Новости за 09.05.2017

Valletta FC will be playing Europa League football next season after Birkirkara FC's appeal for a UEFA licence was rejected by local football authorities. In a brief statement, the Malta Football Association said it had turned down Birkirkara FC's appeal, ratifying the decision taken by the MFA Members Club Licensing Board to deny the club a 2017/18 UEFA licence. The decision means Birkirkara are locked out of European football for next season, to their fans' dismay and delight of Valletta FC. The... Читать дальше...

Russia held its annual military parade through Moscow's Red Square today. The event commemorates the Soviet Union's victory over the Nazis in the Second World War. President Vladimir Putin looked on from a tribune filled with Soviet war veterans along with his Moldovan counterpart, Igor Dodon, who became the first Moldovan leader to attend the event in 15 years. Speaking at the event, Putin said "this horrible tragedy was not prevented first of all because of the silent agreement with the criminal... Читать дальше...

Pembroke's character and tranquillity is under attack from a barrage of planning applications for five to six storey developments, Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar has warned. The environmental NGO has joined forces with a group of over 200 Pembroke residents to urge the Planning Authority to refuse the spate of applications, made possible by a change in planning policies introduced in 2015. Policy changes made it possible to increase all buildings by at least one additional floor over and above the building height limitations set in 2006... Читать дальше...

A 43-year-old woman from Marsa was grievously injured today when she was hit by a car in Pietà. The police said the accident happened in Pjazza San Luqa at 7.25am. The car that hit the woman was being driven by a 24-year-old woman from Għarb.

Former Argentina captain Diego Maradona has ended a five-year absence from football to return as coach of Al-Fujairah FC, the United Arab Emirates club announced. “I want to tell you that I am the new coach of Al-Fujairah SC, in the second division of the United Arab Emirates,” Maradona added on his Facebook page. The club posted a picture of the former Boca Juniors, Napoli and Barcelona striker holding their red and white shirt with his name and No. 10 on the back. It marks a return to management... Читать дальше...

The European Greens have asked the European Parliament plenary to hold an urgent debate next week about money laundering allegations involving Maltese politically exposed persons. Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Arnold Cassola said the debate was requested because the damage Minister Konrad Mizzi, the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri and Nexia BT accountant Brian Tonna did to Malta's reputation was getting worse by the minute. The decision on the EP’s agenda will be taken on Thursday. Читать дальше...

Roma coach Luciano Spalletti (picture) is fed up with discussing 40-year-old Francesco Totti, saying he would not have taken the job in the first place if he had known it was going to be such a thorny subject. Totti is in his 25th season at his only professional club, who have announced that he would retire when is contract ended in June. However, the attacking midfielder has been used sparingly by Spalletti this season with his 15 Serie A appearances including just one start and two halftime introductions from the bench. Читать дальше...

From stripey sofas to brutalist buildings, patterns of parallel lines found everywhere could be bringing misery to millions of headache sufferers, according to scientists. While the link between flashing lights and certain forms of epilepsy is well known, some static patterns made up of bars and lines are now suspected of causing negative effects even in the brains of healthy people. Researchers at the University Medical Centre (UMC) Utrecht in the Netherlands say that a rise in a type of brain activity... Читать дальше...

Ex-French prime minister Manuel Valls has said France's Socialist party "is dead" and he wants to run under the banner of President-elect Emmanuel Macron's political movement in June's parliamentary elections. Mr Valls, a centre-leaning politician in favour of relaxing labour protections, had already thrown his support behind Mr Macron before the presidential election after losing to Benoit Hamon in the Socialist primary. Mr Valls told RTL radio that Mr Macron's victory over far-right leader Marine... Читать дальше...

Marijuana could be a valuable way of managing chronic pain without suffering the adverse side-effects of opioid-based medicinals, two local medical experts have said.  Writing in university magazine Think, family doctor and pain management specialist Andrew Agius and physiology and biochemistry lecturer Giuseppe Di Giovanni argue that while more studies are needed to determine ideal doses and delivery routes, marijuana's 5,000-year history as a pain management tool bodes well. They note that patients... Читать дальше...

The cartoonist who created Pepe the Frog has killed off the character in a rebuke to far-right extremists who transformed a benevolent internet meme into a racist, anti-Semitic symbol. A Pepe cartoon released in comic book shops shows Matt Furie's creation in an open coffin. In a Time magazine essay last year, Furie described Pepe as "chill frog-dude", who debuted in a 2006 comic book called Boy's Club and became a popular online subject for user-generated mutations. But internet trolls hijacked... Читать дальше...

Alternattiva Demokratika has picked holes in the Labour Party’s plans to wind down the waste recycling plant at Marsascala over a seven year period. The proposal was made in the Labour Party Electoral Manifesto, but Alternattiva environment spokesman Carmel Cacopardo said that although the promise had the admirable aim of reducing the impact on the Marsascala community, doing so would have other consequences. The first, he pointed out, was that the plant had been financed through the EU and warned that dismantling the project might... Читать дальше...

