Новости за 25.06.2021

Access to the foreshore area of Manoel Island is being embellished as the number of bathers continues to increase.  The works, which are being conducted by MIDI, include the installation of railings along the pathways leading down to the foreshore and site clearing works in various areas. The embellishment, which started in mid-May and is expected to be completed towards mid-July, exposed a staircase leading down to the beach under the Couvre Porte. In an effort to keep Manoel Island clean and safe... Читать дальше...

Archbishop Charles Scicluna met mothers currently residing at Dar Tgħanniqa ta’ Omm in Mosta. The home provides support to women and young mothers who, despite encountering difficulties, choose to safeguard the life of their child, the Church said in a statement. This residence is run by the Life Network Foundation and offers refuge to pregnant women for up to one year after the birth of their child. Following this phase, these women and their children are accompanied until they establish themselves once again in society. Читать дальше...

London police have seized a trove of cryptocurrency worth €133 million that criminals were planning to launder, the UK’s largest-ever seizure of digital currency. The Metropolitan Police said that detectives had seized the digital currency after receiving information about the transfer of criminal assets. The statement did not say what type of cryptocurrency was involved. “As technology and online platforms develop, some are moving to more sophisticated methods of laundering their profits”, said deputy assistant commissioner Graham McNulty. Читать дальше...

Thursday was Malta’s hottest June day in almost 100 years as the maximum temperature reached a scorching 40.2°C, according to the Meteorological Office. The temperature was the maximum temperature for the month of June since records began in 1923, beating the maximum of 40.1°C recorded on June 13, 1997. The warmest June on record to date remains June 2019, where a mean monthly temperature of 26.3°C was recorded. Malta is currently experiencing a forecast heatwave, with predicted temperatures for... Читать дальше...

The government will shortly nominate former home affairs minister Manuel Mallia as Malta’s next High Commissioner in London, Times of Malta can reveal.  Sources said the nomination comes a month before the expiry of the posting of present High Commissioner, Joseph Cole.  Mallia will have to face the new parliamentary committee for public appointments prior to taking up his new post.  Sources said Mallia has long been complaining about his stint in politics. He admitted in parliament last year... Читать дальше...

A further five people tested positive for COVID overnight, while three recovered, according to health authorities' data. This means Malta now has 29 active cases. No COVID-related deaths were reported over the past hours, while a total of 3,127 swabs were tested On Thursday. Meanwhile, the same data shows that a total of 646,651 COVID vaccination doses have been administered, while 303,939 people are fully vaccinated. Children aged between 12 and 15 will start receiving invitations to get vaccinated against COVID-19 before the weekend... Читать дальше...

Germany on Friday passed legislation to naturalise some Nazi victims' descendants who had previously been denied citizenship in what it called a symbolic step toward redressing past injustice. The so-called "reparation citizenship" measure passed the Bundestag lower house of parliament with a large majority in a marathon session before the summer recess. Lawmakers also updated the citizenship law to bar the naturalisation of people convicted of a racist, anti-Semitic or xenophobic act.   The first... Читать дальше...

Nomadland delivers on many fronts: innocent performances, cleverly awkward cinematography, and raw intimacy. Yet, Chloé Zhao’s factual but fictional style takes centre stage only to end up hindering what could have shined just a little bit brighter. Nomadland, at its core, strays from the beaten path. On one hand, the film wanders around aimlessly as a simple narrative is woven and ‘stretched’ into a feature film. Yet on the other, Chloé Zhao delivers an elegant and intricate portrait into a... Читать дальше...

Restaurants and bars will no longer have to close up at midnight from Monday as the health authorities have given them the green light to stay open until 2am.  In a statement on Friday, the health ministry said those whose licence allows them to stay open past midnight can start doing so but must close up by 2am.  In recent weeks, large groups of people were gathering in bays after bars and restaurants closed up at midnight, prompting widespread outrage and calls for establishments to be allowed to stay open longer. Читать дальше...

