The German parliament elected Olaf Scholz as chancellor on Wednesday, turning the page on 16 years with Angela Merkel at the helm as a new centre-left-led coalition takes the wheel of Europe's top economy. Scholz, who won 395 of the 707 votes cast in the Bundestag lower house, has pledged broad "continuity" with the popular Merkel while making Germany greener and fairer. Asked by parliament speaker Baerbel Bas whether he accepted the election, a beaming Scholz nodded and then received bouquets of flowers from MPs to congratulate him. The finance minister under Merkel led his Social Democrats to victory in the September 26 election -- an outcome considered unthinkable at the start of the year given the party's then festering divisions and anaemic support. Scholz, 63, who turned emulating Merkel in style and substance into a winning strategy, has now cobbled together Germany's first national "traffic light" coalition with the ecologist Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, nicknamed after the parties' colours. Their four-year pact sealed late last month is called "Dare for More Progress", a hat tip to Social Democratic chancellor Willy Brandt's 1969 historic pledge to "Dare for...

A pro-cannabis reform group has slammed lobbyists seeking to remove references to public education from a bill to reform cannabis laws. Releaf said that the organisations petitioning parliament were seeking to turn back the block and “promoting a culture of ignorance and stigma” with that request. The lobby group issued the statement one day after dozens of NGOs and lobby groups banded together to petition parliament in a last-ditch attempt to force changes to a reform bill that is now just one parliamentary vote away from becoming law. The reform will allow cannabis users to carry up to 7g of the substance on them without fear of prosecution or arrest, grow up to four plants in a concealed area at home and buy cannabis bud or seeds from cannabis associations. People with cannabis possession-related convictions will have those expunged from their criminal record. In their petition, the organisations listed six changes that they want to see to the bill in its current form. One of those changes is to remove public education from the remit of a cannabis authority to be established. Critics of the bill have argued that having an authority that regulates cannabis also teaching about...

The police commissioner has been ordered to pay €7,700 in compensation to a traffic section sergeant who lost his allowances when he was out of work for seven months due to a motorcycle crash.  The officer, Malcolm Mifsud, had crashed on a slippery Great Siege Road in Floriana on January 22, 2009 during heavy rain, hitting an electricity pole and suffering serious injuries. He sued Transport Malta, Floriana Council, Enemalta and the police, blaming them for the state of the road, the poor protection afforded by his uniform and helmet and the state of his motorcycle.  The court, presided by Mr Justice Grazio Mercieca, established that diesel or some other substances, mixed with the rainwater, had made the road slippery, but Transport Malta, Floriana Council and Enemalta bore no blame. The commissioner of police argued that the police too, bore no blame. The helmet met standard European requirements and the motorcycle was regularly serviced and had relatively new tyres. Furthermore, had the motorcycle and the helmet been in the poor state which the officer was making them out to be, he would surely have, on returning to duty, sought a transfer, rather than returning to his...

While all eyes in Abu Dhabi will be on the headline drama of the title fight between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen this weekend, another world champion will be making his final appearance in a Formula One car.  Twenty years after making his F1 debut for Sauber at the 2001 Australian Grand Prix, Finnish driver Kimi Raikkonen will start his 349th and final race on Sunday but he says he “wouldn’t change a thing” and has no regrets about stepping away.  “F1 takes up a lot of time but it has never been the main thing for me,” the 2007 world champion told AFP. “My life has always been outside. There are other more important things for me than F1. Today my schedule affects my whole family so I am looking forward to the day I have nothing planned and can do what they want.” Retirement is nothing new for the 42-year-old whose drive at Alfa Romeo next year will be taken by Valtteri Bottas. He tried it once before, missing the 2010 and 2011 seasons, although that just made time for him to race in NASCAR and the world rally championship. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

We go to a farm to see how goat’s cheese is made, before making a delicious Maltese cheese pie in the kitchen.

