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‘Unlicensed bouncers get free rein in Paceville’

August 8, 2017, 12:45 pm
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The number of unlicensed bouncers caught working illegally in Paceville dropped by 90 per cent this year, sparking concerns they are being given “free rein”. “I have been working here for years and I can tell you that there are loads of these ‘so-called’ bouncers working in Paceville. Everyone knows who they are and where they work,” one DJ and nightclub manager said. Walking down the bustling St George’s Street, Paceville’s main high street, at about midnight on a busy Saturday, the manager, who asked not to be named, points to a popular nightclub. “This place has constant trouble with bouncers roughing up people. We regularly get asked for CCTV footage to be used as evidence in investigating such cases,” he said. The police confirmed that only two bouncers had been caught working without the necessary paperwork in Paceville in the first half of this year, a significant drop from the 20 apprehended in 2016. The number came as a surprise to Paceville operators when contacted by this newspaper. Anthony Carabott, a veteran bouncer and licence holder, said unauthorised bouncers were still operating and giving a bad name to the profession. “You see these guys, they think they are...
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'Nowhere to hide' for VAT cheats using dodgy software

August 8, 2017, 11:01 am
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Companies suspected of using illegal software to cheat the tax man will soon have “nowhere to hide” as private sector experts have been roped in to conduct in-depth forensic audits, the Times of Malta has learnt. VAT Department sources, who have been involved in months-long undercover investigations into suspected tax dodgers, said they had partnered with the experts after raids came up dry. This newspaper reported last month that unscrupulous business operators were using software to delete records of sales in a scam that is believed to be costing the public coffers millions of euros in unpaid VAT. READ: Undercover agents being used to catch VAT tax cheats Some businesses are known to be using a type of software that allows them to manipulate sales records through the digital point of sale system. This newspaper has also reported that covert operations were ordered at companies suspected of erasing sales through the software adapted to tamper with digital cash registers. This approach was reaping fruit and sources close to the investigators yesterday confirmed that a restaurant had been caught in an undercover operation. The sources said the business owner admitted tampering...
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Watch: Motorcylists skid on diesel in Sta Venera tunnels

August 8, 2017, 11:53 pm
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Updated 9.30am - Added comments A number of motorcyclists were lucky to escape serious injury yesterday when they skidded on diesel in the Sta Venera tunnels. Some of them only just managed to avoid ending up under other cars, as the video above, recorded by one of the motorcyclists, shows.  "It felt like driving on ice," 25-year-old Ben Vassallo, who shot the above video told Times of Malta. "Oil is less dangerous - I've driven over it and managed to hold the bike upright." Mr Vassallo, who has been riding his motorcycle for just over a year, said that it was the most hazardous incident he's been involved in so far, "but I've had more close calls than should be accepted."  Despite the shock - and damage to his motorbike - he said the incident would not put him off riding.  "I can't wait to fix up my bike so that I can get back to riding," he said.  David Schembri, another of the motorcyclists, wrote on Facebook: "When someone tells you "oh you bikers are nothing but trouble, racing and crashing! It's all your fault when you get hurt!" show them this video that happened to us this morning. This is the result of some selfish, ignorant and inconsiderate ... who spilled diesel on...
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Watch: Environment Minister joins Pembroke residents' protest

August 8, 2017, 9:30 am
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Updated 8.30pm Environment Minister Jose Herrera this evening joined over 300 Pembroke residents who descended on the unbuilt land proposed to house the new Chiswick House School, protesting against the development they say could ruin the locality. The minister said he was attending the event to make a statement and to show residents that they had his support.  Taking a pause from chanting and waving of placards with slogans opposing the massive development, residents told the Times of Malta they would do everything in their power to stop the project, insisting their locality was already chock-full of schools. The site earmarked for development on Gabriele Henin Street falls within the development zone but lies not far away from scheduled garigue. READ: Pembroke Council opposes school plans The outline proposal by CHS (Chiswick House School) Ltd, was filed for the construction of a primary school with 36 classrooms, outdoor sports facilities and 82 parking spaces. The school’s director Bernie Mizzi had said in a statement earlier this week that the site formed part of a much larger parcel of land that had been earmarked for development for many years. Ms Mizzi also pointed out...
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Watch: University cannot have any more parking spaces

