Новости за 12.12.2017

“Dirty money” was involved in the recent liberalisation of the energy market in Malta, the European Parliament's Pana committee chairman Werner Langen told reporters on Tuesday. Without going into specifics, Mr Langen said he had not given up hope that “written proof” would be received about this. Apart from the Sicily – Malta interconnector, the Labour government further opened up the energy supply market  with the commissioning of a new gas-fired power plant. A consortium made up of local businessmen... Читать дальше...

William Turner and John Constable were the two great landscape painters of nineteenth century Britain. This is the story of how their fierce competition changed their art and revolutionised the way the British view their landscape.

American cars, some of them from the 1950s but also recent models, made their way to Żebbuġ on Sunday for a charity event. The fundraiser, organised by the local scouts group, saw members of the American Auto Club Malta display their cars in the town’s main square, much to the delight of enthusiasts. The first committee of the American Auto Club was formed in 2004, when a small group of American vehicle owners decided to set up an organisation for monthly car shows. Since then, the group has gone on to tour both Europe and America... Читать дальше...

Hibernians coach Mark Miller and his Floriana counterpart Nicolas Chiesa will be driven by ambition when they lead their teams in the Super Cup final at the National Stadium on Wednesday (kick-off: 3pm). At the start of the season, victory in the Super Cup trophy may not have ranked high on either side’s agenda. However, given the recent struggles both sides have gone through in recent weeks, victory in the Super Cup may well turn out to be a key turning point towards stepping up their ante ahead of the 2017-18 season run-in. Читать дальше...

The average number of hours that viewers spent watching television reached 1.55hrs every day in October. This was 1’12” less than the previous assessment during the month of July [1.57hrs], the Broadcasting Authority said. When this average was computed over the whole population the national average rose from 0.90hrs for July to 1.11hrs for October 2017. "This means that although television viewing on average was maintained there were more consumers watching television," the BA said. During October... Читать дальше...

Malta is not a tax haven, yet it is not cooperative in the fight against tax evasion and avoidance, Pana committee co-rapporteur Petr Jezek said on Tuesday. Speaking during a debate on the Pana report, which investigated the Panama Papers leak, Mr Jezek, a liberal MEP, expressed his concern that the list of tax havens was not expanded to certain EU countries. Socialist MEPs last week agreed to propose an amendment to the Pana report, calling on the European Commission to regard Malta and a number of other EU members states as tax havens. Читать дальше...

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar (FAA) is opening the Christmas season with an evening of festive food and music titled titled Christmas at the Priory at the Augustinian priory in Rabat. FAA is teaming up with The Johann Strauss School of Music Malta to present some of its best student-performers studying voice, woodwind and contemporary music. A varied selection of music will be presented, ranging from early baroque to contemporary arrangements with a Christmas theme. The Voca Choir will open the evening... Читать дальше...

Gheorghe Popa has been jailed for six years for injuring his former partner Yana Mintoff Bland with a knife at her residence in Tarxien in October last year. The 40-year-old Romanian was also convicted of hurting her son.  Ms Mintoff Bland and Mr Popa had argued when he resisted her attempts to break off their relationship.  After attacking Ms Mintoff Bland and her son, Mr Popa had also injured himself. In a 70-page judgement, Magistrate Joe Mifsud ordered Mr Popa to pay €12,600 in court expenses and warned him not to approach Ms Mintoff Bland.

The second of five qualifiers took place in midweek with Andy Keen of Kalkara St Joseph and John Agius of Floriana Ajax progressing to the group stage of this competition. En route to qualification Keen defeated Felix Scerri 3-1, George Ebejer 3-1, Alfred Muscat 3-2, Gordon Stanmore 3-0 in the semi-final and Mario Tonna with the same scoreline in the final. From the bottom side of the draw Agius defeated Enrico Scerri and Mario Sciascia 3-1, Joe Caruana and Tony Borg (HSB) 3-0 and in the final defeated team-mate, John Ciantar 3-1. Читать дальше...

A former Twitter employee who shut down Donald Trump's account last month, says he did so by accident - but that some of the US president's tweets do breach Twitter's rules  Bahtiyar Duysak claims he wasn't paying attention when a complaint came in about an account an hour before the end of his last day at the San Francisco-based company.  "I just treated it as an ordinary account. I should have double-checked things which I didn't do due to the hectic and tiredness of my last day. Obviously I clicked... Читать дальше...

As a practitioner within the finance community, I cannot but stress the importance of financial education on the local scene. I am not the first and will definitely not be the last to state that financial education, apart from the endless number of branches/types of education we receive throughout our lifetime, is essential for one’s wellbeing, from adolescence till retirement/pension age. The type of education which should start from secondary school (some might suggest that should be introduced... Читать дальше...

Gucci Bloom is a rich white floral scent that transports to a colourful and diverse garden verdant with flowers and plants. Blended by master perfumer Alberto Morillas with direction from Alessandro Michele, the fragrance is created to unfold like its name.Receive a Gucci Bloom shower gel 50ml and body lotion 50ml with every purchase of Gucci Bloom EDP100ml.  For more information contact VJ Salomone Marketing on telephone number 80072387.

Virtu's catamaran Jean de la Valette cut short its crossing to Sicily this morning and returned to Malta for undisclosed technical problems. A passenger said he had noticed that the vessel was travelling rather slowly, before it eventually turned back to Malta and a public announcement was made about technical issues. Passengers were told that engineers would inspect the vessel with a view of returning it to service, possibly today. Virtu yesterday adjusted its schedule for today owing to forecast unfavourable sea weather conditions. Читать дальше...