The Malta U-17 national team discovered their opponents in next year’s European Championship qualifiers. The U-17 selection were drawn in Group 4 and will be facing Scotland, the Czech Republic and Northern Ireland. The drawn was held in Nyon today and has set 13 groups to be played next summer or autumn, beginning the road to Hungary with the final tournament being held in May 2023. The top two teams in each group will join top seeds Netherlands and Spain in 2023 elite round along with the four third-placed teams with the best records against the top two in their section. Meanwhile, the qualifying draws of the 2023 U-19 European Championships were also held in Lyon. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

A bid to demolish a quaint old farmhouse on the outskirts of Mosta and replace it with 11 contemporary terraced houses and 41 garages has been labelled "inappropriate and incongruous" by the heritage watchdog. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage expressed concern about the intensity of the proposed development on the rural landscape. It also asked the applicant to photograph the interior of the farmhouse in order to assess whether it contained any architectural features which are worth preserving. The site is located in a rural area on the outskirts of the development zone, at Triq San Pawl tal-Qliegha in Mosta. As well as the farmhouse, the site also includes rural structures and a garden. The height of the proposed building will remain at par with other developments on the street, but the building mass will be significantly increased from the space currently being taken up by the farmhouse. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli The application, which can be viewed under the case number PA/07663/21, was filed by Oliver Brownrigg, who has declared ownership of the entire site, and architects JG Periti. The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage pointed out that the front of the property...

Malta has recorded 87 new COVID-19 cases, with the number being treated in hospital rising to 26. They include four in intensive care, the health ministry announced on Wednesday.   After 61 recoveries, there are now 1,363 active cases of the virus in the country. The rising number of cases reflects the situation across Europe, where the Delta variant is driving transmission.  While the cases being treated in hospital is also higher, Superintendent of Public Health Charmaine Gauci said this is not necessarily a cause for concern. "Not all of the people are being treated for COVID itself," she told Times of Malta earlier this week. "We have a number of these people who have been admitted to hospital because when people come to hospital for any reason they are tested for COVID and some were found positive. "So this is very important in our distinction and assessment of what is happening in hospital." The number of booster jabs administered so far has risen to 141,243. There are so far no reported cases of the Omicron variant in Malta.

A court has ordered a car importer to rescind a contract of sale of a vehicle and refund a buyer who complained about defects so many times that the garage receptionist got to know the vehicle number by heart. The case was instituted by Doreen Baldacchino against Auto Sales Ltd, from which she bought a brand new Renault Clio in January 2016 for €17,200, paid on delivery. Within a short time, Baldacchio complained about the radio not working, seats moving, a fault in the steering, unusual noise and other issues which, although fixed, kept cropping up. Baldacchino ended up abandoning the car at the importer’s garage and filed the case after legal and official letters did not produce a solution. She demanded that the purchase contract be rescinded and a refund of the purchase money, with compensation for damages. The company responded that the faults were insignificant. Parts had been replaced and other issues only merited changes in settings. They did not impact the use of the car and did not merit repealing the contract. It also denied responsibility for damages. Mr Justice Grazio Mercieca, in handing down judgment, observed that the court-appointed technical expert had tested...

The dress sword carried by Napoleon Bonaparte when he staged a coup in 1799 and five of his firearms sold at auction for nearly $2.9 million, US auctioneers announced Tuesday. The lot, which was put up for sale by the Illinois-based Rock Island Auction Company, was sold on December 3 via phone to a buyer who has remained anonymous, company president Kevin Hogan told AFP. The sword and five ornamented pistols had initially been valued at $1.5 million to $3.5 million. With the $2.87 million sale, "the buyer of the Napoleon Garniture is taking home a very rare piece of history", Hogan said. "We are pleased to have provided the opportunity for them to acquire such a historic object." The sword, with its scabbard, was the "crown jewel" of the collection, according to the auctioneers. The weapon was made by Nicolas-Noel Boutet, who was director of the state arms factory in Versailles. The sword and five ornamented pistols. Photo: World Today News After being crowned emperor, Napoleon is believed to have presented the sword to general Jean-Andoche Junot, but the general's wife later was forced to sell it to pay off debts. It was then recovered by a London museum. A US collector was its...

TUI, the world’s largest tourism operator, said on Wednesday it expects to see a return to pre-pandemic booking levels in the summer of 2022, after running up a heavy loss in its last financial year. TUI, which runs its business year from October to September, said it booked net loss of €2.48 billion for the year just ended, following a record loss of €3.1 billion the year before, as the coronavirus pandemic virtually shut down the tourism industry. Nevertheless, chief executive Friedrich Joussen said the group’s operating business was “back” and he expected “booking levels similar to pre-corona 2019” in the peak travel season of the European summer next year. In the period from July to September, traditionally the strongest period for the industry, the Hanover-based group said its revenues nearly tripled to €3.5 billion. At an operating, or underlying level, it booked a loss of €97 million for the three-month period compared with a loss of €570 million previously. Hotels, crusies and chartered flights – the core of TUI’s business – have been severely impacted by the crisis. In 2020, the German group responded by announcing plans to cut costs by €400 million each year by...

