Johnny Depp on Thursday sold a collection of prints he created of Hollywood and rock icons for around £3 million ( €3.57 million) via a UK gallery chain. The 59-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star has spent millions on a bitter legal battle with his ex-wife, the 36-year-old actress Amber Heard. Depp wrote on Instagram on Thursday morning that the prints were going on sale online at Castle Fine Art, which runs a network of UK galleries. The art retailer posted a photo of Depp working on a portrait of singer Bob Dylan.  It said that the collection of prints called Friends & Heroes was “a testament to those he has known well and others who have inspired him as a person”. The gallery quoted Depp as saying: “My paintings surround my life, but I kept them to myself and limited myself. No one should ever limit themselves.” The works depict Dylan, the late actress Elizabeth Taylor, actor Al Pacino and Rolling Stone Keith Richards. The gallery chain later posted a tweet saying that “Johnny Depp broke the internet” and its website had crashed due to demand. All the prints were marked as “out of stock” by Thursday evening. There were 780 pieces of art. Buyers paid £14,950 for a set of...

While fans of Maltese football are thrilled with the historic result achieved in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League, the atmosphere in Serbian football is completely the opposite right now. Radnicki coach, Tomislav Sivic, described his team’s elimination at the hands of Gżira United as shameful. Darren Abdilla’s Gżira produced one of the most astonishing results in Maltese football after dumping out the Serbian side following a penalty shoot-out. Click here for full story.

The gap between government spending and income was reduced by more than €350 million in the first half of 2022, but the state’s balance sheet remained in the red. Malta’s national deficit topped €460 million by the end of June, government statistics indicated. That figure marks a €360 million improvement over the figure a year earlier. The national debt stood at €8.4 billion at the end of June, a €616.1 million rise from 2021. The increase reported under Malta government stocks (€494.1 million) was the main contributor to the rise in debt.  Taxpayers paid €85.7 million in interest to service the national debt, a decrease of €4.9 million when compared to the previous year. Recurrent government revenue was up sharply by 17.2% when compared to the first half of 2021, topping €2.5 billion. The largest increase was recorded under income tax (€142.6 million), followed by Value Added Tax (€125.3 million). The rise in revenue was partially offset by decreases, the highest being under fees of office (€18.2 million). By the end of June, total expenditure stood at a hair over €3 billion, 0.5% higher than in the previous year. Recurrent expenditure totalled €2.67 billion, an increase of...

Four Hong Kong activists on Friday pleaded guilty to subversion, a violation that could see them jailed for years under the city's Beijing-imposed national security law. China is remoulding Hong Kong in its authoritarian image, using the wide-ranging security law to silence dissent. The latest international criticism of the law came this week from the UN Human Rights Committee, which said it was too broad and applied arbitrarily. On Friday, four people - aged between 19 and 21 - pleaded guilty to subversion, after prosecutors accused them of inciting others to overthrow the government. They could now be imprisoned for years under the security law, which China imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 after a wave of huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests. The four were accused of setting up street booths to promote "revolution" against the Chinese government and to incite separatism. As proof of subversion, the prosecution cited one of the defendants urging the public to not use a COVID-19 contact tracing app and to disobey anti-epidemic policies. The activists - Wong Yat-chin, Chan Chi-sum, Chu Wai-ying and Wong Yuen-lam - now await sentencing. They will return to court on...

The economy in Europe is proving surprisingly resilient against soaring energy and food prices, official data showed on Friday, as tourism boosted France and Spain, but export powerhouse Germany stalled, keeping recession fears alive. The EU's official data agency said that gross domestic product in the 19-country eurozone grew by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, far stronger than expected by analysts. The war in Ukraine has seen the price of natural gas and grocery items skyrocket, with inflation in the single-currency area inching up to yet another new record of 8.9 per cent in July.  Malta's annual rate of inflation is estimated to be 6.5 per cent by the EU statistical agency, the lowest rate within the Eurozone. That is due to the government's pledge to keep energy prices - the single largest contributor to European inflation - stable.  When energy is excluded from inflation calculations, average inflation across the Eurozone reached 5.4 per cent.   Europe's industrial powerhouse Germany continued to be the worst affected by the war, which added to the country's woes from the continued COVID restrictions in China, a crucial market. Stagnant German growth in the second...