August 8, 2017, 11:55 pm
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The University of Malta cannot add any more parking spaces, as it is banned from doing so by the 2006 Local Plan – which is why it is focusing on getting people to use other means of transport, at least some of the time. “The restriction in the Local Plan was there to deter the creation of more traffic, as the university lies at the junction of the Regional Road and Birkirkara Bypass, both of which are already very congested,” said Maria Attard, a professor at the Institute for Climate Change at the University of Malta. This means that the university cannot add parking spaces, even if they are underground. In fact, a building behind the chapel will have a few levels of underground parking, which will be used to replace parking spaces on one side of the campus ring road, making it much safer for pedestrians. But the approach is very pragmatic: Prof. Attard, who also chairs a green travel committee at the university, is hoping to encourage students to use alternative means of transport, at least on some days. “Times have changed, and we have to accept that the situation is not the same as for universities in remote areas. Here, it is all too easy for people to go home during a...
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Inmate searched, moved and assaulted after mother criticises prison decision

August 8, 2017, 10:01 pm
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A prison inmate was yesterday searched and sent to the maximum-security division, a day after his mother criticised the prison authorities on social media for the way her son was being treated. After he was moved, the prisoner was beaten up by two Libyan inmates, a prison officer told the Times of Malta. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the prison’s Special Response Team (SRT) conducted the search of the inmate held in Division 1. “The SRT said they found some kind of illegal substance in his cell and he was disciplined and sent immediately to division six as a punishment,” he said. “A few hours later, we heard the same prisoner calling for help as he was brutally beaten by two Libyan prisoners in the same division. His face was disfigured and his nose was most probably fractured,” the officer added. “Although I have no proof that this was some form of scolding to the prisoner after his mother spoke to Xarabank on its social media programme, officers here find the sequence of events very odd and utterly unacceptable,” he said. He added that the correctional facilities were in a very bad state. The prisoner’s mother was critical of the prison...
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Watch: Police rescue man sleeping on dangerous ledge

August 9, 2017, 1:45 am
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A young man found an extraordinary place to sleep off a night in Paceville, completely oblivious to the three-storey drop just a roll away. The police were alerted by neighbours, who saw the man, understood to be a tourist, sleeping on the narrow piece of cement on the building site in Swieqi. The ledge could only be reached by climbing over the boundary wall. A policeman had to wake the man up slowly to ensure that he was not so dizzy when he stood up that he lost his balance and fell over the edge.
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Malta has EU's third-slowest broadband, study finds

August 8, 2017, 12:40 am
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Updated 6.30pm with GOreaction Malta has ranked 48th in a worldwide test of broadband speeds, with an average speed of 10.17Mbps. This is just a fifth of top-ranking Singapore, which had an average speed of 55.13Mbps, fast enough to download a 7.5GB film in 18 minutes and 34 seconds. In Malta, that same film would take over one hour and 40 minutes to download. READ: Malta’s broadband is slow, most expensive There were 25 EU member states ahead of Malta in the ranking, with only Cyprus and Greece registering slower speeds. The worldwide table was compiled by Cable.co.uk using data collected by research group M-Lab, a partnership between New America's Open Technology Institute, Google Open Source Research and Princeton University's PlanetLab. More than 63 million speed tests were carried out across the world in the 12 months up to May 2017 as part of the study. MCA raises questions about study methodology  The Malta Communications Authority (MCA) has questioned the reliability of the study, saying that its methodology was not sufficiently explained. The MCA said the tools provided by M-Lab, particularly the Network Diagnostic Tool (NDT), provide insights into broadband performance.
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President amongst 30,000 government employees getting salary increase