Salvage teams have recovered a British stealth fighter that fell into the Mediterranean as it was taking off from the UK's flagship aircraft carrier, NATO and British officials said on Wednesday. "Operations to recover the UK F-35 jet in the Mediterranean Sea have successfully concluded," Britain's defence ministry said in a tweeted statement. NATO Air Command tweeted that "NATO allies Italy and the United States of America supported during the recovery operation". The sophisticated, US-made F-35B plunged into the sea on November 17 as it was taking off from HMS Queen Elizabeth, Britain's top aircraft carrier, which was returning from a mission in the Indo-Pacific.  A video taken on board and published by British media showed the jet moving slowly up the ramp at the end of the ship's runway and falling into the water. The pilot safely ejected. UK Defence Journal, an online outlet focused on the British military, reported on Tuesday that a sailor suspected of leaking the footage was arrested and flown back to Britain. A report in Britain's The Sun newspaper said British defence officials believe a plastic engine cover had been left over one of the jet intakes of the plane,...

During the two-year (1962-64) teachers’ training course at St Michael’s College of Education, my special subjects were Italian and Maltese. Lecturing us in the latter subject was Joe Zammit Mangion. One of the requisites in the subject was the writing of a thesis. Zammit Mangion provided us a list of titles to choose from. I chose ‘Priedki bil-Malti ta’ Ignazio Saverio Mifsud’. On Wednesday afternoons, I used to go to the National Library, in Valletta, ask for Library Manuscript No. 48 and began to read from the handwritten homilies of Mifsud. I found it truly fascinating. National Library of Malta, Manuscript 48, containing sermons and panegyrics by Ignazio Saverio Mifsud. Photo: Joe Zammit Ciantar I chose two sermons and started copying them; one of these was ‘Panigerico in Idioma Maltese Sopra L’Immacolata Concezione di Maria Vergine…’ delivered on December 8, 1739 in the small church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, in Msida.  At one point, I came across the Latin quotation ‘Tota pulchra es amica mea, et macula non est in te’ which Mifsud quoted from an ‘Idiota’. Was I reading well?  Zammit Mangion suggested I seek the help of Ġużè Cassar Pullicino, who had used some...

Asian stocks were broadly up on Wednesday after a strong lead from Wall Street, but fears lingered over China’s debt-hobbled property sector. The main indexes in New York had rallied as worries about the impact of the Omicron coronavirus variant faded. In Hong Kong, Chinese real estate company Kaisa suspended trading just before the opening bell, “pending the release by the company of an announcement containing inside information”, according to a filing with the exchange. Kaisa, China’s 27th-largest property firm but one of its most indebted, became the latest company to spook investors when it announced last Friday that it had failed in a bid for a debt swap that would buy it crucial time. China’s real estate sector – a key growth driver in the world’s second-largest economy – has cooled in recent months after Beijing tightened home-buying rules and launched a regulatory assault on speculation. The moves have created headaches for several major developers, notably China Evergrande, the country’s second-largest by volume, which is billions of dollars in debt. On Tuesday, Evergrande missed a deadline to repay some of its overseas creditors, raising the prospect of a default as it...

Four people were on Wednesday charged with their involvement in extortion and threats over secret sexual encounters.  Police allege that the four demanded money from their young victim every month for years, threatening to expose him if he did not pay up.  The police told Magistrate Josette Demicoli that the extortion and threats had been going on since the first sexual encounters between the male victim and one of the defendants in 2018.  The accused are Theresa Agius, 55, from Santa Venera who works in a supermarket, Simon Leyton Rachid, 20, also from Santa Venera and Kersten Camilleri, also 20, currently residing at the Corradino Correctional Facility. The fourth person, a single mother from Valletta, cannot be named by court order in the best interest of her three minor children.  Police Inspector Lydon Zammit explained how the police began investigating the case on December 3 when the victim reported that he had his jacket stolen while he was at Rachid's house in Santa Venera. He also claimed that he had been tied to a chair with electricity wire. The jacket contained his mobile and cash.  The police said that the theft took place when the two met for casual sex,  as they...

