Новости за 08.12.2015

The White House said today that Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's call for the United States to ban Muslims from entering the country disqualified him from becoming president and called on Republicans to reject him immediately. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Trump's campaign had a "dustbin of history" quality to it, and said his comments were offensive and toxic. Earnest said other Republican presidential candidates, who have pledged to support the person who eventually wins their party's nomination... Читать дальше...

EU Finance Ministers have agreed to include provisions on flexibility for purposes of competitiveness in proposals for new tax laws that would plug evasion by multinational companies. The proposed laws will be based on recommendations made by the OECD. Finance Minister Edward Scicluna told the EU Finance Ministers at a meeting today that while Malta sees the OECD work in a positive light, it harbours concerns on the appropriateness of rigid rules for all. Malta was alone in proposing the inclusion... Читать дальше...

A 22-year-old man suspected of burglarizing homes in Florida was killed and partially eaten by an 11-foot (3.4 meters) alligator after he waded into a lake, apparently to avoid detection by law enforcement officers pursuing him, police said. An autopsy on the man, Matthew Riggins of Palm Bay, determined that he drowned in November after an apparent alligator attack. A necropsy on the alligator revealed parts of the man's body in the reptile's stomach, according to a report released this week by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office. Читать дальше...

Donald Trump has rejected criticism that his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US is un-American as critics compared him to Adolf Hitler. The Republican presidential candidate said what he is proposing is "no different" to the actions of president Franklin Roosevelt, "who was highly respected by all" despite his wartime measures that included putting Japanese-Americans in internment camps in the US. Mr Trump told ABC's Good Morning America that banning Muslims is warranted because the US... Читать дальше...

Mr Justice Antonio Mizzi has thrown out a prosecution request to dissolve the trial of Allan Galea, who stands charged with the murder of Anthony Borg, known as Il-Bona.  The request was made as the prosecution objected to the defence’s line of questioning, saying it was ridiculing witnesses.  Lara Lanfranco, from the Attorney General’s Office, told the court that the prosecution was seeing “certain irregularities” in the way its witnesses were being cross-examined by the defence. “While the prosecution... Читать дальше...

The band that was performing at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris when it was hit by Islamic State militants, leaving 90 people dead, have made an emotional visit to the site for the first time since the November 13 attack.   Multiple coordinated attacks in the French capital that day killed 130 people, 90 of them at the Bataclan where the band, also known as EODM, was performing. Members of the band looked visibly moved as they surveyed the makeshift memorial of flowers left at the doors of the now closed Bataclan after the attack. Читать дальше...

Tens of thousands of Roman Catholics backed up for blocks at the Vatican today for the strictest security checks in living memory as Pope Francis began a Holy Year with a call to set aside "fear and dread". Francis launched the year-long religious event, also known as a Jubilee, by pushing open the usually bricked up bronze Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica and passing through it, following a Mass attended by about 70,000 people in the square outside, according to a Vatican estimate. Holy Year has... Читать дальше...

Global markets were rocked for a second day today, as oil prices fell to their lowest since 2009 and huge declines by energy and mining shares left the world's main stock indexes staring at heavy losses. A leap in Chinese commodity imports had stabilised oil prices after they fell 6 percent yesterday, but the pressure returned before U.S. trading, driving WTI crude below $37 a barrel. European shares were down 1.6 percent at their lowest level since mid October. futures prices indicated Wall Street would open lower, too. Читать дальше...

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta has been forced to defend his frequent travel abroad after an outbreak of mass ridicule on the Internet from Kenyans mocking him as a foreign leader making a fleeting visit to their country. Kenyatta returned last week from trip abroad that included a summit in South Africa, a climate conference in France and a Commonwealth meeting in Malta. He is due to travel to Rwanda later this week. Kenyans have been trading photos online that depict highlights of his "visit" to Kenya. Читать дальше...

Britain's lower house of parliament has voted against cutting the voting age for a referendum on EU membership, potentially blocking any further moves to allow 16 and 17-year-olds to vote. Lawmakers voted 303 to 253 to reject a move by the upper house, the House of Lords, to lower the voting age to 16 from 18 for the referendum which Prime Minister David Cameron has promised by the end of 2017

A documentary on migration, with an emphasis on Malta, will be premiered in the coming days. The Stepping Forward project focuses on the human aspect of migration. Three life stories are presented to confront the viewer with questions like: What would we do in their position? Which option would we choose if our home country was not a place of peace, security and human dignity? The project came into fruition after Casjen Ennen and Benjamin Wiedenbruch, two young filmmakers, approached anthropologist Ulrike Kuebler... Читать дальше...

A boy who inspired an early Christmas in the town of St George, Ontario, in October has died. Seven-year-old Evan Leversage was terminally ill with a brain tumour and the whole community rallied around to turn on the lights in the town to grant his wish of seeing one last Christmas. "I was holding him as he took one last deep breath, and I knew at that very moment that this would be his last," said Evan's mother, Nicole Wellwood, in a statement posted to Facebook. On October 24, the Christmas lights in St George were up... Читать дальше...

A Saudi Arabian court has decided to reopen the case of a Sri Lankan woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery, according to Sri Lanka's government. The 45-year-old married woman, who was working as a maid in Saudi Arabia, was sentenced to death in August. The unmarried Sri Lankan man convicted alongside her was sentenced to 100 lashes. Sri Lankan deputy foreign minister Harsha de Silva told his parliament that an appeals court in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital, has decided to hear... Читать дальше...