August 9, 2017, 2:51 am
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Updated 2pm - Added Office of the President comments The President of Malta has been given a salary increase, backdated until January 2017. The salary is set by legal notice, and in 2014 was set at €57,693 in 2014, €59,206 in 2015, and €60,720 in 2016. The salary was then increased again by a legal notice last January, to €60,811.  However, a legal notice issued on Tuesday raised it once again, this time to €61,700, with a cash payment of €478, backdated to January 2017. In a reaction, the Office of the President noted that the increase is part of a new collective agreement signed a few months ago and which affected 30,000 government employees.  "The exact net increase in the President’s salary amounts to just €17 per week, afforded to all government employees at Salary Scale I," a spokesperson for the Office of the President noted.  READ: New collective agreement for 30,000 government workers Between 2014 and 2015, and 2016 and 2016 the president's salary went up by around 2.6%. The original increase in 2017 would have meant an increase of just 1.5%. The additional €889 means an increase of 1.6% in all over the amount for 2016. Another legal notice has amended the salaries for...
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Magistrate insists people must be arraigned under arrest when court so orders

August 8, 2017, 4:30 am
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A Magistrates’ Court this morning deplored what it termed ‘a total disregard for the law’ after a man and a woman due to be brought to court under arrest, instead made their own way to the sitting, prompted by a mere phone-call by the police. Antonella Vella and Stephen Borg were due to be escorted to court under a warrant of arrest after they had failed to turn up for a previous hearing. Although this time the two kept their appointment, it transpired in court that they had arrived unaccompanied after the police had called them yesterday to inform them about today's hearing. "This is a blatant violation of a court order - an arrest warrant means an arrest warrant,” declared Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, insisting that when the court issued an arrest warrant the police had 48 hours to detain suspects before escorting them to court. The current practice of asking such persons to go to the local police station and arresting them there did not conform to proper procedure and amounted to a lack of respect towards the courts, the magistrate continued. "You must go and arrest them at home,” said the court, addressing the prosecuting officers present in the courtroom. The court...
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Young girl injured in swimming pool accident

August 9, 2017, 12:40 am
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A young Irish girl was seriously injured yesterday afternoon in an incident in the pool of a farm house in Għajnsielem, the police said today.  The incident happened at about 5.30pm.  The girl, six, was given first aid by members of her family until she was taken to Gozo hospital in an ambulance.  A magisterial inquiry is under way.   
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Yana Mintoff's son faces cross-examination

August 9, 2017, 6:44 am
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Yana Mintoff Bland's son, who had rushed to his mother’s assistance during a stabbing incident allegedly sparked off by her former lover’s jealousy, today testified that he could not state with certainty whether his mother’s aggressor had shown any signs of being wounded. Daniel Mainwaring was testifying in the compilation of evidence against his mother’s Romanian ex-partner, Gheorghe Popa, who on the night of October 24, 2016, had allegedly first attacked the woman inside her Tarxien home before turning the knife upon her son who answered her cries for help. “My interaction was very brief. I ran in the room, he stabbed me and I left the room... If he had five stab wounds at the time, I would have probably noticed, but I can't say for sure,” Mr Mainwaring declared under cross-examination by defence lawyer Benjamin Valenzia. After the violent incident, police had discovered the alleged aggressor hiding up a tree outside the Mintoff residence nursing multiple stab wounds which forensic experts deem to have likely been self-inflicted. Mr Mainwaring explained how on that fateful evening, he had been playing the ukulele with friends in the villa next to his mother's residence, when...
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In three Maltese towns, more than one in five is foreign