Twenty-seven human trafficking victims have found support through the Foundation for Social Welfare Services in the past two years.  Aġenzija Apoġġ service manager Svetlana Buttigieg told a conference on “The Human Behind the Victim” that All Equal, a project set up in 2020 to provide shelter and support to victims of human trafficking through professional social workers, had received 55 referrals. All were assessed and interviewed, with 27 being provided support through the project.  Although not victims of human trafficking, the remainder were still provided with other assistance and services,” she said.  Banner of the All Equal project,set up to support victims of human trafficking. Photo: Jonathan Borg Eight victims housed in safe house The agency had also set up a safe house to provide shelter to victims. In the past two years, this accommodated eight victims, both men and women. Five people currently live at the house. Victims' ages range from the early 20s to the 50s. They come from third-world countries in Africa, Asia, and South America.  Agency coordinator Stephania Caruana said the only complaint received about the house from its users so far was that, at times, the...

Maltese champions Hibernians are one of three local teams that made history on Thursday when they made it to the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa Conference League. “First of all, I want to congratulate both Ħamrun Spartans and Gżira United,” Pisanu told the Times of Malta. “Well done to coach Branko Nisevic and to coach Darren Abdilla, because this is a remarkable result for Maltese football.” Click here for full story. 

Malta’s public service has been certified first in Europe in terms of eGovernment services, for the second year running.  Malta obtained first place with an average score of 96% - the same score it obtained last year - followed by Estonia (90%) and Luxembourg (87%). This could be seen in the "eGovernment Benchmark Reports 2022" released by the European Commission, which assessed the online government services of 35 European countries.  Malta's public service ranked first in all the criteria of the exercise and obtained a score 28% higher than the average. Assessors looked at four dimensions of e-government services to assess each country: the user centricity of such services, including whether services are accessible through mobile devices; transparency of e-government services; key enablers of such services; and the extent to which e-government services are open to users from other European countries.  Malta is above European average in the digitalisation of businesses and their exploitation of online sales channels, assessors concluded, though the country still ranks lowly on 'openness' - an indicator that considers the extent to which countries have an Open Data policy in...

Buses of Russian tourists stream into Finland at Nuijamaa border crossing in the country’s southeast, some hoping to enjoy the peaceful Finnish summer and others planning to travel further into Europe. Finland may be seeking NATO membership following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, but the Nordic country remains Russia’s only EU neighbour to grant tourist visas to Russian citizens. Video: Elias Huuhtanen/AFPTV /AFP “I have travelled here for 12 years,” 37-year-old Boris Surovtcev from St Petersburg told AFP while waiting to cross. “This is a wonderful country with nature and lakes.” After the EU shut its airspace to Russian flights, Finland has also become an important transit country for Russians looking to fly elsewhere in Europe. But many Finns are unhappy with the situation, and the thought of Russians enjoying a Finnish summer while Ukrainians suffer under a brutal invasion has been met with indignation. “It is not right that Russians can freely travel to Finland. It takes away the basis for the sanctions,” local Kirsi Iljin said. “I think there should be some restrictions.” Restrictions proposed  As an act of solidarity with Ukraine, Finland’s conservative opposition party...

Beyond a “decent” facade, the Msida police station is “a disgrace of a workplace”, the Malta Police Union said on Friday. It said the station was “fit for no one, let alone for a police officer who spends a 12-hour shift”. It published several photographs showing the disastrous state of the station from the inside as proof of the poor conditions where police officers are expected to work. It said it is also an “unwelcoming environment” for whoever enters the station. The publication of photographs comes after the union two weeks ago published similar photographs of the police stations in St Julian’s and Valletta. It complained that its officers were being forced to work in “substandard conditions” in police stations akin to a "horror house". The photos included shattered glass, exposed wiring, cracked plaster and other signs of damage and neglect. “Our officers feel ashamed providing their services to persons of all kinds of standard and status in these buildings,” the union said. Just like in St Julian's and Valletta, the Msida station photos show offices furnished with old and ragged furniture, exposed electrical wires and crumbling walls and ceilings. The union said that...

Alfred and George Degiorgio have complained about conditions in prison and argued that they have already been condemned as guilty, despite the presumption of innocence. The brothers are awaiting trial as alleged hitmen in the car bomb explosion that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, They have been held in preventive custody for four years and eight months and say that the courts’ repeated refusal to deny them bail breaches their rights. Both men testified in the Valletta law courts on Friday morning, as part of a constitutional case they have filed seeking compensation for their failure to be granted bail.   Every time the courts deny them bail on grounds of public disorder, they are effectively sending out a message that the two should not get out of jail, they argued on Friday.   No questions asked, says Degiorgio Alfred Degiorgio was the first of the two to testify on Friday, telling the court that the police had held them at the Marsa potato shed where they were arrested early in the morning of December 5, 2017 until 10.30pm that night.  Interrogators “did not ask anything” of them after they were arrested, he said.  Police had testified at the time that the brothers had not...

