Новости за 09.03.2016

Tens of thousands of people have protested across France against President Francois Hollande's bid to achieve what his conservative predecessor did not even dare try - tamper with the 35-hour working week. Workers, the unemployed and students joined forces, answering calls from student organisations and unions in more than 200 cities across France to try to kill the Bill, which has even divided Mr Hollande's ruling Socialist party. According to various unions quoted by local media, between 80,000... Читать дальше...

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat  said this evening he will remove Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi if an audit by the Commissioner for Inland Revenue finds that he lied about his holdings in a New Zealand trust and company in Panama. Speaking on TVM’s Dissett, Dr Muscat expressed his belief that both Dr Mizzi and his chief of staff Keith Schembri relied on legally correct advice, though they were “politically naive” for opting for such a financial set up. He said both Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri will submit themselves to an independent audit... Читать дальше...

Police are trying to determine how a four-year-old boy had access to a gun he used to shoot his mother as she drove a pick-up truck in north Florida. The shooting happened on Tuesday afternoon. Putnam County Sheriff's spokesman Joseph Wells said 31-year-old Jamie Gilt of Jacksonville owns the gun. A deputy saw her behaving frantically inside the truck, which was stopped partially in the road. The deputy then saw she had been shot in the back. Mr Wells said Ms Gilt told deputies her son had accidentally shot her. Читать дальше...

The people feel betrayed and angry that the Prime Minister has not taken any action about the revelation that his Energy Minister and his chief of staff had opened up secret companies in Panama. Speaking during an interview on Net TV, Dr Busuttil said the country was going through a corruption crisis and people could no longer keep up with all the scandals being uncovered. Dr Muscat, Dr Busuttil said, should immediately remove his chief of staff Keith Schembri and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi from their positions. Читать дальше...

No one was injured in a shooting incident in Luqa Briffa Street, Gżira this evening. The shooter has been arrested. The police said the shooting took place in an argument between two men, one aged 24, and the other 43. The 24-year-old grabbed the firearm from his garage in the street and allegedly fired shots at the other man, who is from Gżira and was not hit. The shooter escaped but was arrested later. An inquiry is being held.

Ta’ Xbiex Nationalist councillor Richard Chetcuti has resigned following comments he passed on Facebook, the Nationalist Party said. Mr Chetcuti passed a rude comment about Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi. A copy of his resignation letter may be read in the pdf link below.

A new magistrate will be appointed in the coming days, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici said this evening when moving the debate on the Bill to reform judicial appointments. Although he did not mention Caroline Farrugia Frendo by name, the minister said that not many lawyers were willing to serve on the judiciary and that was why it hurt when certain people who wanted to serve were bullied "because of who their father was or for other reasons". Dr Farrugia Frendo, the Speaker's daughter, was nominated... Читать дальше...

Email your photos to mynews@timesofmalta.com and, should the editor select any of them, they will be published in a gallery like the one above. Preferably the photos should be landscape and at least 620 pixels wide. The photos will then be cropped adequately for the slideshow. Please include a brief description or location name of the photo as well as your full name to be used in the caption. Enjoy snapping away!

A thunderstorm has brought heavy rain to parts of the United Arab Emirates, disrupting flights, flooding roads and forcing authorities to close schools the next day in the desert nation. Water poured through ceilings and whipped through streets in Dubai, the UAE's commercial capital. In Abu Dhabi, the hard rains forced the capital's stock market to halt trading and close for the day. All schools across the seven-emirate federation will be closed on Thursday, according to the state-owned The National newspaper of Abu Dhabi. Читать дальше...

One proposal has been filed to design, build, maintain and operate a Natatorium Complex in Victoria, the government said. It said in a statement documents were collected by two companies but only one 240 Ltd - made a submission. The next step is the evaluation and adjudication of the submission. The aim of the call was to provide a state of the art Natatorium Complex to the local and international sports industry as well as the community and public.

Nearly half of State schools do not have a functioning fire alarm system, the Times of Malta has learnt. Education Ministry documents show that only 71 of the 127 State-run schools, institutes and colleges across Malta and Gozo have fire alarms that work. The rest either have no fire alarm system in place at all, the equipment is damaged or only have partial cover, mostly limited to open-air yards or main halls. This information emerges as the government pledges to reform health and safety standards... Читать дальше...

Syria's first man in space has said European nations should help remove President Bashar Assad from office to bring an end to the refugee crisis. Mohammed Faris, a 64-year-old Soviet-trained cosmonaut, fled the civil war in Syria in 2012 for Turkey to join the Syrian opposition, becoming one of his country's highest-ranking defectors. Mr Faris, a refugee himself, told the Associated Press: "I tell Europe if you don't want refugees, then you should help us get rid of this regime." Mr Faris made history... Читать дальше...

Sensus Capital Markets Ltd has had its Malta Financial Services Authority is in the process of having its licence cancelled after it attempted to conceal information and mislead the authority while undertaking activities that went beyond its licence. The MFSA's decision to cancel the company's licence will not be operative, however, until the expiration of the appeal period, and if an appeal was lodged, the decision would become operative if and when the tribunal dismissed the appeal or on the date it was abandoned. Читать дальше...