August 9, 2017, 7:30 am
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In the localities of Birżebbuġa, St Paul’s Bay and Sliema, foreigners accounted for more than 20 per cent of total population, according to a publication released today by the National Statistics Office. The NSO's Regional Statistics 2017 also revealed that the localities of Santa Luċija, Żejtun and Żabbar had the lowest percentage of foreigners out of the total population residing in there. During the period 2010 and 2015, the population of the Malta region increased every year, with an overall growth of 19,035 inhabitants. During that period, the population of the Gozo and Comino region increased every year except for 2013 where there was a marginal decrease, giving a net overall increase of 379 inhabitants. In all, the number of inhabitants on the Maltese islands as at the end of 2015 was 434,403.
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Magistrate insists people must be arraigned under arrest when court so orders

August 8, 2017, 4:30 am
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A Magistrates’ Court this morning deplored what it termed ‘a total disregard for the law’ after a man and a woman due to be brought to court under arrest, instead made their own way to the sitting, prompted by a mere phone-call by the police. Antonella Vella and Stephen Borg were due to be escorted to court under a warrant of arrest after they had failed to turn up for a previous hearing. Although this time the two kept their appointment, it transpired in court that they had arrived unaccompanied after the police had called them yesterday to inform them about today's hearing. "This is a blatant violation of a court order - an arrest warrant means an arrest warrant,” declared Magistrate Donatella Frendo Dimech, insisting that when the court issued an arrest warrant the police had 48 hours to detain suspects before escorting them to court. The current practice of asking such persons to go to the local police station and arresting them there did not conform to proper procedure and amounted to a lack of respect towards the courts, the magistrate continued. "You must go and arrest them at home,” said the court, addressing the prosecuting officers present in the courtroom. The court...
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The 'voice' of the Malta Air Show passes away

August 9, 2017, 3:38 am
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Wing Commander Brian Essex, the commentator in the 20 editions of the Malta International Airshow, has passed away, the Malta Aviation Sociaty announced. He was 72. Wing Cdr Brian Essex commanded the RAF Luqa-based 203 Sqd flying Nimrod patrol aircraft.   He then served briefly in Oman before he settled in Malta with his family.  "His love for Malta knew no bounds and his voluntary work saw him provide hours of commentary at each of the past air shows," the society said. "The visiting public appreciated Brian’s excellent skills in providing airshow visitors with the best commentary possible, in his calm and soothing voice, cracking a joke every now and then." He was also the project manager of the ‘Battle for Malta’ commemoration which saw many veterans come to Malta to celebrate 60 years of ‘Victory in Europe’.  
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Malta is second-best place to retire, study finds

August 9, 2017, 7:35 am
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Malta has been ranked as the second best place to retire, by online magazine Live and Invest Overseas, beaten only by the Algarve in Portugal, which has topped the list for four years in a row. This year, the survey covered 30 destinations, compiled from feedback from expats, experts, and correspondents. The study, which has been conducted for over 30 years, looks at 13 categories, with climate given as a bonus as it is considered to be the most subjective of the categories. Malta only ranked well in the fact that English is spoken, in infrastructure and for climate, but its relatively high ratings in all categories gave it an “A” rating overall. 1. Cost of LivingHoi An, VietnamMonción, Dominican RepublicHua Hin, Thailand, 2. Health CareAlgarve, Portugal,Paris, France 3. Residency OptionsPortugalBelizePanama 4. EntertainmentParis, France.Lisbon, PortugalBudapest, Hungary 5. RecreationAlgarve, PortugalAbruzzo, Italy 6. English SpokenBelizeMalta 7. Expat CommunityMexico 8. TaxesPanamaBelizeMalaysiaDominican Republic 9. Real Estate AffordabilityMonción, Dominican RepublicHoi An, VietnamAbruzzo, ItalyKota Kinabalu, Malaysia 10. Real Estate RestrictionsBelizeDominican...
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Government unable to stop Pembroke private school process

August 9, 2017, 10:01 pm
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A protest has been organised by residents who oppose the school development in Pembroke. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