European stock markets rose robustly on Friday as official data showed eurozone growth holding up in the face of soaring inflation. Stock markets in Asia ended the session lower after data showed that the US economy contracted again, reinforcing recession fears, but boosting expectations that the US Federal Reserve will slow its pace of interest rate hikes. After an extended period of pessimism on trading floors, investors were beginning to speculate that the market may be bottoming out.  The EU's official data agency said the 19-country eurozone grew by 0.7 per cent in the second quarter, even though inflation rose to a new record of 8.9 per cent in July.  A day earlier, US data showed the world's biggest economy shrank by 0.9 per cent in the period from April to June after already contracting by 1.6 per cent in the preceding three months.  But the reading was taken as a sign of good news, since it could give the Fed room to take its foot off the pedal and treasury yields – considered a barometer of future interest rates – eased. Officials were expected to continue raising US interest rates, but analysts estimate they would announce a half-point rise in September, compared with...

Netflix’s newest in a long line of action flicks, The Gray Man struggles to get its feet off the ground as meaningless plot gives way to even more redundant fight scenes, the first just as forgetful as the last. While I may be outspoken in my frustration towards Marvel’s spiralling cinematic universe, the Russo brothers are of the few creatives that have added to the franchise rather than settling on the same old mediocrity. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War dual-wield action and espionage seamlessly while staying true to Cap’s comic roots, and Avengers: Endgame is the climax to over a decade worth of build-up that still sits at number two in all time box office. But it is Infinity War that truly strikes me; on every possible axis, the Russo’s created a film that cinematically captures comics as each subplot blooms individually and contributes collectively. Yet, with a quick snap, all that excitement turns to dust as they settle on yet another uninspired, Netflix-produced action-thriller. With as much creativity as an O-Level essay, The Gray Man follows Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling), an ex-convict who works as an international CIA assassin – think James Bond but...

A UK judge Friday effectively branded England footballer's wife Rebekah Vardy a liar as she rejected her "Wagatha Christie" libel suit against Coleen Rooney, following a trial that lifted the lid on celebrity skullduggery. High Court judge Karen Steyn found that allegations made by Rooney against Vardy were "substantially true", and that Vardy was "substantially engaged" in the release of damaging stories to The Sun newspaper by her agent. Vardy's husband Jamie plays for Leicester City, while Rooney is the wife of former Manchester United star Wayne. The 12-day trial in May laid bare tabloid double-dealing and the lives of the rich and famous. Fascination with the lives of the wives and girlfriends (WAGs) of top-flight footballers -- and their very public falling-out -- produced wall-to-wall coverage of the trial. The pair's designer outfits and Coleen's surgical boot made front-page news, while social media split into two camps, -- #TeamColeen and #TeamRebekah.  Coleen, the childhood sweetheart of England's leading goal scorer, was dubbed "Wagatha Christie" after she set up an elaborate sting to try to determine who was behind the leaks, then announced her findings...

Italian energy giant Eni said on Friday that its profits sky-rocketed in the second quarter as energy prices soared in the wake of the Ukraine war. Eni said in a statement that bottom-line net profit increased 15-fold to €3.81 billion in the period from April to June. Second-quarter sales were up 94 per cent, the statement said. Both figures exceeded analysts' expectations. At an underlying level, too, operating profit more than doubled to €5.84 billion, "driven by the favourable commodity price environment, strong refining margins and the focus on cost management", Eni said.  Like the rest of the sector, Eni has profited from soaring oil and gas prices linked to the global recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The only shadow on the second-quarter results was that Eni's production of hydrocarbons fell by one per cent to 1.57 million barrels a day. The company said this was primarily due to "force majeure events in Libya, Nigeria and Kazakhstan". Eni's rivals have had a similarly bumper second quarter, with French giant TotalEnergies reporting a net profit of $5.7 billion, Britain's Shell reporting $18 billion, and Norway's Equinor almost...

