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Updated: Prime Minister's personal assistant apologises for tweet comparing Islam to Nazism

February 17, 2015, 4:37 am
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The Prime Minister's personal assistant Glenn Bedingfield has apologised for a tweet in which he compared Islam to Nazism. His apology came after the Nationalist Party condemned Mr Bedingfield's offending tweet, originally posted by user Stop Islam 2 and retweeted by Mr Bedingfield. The tweet implied that Nazism was more moderate than Islam. The PN said that the current situation regarding religion-linked terrorism was delicate enough and having the Prime Minister's personal assistant utter such comments, did not help.   “The Prime Minister should announce whether he agrees with what his personal assistant beliefs. “If not, the Prime Minister should take action against Glenn Bedingfield and not choose to ignore such a situation,” the PN said. In his tweet this afternoon Mr Bedingfield, a former MEP said: "Apologies if my retweet offended people of goodwill, especially Muslim brothers/sisters who cannot be associated to any terrorist action."
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Libyans 'would unite' against foreign force

February 16, 2015, 11:01 pm
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The Libyan people would unite against a ground operation in their country, as is being promoted by Italy and supported by Malta, Tripoli’s government representative in Malta said yesterday. Hussin Musrati’s comments come after Prime Minister Joseph Muscat pledged logistical support to a potential UN-mandated operation involving European, Arab and African Union troops to counter groups affiliated with IS that appear to be gaining a foothold in Libya. Dr Muscat yesterday expanded upon his position, saying that though Malta did not have the resources to contribute soldiers or equipment, it could serve as a contact point with the Libyan people, as it is the European country Libyans trust the most. The Libyan crisis escalated yesterday, when Egypt carried out revenge bombings on the eastern town of Derna following the emergence of a video on Sunday showing the beheading of 21 Coptic Egyptians who had been kidnapped in Sirte by an IS-associated group. Read more on Times of Malta.
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Rain damages some floats, but Carnival will go on tonight

February 17, 2015, 7:52 am
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The Carnival grand finale will go on as planned in St Anne Street, Floriana, this evening, despite rainwater damage to some floats. Carnival director Jason Busuttil said this will be the first time in four years that the grand finale will go ahead, with the last three editions having been cancelled because of bad weather. He said some floats were damaged by the heavy rain overnight. Enthusiasts made emergency works but some floats will not have people on them as a safety precaution.
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Single lane more than enough for Gzira seafront traffic

February 17, 2015, 11:51 am
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Transport Minister Joe Mizzi said in Parliament this evening that a single lane was sufficient to handle the traffic along Gzira seafront heading towards Valletta. Replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo, he said that Transport Malta studies showed that the average number of cars using this road heading towards Valletta was 763 per hour at its peak while the average number of buses was 33 per hour. The monitoring was made between September 2014 and January 2015. A single lane could handle up to 1300 cars per hour which meant that current demand, at 763 cars per hour, was only 59 per cent of maximum capacity. The minister also pointed out that the decision to have a bus lane in Gzira seafront was taken under the former government in October 2012 when the application for EU funds under the Modus project was submitted.
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British Airways uses Malta for promo

February 17, 2015, 7:03 am
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British Airways Holidays teamed up with Oxford University's all male a capella group Out of the Blue, to bring some pitch perfect sun to the British public with a vocal only re-make of Wham’s holiday classic, ‘Club Tropicana’, filmed in Malta. The group’s latest release was timed to coincide with the first holiday period of the year and the time when most Britons feel the heat to get their summer getaway booked. Claire Bentley, managing director of British Airways Holidays, said: “We know some people find the pressure of booking a family holiday quite stressful. We thought we’d lighten the mood with a little humour to remind holidaymakers we can take care of everything for them. The boys are right when they sing ‘fun and sunshine, there’s enough for everyone’; we’ve got beach holidays on sale from just £199 and like Club Tropicana, BA’s drinks are free!” Since its foundation in 2000, Out of the Blue has had numerous Internet hits with their vocal only version of Shakira's 'Hips Don't Lie' being viewed more than five million times on YouTube. British Airways, which has a history of supporting British talent, is the first brand to partner with the group on an a capella...
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Two teenage girls reported missing

