Новости за 29.10.2017

BUSUTTIL. On October 28, JOSEPH, of Luqa, aged 89, passed peacefully away comforted by the rites of Holy Church. He leaves to mourn his loss his sons Silvio and his wife Rita, John and his wife Liliana, Paul and his wife Maria, his grandchildren Mark and his wife Roberta, David, Nicolette, Matthew and Joseph Andrew, Christine and her husband Christian, and his great-grandson Luca, his sister Veri, in-laws, other relatives and friends. Mass praesente cadavere, will be said at 9am tomorrow, Monday... Читать дальше...

Summertime ended at 3am today, when clocks were moved back by an hour. Mata is now one hour ahead of GMT.

Mark Watson, CEO of Mediterranean Bank, talks to The Sunday Times of Malta about the bank’s beginnings, rapid evolution and what lies ahead. Mediterranean Bank has been operating under its present ownership since 2009. How would you describe the bank’s experience? Overall we have enjoyed a very positive experience. We began by launching our signature long term, high interest savings accounts which happened to be the right product at the right time. Our next strategic move was acquiring a controlling... Читать дальше...

The information published in this page is intended for information purposes only. Any legal claim or action taken in the event of a dispute should be based solely on the legal texts concerned. For more information, call the Office for Consumer Affairs at the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority on Freephone 8007 4400.

Very often we opt to buy a gift voucher and avoid the hassle of choosing gifts which might be inadequate for the person receiving them. Sometimes we are also the receivers of such vouchers. Whether we are buying or using a gift voucher we have a number of responsibilities which we need to be aware of. When we are the ones who are buying the gift voucher it is important to keep in mind that there are different types of gift vouchers to choose from. For instance, there are vouchers that can only be... Читать дальше...

A consumer purchased a new washing machine for the price of €675. Since the washing machine’s instructions were in Italian the salesperson verbally explained how the washing machine worked. However, eventually the consumer was provided with proper instructions in English. The consumer complained about the fact that the washing machine automatically changed programme from one wash to another and this often resulted in long washes and hence high water consumption. The seller sent technicians to check the washing machine. Читать дальше...

• Always check the terms and conditions on how a gift voucher can be used before buying or using such a voucher. • If the gift voucher has an expiry date make sure that it is clearly written on the voucher. • We consumers are responsible to use the voucher before it expires. • Be careful not to lose the voucher as you may end up with nothing. • Gift vouchers cannot be exchanged back for cash. Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs AuthorityOffice for Consumer AffairsMizzi House,National Road,Blata l-BajdaHMR 9010 Freephone... Читать дальше...

For the past five years Malta experienced a sustained high economic growth which has no parallel in its economic history. Inevitably, prices in boom periods rise as this is surely an indicator of a flourishing economy.  Although the general price level has been successfully contained, on a sectoral basis, in the short term property prices and rents have consistently increased due to the prevailing market forces. The supply of accommodation has not matched the rate of increase in demand, although... Читать дальше...

The euro area and the United States are experiencing a persistently low level of inflation which is not symptomatic with the steady decline in unemployment and im­provements in economic growth seen during the recent past. Unemployment in the euro area has been improving steadily from a peak of more than 12 per cent in 2013 to 9.1 per cent in September, marking the lowest level in the last eight years. The euro area economy has been growing steadily, reaching a year-on-year growth rate of 2.3 per cent in the second quarter of 2017... Читать дальше...

Do you remember the Charlie Hebdo massacre a couple of years ago in Paris? When three gunned man stormed the headquarters of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and shot and killed 12 people, including journalists? That same week, 3.7 million went out to march in the Parisian streets, in defiance and in support of freedom of expression. Charlie Hebdo purports a highly critical, irreverent, non-conformist, divisive and, at times, shocking kind of journalism, but in the aftermath of the shooting... Читать дальше...

Many are describing the day Daphne Caruana Galizia was assassinated as ‘The Tipping Day’. The events of recent weeks have brought to the fore the concepts of rule of law, democracy and good governance. These three concepts are so interrelated that one is tempted to see them as one and the same. In fact, their relationship is so intricately linked that, sometimes, one wonders where one stops and the other begins. The most ambiguous for many and hard to define is (good) governance. Good governance... Читать дальше...