The coronavirus vaccine developed jointly by BioNTech and Pfizer is "still effective" against the Omicron variant of the virus after three doses, the companies said in a statement on Wednesday. A laboratory study by its makers found the vaccine "is still effective in preventing COVID-19, also against Omicron, if it has been administered three times", but warned that "the Omicron variant is probably not sufficiently neutralised after two doses".  According to the study "a third dose provides a similar level of neutralising antibodies to Omicron as is observed after two doses" for other variants. Pfizer and BioNTech also said that an Omicron-specific version of the anti-coronavirus vaccine, currently in development by BioNTech, would be available by March. "Although two doses of the vaccine may still offer protection against severe disease caused by the Omicron strain, it's clear from these preliminary data that protection is improved with a third dose of our vaccine," Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said in a statement. The new study comes after dozens of nations re-imposed border restrictions in response to the spread of the new virus variant and raised the possibility of a...

As Chinese real estate behemoth Evergrande reportedly prepares for a government-backed mega-restructure, here is an explainer on what Beijing’s bid to limit a contagion could mean for the wider economy: What happened to Evergrande? The Chinese government sparked a crisis in the property industry when it launched a drive last year to curb excessive debt among real estate firms as well as rampant consumer speculation. Evergrande, a real estate giant with a presence in over 280 Chinese cities, was the most prominent developer to pay the price for Beijing’s clampdown. More than $300 billion in debt, it teetered for months on the edge of default, returning each time from the brink thanks to a last-minute repayment. But according to Bloomberg it has now missed a 30-day grace period on overdue coupon payments worth $82.5 million (€73m), while agency S&P Global Ratings has said a default now “looks inevitable”. What happens now? After Evergrande warned last week it may not be able to meet its financial obligations, the local government in Guangdong – where the firm is headquartered – summoned billionaire chairman Hui Ka Yan, and said they will send a “working group” to the company.

Formula One team Mercedes announced on Wednesday they had ended their controversial sponsorship deal with a firm linked to the 2017 Grenfell Tower blaze in London, which killed 72 people. The logo of Kingspan, whose products were used in the building, appeared on Lewis Hamilton’s car at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday. British housing minister Michael Gove and survivors of the fire had criticised Mercedes over the deal with the Irish company that makes insulation and cladding products. Gove said he was “deeply disappointed” that Mercedes had signed the deal while an inquiry was ongoing into the tragedy. Continue reading this article on SportsDesk, the sports website of the Times of Malta

“Three months later, I was sitting in glorious sunshine outside a villa on the island of Malta. I had arrived that morning with my party and all our stores, after an eventful journey. "At one stage, I had to lie like a trooper to an American war correspondent who, intrigued by our canoes and the boxes of stores marked ‘secret’, had pumped me unmercifully with questions as to our business. I had invented some lovely yarns to throw him off the scent! My first sight of Malta had affected me strangely. I could not help but feel proud that I was British and that this battered little bastion of the empire was to be the headquarters from which we should operate.” This is how Lt Ralph Neville described his first few days on Malta, after leaving England in late 1943, in his biography Survey By Starlight. In the book, Neville gives a taste of his daring and intense adventures as a commando, also describing his exploits as a Royal Navy officer as part of Combined Operations Pilotage Parties 5 or COPP 5, in short. Neville published his book in 1949, offering a glimpse of the secret operations carried out on the beaches of Sicily and, later on, in Italy. Lt Commander Nigel Clogstoun Willmott.

Two Maltese roads have been marked as ‘bad practice’ for cyclists by the European Cyclists’ Federation (ECF). Triq l-Imġarr in Għajnsielem and the Marsa junction have been picked as examples of ‘bad practice’ and ‘bad practice set to be improved’ by the federation in a report pushing for integrating cycling infrastructure into all TEN-T infrastructure projects. But Infrastructure Malta shot down the bad mark for the Marsa junction, saying the federation had failed to report the development of an underpass rather than a bridge. In reply to questions on the report, an agency spokesperson said the report cites 2019 and 2020 meetings between Rota and the project team and how Infrastructure Malta had replaced the original pedestrian bridge with a 10 metre-long, five-metre-wide underpass. “The indicated improvement, being an underpass instead of a planned bridge, was built last year and started being used this year, along with the rest of the new walking and cycling infrastructure of the Marsa junction project,” he said. The project comprises a 3.5-kilometre network of segregated cycle lanes and footpaths. It also forms part of a wider alternative transport network to provide safer...