February 17, 2015, 10:40 am
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Deborah Farrugia and Raisa Gili, both 16, have been reported missing, the police said. Both live in Hamrun and were last seen in Sta Venera. Anyone having any information was asked to contact the police on 21 224 001-9 of 119.
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Money-laundering investigation into HSBC Swiss subsidiary launched

February 18, 2015, 1:07 am
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Swiss prosecutors have opened a money-laundering investigation against a local subsidiary of HSBC following a report that the bank turned a blind eye to illegal activities of arms dealers and blood diamond traders while helping rich people evade taxes. The Geneva premises of HSBC's Swiss private bank were searched today, officials said. The prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into suspected aggravated money laundering against the subsidiary and against persons unknown. The investigation stemmed from "recent published revelations" about the private bank. Prosecutors said the investigation into HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA could be extended to people suspected of committing or participating in money laundering. Franco Morra, chief executive of HSBC's Swiss subsidiary, said last week that it had shut down the accounts of clients who "did not meet our high standards", and that the revelations about "historical business practices" were a reminder that the old business model of Swiss private banking was no longer acceptable. Last week's report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and several news organisations found that the bank hid millions...
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Air Malta will be absorbed by larger carriers - Ryainair's chief commercial officer

February 18, 2015, 5:33 am
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Air Malta was not growing and would soon be absorbed by larger carriers, Ryanair’s chief commercial officer David O’Brien said this afternoon. Asked for his views about the competitor airline during a news conference held to celebrate his carrier’s 30th anniversary of operations, Mr O’Brien said flag carriers were vanishing and this could be an inevitable course of events. An airline, he said, needed to grow and he was not seeing Air Malta doing that. He said he believed Air Malta would be absorbed by larger carriers and vanish. This, he said, was a pity because Air Malta was a good competitor to have. During the news conference, Ryanair announced record bookings on its Malta summer 2015 schedule, which includes a new route to East Midlands and extra flights to Bari, Bournemouth, Dublin, Gothenburg, Luton, Madrid, Milan, Stockholm and Venice. These flights, the airline said, deliver more than 1.1 million customers per annum and support 1,100 on site jobs at Malta International Airport. The airline also announced a seat sale with 30 per cent off fares for travel in March and April. The discounted seats are available for booking until midnight tomorrow.
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Updated - 59% of applicants for Maltese passports come from former Soviet republics

February 17, 2015, 11:20 am
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Fifty-nine per cent of applications for  Maltese passports under the Individual Investor Programme have been received from the former Soviet republics, 30% from Asia, 9.8% from Gulf countries, the regulator of the programme, Godwin Grima, has reported to Parliament. He said that by the end of June, 173 applications had been received. These, in turn, had 96 adult dependants and 101 children. Seven of the applications had progressed to the second stage, submitting all the necessary forms and paying the fees for the four-tier due diligence process to commence.  Only one of these applications was from an applicant with an already long-standing relationship with Malta and with a residence permit.  Meanwhile, however, Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela, replying to a parliamentary question today by Kristy Debono (PN) said that 459 applications for residence in preparation for citizenship had been received. In his report Mr Grima focuses on the regulations governing the scheme, repeatedly pointing out a grey areas over the issue of the residency requirement of applicants No metrics or guidelines had been provided to Identity Malta on the definition of residency, he said, while noting...
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PM briefs House on Libya - Malta 'voice of moderation', point of contact with Libyan people

February 17, 2015, 10:29 am
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A UN Security Council meeting on the situation in Libya should hopefully issue a strong signal to Libya's rival governments that their time to reach agreement was short, and if no agreement was reached, decisions woudl have to be taken by the UN itself, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told Parliament this evening. Explaining the current situation, he said Libya was now split in three. The east was under the recognised government based in Tobruk. The West was headed by a governemnt which was not internationally recognised, based in Tripoli. More recently the port city of Derna and the town of Sirte fell under extremist groups. This development confirmed that extremist groups existed in Libya and they were actually stronger than some had thought, although one still had to see how much of their composition was actually made up of foreigners. The real danger was that this new force would not stop with what had been achieved but would get bigger and absorb bigger parts of Libya. Dr Muscat said he would not at this stage discuss whether these extremists were Isis, or trying to imitate Isis, but the methods were the same. Many reports of brutality had been heard over the past months even...
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Frontex to tackle threat of gun-toting smugglers

