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Updated - Government reacts as PN accuses PL, GWU of fuel prices hypocrisy

January 13, 2014, 5:27 am
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  Updated - See government reaction below The Nationalist Party has criticised the raise in fuel and gas prices announced 11 days ago, saying the increases were purposely announced over the Christmas period, when the people were distracted. It accused the Labour Party and the GWU of hypocrisy for having conducted a crusade in the past whenever prices went up, while now staying silent.  The party also issued a table showing prices now and compared to three years ago, when the General Workers' Union held a public protest. At the time, the GWU had requested an urgent meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development. The Labour Party had accused the then government of being irresponsible and the Resources Authority of having abdicated its responsibilities, the PN recalled.     January 2014 January 2011 Increase % Increase Unleaded €1.44 €1.31 €0.13 9.9 Diesel €1.36 €1.21 €0.15 12.4 Kerosene €1.39 €1.21 €0.18 14.9 Gasoil for heating €1.04 €0.83 €0.21 25.3 Gas (12kg) €19.20 €16.00 €3.20 20.0   GOVERNMENT REACTION - PRICES MUCH HIGHER UNDER THE PN In a reaction, the Energy Ministry said that...
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Victim: I have to fight it and get on with my life

January 13, 2014, 1:31 am
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Blanche holds the medallion of Our Lady that she believes protected her when she was mugged.

Blanche*, 72, had to change the keys of her Sliema house and car, install new locks and pay for new credit cards to be issued after her handbag was stolen as she walked to Mass on New Year’s Day. However, when two Italian teenagers appeared in court and admitted the theft, the magistrate did not hear about the expenses she sustained and did not order them to pay for the damages. The boys, aged 16 and 17 from Palermo, were given a six-month jail term, suspended for four years, and were told off for targeting an elderly woman. As often happens when an accused pleads guilty, the victim was not... This article is part of our premium content. Full story is available on Times of Malta Premium.
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Updated - Man injured as glass is smashed in his face

January 13, 2014, 1:25 am
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A 40-year-old Bulgarian man was grievously injured when a glass was smashed in his face during a brawl in a Paceville bar last night. The incident happened at about 1 a.m in Santa Rita Street. Later this morning, Jonathan Sammut, 25, from Swieqi, a part time gardener, was arraigned in court and accused of having seriously injured the Bulgarian man. He was granted bail against a deposit of €2,000 and a personal guarantee of €5,000. Before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, defence lawyer Stephen Tonna Lowell said he was not contesting the facts of the case as they happened but was contesting the intention. He said this was why his client was pleading not guilty to the charges brought against him.
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‘Help us raise awareness to give Bianca a chance’

January 12, 2014, 3:01 pm
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Lisa Sullivan with her goddaughter Bianca Scott, about 11 years ago. Right: A week before her diagnosis, Bianca had her high school social. A few days later she was lying in a hospital bed fighting for her life.

A month ago, Australian Bianca Scott, 17, was diagnosed with a rare, life-threatening disease that is causing her immune system to attack her organs including her kidneys, heart and brain. The aspiring fashion designer – who dreamed of opening labels in Australia and Europe, including Malta – now has to spend nine hours a day on dialysis. She cannot afford to pay €360,000 a year for a drug that treats the destructive condition. Her godmother, Lisa Sullivan, who has been living in Malta for the past decade, is calling for the support of the Maltese people to help Bianca gain access to this medicine by signing a petition asking the Australian government to intervene. Addressed to the Australian Prime Minister and Health Minister, the petition asks that the drug, Soliris, is put on the approved list of subsidised treatments. “She just graduated. She was about to start her new life and career and even managed to obtain a scholarship. “I was recently speaking to her mum and told her I’d love to help her open up a boutique in Malta with her label. “She deserves a chance to live. People can help by signing the petition,” Ms Sullivan (née Faure), who is the best friend of Bianca’s...
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Tent controversy - No reason for health minister's resignation - PN spokesman