Squeezed British consumers reined in Christmas travel plans and bought fewer new cars last month, setting the stage for the first fall in festive spending in five years, credit card company Visa said yesterday. The downbeat message came alongside a cut by the British Chambers of Commerce to its economic outlook for the next two years as the business organisation sees inflation rising faster than pay for the next two years. Visa said inflation-adjusted consumer spending last month was 0.9 per cent lower than in 2016. Читать дальше...

The Malta Triathlon Federation will be electing a new Executive Committee during an Annual General Meeting this evening. Incumbent president Cyprian Dalli is bidding for a new term in office but is facing the challenge of Davide Cachia. Valhmor Camilleri spoke with both contestants on their plans for the future of the sport.... Cyprian Dalli, Seeking another term as Malta Triathlon Federation President What convinced you to contest the post of president of the Malta Triathlon Federation? “Having... Читать дальше...

Malta’s economy and particularly its thriving financial services sector will suffer a big blow should the EU get its way on the introduction of new corporate tax rules, a new study shows. Compiled by senior economists for UK-based NGO Tax Justice Network, the findings show that Malta will see its income from tax arrangements deriving from subsidiaries of multinationals registered here decline by more than half, and in some cases even slashed by two thirds. The study, based on current proposals by the European Commission... Читать дальше...

Malta’s economy and particularly its thriving financial services sector will suffer a big blow should the EU get its way on the introduction of new corporate tax rules, a new study shows. Compiled by senior economists for UK-based NGO Tax Justice Network, the findings show that Malta will see its income from tax arrangements deriving from subsidiaries of multinationals registered here decline by more than half, and in some cases even slashed by two thirds. The study, based on current proposals by the European Commission... Читать дальше...

Cartoon character Peppa Pig has been blamed for contributing to patients' unrealistic expectations of what they can expect from their GP. A general practitioner, writing in the BMJ, also suggested the TV show aimed at preschoolers could be encouraging inappropriate use of services. Medical doctor Catherine Bell said she has often wondered why some patients immediately attempt to consult their GP about minor ailments, and as the mother of a toddler who is an avid watcher of the series, she writes that she thinks she has discovered the answer. Читать дальше...

Fact: prison is anything but a rehabilitation service and most people get out of there even less inclined to live a law-abiding life than they were before.Fact: a first stint in prison rarely stops there and former inmates, mostly thanks to a society that is already stacked against them, wound up with second and third sentences.Fact: those who do make it out of prison almost never manage to resume a functioning role in society, no matter how determined they are.Fact: few drug addicts succeed in kicking... Читать дальше...

Italy’s Investindustrial is not in talks to increase its stake in Aston Martin and no decision has been taken on a possible stock market listing for the British carmaker, the private equity group said, denying an earlier newspaper report. Italian daily Il Messaggero reported on Sunday that the fund was in advanced negotiations to raise its stake in the maker of the famous sports car driven by fictional secret agent James Bond to 50 per cent from 37.5 per cent by the end of the year and that it aimed to list the company next summer. Читать дальше...

Bitcoin futures jumped more than 20 per cent in their eagerly anticipated US debut, which backers hope will encourage wider use and legitimacy for the world’s largest cryptocurrency even as critics warn of the risk of a bubble and price collapse. The launch on Sunday night may have caused an early outage of the Chicago-based CBOE Global Markets’ website due to heavy traffic.” The one-month bitcoin contract opened trade at 6pm on Sunday (2300 GMT) at $15,460, dipped briefly and then rose to a high of $18,700. Читать дальше...

A talk entitled ‘Visual rhetoric – approaches to modern art’ is being delivered at the Victor Pasmore Gallery in Valletta today. During this talk, Roderick Camilleri will present various approaches to interpret visual images as well as insights and strategies on how to construe connotations and meanings. In particular, he will focus on Victor Pasmore’s drawing featured in the gallery, entitled Two Faces of the Turning World, as a case study by applying different reading methodologies. The gallery is managed by Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti... Читать дальше...

An entire wing of the historic Villa St Ignatius in St Julian’s was recently demolished days after a leading cultural heritage NGO had applied for the building to be scheduled. The villa is part of a larger property, which in the early 19th century housed the first English-speaking Jesuit College in Malta. The story of its demolition is a sorry saga of Planning Authority incompetence, the actions of a developer and architect (both of whom with close links with the Planning Authority), weak enforcement... Читать дальше...

At a time when China is working on an ambitious lunar programme, President Donald Trump has vowed that the United States will remain the leader in space exploration as he began a process to return Americans to the moon. "We are the leader and we're going to stay the leader, and we're going to increase it many fold," Trump said in signing "Space Policy Directive 1" that establishes a foundation for a mission to the moon with an eye on going to Mars. "This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint... Читать дальше...

Large Japanese manufacturers turned more optimistic about economic conditions in the October-December quarter, a government survey showed yesterday, in another upbeat sign for an economy on a record run of growth. The business survey index (BSI) of sentiment at large manufacturers stood at plus 9.7, up from plus 9.4 in July-September, according to the joint survey by the Ministry of Finance and the Economic and Social Research Institute, an arm of the Cabinet Office. The mood was brightened by a... Читать дальше...