February 17, 2015, 10:59 pm
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Frontex will be meeting today to discuss the new threat posed by Kalashnikov-wielding smugglers who approached rescue teams carrying out a migrant rescue operation off the Libyan coast demanding their boat back. During a major operation last week, in which the Italian coastguard saved more than 2,000 migrants, four men with Kalashnikov rifles sped out from the Libyan shore and ordered the coastguard to return a boat that had been emptied of migrants. Some of the gunmen then jumped on the boat and took it, according to Italy’s transport ministry. “This is a new threat that requires reflection. We need to speak to member states and Italian authorities about how to handle this situation. There is a management board meeting [today] in which this will be discussed,” a Frontex spokeswoman told Times of Malta. Read more on Times of Malta.
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Father and son mum over monti relocation

February 18, 2015, 12:57 am
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A marker showing where one of the monti stalls was to be placed. Photo: Darrin Zammit Lupi

Plans to relocate the Valletta monti stalls to the capital’s entrance is proving to be a slippery road for a father and son who are closely connected to the controversial project. They are former Labour Party president Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi, who chairs the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation – the government entity responsible for the new Valletta entrance project – and his father, Joe, who is considered by hawkers to be the main promoter of the planned move to Ordnance Street. Asked to state his position on whether the monti hawkers should be moved so close to the Renzo Piano project,... This article is part of our premium content. Full story is available on Times of Malta Premium.
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Ex-football president ‘admitted corruption’

February 17, 2015, 10:35 pm
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A former president of a Maltese football club has admitted that although he started out with the intention of playing clean, he had no choice but to become the most corrupt of the lot, according to the Malta Football Association’s integrity officer. Speaking on Times Talk yesterday about match-fixing allegations which have rocked the local football scene, Franz Tabone described the admission he received while conducting investigations as being very indicative of corruption polluting local football. “A former president of a football club told me: ‘When I first started out, I had all the intention of playing clean. I ended up being more corrupt than anyone else.’ “My mission is to raise awareness and open people’s eyes and to help honest people in clubs. "The extent of the problem is evident from the statement of another ex-president, who told me that I was trying to bring down Mount Everest with a toothpick.” Mr Tabone stoked controversy early last month when he claimed that Maltese football was infested by people who rated the game’s sporting spirit “at the lowest grade, if any”. Some club officials were blind before the promise of money and would dive into any abyss for it. Mr...
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Passenger passes away after falling ill during flight to London

February 18, 2015, 2:00 am
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A passenger who fell sick on an Air Malta flight to Gatwick this morning passed away as efforts were being made to revive her. The flight was diverted to Lyon where attempts by the crew and a French medical team to revive her failed.    The woman was  accompanied by a male companion. The flight, KM116, left Malta at 8.44am and was diverted to Lyon when it was about 400 miles from destination. It landed in Lyon just before 11am. A passenger said the captain announced the diversion for an emergency landing at 10.32am. Passengers were calm but curious. The passenger said CPR was first performed by the cabin crew as they waited for French emergency personnel to arrive. Once the French medical personnel arrived, they worked incessantly at the back of the aircraft's to revive the patient.    
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Chicken that choked man to death was classified as a 'soft food', court hears

February 19, 2015, 6:35 am
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Chicken was classified as 'soft food' at the time that an elderly patient at Karin Grech Rehabilitation Hospital choked on his food but this was changed shortly after the tragic death, a court heard this afternoon. A nurse told the court how meals comprising chicken was deemed as safe for patients on a 'soft food diet' but this and several other internal procedures related to how food is handed out at the hospital changed after the death of John Darmanin. Mr Darmanin choked to death on a piece of chicken on March 7, 2012 after he went missing from his ward. He was later found face down in the ward bathroom and was given CPR for almost 30 minutes before he was pronounced dead. Katya Gauci, a nurse who was working at the hospital's ward at the time, was testifying in the compilation of evidence against chief nurse Maria Bondin, 57, from Paola, nursing aide Carol Bonnici, 55, from Siggiewi and nurse David Sant, 30, from Gharghur, who are pleading not guilty to Mr Darmanin's involuntary homicide. Ms Gauci testified that she was working on her allocated beds when Ms Bonnici asked her to help with Mr Darmanin as he could not be found and had tried to leave the ward in the past. She...
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Luciano Busuttil's driver has salary of €12,755, plus weekly supplement