January 13, 2014, 5:46 am
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The Opposition spokesman for health, Claudio Grech, said this afternoon that he did not see last Friday's controversy over the setting up of a tent to ease overcrowding at Mater Dei Hospital as a reason for Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia to resign. "Resignation is the easiest route, but what the country wants is that Labour's promises are kept," Mr Grech told a press conference. He said the Opposition was not being populist, so much so that a press conference about hospital overcrowding, which was meant to have been held on Friday, had been postponed because of the tent controversy. Mr Grech admitted that not all was well in the health sector under the PN, but said hospital overcrowding was a problem which was far from unique to Malta. The opposition, he said, wanted to collaborate with the government on the health sector and was reiterating its call for the creation of a parliamentary committee on health. Mr Grech said the best solution to tackle the bed shortage problem was to tackle the problem of social cases in Mater Dei, where, unfortunately, some people were parking their elderly relatives. Any vacancies which became available in the government's old people's homes...
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Watch: Farrugia cannot recall who he spoke to after oil procurement scandal revealed

January 13, 2014, 8:01 am
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Oil trader George Farrugia said in the Public Accounts today that he could not remember his reference to The Big One in an e-mail sent in 2005. Mr Farrugia was back before the committee for the third time, with MPs asking him a series of questions on the oil procurement scandal. Mr Farrugia, the local agent of Total/Totsa, was granted a presidential pardon to reveal the whole truth on the case. At the beginning of this evening's sitting, Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici referred to an e-mail sent on 29 April 2005 by Mr Farrugia to his Total principal Olivier de Richmond requesting urgent payment, saying he had not received anything re The Big One. He needed the payment desperately because he could not do what he needed to do and he would be in deep sh.. Asked repeatedly by Dr Bonnici, Mr Farrugia said he did not recall what he had been speaking about, but this was a form of pressure for payment of overdue sums. It could have been, he said, that he too needed to make some payments and thus needed the money. He could not recall what 'the big one' meant, but the letter was a form of pressure for payment. Dr Bonnici told Mr Farrugia that he did not believe him, especially since...
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Lightning over Sliema

January 12, 2014, 10:48 pm
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Many people were woken up by the rumble of thunder last night. Gary Beal took these pictures of Sliema. mynews@timesofmalta.com
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Police probe Maltese ‘home-made porn’

January 12, 2014, 3:01 pm
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Two sex videos featuring Maltese men and women, which were uploaded to social media without consent, are being investigated by the police. The films, both showing individuals engaged in oral sex, appeared on social media as a flood of nude ‘selfies’ were shared across websites. Police sources confirmed the cyber crimes unit was investigating the separate incidents after receiving reports that the videos had been shared without the subjects’ permission. One of the videos, featuring a French photographer and a young Maltese model, sparked a wave of homophobic and hateful comments. The clip was first uploaded more than two months ago but re-emerged last week during what one social media user described as “Malta’s home-made porn gone public”. The three-minute clip was shot in a derelict building using an unmanned video camera. The voice of a third man, believed to be French, can be heard and it appears he was looking out for any passersby. The film was uploaded to popular video-sharing website Vimeo by the photographer’s Facebook alias, StudioMalta, in November. Contacted by Times of Malta, the photographer declined to comment on the case, saying only he had been questioned by the...
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Mcast student assaulted by gang

January 13, 2014, 4:56 am
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A 18-year-old man is being treated in hospital after being assaulted by a gang of five or six young people earlier today. The incident happened at about noon at Corradino Road, not far from Mcast, where he is a student. The motive is not yet known but the victim does not appear to have been robbed. He was taken to hospital in an ambulance after having been assisted by a policeman who happened to be passing by.
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Burglar's prison term reduced slightly as victims forgive him