Truth is the first casualty of war, the saying goes. This is very sadly true of the situation the country is facing after the cruel and brutal slaying of Daphne Caruana Galizia. And yes – it is a war – one being waged on many fronts. The most vital of these – and the one which must be overcome if the nation is to regain a vestige of normality – is that against the unknown perpetrators of the murder. Unless the investigations lead to the person or persons who commissioned and carried out that crime... Читать дальше...

An hour before Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered I was walking down London’s King’s Road and received an uncomfortable call from someone clearly upset by something I had written the day before. My mood changed abruptly and I headed for Sloane Square deep in thought. Writing was an unglamorous occupation – hard work and not always satisfying when losing friends and making enemies. My thoughts then turned, with an irony that still disturbs me, to Daphne, for whom this – and far worse – was a regular occurrence. Читать дальше...

The Prime Minister said the other day that the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia was an “exceptional circumstance”. I disagree. While there certainly was nothing normal or average about Caruana Galizia’s life, the manner of her leaving it was not particularly special. I also think that it suits certain people to have us believe that the assassination was a one-off. If it sounds mad to say that a car bomb is standard fare, it’s because I’m not saying it. Statistically, the chances of dying by one are extremely remote. Читать дальше...

As Ambassador of Malta to the EU during the 1990s, I was among those in Maltese diplomatic missions across the world who, together with our political leadership at home and their clear-sighted plan for joining the EU and Nato, managed to persuade the negative voices that Malta had turned a page in its turbulent history. We had been marked by the violence of the 1956 period and of the 1970s and 1980s, by the breakdown of law and order, fear among law-abiding people, attacks on judges and the rape of the institutions like the police and army. Читать дальше...

The first republic has failed us. No constitution is perfect and we certainly learnt that in the 1970s and 1980s when the power of the executive branch, supported by informal paramilitary vigilantes, was abused to the point of madness. But the grotesque excesses of the Labour administration then, for which Joseph Muscat had to express regret reluctantly in order to rise to power, pale in comparison with the complete takeover of the State by a small gang of power-mad and money-mad tyrants. One by one we saw our institutions occupied... Читать дальше...

The brutal assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia has lifted the lid, at least for the uninitiated, on the sheer lengths that some individuals or syndicates are prepared to go in order to silence those shedding light on the murky and the nebulous. Having been involved in local environmental activism for the past 20 years, I find many parallels between journalists and environmentalists in their common search for the truth. There are many, for instance, who assume the role of environmental journalists. Читать дальше...

I would like to reply to George Debono’s and Jim Wightman’s responses to my letter, which appeared in The Sunday Times of Malta (October 22). Again, they were very unfair in my regard. In a letter in The Times on Sunday dated October 1, I corrected the misconception that road death or accident rates in Malta are climbing. I consider it my civic duty to correct inaccurate reporting of data in any form, especially when such is used to justify interventions which may have negative impacts on citizens, in this case road users. Читать дальше...

As we all suffer the stress and sorrow following the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia a thought comes to mind which will certainly help to unify opinions and give our national reputation some credence and admiration. The pedestal at the top of Republic Street which has temporally housed a variety of works of art including the three-legged horse can now be put to good and permanent use. On it should be placed a full-length statue of Daphne where, right outside our Maltese Parliament she will stand... Читать дальше...

The French were on these islands for only two years, but their legacy lives on, daily. They can’t have had much time to write or rewrite local laws, but they introduced two that appear to have been written in Maltese stone. One was a stupid law of inheritance, which serves no purpose today other than to cause disputes inside otherwise happy families. The other was to institute the system whereby magistrates, not the police, conduct criminal inquiries. I am surprised that property owners (or potential... Читать дальше...

Il-Baħħ u Jien (Loneliness) was the title of this year’s Mental Health Conference organised by the Mental Health Association (Gozo) at Villa Fiorita in Marsalforn. As in previous years, the event was very informative with several discussions about real life experiences and talks presented by well-known speakers in this field, including Commissioner for Mental Health John Cachia and Psychiatry chairman Anton Grech. Another speaker was Fr Karm Debattista, member of the Missionary Society of St Paul. Читать дальше...

I would like to express my gratitude to all the members of the Mission Fund as well as to all the benefactors for the generous donation of €2,000 which was sent to our mission here in Poland. The mission mainly visits the old, the lonely and the sick and provides spiritual and material help to those who ask for it, especially young girls or women who need to spend some days in prayer, resting or taking part in our community life. I wish to thank them heartily for the support I receive from them and... Читать дальше...