February 18, 2015, 1:08 pm
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The full-time driver engaged by the Malta Sports Council for its chairman, Labour MP Luciano Busuttil, had a salary of €12,755 a year, bonus and weekly supplement, according to information given in Parliament by Education Minister Evarist Bartolo. Replying to a question by Robert Arrigo (PN) he said the driver has no other fringe benefits and has not been involved in any travel costs. He is the only person engaged by the council on the basis of position of trust. The weekly supplement was not disclosed. The engagement of the driver was revealed by The Sunday Times of Malta on February 8.   Francis Borg was engaged without a public call and did not come from the public service. Although Dr Busuttil's post requires him to work only a few hours a week he insisted that “a chairman is a chairman around the clock.”    
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President calls on Queen Elizabeth

February 18, 2015, 9:00 am
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President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Mr Preca, currently on a visit to the UK, have had a meeting with Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace, the Department of Information said. It gave no details. It is not known yet whether Queen Elizabeth will be visiting Malta in November for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).  
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Tenor Joseph Calleja meets Queen and Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers as he sings for Diabetes UK event in London

February 19, 2015, 3:13 am
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Tenor Joseph Calleja performed a short recital to mark Diabetes UK’s 80th anniversary at St James’s Palace in London on Tuesday. After the performance, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers – whose daughter Mischa, 19, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of seven – asked to meet Mr Calleja. During the performance, Mr Calleja passed a few football-related remarks and said his pianist would not play the whole session unless he met Mr Rodgers. Mr Calleja also had a private audience with Queen Elizabeth II, who attended the pre-dinner reception. The Queen is a patron of the charity. Mr Rodgers said the Queen’s support showed the seriousness of diabetes, and added: “My role is to support, firstly Mischa. And she has been incredible as a young lady being diagnosed. And then to be able to support the charity is a great honour, and it is a complete honour and privilege to be here.” In a separate event, President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca and Mr Preca, currently on a visit to the UK, met the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The Department of Information gave no more details.
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Porporina jailed over 2008 theft

February 18, 2015, 5:07 am
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Well-known criminal Alfred Bugeja, nicknamed Il-Porporina, was today jailed for 33 months after he was found guilty of a theft from a warehouse in 2008.  His partner-in-crime, Clive Agius, was sentenced to 24 months in jail and had a 15-month suspended sentence added to his punishment, for a total of 39 months in jail.  The court heard how Mr Agius and Mr Bugeja broke into a warehouse in Canon Road, Santa Venera, when Johann Cuschieri, the nephew of the warehouse owner, saw two men opening his uncle's warehouse. He called his uncle who told him he had not given anyone permission to go into the warehouse so he followed them and even took a photograph of the car they were using. He also identified the men during an identification parade at the police headquarters.  The court heard how Mr Agius immediately admitted to his involvement in the robbery. The stolen items had a value of some Lm400. He cooperated with the police and even took them to a Qormi garage where the stolen items were hidden.  While Mr Agius admitted to the charges, Mr Bugeja continued to deny his involvement, saying Mr Agius simply stopped to give him a lift a block away from where the police had stopped...
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Prime Minister rules out second pillar pensions, rise in retirement age

February 19, 2015, 1:48 am
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The Prime Minister has reiterated his stance against the introduction of second pillar pensions or any further raises in retirement age, saying that this government was looking at alternative measure to address pensions’ sustainability. Joseph Muscat was addressing a one-day conference organised by the Institute of Financial Services in collaboration with Times of Malta at the Hilton Conference Centre in Paceville. Business editor Vanessa Macdonald moderated the debate. The Prime Minister was reacting to an earlier call made by Opposition deputy leader Mario de Marco, who urged the government to start the debate on second pillar pensions. However, Dr Muscat reiterated his stance that such a measure would not be considered for the time being saying that thousands of families would not afford to dedicate another significant part of their income towards a pension fund. While acknowledging that on this particular issue both parties were “far apart” he expressed his belief that they could still work together to address this challenge. He said that the current social security system needed reform or else it would become “irrelevant”. “A cleaner with three part-time jobs would end up...
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