January 13, 2014, 2:43 am
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A man who stole a safe containing some Lm8,000 (€18,400) from a Mosta residence in 2004 and was condemned to a two-year jail term, has had his term reduced by three months after the victims forgave him and he said he was returning some of the money. The court of appeal noted that the accused Martin Pirotta had filed his admission before the first court late in the proceedings,. He also had also violated the conditions of previous court sentences. The first court had noted how a probation officer had reported that since committing the crime, the accused had stayed away from drugs, had held down a job and was now more involved in the raising of his children. The first court, however, had been required to impose a jail term because he had relapsed. Following the sentence of the first court, Mr Pirotta produced a note dated December 12, 2012 where it was said that he had paid the victims €2,000 and the victims were forgiving him. In its considerations, the appeals court said Mr Pirotta had only paid back part of the money he had stolen and this act of generosity was aimed at him avoiding jail. The court, however, confirmed the judgement of the first court while reducing the prison...
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Updated - Fire at Fort San Lucjan

January 14, 2014, 1:42 am
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Workers and schoolchildren were this morning evacuated from San Lucjan tower in Marsaxlokk bay because of a fire thought to have started from the air-conditioning system. People on the scene reported a large quantity of smoke and some damage to furniture. Fire crews of the Civil Protection Department quickly controlled the blaze.  No one was injured. The building is used as an aquaculture centre and is frequently open for tours by school children.   
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Foreigner accused of string of crimes, including rape, of his former partner

January 14, 2014, 5:04 am
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A 31-year-old Syrian man was today charged with raping, assaulting and injuring his Maltese partner of eight years after they broke up. The man pleaded not guilty to raping the woman, seriously injuring her, causing her and her family to fear him, creating a false Facebook profile to use against his former partner, misappropriation of her laptop and damaging her mobile phone. He was also charged with setting fire to her car on June 11 last year and  damaging a car parked close by, assaulting her and her father on August 23 with a spanner with which he damaged the father's car and making use of an identity card belonging to someone else. Lawyer Kenneth Grima in requesting bail  explained how his client had been  married to a Maltese woman. They separated and he then entered a relationship with the alleged victim, with whom he had been for eight years. The incident in question originated because the woman cheated on him. The lawyer said it was difficult to understand how a person who lived with someone for eight years, as a common-law wife could claim rape. This was often used as a way of getting revenge on a partner, as it was difficult to prove. Some people got this revenge by...
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Updated - Swoboda links citizenship issue with migration, calls for common rules on granting of citizenship

January 14, 2014, 2:22 am
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The leader of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, this morning called on the European Union to establish common rules to govern the granting of European citizenship. Speaking a day before the European Parliament debates Malta's citizenship scheme, he said the granting of citizenship should not be treated solely as something in the remit of member states as it involved the sale of EU passports. The Socialist leader criticised the fact that Malta was offering citizenship for the wealthy while taking a tough position on the issue of irregular immigration,  arguing that Malta could not accommodate more asylum seekers. The Maltese scheme would have made more sense if some of the revenue would have gone directly to support asylum seekers, he said. He however, criticised the European People's Party (the parliamentary group the PN is affiliated to) saying it had raised a big fuss on Malta's scheme without having come out openly against similar schemes operated by other countries. Last week, Mr Swoboda reportedly said that linking EU citizenship to payment "undermined European values." 'CRAZY' SCHEME In other comments today, Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy...
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Resident identifies man who burgled his house

January 14, 2014, 5:21 am
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A burglar was convicted today after having been identified by a resident who watched him burgle his house.  William Agius, was recognised by a young man who lived in the house he broke into on February 28, 2010 at about 1.30pm. He was condemned to an eight-month jail term suspended for a year for stealing old coins, worth over €2,300. William Bondin, a man in his early 20s, explained that on the day, his parents went out. Some time later he heard the main door slam and the dogs started barking. He left the house from the back door and went to his cousin's house to tell him that he suspected there were burglars in his home. Mr Bondin and his cousin went to have a look and saw a man carrying a white bag in the living room. Another two men were also in the house. Mr Bondin later identified the man in the living room during two identity parades. Mr Bondin and his cousin also took note of the registration number of the getaway car. The police established that the vehicle was registered on Mr Agius. In his defence, Mr Agius insisted that his car was being used by his girlfriend's brother. At the time he was having lunch at his mother's house. His mother confirmed this. A bag of coins...
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Another hospital corridor being used for patients