And France have a new President. Favourite Macron got almost two-thirds of the votes in what had been expected to be a pretty straightforward race. Polls got it right. Let’s face it, heading into this weekend’s round two of French Presidential elections, Le Pen was not expected to be a real contest in Sunday’s race but put up a worthy fight as there hadn’t been such a strong showing by a French far-right political party since the end of the second world war. Newly elect President is expected to announce... Читать дальше...

Updated 11am - Added video A new Nationalist Party government would "clean up" Malta's cash-for-passports scheme and introduce new stricter conditions for applicants to qualify, party leader Simon Busuttil said today. Dr Busuttil made the Individual Investor Programme pledge at a press conference this morning in the course of which he also promised to implement a policy of "equal pay for equal work and end a General Workers Union scheme that "makes money off the backs of 600 workers". Other proposals... Читать дальше...

After a decade of slow growth, rising unemployment and dwindling competitiveness, France elected a president on Sunday who says he has a plan to pull the country out of its economic malaise. Emmanuel Macron, a former investment banker who quit the government of Francois Hollande twice out of frustration with the slow pace of reforms, is promising to overhaul the labour market, simplify the tax and pension systems, while paring back regulations he says hamper innovation. But as he gets set to enter... Читать дальше...

SK Victoria Wanderers will enjoy home comforts for their first-ever FA Trophy semi-final as the Cup giant-killers were drawn to face Floriana at the Gozo Stadium. Holders Sliema Wanderers were handed a tricky route to a second successive final when they will be up against Tarxien Rainbows at the National Stadium. Both matches will be played on Saturday and will kick off at 5pm. SK Victoria’s fairytale run in this season’s competition has caught the imagination of many local followers after the GFA... Читать дальше...

By 1.48pm, Mohammed Jammo was on the verge of despair.  "We are dying, please! Don't abandon us! We have no captain, he ran away. I have no credit on my phone, please help," he pleaded with an official at Italy's rescue coordination centre in Rome.  By that time, Mr Jammo - a self-described Syrian doctor - and the hundreds of men, women and children aboard the rickety boat some 60 nautical miles south of Lampedusa had been waiting more than an hour for help to arrive.  The reply from Rome was chilling. Читать дальше...

Hyperhidrosis, or excessive sweating, is quite a common condition which is often underestimated by both medical professionals and patients alike. In studies carried abroad, sufferers find it difficult to present such a condition to their family doctor and usually present late when their daily routines and social lives are affected by the excessive sweating. People with this condition end up having to change clothing more often due to soiling, avoid sports or even handshakes to avoid embarrassment... Читать дальше...

On April 28, the European Central Bank announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The operation was conducted on May 2 and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €14.43 billion, €0.02 billion higher than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of zero per cent in accordance with current ECB policy. On May 3, the ECB conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised... Читать дальше...

South Koreans are voting for a new president to replace Park Geun-hye, who was forced out after a huge corruption scandal. The favourite is a liberal candidate who has pledged to improve ties with North Korea, re-examine a contentious US missile shield, and bring in sweeping economic changes. Conservatives worry that a victory by Moon Jae-in might benefit North Korea and estrange South Korea from its most important ally, the United States. Mr Moon, 64, was the clear favourite as conservative forces... Читать дальше...

A father who believes his daughter was abducted by her mother says he feels let down by the authorities, insisting the country’s borders need to be managed better. Speaking to the Times of Malta, Andreas Gerdes said despite a border lock in place that should have prevented the girl’s mother, Anika de Vilera, from leaving the island, she somehow still escaped, taking their daughter, Aurelia, with her. The one-and-a-half-year-old girl, who has had two major surgeries after being diagnosed with congenital hydrocephalus... Читать дальше...

Chinese banks have dramatically expanded their overseas payment and trade networks since the global financial crisis, exploiting a growing vacuum created by Western lenders which are retreating from higher-risk jurisdictions, new data shows. The number of so-called “correspondent” or bank-to-bank relationships operated by Chinese banks surged more than 3,300 per cent – from 65 in 2009 to 2,246 in 2016 – according to data published by US-based payment and compliance technology company Accuity yesterdaqy. Читать дальше...

Chapecoense won the Santa Catarina state championship on Sunday to lift their first title since most of their team died in a plane crash last November. The small club from southern Brazil lost 1-0 at home in the second leg of the final playoff against Avai but the aggregate score was 1-1 and they took the title because of a better regular season record. It was their second successive state title and the first time they have won two in a row. The feat was all the more impressive given that all bar... Читать дальше...

The June 3 election is different from recent elections in that one theme dominates the campaign: the impact of the Panama Papers scandal on the country’s political governance. But there are also similarities with other elections in that the two big political parties try their best to win support in every electoral district by promising goodies that appeal to residents of particular localities. Gozo has always been an important political battleground. The PN has traditionally been strong in this district... Читать дальше...

The following are the top stories in national newspapers today. Times of Malta says that the Prime Minister’s top aide Keith Schembri and Nexia BT boss Brian Tonna have not provided records of the bank transaction through which Mr Schembri claims to have loaned Mr Tonna €100,000 in 2012. In another story it quotes Nationalist Party deputy leader Beppe Fenech Adami saying that the ink on the voting documents for this election could easily be rubbed off, putting the entire electoral process in doubt. Читать дальше...