The government cannot stop the process begun by a company to build a private school on public land in Pembroke, a government spokesman said yesterday. The proposed project by CHS (Chiswick House School) Limited for Gabriele Henin Street has been met with protests since the Planning Authority’s notice went up on site in July. Residents have circulated two petitions – an online and a physical one – and collected more than 3,500 signatures in total so far. In May, CHS informed the government it would submit an outline proposal for public land. In accordance with standard procedure, the applicants have to go through application processes at the Lands Authority and the Planning Authority. The final say will come through a parliamentary resolution, sources have told this newspaper. However, the Nationalist Party yesterday urged the government to declare whether it planned to go ahead with the transfer of public land. Asked whether the government can stop the process, a spokesman said: “The government cannot simply stop the process, because the applicants have a right to apply and go through the procedures which apply in such circumstances.” The spokesman said that the independent...
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PBS head of newsroom's contract extended

August 9, 2017, 9:49 am
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Reno Bugeja

Veteran journalist Reno Bugeja will continue to head the State broadcaster’s newsroom for at least another two years, since the PBS board of directors decided to extend the contract beyond his retirement age. A spokesman for the Justice Ministry, responsible for the public broadcaster, confirmed that although Mr Bugeja reached his retirement age last month, “the board agreed to keep using the experience of Mr Bugeja to head the PBS’s newsroom for the next two years”. Mr Bugeja has worked at the PBS newsroom since the 1980s and was appointed head of news in 2013. The ministry spokesman said Mr Bugeja’s contract would remain the same as the one he had had since 2013. According to information given in Parliament, Mr Bugeja has a financial package of over €50,000 a year. Additionally, he receives an extra €400 a week for his popular TV current affairs programme Dissett. The spokesman said Mr Bugeja would continue to receive the additional remuneration for his programme, adding that “this is much less than what is being paid for other programmes of the same genre, including payment made to Times Talk”. Times Talk, produced and presented by Times of Malta journalists, used to be...
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Call for new law after hundreds of animals left in the sun

August 9, 2017, 4:51 am
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One dog fell to its death from the roof of a four-storey building in Birkirkara. Photo: Shutterstock

Hundreds of reports of animals being exposed to the elements without adequate shelter have been filed, prompting the authorities to draw up new regulations. The draft rules have been submitted to the government for its consideration. Animal Welfare director Noel Montebello said that he received more than 1,000 reports of animal cruelty every year, almost all related to animals being left outdoors for long periods of time without any protection. The spike in reports, he said, normally started around June and kept climbing as temperatures rose throughout the sweltering summer months. This year was no exception. “We are getting reports and complaints every single day, be it about cabby horses, dogs on roofs or cats kept on balconies. Our inspectors are constantly following up on these calls all over the island,” Mr Montebello said. Complaints of animal cruelty exploded on social media on Monday when an Alaskan malamute fell to its death from the roof of a four-storey building in Birkirkara. Photos of the dog lying dead in the street were posted on Facebook yesterday, further fuelling the public outrage. Neighbours said that the dog used to be kept on a small patch of its owner’s...
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€16.8 million recovered from Panama Papers, Swiss Leaks

August 9, 2017, 11:52 pm
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Just over €16.8 million was recovered by the tax authorities after previously unknown foreign holdings by Maltese were laid bare in the Panama Papers and Swiss Leaks. Information supplied by the Tax Compliance Unit (TCU) shows that €6.3 million has been recovered from its investigations into the Panama Papers data, which was leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Mossack Fonseca is one of the smaller firms operating in Panama. The 2016 Panama Papers leak shed a global spotlight on the use of offshore companies by criminals, celebrities and politicians to hide and launder their money away from the prying eyes of tax authorities. Both the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri, and Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi were found to have opened secret companies in Panama sheltered by trusts in New Zealand. Neither registered these trusts with the local tax authorities, an ‘oversight’ which they blamed on their financial advisers, Nexia BT. Both men have been investigated by the government’s anti-money-laundering agency, and multiple magisterial inquiries into money-laundering claims are under way. A spokesman for the TCU said 96 individuals or companies were...
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