Новости за 09.11.2015

A magistrate threw out a libel suit filed against l-orizzont by Green MT over an article terming a €2,000 cash grant offered to local councils as "bait". The article, titled '€2,000 bait', appeared in November 2012 and referred to a waste collection scheme rolled out by Green MT where a sum of €2,000 in cash grants was offered to local councils to encourage their participation. Green MT took issue with the term "bait", arguing that the cash grant would be paid against an invoice issued by the local... Читать дальше...

Winston Churchill did not ring a bell for many history students doing their SEC exam while others struggled to say on which day Malta became a republic. These and other howlers were highlighted in the examiners’ report about students’ performance in last May’s Secondary Education Certificate examination. In total, 205 students applied for the exam and a narrow majority (54 per cent) managed a pass mark. But another third did so badly that their grade could not be classified, while 10 applicants did not even bother to turn up for the exam. Читать дальше...

Registered full-time employment increased by 4.2 per cent in May when compared to the corresponding month last year, while registered part-time employment as a primary job rose by 3.9 per cent, the National Statistics office said. Over a period of one year, the labour supply (excluding part-timers) increased by 2.9 per cent, reaching 174,437. This was mainly attributed to an increase in the full-time gainfully occupied population (6,804) and a drop in registered unemployment (1,808).  In May, administrative... Читать дальше...

Malta Public Transport said today that the bus service will operate normally this week, despite the Valletta summit. The service may suffer some delays along certain routes as roads are closed temporarily to allow the secure passage of dignitaries who will be participating in the summit. The only disruption will be on Route 133 - the Valletta Circular Route.

All-day strikes by Lufthansa cabin crew at three German airports will lead to 929 domestic and international flights being cancelled, the airline has said. The 12.15 pm flight from Frankfurt to Malta is among them. Lufthansa said some 113,000 passengers will be affected by the action. The UFO union called on all members to walk out from 4.30am to 11pm local time  in Frankfurt and Dusseldorf and until midnight in Munich. UFO began the strike action on Friday and it is expected to continue for a week... Читать дальше...

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage has refused to throw light on who may ultimately be responsible for the damage caused to the facade of Castille by the new illumination system. The silence by the government and the Superintendence was condemned by the Nationalist Party, which said this reflected contempt for Malta's heritage. (See below)  The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage – whose mission it is to protect Malta’s rich cultural heritage – had given its go-ahead to the €300,000 project, which was entrusted to RVC Limited. Читать дальше...

The GRTU has advised its members that access to Customs in Valletta will be severely restricted on Wednesday and Thursday because of the EU summit. It said that access to the Customs buildings in the Lascaris Wharf area shall be prohibited on Wednesday and Thursday. Basic services, that is, cashiering services, inputting of customs declarations and issuing of gate passes for full load containers normally provided at the Longroom shall be provided from Luqa Airfreight at the said dates. However, members... Читать дальше...

The S&P 500 is up 2 percent year-to-date. At a first, an investor might be put off by this mediocre return given the risks involved in the equity markets. However, one has to appreciate that US equities have come a long way and for the market rally to continue, positive data needs to be sustained and converted into a strong earning season. The S&P 500 has generated decent returns for shareholders over the years. Over a 5-year time horizon, the index is up 72 percent. The problem remains that... Читать дальше...

Malta will host its biggest summit ever this week as Europe faces its biggest refugee crisis since World War II. Will the Valletta summit provide potential solutions to provide safe and legal passages for refugees and what kinds of measures are being proposed to improve returns? Is Europe and Africa on the same page to try to identify potential solutions? And will the emergency summit merely underline the importance of erecting walls? On the eve of the summit, Tuesday's special edition of Times Talk will discuss the migration crisis. Читать дальше...

The party of Myanmar (Burma) opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has won the historic general election held over the weekend, and supporters have been urged not to provoke their losing rivals. The acting chairman of Myanmar's ruling party conceded defeat to Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition and said he would accept the result of the country's first free national election in 25 years. "We lost," Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) leader Htay Oo told Reuters in an interview. In her first comments after yesterday's polling... Читать дальше...

