him early on Sunday to inform him that oil had been spilled on the church parvis. "Some of our chandeliers burn oil to light candles for our mass, so at first I thought some of that oil must have spilled overnight," Fr Popescu told Times of Malta. "But when I arrived at the church I found it was in fact oil mixed with diesel, and I was shocked," he said. Fr Popescu said this was an isolated incident and he has no suspects in mind. "I was concerned because people sometimes do these acts of vandalism as a warning or a way to send you a message. "But really, we have no divisions or disagreements, and our community has lived in harmony with everyone since it was established in Malta. We really have no reason to suspect anyone." Times of Malta is informed police are gathering CCTV footage from nearby properties to try to establish what happened that night and identify the...

France on Tuesday handed back 26 treasures that were looted from Benin during colonial times, fulfilling a promise made by President Emmanuel Macron to restore a lost part of Africa's heritage. Benin President Patrice Talon and Culture Minister Jean-Michel Abimbola travelled to Paris to bring home the artefacts that were snatched by French forces 130 years ago. Talon said he felt "overwhelming emotion" at recovering the objects taken during the ransacking of the kingdom of Dahomey in the south of present-day Benin, including a royal throne. Speaking to reporters at the presidential palace in Paris, where France signed over the artefacts to Benin, Talon said the treasures were much more than cultural goods - the term used by France to describe them. "This is our soul, Mr President," he said, flanked by Macron. The French leader hailed "a symbolic, moving and historic moment" which had been long-awaited by Africans. The return of the pieces taken from Abomey palace, which also include three totemic statues, comes as calls mount in Africa for European countries to return the colonial spoils lining their museum shelves. In France, most are held by the Quai Branly museum, which has...

Six million people visited the Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped when the iconic Paris monument was shrouded in fabric as a posthumous tribute to artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude, according to estimates released on Tuesday.  The monument, which towers over the famous Champs Elysees, was covered in 25,000 square metres of silver-blue recyclable polypropylene for three weeks in September and early October. The late artists Christo and Jean-Claude. Photo: Don Emmert/AFP It was the long-held dream of Bulgarian-born Christo, who died last year at age 84, and his late wife Jeanne-Claude, ever since they rented a nearby apartment in the 1960s. The couple was renowned for wrapping huge public monuments around the world.  A third of the visitors to the wrapped Arc were foreigners – a sign of the gradual return of tourists to the world's most-visited city as the pandemic eased this summer.  A different view of the Arc de Triomphe, wrapped in silver-blue fabric, as it was designed by the late artist Christo. Photo: Thomas Coex/AFP The estimates were based on a combination of mobile phone and transport data gathered by city and tourism authorities.  The total beats the five million estimated to...

This project, called Intervet Western Balkans Project, aims at creating opportunities for students and staff to participate in learning mobilities related to vocational and educational training (VET). It also helps improve the culture of learning mobilities in VET through access to existing resources and opportunities in international training mobilities. This project is particularly important as VET is becoming more popular due to its positive impact on economy and society. This project is supported by the EU. The project intends to provide a significant number of important opportunities which include: • 56 mobilities of three months for recent graduates and apprentices; • 360 mobilities of one month for high school VET students;  • 54 job shadowing experiences for VET teachers and managers; • participation of 36 VET teachers in summer schools;  • participation of 72 VET teachers and managers in the Thematic Themes organized by EFVET and hosted by different partners from EU member states. Intervet Western Balkans Project aims at creating opportunities for students and staff to participate in learning mobilities related to vocational and educational training (VET). Photo:...

An original Apple computer, hand-built by company founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak 45 years ago, goes under the hammer in the United States on Tuesday. The functioning Apple-1, the great-great-grandfather of today's sleek chrome-and-glass Macbooks, is expected to fetch up to $600,000 at an auction in California. The so-called "Chaffey College" Apple-1 is one of only 200 made by Jobs and Wozniak at the very start of the company's odyssey from garage start-up to megalith worth $2 trillion. What makes it even rarer is the fact the computer is encased in koa wood - a richly patinated wood native to Hawaii. Only a handful of the original 200 were made in this way. Jobs and Wozniak mostly sold Apple-1s as component parts. One computer shop that took a delivery of around 50 units decided to encase some of them in wood, the auction house said. "This is kind of the holy grail for vintage electronics and computer tech collectors," Apple-1 expert Corey Cohen told the Los Angeles Times. "That really makes it exciting for a lot of people." Auction house John Moran Auctioneers says the device, which comes with a 1986 Panasonic video monitor, has only ever had two owners. "It was...

Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar is still under investigation by the tax department over her alleged involvement in a multi-million euro property deal involving Yorgen Fenech, tax chief Marvin Gaerty has told MPs. Testifying in front of parliament's Committee for Standards in Public Life, the Inland Revenue Commissioner said he could not divulge details on the case because investigations are still ongoing.  He did confirm tax had been paid on the fee and also that the payment is not a donation. However, he did not confirm who had paid the tax. Standards Commissioner George Hyzler previously concluded that the Labour MP and former junior minister most likely received a €46,500 brokerage payment through the deal. The commissioner’s investigation concluded that on the balance of probabilities, Cutajar acted as a broker in the deal and breached parliamentary ethical standards when she failed to declare her income from the 2019 property sale.  Times of Malta revealed in July that the Tax Compliance Unit within the Inland Revenue Department started an audit and accompanying investigation a few weeks after Times of Malta first exposed the multi-million euro property agreement back in...