A Siġġiewi construction plant is carrying out illegal operations, violating its planning permits, crawling out of its designated operating site, and creating a waste dump that is changing the landscape of the village, the locality's council said on Friday. Addressing a press conference flanked by councillors on the Siġġiewi bypass, mayor Dominic Grech said residents and farmers have for months complained about a massive construction waste dump that has become an eyesore and also generates uncontrolled dust. The Local Council said the construction dump has grown so big that it is changing Siġġiewi's landscape. PHOTO: Siġġiewi Local Council. The councillors added that the waste dumping is detrimental to residents' health and wellbeing, farmers' crops and to the tourism industry. Farmers themselves have reported that the plant operations are contaminating their crops, with some even saying their trees died due to the contamination. Residents complained of uncontrolled dust generated by the site. PHOTO: Siġġiewi Local Council. The plant, operated by excavating contractors C & J Bonavia Ltd, is situated in Burgabrun street, limits of Siġġiewi. The plant, operated by excavating...

Lijana Sultana won a thrilling encounter to reach the Last 32 of the women’s singles squash competition on the opening day of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Niall Engerer prevailed in a Maltese derby against Kijan Sultana to proceed to the second round of the men’s singles. Fifteen-year-old Lijana Sultana produced the performance of the day for Malta in the squash competition when she came from a set down, to edge past Trinidad and Tobago player Charlotte Knaggs 3-2. Sultana, making her first appearance in the Commonwealth Games, lost a tight first set 11-9. But she showed tremendous character to fight back and win the next two sets in impressive fashion with an identical 11-3 scoreline. Click here for full story

Moscow and Kyiv on Friday accused each other of bombing a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russian-held territory, with Russia saying 40 prisoners and eight prison staff were killed. Russia's defence ministry said the Ukrainian strikes were carried out with US-supplied long-range missiles, in an "egregious provocation" designed to stop soldiers from surrendering. It said that among the dead were Ukrainian forces that had laid down their arms after repelling Moscow's assault on the sprawling Azovstal steel works in Mariupol. The claims came as President Volodymyr Zelensky visited a port in southern Ukraine to oversee a ship being loaded with grain for export under a UN-backed plan aimed at ending a food crisis. Ukraine's presidency said exports could start in the "coming days" under the plan aimed at getting millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain stranded by Russia's naval blockade to world markets. 'Petrifying war crime' Following the strike on the prison, Russian state-television showed what appeared to be destroyed barracks and tangled metal beds but no casualties could be seen. Ukraine's military denied carrying out the attack saying its forces "did not launch...

British Airways parent IAG said on Friday it flew back into profit for the first time since the start of the COVID pandemic, boosted by a "strong recovery" in demand. IAG said in a statement that it swung back to net profit of €133 million in the second quarter from a loss of €981 million a year earlier.  The group had already forecast a return to annual profit after COVID travel curbs were fully lifted. "In the second quarter, we returned to profit for the first time since the start of the pandemic following a strong recovery in demand across all our airlines," said chief executive Luis Gallego. "This result supports our outlook for a full-year operating profit." There were "no signs" of any weakness in demand, Gallego said. The airline conglomerate slashed first-half losses to €654 million from two billion euros last time around.  IAG had collapsed into annual losses in 2020 and 2021 as COVID ravaged global demand for international air travel, forcing BA and its peers to slash thousands of jobs. IAG owns various airlines that also include Ireland's Aer Lingus and Spain's Iberia and Vueling. Aviation is still in recovery mode from the deadly COVID pandemic that grounded planes...

An Israeli medical cannabis company has invested €6 million to grow its business in Malta and is set to start exporting its first products to Germany. Panaxia announced on Friday it will be expanding its local production plant and subsequently increasing its capital investment here. Its Maltese portfolio will include products aimed for Europe and Latin American markets. The local facility's products include tablets, oil and extract production, as well as services such as clinical trials, stability experiments and research and development.  The expansion was announced during a visit to Panaxia’s Ħal Far plant by Enterprise Minister Miriam Dalli. The company has just obtained the Good Manufacturing Practice license for the facility in Malta and will export its first products to Germany in the coming weeks. Dalli described Panaxia as an early success story for one of Malta’s newest economic niches.  Apart from the Malta plant, Panaxia operates from locations within the US, Canada and South Africa. It is also in the process of registering products in Portugal, Greece, Poland and Brazil amongst others. Its range of pharmaceutical products - over 60 in all - are mainly based on...