A 40-year-old single mother from Valletta whose underage sons have repeatedly hit the headlines for being at the wheel of her car was today was granted bail. The latest incident was last Monday when her 17-year-old son hit a parked vehicle while driving her BMW in Triq il-Lanċa, Valletta. Last month, he was involved in a car chase with the police before he was arrested. His younger brother, who is 12, has been repeatedly caught driving and is also at the heart of a separate controversy over allegations... Читать дальше...

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil today promised to make it his mission to clean up the political system “once and for all”. Speaking during a meeting with the social partners, Dr Busuttil said the PN, together with the social partners, will be reviewing the party’s good governance document in light of the Panama scandal. Dr Busuttil said the PN is open to all suggestions on how to improve the document. “I am publicly binding myself to see the implementation of this document through. I promise to... Читать дальше...

A man who tried to assault the president of the Police Officers Union after causing a ruckus at a local tribunal was conditionally discharged by a court on condition he received psychological treatment. The defendant, whose name cannot be published by court order, was this arraigned before Magistrate Charmaine Galea. He pleaded guilty to the 10 charges filed against him. A week ago today, he had hit the headlines after threatening lawyer Lynn Zahra in her capacity as tribunal commissioner of the San Ġwann region... Читать дальше...

Resurfacing works will be carried out in Triq in-Naxxar and Vjal ir-Rihan, San Ġwann between tomorrow and Saturday between 8pm and 6am. The works are in preparation for works related to the Kappara Junction Project. During works, Triq in-Naxxar will be closed to one lane from the junction of Triq in-Naxxar with Triq Birkirkara up to the junction of Triq in-Naxxar with Triq il-Mensija. In the meantime, Vjal ir-Rihan will be closed to one lane. Traffic proceeding from San Ġwann to Naxxar will be diverted... Читать дальше...

GlobalCapital has been granted approval to list new ordinary shares by way of rights to shareholders on the register at the Central Security Depository of the Malta Stock Exchange. The approval follows the company’s application for admissibility to listing of 16,792,452 new ordinary shares of a nominal value of 29c1172 each. The offer period will be between March 16 and March 30 at noon in accordance with the ratio of 1.27 new ordinary shares for every one existing ordinary share. Any lapsed rights... Читать дальше...

The share index reversed some of the gains seen in the last three trading sessions as it declined by 0.36 per cent to 4,562.768 points on improved trading volumes worth nearly €413,000. Six equities registered declines, another six traded unchanged while only two shares – RS2 and BOV – closed in positive territory. In particular, the six per cent decline in the equity of International Hotel Investments impacted heavily on the index. IHI closed at the 67c1 level after hitting an intra-day low of 66c. Читать дальше...

A Libyan man serving a life sentence for the killing of his estranged wife has had his sentence lengthened by another three years after he was found guilty of trying to strangle the victim, a few weeks before she was brutally murdered. Last November, Libyan Nizar El Gadi was sentenced to life in jail after jurors found him guilty, by eight votes against one, of murdering his former wife Margaret Mifsud. The punishment included solitary confinement for 10 days five times a year. Dr Mifsud, a lawyer... Читать дальше...

Seven players were suspended by the Malta FA Disciplinary Commissioner after last weekend’s BOV Premier League games. Tarxien winger Sergio Prendes was the worst hit as he received a three-match ban for his late dismissal in the 2-1 defeat to Birkirkara. Prendes was shown a straight red card for lashing out at Birkirkara’s Ryan Camenzuli. Qormi duo Emerson Vella and Clifford Gauci, Balzan’s Dylan Grima, Joseph Zerafa, the Birkirkara left-back, Naxxar Lions defender Andrew Scicluna, and Umeh Calistus... Читать дальше...

The medicine Maria Sharapova says she has taken for 10 years due to a family history of heart issues and diabetes is an old drug sold in just a few Eastern European countries that can also boost exercise tolerance. The tennis star tested positive for the banned drug meldonium, or Mildronate, in a sample taken on January 26, the day of her Australian Open quarter finals defeat to Serena Williams. She said her family doctor had first given her the drug 10 years ago after she frequently became sick... Читать дальше...

A survey among British air stewards/hostesses had found that 89 per cent admit to having broken airline rules - from short-changing passengers to having sex with colleagues or passengers at 30,000 feet.  Lying to passengers about the availability of duty free products and accepting tips and gifts were also high on the list of misdemeanours to which they have confessed, according to the Daily Telegraph. The survey was held among 718 British air stewards aged 18 and over who are currently in the job or have been in the past five years. Читать дальше...

Health and Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi has instituted libel proceedings against Beppe Fenech Adami for having repeated outside parliament comments made in the Chamber by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil. Dr Fenech Adami made the comments on TimesTalk yesterday after being challenged by Dr Mizzi. In a statement issued through the Department of Information, the ministry said that the only millions that existed were the million euro made by Simon Busuttil’s and Anne Fenech’s companies when they were... Читать дальше...

Malta has dropped 20 places since 2013 in the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said.  He was speaking in a Women's Day event held by the PN women's movement late yesterday. The index featured 140 countries and assessed them on the basis of employment, health services, education and participation in political life.  Malta was down 35 places in the assessment of the wage difference between men and women because women's salaries in other countries were rising faster than in Malta... Читать дальше...