In the first five months of 2021, the government's recurrent revenue amounted to €1,812.8 million - 20 per cent higher than the €1,508.9 million reported a year earlier. According to the National Statistics Office, the largest increase was recorded under income tax (€165.9 million), followed by social security (€84.6 million), value-added tax (€84 million), licences, taxes and fines (€8.1 million) and customs and excise duties (€7 million).  By the end of last month, total expenditure stood at €2,503.6 million... Читать дальше...

Updated 1.30pm A group of activists from civil society group Repubblika have gone to court to cancel the government’s deal with Electrogas which they claim is the “source” of fraud that breached consumers’ fundamental rights.  Forty-seven Maltese and European citizens filed a constitutional application on Friday against the State, Enemalta plc and ARMs Ltd as customers paying fixed tariffs for essential “water and electricity services” that were subject to an “absolute monopoly.” Making reference... Читать дальше...

Weightlifter Yazmin Zammit Stevens’ name has been added to the list of athletes representing Malta in the forthcoming XXXII Games of the Olympiad in Tokyo. Zammit Stevens will compete in the 64kg category. The Maltese lifter, a recipient of an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship for the past three years, has been competing at international level since 2015, including the European Championships as well as the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018. Zammit Stevens will be the first Maltese female weightlifter to compete in the Olympic Games. Читать дальше...

With passenger traffic at the Malta International Airport increasing by 20 per cent since the reopening of tourism on June 1, travellers are being urged to have the required documents in hand. Prepare your documents Have your health documents ready for verification, both on departure and on arrival. Departing guests can find indexed country-specific entry requirements here. MIA is urging passengers to call at the terminal check-in counters for their health documents to be checked prior to departure... Читать дальше...

Prisons director Alexander Dalli has defended his decision to give a journalist a controlled tour of Corradino Correctional Facility, arguing that behind CCF walls “the buck stops with me”.  Dalli was summoned as a witness in a human rights case filed last September by blogger and civil society activist Manuel Delia who claims that his right to freedom of expression was breached when he was denied free access to the Corradino Correctional Facility as well as detention centres. Delia was allowed to visit CCF on September 1... Читать дальше...

Malta has finalised testing its EU vaccine certificate (EUDCC) systems, just in time for the bloc-wide rollout on Thursday.  According to the  European Commission's website, all member states are now "technically ready to connect to the EUDCC gateway". Earlier in June, Malta was one of just three countries that were still in the testing phase. Meanwhile, 18 countries are already connected to the EU-wide system, up from just nine a month ago. Malta is not one of these countries and has yet to connect to the system. Читать дальше...

The standards commissioner has yet to conclude his investigation into the alleged involvement of former junior minister Rosianne Cutajar in a multi-million-euro property deal with murder suspect Yorgen Fenech, despite the lapse of the six-month time limit for the probe. The commissioner, George Hyzler, has now written to the Speaker of the House of Representatives to inform him about the delay. The reasons for the delay were not disclosed to Times of Malta. According to the Standards in Public Life Act... Читать дальше...

Actors Samuel L Jackson and Danny Glover, Norwegian actress Liv Ullmann and actress-director Elaine May will receive honorary Oscars ahead of the main 2022 gala, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Thursday. Jackson, May and Ullmann will be given honorary statuettes, while Glover will receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Governors Awards on January 15, the Academy said in a statement. "We are thrilled to present this year's Governors Awards to four honorees... Читать дальше...

Athletics Malta has issued a statement to express its disappointment as the work carried out by the contractors for a complete resurfacing of the athletics track at the  Matthew Micallef St John Stadium in Marsa left much to be desired. In a statement, the local governing body said that the poor quality of work carried out at the venue resulted in a track failing to meet even the basic requirements, with a slippery surface, lack of safety elements and other deficiencies which as a result, failed... Читать дальше...

Equities and oil prices rose again on Friday, building on the week’s global rally, after US lawmakers and the White House agreed a rare bipartisan deal on infrastructure that will provide another huge cash injection into the world’s top economy. The advance came after the S&P and Nasdaq chalked up more records in New York as traders turned their attention back to the strong recovery from last year’s collapse and away from the expected taper of ultra-loose Federal Reserve monetary policy. Optimism... Читать дальше...