January 14, 2014, 5:52 am
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An additional corridor is being used for patients at Mater Dei as the hospital authorities continue to grapple with a bed shortage. In a statement this afternoon, Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia said the use of the corridor was identified last week, and every possible measure was being taken to ensure that patients were treated with dignity and enjoyed privacy until they were given beds in the wards. Dr Farrugia toured the hospital this morning and thanked the doctors, nurses and other workers for their service, saying that despite the pressures, no operations had been cancelled. The Health Ministry said that 178 people were admitted to hospital in the past 24 hours - 124 through the emergency services, 47 for operations and seven from homes for the elderly or the outpatients' department. A total of 110 patients were discharged.   
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Maltese song makes it to Lithuanian Eurovision finals

January 14, 2014, 12:45 am
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A song written by Alison Ellul and Aidon O'Connor and composed by Elton Zarb "It's all about a boy", has made it to the finals of the Lithuanian Eurovision song contest. The song is produced by Alison Ellul and Elton Zarb and can be heard as originally sung by Ms Ellul online on the Lithuanian Eurovision song contest page. Should the song be chosen, the winner will sing the song at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen. The song can be voted for online.
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Transport Malta official hit by bus

January 14, 2014, 3:26 am
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A Transport Malta enforcement officer was hospitalised this morning after he was hit by a bus as he walked at the bus terminus in Valletta. The accident happened at about 11.45.  
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Motorist assaulted, injured in Attard

January 13, 2014, 11:57 pm
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A 29-year-old man suffered grievous injuries when he was allegedly assaulted by a group of unidentified people late yesterday, the police said. The incident happened at about 8 p.m., in Mdina Road, Attard. The man reported that the incident happened after his car stopped and he got out to investigate. A group of young people made fun of him, an argument arose and then he was assaulted. The man sought treatment at Paola health centre and was hospitalised.
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Three fined for harassing Caruana Galizia

January 14, 2014, 4:56 am
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Zurrieq mayor Ignatius Farrugia, Maria Vassallo - whose husband runs the Labour Party club in Rabat - and her daughter Kimberly were each fined €2,400 today after they were found guilty of harassing columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia on March 19 during the feast of St Joseph in Rabat. They were also ordered not to approach Ms Caruana Galizia for a year or face a fine of €1,000. All three were cleared of physically assaulting her. The columnist, on the other hand, was cleared of charges of defamation of the Vassallos through her blog after Magistrate Francesco Depasquale noted that  references to Ms Vassallo constituted fair comment. He said that while people had a right to put up information about themselves on the social media, including Facebook, other people had a right to comment on what was put in the public domain. During her testimony in April, Ms Caruana Galizia recounted how she was forced to seek refuge in a convent to escape a baying crowd after she was harassed by the mayor of Żurrieq. She explained that she had gone to Rabat to take photos of the feast. She was walking with her husband, Peter, and friends, including Paul Stivala and Gloria Beacom. At one point she...
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Photographer gets suspended jail term for distributing sex video

January 13, 2014, 10:12 pm
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A French photographer who uploaded footage on the internet of him engaging in oral sex with a Maltese male model was yesterday given a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to distributing pornographic material.   The man, who lives in Gżira, was accused of filming and distributing the footage. The video was uploaded months ago and was investigated by the Cyber Crime Unit after re-emerging and making the rounds on social media.   A second video, currently under investigation, shows a prominent local actress engaging in oral sex with her ex-boyfriend who is believed to have uploaded it as revenge after they broke up.   More in The Times of Malta.  
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