Estonian Air, a small state-controlled airline with a handful of planes, has ceased operations after European Union regulators ordered Estonia to recover €85 million in state aid granted to it. On Saturday the European Commission ruled following a near-three year investigation that the aid extended to the loss-making national carrier had given it an unfair advantage. "Estonian Air therefore needs to pay back the state aid already received, which according to the Commission's information amounts to about €85 million plus interest... Читать дальше...

Eating a lot of well-cooked meat could increase the risk of developing kidney cancer, new medical research has discovered. Experts have found kidney cancer patients consumed higher amounts of meat and processed foods than people who do not have the disease. More harmful chemicals are produced when meat is cooked at high temperatures or over an open flame, according to the study led by the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. It comes weeks after the World Health Organisation (WHO) classified... Читать дальше...

Update 3 - The Vice-President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič, said today that he was 'convinced' that I am also convinced the EU's plans for energy union could help Malta overcome its position as isolated energy island. He made his comment after touring the site of the new gas power station in Delimara and calling on the prime minister at the Auberge de Castille. He told Dr Muscat that the Delimara gas power station project and changes in energy policies in recent years are 'very impressive'. Читать дальше...

Malta-based Medavia Aviation has suspended its daily flight between Libya's Mitiga airport and Malta until November 16 on instructions from the Maltese authorities while the island hosts a two-day EU migration summit, the Libya Herald has reported. An airline official confirmed the news to Times of Malta.  “Unfortunately,  for safety and security issues we have been instructed to stop by higher authorities” an airline official told the Herald. The summit, focused on migration, will be held on Wednesday... Читать дальше...

Pope Francis has condemned the leak of sensitive Vatican documents as a deplorable crime but said it would not distract him from forging ahead with reforms at the Holy See. The leaks are one of the biggest internal scandals to hit Francis' papacy and were reminiscent of the "Vatileaks" furore that preceded the resignation of former Pope Benedict in 2013. The Italian media has dubbed the latest episodes "Vatileaks II". Making his first public comment about the leaks since the arrest last week of two... Читать дальше...

The following are the top stories in the Maltese and overseas press. Times of Malta reports that a Malta-Sicily gas pipeline is seen as 'very important' for the EU. The Malta Independent focuses on the migration summit and says the EU cannot afford another failure or wasting time. In-Nazzjon says uncertainty for workers is continuing in view of government plans to privatise Gozo General Hospital. It also quotes Simon Busuttil saying Joseph Muscat is using his position so that a few people around him may benefit. Читать дальше...

Investigators of the Russian plane crash in Egypt are “90 per cent sure” the noise heard in the final second of a cockpit recording was an explosion caused by a bomb, a member of the investigation team said yesterday. The Airbus A321 crashed 23 minutes after taking off from the Sharm al-Sheikh tourist resort eight days ago, killing all 224 passengers and crew. Islamic State militants fighting Egyptian security forces in Sinai said they brought it down. “The indications and analysis so far of the... Читать дальше...

Conflicts and militant attacks in the Middle East and elsewhere will offset falling demand for helicopters driven by softer oil prices, the head of Russsian Helicopters said yesterday. Russian Helicopters, part of state corporation Rostec, is unlikely to see any negative effect of lower petroleum prices this year due to committed orders and deliveries. But the firm could see a decline in sales in 2016 and 2017 by about 10 to 15 per cent, chief executive Alexander Mikheev saidat the Dubai Air Show. Читать дальше...

Several Volkswagen engineers have admitted manipulating carbon dioxide emissions data, saying the ambitious goals set by former chief executive Martin Winterkorn were difficult to achieve, the newspaper Bild am Sonntag has reported. It said VW engineers tampered with tyre pressure and mixed diesel with their motor oil to make them use less fuel, a deception that began in 2013 and carried on until the spring of this year. “Employees have indicated in an internal investigation that there were irregularities in ascertaining fuel consumption data. Читать дальше...

Germany needs to send a message to the world that it’s reaching the limit of its capacity to help Europe’s flood of migrants, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday, as he advocated restricting family reunions for Syrian refugees. Germany has become a magnet for people fleeing war and violence in the Middle East. It expects 800,000 to a million refugees and migrants to arrive this year, twice as many as in any prior year. “We need to send a clear message to the world: we are very much prepared to help... Читать дальше...