Kylie Minogue has come face to face with a festive waxwork of herself. The pop star looked delighted and said "Oh my god" as she met her replica at Madame Tussauds. The 47-year-old, who was wearing a velvet red dress with a diamante-encrusted black bow, pretended to pause for a selfie with the waxwork of George Clooney next to her figure. She said: "Wait a second, I need to have a look at her. Can I touch her?" As she posed for photos, she asked reporters: "Is it weird seeing this?" After the photoshoot, she said: "I think she looks good. Читать дальше...

Mgr Joseph Alessandro OFM has been appointed Bishop of Garissa, Kenya, succeeding Bishop Paul Darmanin OFM, who has stepped down. Mgr Alessando had been coadjutor bishop of Garissa for several years, the Holy See said.

A man currently serving life in prison for the brutal murder of his partner, whom he stabbed 49 times in front of their young daughter, was yesterday sentenced to another four years behind bars for setting his prison cell alight. David Norbert Schembri, 39, who has a long history of criminal convictions, set fire to the mattress in his maximum security cell at 6pm on April 11, 2012. The court heard that he had placed his belongings in plastic bags outside the cell before starting the fire. Testifying before Magistrate Ian Farrugia... Читать дальше...

Six children have drowned after a rubber dinghy carrying Afghan migrants to Greece sank off Turkey's Aegean coast, Turkey's state-run news agency said. The Anadolu Agency said the coastguard rescued five migrants from the sea and were still looking for two others reported missing. The bodies of the children were recovered. Anadolu did not report their ages, but said one of them was a baby. The migrants were apparently hoping to make it to the island of Khios from the resort of Cesme despite bad weather. Читать дальше...

Archbishop Charles Scicluna fields questions about his public - and sometimes controversial - statements in this evening’s edition of Times Talk. The outspoken Mgr Scicluna explains why he feels he has a duty to make certain statements, even if they are construed to be “political” and insists that he will not be silenced on essential issues. Mgr Scicluna will also answer questions about whether the Church was really leading by example on environmental issues and speaks about his attempts to revamp the Church in Malta. Читать дальше...

An application for the installation of a bulk liquefied petroleum ­­gas storage tank in Victoria is encountering stiff resistance from neighbouring residents. The Ministry for Gozo submitted a Mepa application for the installation of an LPG tank on the road leading to the Citadel and the underground pipework to light three ‘eternal flames’. It is being planned that two flames be lit next to the monument to the fallen of war in Pjazza Indipendenza, while another flame will be lit in front of the monument that commemorates the 1551 Gozo siege. Читать дальше...

France has urged its European Union partners to speed up efforts to cut off funds to extremists groups, nearly a month after the Paris attacks. "Every country is under threat of terrorism, and every country has to do what is needed to fight terror financing," French finance minister Michel Sapin said. Mr Sapin and his EU counterparts are meeting in Brussels to debate ways to better track financial transfers, control pre-paid bank cards, freeze assets and limit movements of cash and precious metals. Читать дальше...

Airport passenger figures last increased by 10.6 per cent over the same month last year, Malta International Airport said in a statement on the Malta Stock Exchange. It said this was equivalent to an additional 27,250 passenger movements. The airport said seat capacity increased by 9.4 per cent due to increased route frequency, while the number of occupied seats on flights also increased from 80 per cent to 81.3 per cent. The top five destinations saw one major shift in which Turkey displaced Switzerland... Читать дальше...

Although data published by the National Statistics Office showed that the economy experienced another quarter of positive growth, particularly through the contribution of tourism and financial services, that same data also pointed to yet another drop in the contribution of manufacturing towards GDP growth, shadow minister Mario de Marco said. He said in a statement that these conflicting trends showed how the Maltese economy in general was growing at a positive rate, but not all sectors of the economy were growing at the same rate... Читать дальше...

An epidemic of opioid and heroin addiction is sweeping across the US and children are its most vulnerable victims. Many newborns diagnosed with a drug dependency called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome go unreported. Those babies are sometimes born into misery. Some shake, struggle to eat and often sputter and choke during feedings. They can suffer fits of sneezing and severe diarrhea. Many begin crying at the smallest stimulus, including a mother's smile. They can cry with such force that their bodies shudder. Читать дальше...

The investigation into fuel consumption by the Opposition leader’s official car was initiated well before Simon Busuttil’s motion to contest a Speaker’s ruling and the publication of the PN’s good governance report, Speaker Anglu Farrugia said in a statement this morning. His statement followed claims by Dr Busuttil yesterday that he found the calling of the magisterial inquiry ‘very strange’ coming a day after he presented a document on good governance and a week after he contested the ruling. The... Читать дальше...

As negotiators in Paris seek an ambitious solution to rising temperatures, Alexander Borg Olivier recalls Malta’s pioneering efforts 25 years ago that laid the foundation for international action on climate change. A quarter of a century has gone by and climate change remains a major threat – but it is still not too late, according to the former ambassador of Malta to the United Nations in New York. Alexander Borg Olivier had spearheaded negotiations at the United Nations on behalf of Malta which... Читать дальше...